Pancakes and PJs

One thing you will learn about moi, is that I am a planner. I start Christmas shopping early (I have already begun), I'll plan a vacation itinerary and I make lots and lots of lists. It's just me. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a go with it type of girl, but a list is some time a necessity.

Annually when the Fall season begins the Princess and I start coming up with ideas for her birthday. The fact that she is getting older has made it even more fun because now she really gets into the festivities. The girl loves breakfast. She could eat pancakes, grits and eggs morning, noon and night.

Each year we have planned her party during the lunch hour and each year people leave our home to go to someone else's for a Christmas party, ourselves included, so this year I decided to have her party really early, and I wanted to share with you, my ideas...

images via

I love the idea of doing an early morning party, where everyone shows up in their PJs and we have breakfast instead of your typical party snacks (i.e. sandwiches & veggie trays). That gets boring after a while, and I think this is a great idea with her birthday being in the center of the biggest Holiday of the year when most everyone's calendar is jam packed with parties and festivities.

I absolutely love the pancake bar where you choose your toppings, and the hot chocolate bar with cinnamon sticks and marshmallows. It gets me so excited, plus I love to decorate.

We have always done the Princess's party at home and I've always had a theme that I went with, decorated and baked by...

First Birthday {Ladybug Themed}

I made the ladybugs by painting small flower pots pink and cutting and gluing on brown felt dots to them, along with googly eyes and felt ropes. I could not find lime green shredded paper, so I bought lime green paper from Staples and put it through the shredder at work for a "grassy" look.

I purchased the ladybug chocolate molds from Michaels and made those myself. The ladybug chocolate pops we did in lieu of goody bags. Everyone loved them!

Second Birthday {Monkey Themed)

I have always made her birthday cake. I found this monkey online, printed him out, personalized the banner and glued him on a cake stick, it worked perfectly!

I bough these mini bags offline and printed out the tiny monkey's on cardstock and just glued them onto the bags. Then we filled them with candy for guests to take home.

This isn't a good picture, but I also made the banner from cardstock and with a hole puncher and string. It only took me about an hour and saved me $25 from the one I was looking at buying offline.

I always buy her a coordinating outfit, and I found this shirt from Gymboree on sale...score!

Her third birthday we did a Princess theme and her fourth birthday we did a Hello Kitty theme, each year gets better and better and I get more ideas, however I have no pictures of those parties on the computer I'm using now, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So pancakes and PJs, what do you think?

xo

Midweek Randoms

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A small local town in the Lowcountry called Ridgeland, just recently had a Church burn to the ground. It's extremely sad, but they are ready to persevere and continue to worship Christ, however donations are welcome, and here are some items they need. If you live locally or could ship some of these items, there address is listed below.

WTOC Jonathan Burton Hey Folks...here's the info...if you would like to donate to Gospel Light house church. It was destroyed by a fire this morning.

these are things they need:

• Folding chairs
• Industrial fans
• Bibles
• Pulpit
• P/A System/Instruments
• Lights for evening services/bible studies...
• Ground cover/indoor outdoor carpet
• portable buildings
• Any statues or religous items that will make our temporary church feel like home
Any and all monitary donations are greatly needed a appreciated. Checks and money orders can be made payable to Gospel Lighthouse and sent to the churches mailing address at PO Box 1445, Ridgeland, South Carolina, 29936.

My thoughts and prayers go out to this Church family!

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Candy Crush is a huge addiction for me that I just cannot stop. I hate when I run out of lives and have to wait 25 minutes to get another one. I hate really hard boards that you are stuck on for days. I hate that as aggravating as this game is, I still love to play it. #nerd #pathetic

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I'm loving this snack for Halloween and can't wait to make it with my little Princess.

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Speaking of Halloween, the hubs and I are in discussion over going to Disney for a long weekend as it draws closer to October for Mickey's "Not-so-Scary" Halloween party. However the tickets are $60, on top of the daily admission rate of $90, so it's going to be something to save for and decide on. I can say though, as costly as Disney is, I have never been disappointed with it, not once.

