I love these two girlies with all my heart. Emma is always watching out for her little sister. making sure that she has enough hugs and kisses to last a lifetime. Ellie, in turn, adores Emma. She usually has nothing but smiles for her. It makes me so happy that they are best friends. Put my little Natorade in the mix, and we have the Three Musketeers!

Ellie couldn't be left out of the breakfast yesterday, so George brought her her very own Santa plate and some Sweet Potatoes. She scarfed them up and even wanted more. I think she has been watching big brother and big sis and she was just ready! She wants to be in on the action!






I'm so proud of my little baby girl!

I have been so bad about blogging! I take lots of pics, but they just sit on my computer for weeks, or in this case over a month!

So this is my little Ellie Bean's 4 month picture. She is just such a happy baby. She is the happiest when she is in my arms and I don't mind a bit! She curls herself into me and just takes everything around her in. She loves watching Nathan and Emma and you can just tell she wants to join in on the fun.

She is rolling over more and more and is never in the same spot on her mat where I put her down.

Love you to the moon and back little Els!

George made his first appearence of the year this morning and he brought with him a yummy North Pole Breakfast, complete with snow covered donuts, snowballs, candy canes, and treats for the kiddos. They loved it!

I found the idea for this breakfast over at Little Pumpkin Grace and borrowed the idea from her and put my own little twist on it!

So, here is part two of my N's pirate party: the food! I am such a sweets person. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that sometimes I will drop the kids off at school and head directly to our little local cupcake place and order the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake. It is seriously THE.BEST.CUPCAKE.EVER! Its what gets me through the day sometimes.

So, needless to say, I try to have a lot of sweets at my parties. I fill the kids up with sugar and send them home--every parent's dream. Since I have a newborn and a limited budget, I didn't get to do all that I wanted, but my sweet tooth was still happy.

I made the banner out of burlap, cardstock, ribbon, and tulle.


I dipped marshmallows into red candy melts and then added some black sprinkles on top. It was seriously the easiest, fastest thing ever.


Here are my cookies. These take me a bit to make, but they are mouth watering good. I probably ate like 10 while I was icing them. Figured Operation Lose Baby Weight could wait until after the party.


Argg! These were so fun to make and so delicious! I am pretty sure that none of the kids got one, though because the parents went crazy over them. I am already getting moms asking me if I will be making them for Emma's party in October. I sure will! They were fun to make, but my kitchen looked like a food explostion happened afterwards--not fun to clean up.


And the cake...yummy! I told you I love sweets! I bought the cake from a mom who I had heard great things about. Her shop is called Cake it Easy Bakery, in case you are local.


I served each kid dinner in these adorable gable boxes that I bought off Etsy. Then I designed a label in photoshop and printed it on sticker paper, cut it with my paper cutter, and stuck it on the box.

The label said "Ye Hearty Grub" and then listed all the food that was inside. I had Golden Nuggets with Ruby sauce (chicken nuggets and ketchup), Pirate Booty (fun popcorn snacks that are actually called Pirate Booty), and a Ship O' Fruit with a Sword (the waffle bowls that I posted before filled with fruit and a little sword pick). The kids loved having their own boxes and I think the parents loved not having to fix a plate of food for the kids.



For the invite, we did the whole message in a bottle thing. Nathan loved giving them to all his friends. They thought he was pretty cool, which he is.

I surfed the net for a few ideas for the invite and mashed all those ideas into one perfect paper. We printed them on parchment paper, burned the edges, tied it up with hemp rope, and stuffed it in the bottle along with sand, a pirate ring and some seashells.

Nathan's 5th birthday party was at the end og August and I am just getting some time to go through the pictures--that's what happens when you have three BUSY kids!

I designed the sign in photoshop and slipped it in a frame I bought at the dollar store. All the rest of the pirate gear I bought at different places online. Then I sprinked the table with chocolate gold coins. I think those were gone within seconds! I also cut out some vinyl with my Silhouette machine and put it above the table. It reads: Pirates Only: All others will walk the plank. Loved it!

Once the kids were true pirates, they had jobs to do. I set up the kids' tables in our breakfast room. Don't be afraid to move around your furniture. My breakfast table found a new temporary home in our office for the day.

I covered the table with plastic table clothes I found at the Dollar Store. Also, I made a simple banner and hung some paper lanterns that I bought at Hobbly Lobby on either end. Each little pirate had a treasure chest to decorate. I set out crayons, markers, and foam stickers to make the chests pirate worthy.

I also had an activity placemat that I designed in photoshop. They had to make their own pirate map and complete a maze. There was a pirate joke on there, too--my best one. What is a pirate's favorite letter? Arrrrrr!

For the kids who finished fast, I had a pirate tent set up with some of my son's pirate books. We like books. I will find any excuse to buy or borrow new books, and a party is no exception. This pic was taken after the little pirates had some fun with the tent, so its leaning. Ah well.

I'll share more tomorrow! Ellie Bean needs me!