Happy First Birthday: Freshly Picked Giveaway

So I planned to do this fabulous Freshly Picked giveaway during

the week of Grace and my birthday as a celebration.

Well, that didn't exactly work out, but it all turned out for the best,

because now I have these adorable pictures taken by my friend Tiffany.

 I am lucky to share my birthday with this beautiful girl and we had a blast celebrating.

I made her birthday outfit and I knew the finishing touch would be pair of

Gold Freshly Picked moccasins.

Besides being adorable with their fantastic color options and fringy uppers,

Freshly Picked moccs are made out of high quality leather or suede and are made

to outlast even the roughest toddler shenanigans.

When my Gold moccs arrived in their cute little canvas bag that is
screened with the Freshly Picked logo, I dumped them out immediately,
because I wanted to feel the shoes and see if they were as soft as I remembered Grace's
Frosted Rose moccs being. They were.
Smooth. Like. Butter.

The Freshly Picked site makes it easy to get the right size for your wee one
with a size chart that you can either measure your child's foot
or match it to the printable grid.

Another thing I love about Freshly Picked is that they are always coming out
with new colors each season. I definitely love the Gold and the Frosted Rose,
but I am also currently dying over Aruba, Passion Fruit, Heirloom in Cream and Gold,
Merci and, wait, I could go on and on and on - they are all just so gorgeous!

Grace loves her Freshly Picked moccs. They are the only shoes she'll keep on her

feet. She started walking the day of her first birthday and hasn't looked back.

We spend a good deal of time at the park after school, 

and her moccs keep her little toesies safe from the hot, hot ground,
while looking absolutely stylish at the same time.

I'm so excited that Freshly Picked is collaborating with me to offer my readers a giveaway!

You can enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

Just a few things - you must be a US citizen and at least 18 years old to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Gameband for Minecraft: The Best Ninth Birthday Ever!

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GameOnTheGo #CollectiveBias.

I blinked and this first child of mine was nine years old.
And if you have a nine year old boy in the house like I do, I'm sure
you know all about Minecraft.
For his 9th birthday we decided to give in and get Minecraft,
and the first Minecraft wearable - the Gameband for Minecraft.

We have remained a relatively Minecraft free house, except for the stray
Creeper t-shirt that may have been purchased for the first day of school.
However, it was becoming increasingly more apparent that my efforts
to avoid boy things foreign to this girls-girl were in vain.
JT had played Minecraft at friends' homes, and talked about Creepers and Endermen,
but during the summer, as he planned for his ninth birthday, Minecraft started
being brought up in every conversation.

"Mom, did you know that in Minecraft on the computer, you can build mods?"
"Mom, Caleb says that in Minecraft you can build your own farm."
"Mom, can I have Minecraft for my birthday?"
Mom, when I get Minecraft for my birthday, I can't wait to build mods!"

So imagine his sheer delight when he opened up his birthday present from his
sisters to find a note telling him that Minecraft was waiting for him to play it
on the family desktop computer.
And he he was even more stoked when mom and dad gave him the
Gameband for Minecraft.

I found my Gameband by Now Computing for Minecraft at my local GameStop.
Since, it is such a hot holiday item, I called ahead and had them hold
a Gameband for me so that I could be sure to get one in time for JT's birthday.
They keep this portable Minecraft band behind the counter at my store,
so if you don't see it, be sure to ask someone to help you.



If you have a Minecraft enthusiast in your house, you need a Gameband.
It is the first Minecraft wearable that saves your Worlds and backs them up to the
Gameband cloud-based servers.
My friend that has two boys that play Minecraft said after hearing about this
amazing feature has put it on her Christmas buying list because they've had several
incidents where worlds were lost or deleted and tears ensued.

JT loves the ease of use and that he can just plug it into an unused USB port and
he is ready to sit down and build Ender Portals.
I think his favorite feature is that Gameband for Minecraft comes pre-loaded
with the PixelFurnace app that lets him add fun messages and animations.
He and his dad have had fun changing the messages to reflect the mood
or joke for the day.

I'm most excited that the Gameband allows JT to take his Minecraft Worlds wherever we go,

and that it is backed up to a cloud-based server.

This will help us avoid tears and frustration that other friends have experienced

when worlds are lost.

And if he ever loses his Gameband, then we just contact Now Computing

and order a replacement with all of our data intact. That is so awesome!

That goes for any other problem you might have with your Gameband.
Since it belongs to to Now Computing and is affiliated with Minecraft, you contact
Now Computing if you have any feedback or issues.

JT is thrilled to have joined the realm of Minecraft and to build his Worlds,

complete with pigs and cows.

I am thrilled to have the peace of mind that all his hard work is safe with

the Gameband for Minecraft and he is loving his cool new Minecraft watch.

He wore to church the weekend after his birthday so that he could show all the

kids in his Sunday School class that he can carry his Minecraft Worlds

with him no matter where he goes!

The Gameband was the perfect birthday gift for this Minecraft loving kid.