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I want to have another baby just so I can have things like this...

Images via

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The princess has another pageant coming up at the end of September. We do not buy pageant dresses because she is not in them enough for us to pay $300+ on one dress, when we can rent a pageant dress for less than half that price! She loved the dress that she had last time, and looked so beautiful in it that we have decided to rent that same one, and last night, I purchased the cutest frilly socks to match online. This last pageant she wore plain white laced socks, but I found the exact socks to match the dress with a pretty gold trim, I can't wait!

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I have started my Christmas shopping and have purchased two things for the hubs. Make fun of me all you want, but come December I won't be hustling in the crowds for last minute gifts.

xo



You should know

The beautiful Ashley at A Thousand Words tagged me in a post of things "you should know", and to be honest I was running low on blog ideas today, so voila - thanks Ashley! :)

1. What is something that you never thought you would do or accomplish, but have?

I never thought that I would be a mother. My long time boyfriend (now husband) and I never discussed children, and on the few occasions we did, it was a mutual agreement that we were content with our lives. My sista from another mista was preggers on my wedding day. My Matron of Honor standing up there big as a house about to pop out her beautiful daughter. It was in that moment I realized that although we were content, I may want a child after all. Well wouldn't you know, that it was God's plan all along, and now we have an almost 5 year old baby girl. I am so very glad that I accomplished this, and hell yes it's an accomplishment, what mother doesn't think that way about their children? I'm so beyond blessed to have her in my life!

2. If you could take only one thing to an un-inhabited environment (think naked in Africa), what would you take?

A cell phone so I can get my naked ass the hell out of there! All jokes aside though, a gun, you never know when a lion is going to be on the prowl...for reals!

3. Who is the most influential person in  your life?

Most definitely my mom. She is the one person that I talk to daily. I was on my honeymoon and still called home to speak with her. We have long conversations, and minute conversations, and at the end of the day she is the one person that I most look up to. She's absolutely amazing and funny without trying to be. She is a damn good mom, wife, sister, aunt, and friend. Love her always!

4. Tell us something we don't know about you.

I'm going to go ahead and copy Miss Ashley on this one and say pageants. Ever since I was a little girl I have done local pageants. Natural pageants. Light makeup, curlers through your hair, NOT toddlers and tiaras. Simple yet fun.

I know I look thrilled in this one, but the pageant lasted all day and although I won, I was exhausted!
I was Miss Pretty in Pink - Breast Cancer Awareness Pageant

I also won Miss Jasper County and although I couldn't find a picture on hand to post, here's a pic of the hubs wearing my crown. Gotta love him!

I've won a few, place a few, lost a few, that's all part the fun in the game, but hey, who doesn't like to win? I know I sure did!

5. If you could open your own business, what kind of service would you provide?

I'm going to sound like an ADHD person on crack, but I have wanted to open quite a few businesses. I've always wanted to open my own tanning salon, but in the area we live in it wouldn't thrive the way I would like it to financially. I'd love to open a mommy/baby boutique. Where mom can come and shop for herself, her home (décor), and for baby as well, once again, the area I live in, it just wouldn't succeed. I love to bake and am very passionate about it. Goodies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, so a little bakery, but we already have one in town that is delicious, so I would never compete, it's the same little bakery I started out (my first job) right out of high school.

I worked there for 4 years and loved it!

6. If you had to be stuck in a season for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

Fall 24/7. I love the cooler temps, but not too cold. Boots and long sleeve shirts. Hunting and football. The smell in the air, crisp clear sky, early mornings and late nights. Bonfires and cookouts. I could go on, but you get my drift.

Thanks so much Ashley for tagging me :)

I'm going to pass this fun little "you should know" to:

Emily
xo



Outfit of Choice {Target}

I absolutely love Target and I most definitely love Fall, not just the weather, but the outfit choices that you get to pair together. Booties, boots, leggings, corals, grays, creams and browns...I could go on, but I'd rather show you. I have paired one of my favorite night outfits for date night or a girls night out and my favorite day outfit for family outings and the pumpkin patch with your little one.

