Thursday, February 11

Florida - Day 1

Today this Mama is headed out of town for a much needed & much deserved girls weekend at the beach! I am flying out this morning & will meet my sister, her girlfriend Erica & my bestie Jilly in Fort Lauderdale.

Once we all meet up from our flights, Jilly's car service from work will drive us to Jilly's home & I can hardly wait to get there!

First things first - a little Starbucks treat while I wait to board my flight:
We all got in to Ft. Lauderdale around 1pm & were at Jilly's by 3pm. Her condo is located in a gated community that is absolutely gorgeous & less than 1 mile from the beach! This is what I saw when I looked up from her patio:
 
 Jilly's condo
 
Round-about & fountain in front of her condo

There were palm trees everywhere & everything was SO lush & green! I definitely wasn't in Kansas anymore!!

We got settled into Jilly's place, changed clothes, opened a bottle of wine & chilled on her patio in the sun & warm weather. It was heavenly!

Later in the evening we met Jilly's parents at the restaurant The Dive Bar & had dinner on the water along with some fresh, delicious seafood & sushi.
It was a bit chilly sitting outside but the view & the food made up for the chills.
Before we left,  Jilly & I posed with her Dad for a quick pic! Her parents are very special to me & consider me another daughter in the family! It was so awesome getting to see them & catch up with them. 

After dinner the girls decided we weren't quite ready to head home so we went to a local bar & grill called the Double Roads Tavern to listen to some live music & have a few cocktails.
Oh how I miss this girl!
 
This local bar was a fun place & was packed with people young & old - definitely good people watching! All the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling were actual drums which I thought was kind of neat since my hubby is a drummer. Had to snap a pic & send it to him :)
My poor sister & her friend Erica had been up since 3am so they were exhausted & I was pretty worn out myself so we didn't stay too long. Just long enough to get a couple of pics taken:
Me & my sister
 
And so we called it a night by 11pm & headed back to Jilly's for a good nights sleep! So glad my sister convinced me to take this little getaway with her! We all needed the break!

Tomorrow these girls are headed to the beach :)
 

Wednesday, February 10

Valentines Day Prep

Sadly this year I am not going to be here for my baby's Valentines party at daycare or Valentine's Day itself but it's for a good reason. This Mama is headed to Florida tomorrow for a much needed girls weekend :)

So since I won't be here I needed to get Mason's Valentines for his friends & the teachers gifts ready early. For the kiddos, I ended up making the same Valentines that I made last year but instead of the ten I made last time I had to make 24 this year.

Mason had so much fun helping me put the bubbles & Blow pops in all the baggies & then helped me staple the message to the baggies. Yet another Pinterest-inspired idea:

For the teachers I turned to Pinterest for some ideas & came across this super cute idea:
It is hand soap from Bath & Body Works that I put into a cellophane bag with candy at the bottom & attached a little note that said "Hands Down - You're the best teacher around!" I think they turned out SO cute!!

 
I also couldn't forget my two favorite Valentines so I made each of them a little V-Day package with candy & cards & hid them in the closet for them to open up on Sunday which is Valentines Day.

Hoping my little man has a super fun Valentine's Day party on Friday at daycare & can't wait to FaceTime with him & here all about it!!


Friday, February 5

Disney LIVE!

A couple of months ago I had heard that Disney LIVE! was going to be in town & thought it would be a super fun family outing. I went ahead & purchased tickets & invited my Mama friend Leann & her family as well.

I ended up taking a half-day at work, went & picked up Daddy & Mase & made our way to the Silverstein Eye Center Arena for an afternoon of fun.
I was unsure if Mason would sit still & pay attention to the show but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he couldn't take his eyes off the stage.
It was so much fun watching his facial expressions & the excitement in his eyes as he watched all the Disney characters come to life on the stage.
 
The Buzz Lightyear laser show was super cool & Mase loved watching all the lights.
His 2nd favorite part of the performance was when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters came on stage:
Our friends Leann, Jamison & their little girl Olivia met us there & sadly she wasn't feeling so great so they ended up leaving the show early.
During the intermission we got some snacks & a drink & Mason got his first taste of cotton candy. He thought it was the best thing ever! We also ended up getting suckered in to buying Mase a souvenir - a Mickey Mouse guitar that was crazy expensive! Ugh - spoiled little stinker!
 
We had such a great time all together & I am so glad I ended up getting the tickets! It was an awesome show with singing, dancing, lasers & audience participation with all the Disney characters & seeing the expression on my son's face made it all worth it!!

Sunday, January 31

Cell Phone Dump

This months cell phone photos:
Our little "Rockstar"
 

Daddy's t-shirt for Mason's Superhero Birthday Party! 