Now he carries Minecraft with him wherever he goes,

and has a blast customizing the messages and animations with PixelFurnace.

It would make a great Christmas gift for your Minecraft fan,

or you can gift it for a birthday like we did.

Don't forget that Creepers Gonna Creep!

I made JT this printable for his homework binder and I'm sharing

it with you in case someone in you life would enjoy it too!

Guardians of the Galaxy Birthday Movie Party

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OwnTheGalaxy #CollectiveBias

Once my kids saw Guardians of the Galaxy, they were sold.

They went without me to see it - a grandpa/kid date to the movie theater

and it was all they talked about for at least a month.

They also started the DVD release date countdown. Do your kids do that?

They ask at least every other day when a movie is going to come to DVD so they

can watch it over and over and over again.

Well, my kids do.

So, when JT found out that the Guardians of the Galaxy DVD would be released

right around his birthday, he started planning how we could have a family

movie night to celebrate and all the fun snacks we could make.

I perused Pinterest and headed to Walmart on December 9th release date to get supplies for
JT's birthday movie bash with the family
and to pick up our DVD copy of Guardians of the Galaxy!
I decided we need Gamora Green Caramel Corn, Drax the Destroyer Punch,
Star-Lord Star Cookies, and Dancing Baby Groot Chocolate Covered Pretzels.
There were a lot of copies of the DVD and Blu-ray available in the Electronics Department.
The Blu-ray copies had these cool exclusive character o-sleeves, music zinepack,
a 64 page magazine with cast and crew interviews, exclusive behind the scene photos,
plus a custom mix tape cassette laptop decal.

The Gamora Green Caramel Corn was so much fun to make!
I used my favorite caramel corn recipe and added some green food coloring
to make this bright green caramel corn.
Gamora was Isabella's favorite character, so she was excited to see me
mixing up some green caramel corn for the birthday party movie night.

GAMORA GREEN CARAMEL CORN RECIPE

1 bag plain microwave popcorn
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
Food coloring

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Pop popcorn, pour into 9x13 pan and remove kernels.
Mix butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in saucepan. 
Cook on low-med heat for 2 min or until bubbly around edges, remove from heat. 
Add food coloring and 1 tsp. baking soda to cause foaming (helps coat them better). 
Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir until coated. 
Place in 250 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and pour onto waxed paper. Cool.
Break apart into desired piece size.

The Dancing Baby Groot Chocolate Covered Pretzels were messy and time consuming

to put together, but they turned out so cute, it was worth all the effort.

JT was so surprised and excited when he saw them, 

so that also made my chocolate covered counters worth the work.

I saw several version of these Baby Groots and improvised with mini chocolate chips

for eyes when I couldn't find black chocolate melts or mini M&M's.

The Star-Lord Star Cookies and Drax the Destroyer Punch were the easiest because

they were store bought (shhhh! I'm all about semi-homemade).

I also found these cool Guardian of the Galaxy cars that were a fun

little birthday gift, as well as the body pillow to snuggle up with for movie night.

We had a blast enjoying our Guardians of the Galaxy movie night,
munching our treats, and celebrating JT's ninth birthday.
Have you seen the movie? What's your favorite part?
If you head to Walmart by December 13th,  you'll get a $5 Walmart gift card instantly
when you purchase a Groot, Drax, or Rocket Raccoon Disney Infinity 2.0 figure.
Awesome, huh? I know that the Guardian of the Galaxy figures are on my
son's Christmas wish list!
 

Disney FROZEN: Happy Birthday Celebration

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #FROZENFun #collectivebias

When I heard that the FROZEN DVD would be released the week of my birthday,
I just knew that we had to do something FROZEN theme to celebrate with the kids.
It's no secret that we adore Elsa and Anna around here and since the due date of my next
baby was March 22nd, I thought celebrating a few days early would ensure that we did
something fun before life around here changed in a big way.

So we headed to WalMart on release day -March 18th - and were greeted as soon as we
walked in the store with a big display of all the newly released DVDs of the week.
The FROZEN DVD took up an entire side of the display and Isabella was eager
to snag our copy and head home and watch it for my birthday celebration.
Plus, you can't beat the great $14.96 pricing on the FROZEN DVD at WalMart.
Isabella had a really hard time waiting for her brother to get home before we started
the celebration.



When we got home she put on the Elsa outfit that I made for her FROZEN birthday party
in January and set to work opening the new Anna and Elsa toddler dolls we grabbed from WalMart to help us celebrate. She really is my own little feisty Elsa incarnate.



I just love Anna and Elsa because it is their love as sisters that saves the day
in FROZEN. Isabella was about to become a big sister and I would love for her
and her new little sister to depend on one another, stick up for each other,
and prove that being family is even better that being best friends.

We decided to get the cupcakes baked for my birthday celebration while JT was

still at school, so they could set to decorating them as soon as he walked in the door.

It's hard to keep a five-year-old distracted and wait 2 hours for anything.