 

 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

 

 

 

Fall's "unofficial" beginning starts this Thursday when the Gamecocks go up against NC, I will proudly be donning my garnet colors, but this weekend I'll be sporting my boots and coral colored scarf, weather permitting of course.

 

xo

 

 



Blogging Made Me Do It

Blogging made me pay more attention to celebs more so than I did. I'm not really a "celebrity" type person because at the end of the day I could care less, but seeing and hearing all about the VMAs I decided to devote a little blog post to it.

What in the hell happened to these precious little children?!

Before:

After:

Pics via

Girl, put your tongue back in your mouth!

Before:

After:

Pics via

Can someone give these girls what they desperately need...a good kick in the ass. I know better than to act this way, let alone in public for every one else to see. It's a shame to me that these young little startlets who had the world ahead of them have completely turned into the opposite of a role model, which is what they once were.

I'm also going to throw out there that if some girl, famous or not, ever danced with my husband like Miley did with Robin Thick, I'm going to have more than one issue!

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What do you think?



Weekend Catch Up

Once every four weeks the hubs is on call, this week was the 4th week, so we stayed in our little home town, and started out the weekend by cheering on our local high school football team where my nephew plays.

It was their first game of the season, and a home game at that. Unfortunately they lost, but as we all know "you win some, you lose some". The game itself was a blast however, and it was Military Appreciation Night so the local Marine Corps band played during half time and they had soldiers replicate the well known stance at the battle of Iwo Jima. It definitely gave you chills!

As I stated on Friday's post, I brought some Pinterest ideas to fruition this weekend, and they turned out so good if I do say so myself!

A very simple, inexpensive decorative option is a $7 picture frame from your local store, along with your initials printed on paper.

I also did the infamous chalkboard that I'm sure most of you have seen, however I just bought a picture frame and painted the back side of the picture frame with the chalkboard paint, and I painted the frame a metallic silver color. It turned out great and I didn't have to buy lumber and cut, measure, and all that pain in the rear stuff!

Remember to wear gloves!

"Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin?"

I put the chalkboard in our dining room, so naturally it had to have a food theme to it!

I also realized this weekend that I have a strong addiction to Mr. Pibb!

This weekend I found a new favorite song, Parmalee's, Carolina. I'm in love and have played it non-stop all weekend long.



I'm ready for this work week to fly by to cheer on the Gamecocks Thursday, and my aunt is coming into town this Friday for a long labor day weekend. Woot woot!  

 

It's Friday Y'all

one. I have a couple DIY projects this weekend, and I am so thrilled about it. I am a crafting junkie and anytime I have the opportunity to do so I jump on it! Don't worry I will share with you come Monday! Leave it to little ole Pinterest to fill my head with ideas! Although the following are not the crafts I have planned this weekend, here are some I plan to do with the family to get ready for the Holidays! Princess loves to paint, color, and be a big helper, so I always incorporate her in to what I am doing as long as it's safe...it's not like I'm handing my child a can of spray paint and scissors.

two. Tonight is the first Varsity football game for my nephew. He is a junior this year and I am so excited for him. Speaking of football, next week I get to start cheering on my gamecocks again!

The first game we have is at home against NC, but I think most of us are looking forward to the 2nd game in Athens against GA.

three. I am truly considering going to NYC for just two days this year to watch the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center. I have never been to New York and it is my dream place to go. I feel like I'm never going to have enough money saved to go for a week seeing as the hotels there are the cost of my mortgage per NIGHT! I feel I can afford two nights verses six...I just need to find someone to go with me, but I'm considering this more than anything at this point!

Just looking at these pics makes me want to cry, I couldn't imagine actually stepping foot there!

four. I just don't understand J. Crew fashion. This is just my personal opinion, but the clothes aren't that attractive to me, not to mention ridiculously expensive. I saw yesterday where a few people posted about a sale they were having. Well when one sweater costs me $125 ON SALE then we have bigger issues than the 30% you're saving!

five. It's Friday!

xo