Ugh - my usual morning commute :( 

Spikey & sassy 

Fell asleep holding the iPad & his hands stayed this way the entire ride home after I removed it :) 

This Bully LOVES his baby

Birthday selfie - my little guy is THREE!!!

Saturday, January 30

Superheroes Unite

Today we celebrated Mason's birthday with all his little friends & it turned out to be such a fun party!

A few months ago I had asked Mason what kind of birthday party he wanted to have & without hesitation he said SUPERHEROES! So I started searching websites like Pinterest & Etsy early & the party planning began. Right after Christmas the invites went out:
Originally we were going to have his party outside of the home but after looking into places to have it the cost was SO expensive so we decided to do his party at our house & it worked out perfectly.

I had every intention to make this party small & simple but those who know me know that is not how HT rolls. I have this little problem where when I get an idea (or several) in my head, as much as I try to talk myself out of it my creative side usually wins out over my practical side. I always end up going overboard which may or may not have been the case in this situation. By the time I was done decorating it pretty much look like Pinterest threw up all over the house & I'm not going to lie - I absolutely loved how it all turned out!
The kids table - capes & masks ready to go!
 
Decorated fireplace & all Mason's gifts
 
 Favor bags for the littles
 
10 of Mason's little besties were invited & we were so excited that they all were able to make it. When the kids arrived, they each got a superhero mask & cape & they loved them:
 

 
Sadly I got too busy & didn't end up getting any pictures of the food :( I had a huge spread on the island consisting of Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, fruit platter made in the shape of Captain America's shield, 7-layer dip with chips,  cheese tray with summer sausage & THOR hammers, PB&J sandwiches (cut in the shape of stars), Cheeze-Itz & green Hulk juice to drink for the littles.

Examples of food (& photos) courtesy of Pinterest
 
After all the littles ate it was time to play some games. First up was "Pin the Star" on the Captain America shield. I made the shield out of poster board, cut out white stars for the kiddos to pin on the shield & hung it on the front door:
 


After all the kids had a chance to pin the star on the shield we moved down to the basement. I had set up a Superhero obstacle course to "test agility, speed & accuracy" - qualities every Superhero must have!
 
The littles each took turns running through the obstacle course which consisted of a balance beam, a slide, a ride in the Cozy Coupe, jumping across the ottoman & oversized chair, through the tunnel & popping of a balloon with Hulk hands. They had SO much fun & kept wanting to run through the course.
Once the kiddos had their fun with the obstacle course it was time to hit the piƱata. It was an Avengers piƱata full of candy & I was surprised at how good those little's could hit!

I handed out little bags to collect all the candy in once the piƱata broke & they were able to take it home with them once the party was over. They had a ball!
 
After the games ended we headed back upstairs to sing Happy Birthday & eat some cake. I was SO happy the way the cake/cupcakes turned out & they tasted even more amazing than they looked!

We all sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy & he was SO excited to have everyone gathered around the table with him.

 
The adults all stuffed ourselves full of delicious cake while the littles ran around & played in Mason's room all together. Once I got the kitchen & dining room tidied up a bit we all gathered in the living room to open gifts. I was going to wait until everyone had left & open gifts with just family but Mason REALLY wanted to open his birthday presents & all his friends kept asking as well. SO I caved & learned later that I will never open gifts like that again.
It was absolute chaos with Mason trying to open gifts along with 10 of his little friends trying to open his gifts, see what he got, play with what he got. I had my sister-in-law Meghan trying to write down who gave what gift but it got SO loud & crazy up in there. I was impressed she even got half of the gifts written down.

After the gift opening the littles started to wind down & it was time for everyone to go. Mason said goodbye to all his friends & handed out the favor bags to each friend along with an official Superhero certificate.
Each favor bag had a fun straw, superhero fruit snacks, tattoo's, stickers, crayons & a little toy. Each kiddo was able to take home their cape & mask as well.

Uncle Steve & Aunt Meghan stayed for awhile after the party to visit & hang out with the birthday boy.


 
All in all I would say the Superhero birthday party was a success. Pretty sure Mase had SO much fun. I know his friends had fun & the adults had fun watching the littles have fun. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Mason's new presents, cleaning up & we may or may not have had round #2 of the birthday cake :)
Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet little man! Hope you had SO much fun with your friends :)

Birthday Party details:

 
Birthday t-shirt: Bugaboo's Closet
Capes/masks: Lollipop Lucy Costumes
Superhero banner: eltendendero 
Favor bag pictures: Kawaii Kids Design
Water bottle labels: Rainbow Sweet Studio
Table decorations & piƱata: Party City
Cake/cupcakes: Gretchen's Gourmet Goodies