We enlisted Anna and Elsa to help mix up our beautiful blue velvet FROZEN cupcakes.

As soon as JT walked in the door from school, Isabella put him to work

decorating his plate of cupcakes. The kids decided that since the cupcakes

were for my birthday, that I wasn't allowed to help them frost and decorate. So I set

them each up on a large cookie sheet, gave them frosting and a knife, and the sprinkles

and let them create their masterpieces.

It was so fun to watch their individual personalities come out as they

set to frosting and decorating their FROZEN inspired cupcakes.

While they decorated we talked about their favorite parts of the FROZEN movie

and which characters were their favorites. 

The FROZEN inspired cupcakes turn out so cute and the kids were proud

that they had decorated cupcakes for my birthday all by them themselves.

They could hardly wait to choose their favorite to eat and enjoy while we started

the movie.

Isabella even made a special cupcake for Daddy when he got home from work.

I really enjoyed spending the afternoon chatting with my kids about

FROZEN and family and celebrating my birthday a few days early and cherishing

the time we've had together as a little group of three each day after school.

I'm so excited for Isabella to have a little sister - because sisters are built in best friends.

My sister currently lives in Korea and I am so thankful for technology that allows us to keep

in touch regularly and share our struggles as mothers, wives, and women.

I can only hope that Isabella and Grace will share the same bond as they grow up.

A Frozen Princess Party at Pretend City!

Disclosure: Pretend City sponsored this party for Isabella. All opinions are my own.

I told you a few weeks ago that I was planning a birthday party for Isabella

at Pretend City and I wanted to share about our awesome experience!

It was honestly the easiest birthday party that I have ever thrown.

I was able to arrive at Pretend City a half hour before the party start time to get the room

setup and ready for the party guests to arrive.

However, there wasn't much for me to set up! The tables all had tablecloths on them,

the white board was decorated with a birthday message, and there were cute

beach themed decorations everywhere.

I put out Frozen coloring pages for the girls to color as they arrived,

as well as crayons for them to use.

Isabella insisted that the party was an Elsa Frozen party.

I was worried because Pretend City offers two packages - farm and beach.

I chose beach because that seemed more up Isabella's alley and it fit perfectly,

since Olaf dreams of the beach and summer.

Our party host was awesome and drew us a fabulous Olaf on the white board

and the Pretend City staff put music from Frozen on for the girls to sing along with.

The girls colored their pages as we waited for all the guests to arrive.

And they each made an Elsa crown with their mom to wear and celebrate in.

As the girls finished with their coloring pages, they moved to the craft table

and started making a summer themed craft with the party host.

It was so nice to have someone else lead the activities so that I could take pictures

and enjoy what was going on during the party.

When I've thrown parties on my own I have to be the game leader, the party host,

the food server, the candle lighter and picture taker.

It's quite overwhelming. This was laid back and fantastic!

The party room has an area for food, complete with a fridge and plenty

of counter space for your spread.

I love that you can bring your own food into Party City for birthdays.

So many places that host birthday parties make you use their vendors.

Since we had a Frozen beach theme, we went with Isabella's favorites.

She wanted cheese pizza, powdered donuts and marshmallows (snowman inspired),

carrots (Olaf's nose), strawberries, chips, and fun melted snow water bottles.

After the girls had their fill of the food, it was time for CAKE!!!!!!

Let me tell you that the cake was AMAZING.

It looked amazing and it tasted amazing. My husband is still talking about it.

Isabella chose white cake with strawberry mousse filling.

Um, yum!!!!!

And then the cake is decorated like Pretend City, complete with a map of the city!

I was truly amazed at what this bakery could do with sugar, frosting and cake!

The cake is an additional charge, 

but it is definitely wedding cake amazing in taste and appearance and amazingness.

Isabella loved the cake and it made for a gorgeous photo op with the candles all lit up.

And I was able to capture it because I didn't have to light the candles,

our party host got everything all set up for us - woohoo!!

We ended the party by finishing up giant pieces of cake - seriously, the cake could

probably feed 50+ guests, maybe more!

Then, we took a fun Princess Elsa group picture with all the cute party girls.

Isabella was thrilled with the day and had so much fun with her friends.

She was amazed by the cake and that her party host drew her a fantastic Olaf.

After our time in the party room had come to an end, 

the party host had the girls line up at the door, told them the Pretend City rules,

and gave them their goodie bags, and sent them out into the Museum

to enjoy as much time as they wanted with their adult.

We want to give Pretend City a HUMUNGOUS thank you for such a wonderful party.

It was stress free and enjoyable for all of the party guests.

The girls loved being able to play in the museum after the party room,

and most of them headed to the stage to sing and dance and be girly girls.

They were sad when they had to leave, but I told them the cool thing is that

every guest gets a ticket to return to Pretend City on another day!

You can find out more information about planning your own 

Pretend City Birthday Party on their website and be sure to check out

the 10% discount given to Pretend City Members!