This is a picture that I ran across when I was looking for my diaper cake picture from a shower I attended.

This is a set up from a baby shower I helped host a couple of years ago. The guest of honor/mom-to-be sat in the blue chair, draped on it was the mom-to-be's blanket when she was a baby. To the left was a gift table and to the right a small table for the guest of honor to rest a cup of water or plate of food. Behind her, a clothes line filled with new clothes and clothes that were hers as a baby and ones that belonged to her nieces were strung across the fireplace and on the mantle was a collection of baby themed stuffed animals.

Diaper Cake

I was at a Baby Shower today and it reminded me of how cute diaper cakes are. I think they are a little work to get done, but they do add a really nice touch to the shower.

Here is a diaper cake that my friend, Veronica, made a couple of years ago.

New Cleaning Strategy: 30 min. Speed Clean

I call my brother in law, Mr. Clean. That dude can tidy up a place in a heartbeat. His mom was the queen of clean. She taught me to take blinds off your windows and dunk them in the bath tub to get them clean. Honestly, I had no idea blinds in apartments could be so dirty. They are. They may look clean, but the water I saw that day was black. Ugh.

Anyway, I dropped in on my sis the other day and she had her timer going and she was running around tidying up. She said she was "speed cleaning". Apparently they clean in 15 to 30 minute bursts, during the day. That way they aren't bored with the monotony of chores and are keeping the place in check.

I've been giving it a try. It works! Don't come to my house right now, b/c I haven't been home long enough the last 24 hours to do squat-o-la...but on days when I am around. I feel like this is a pretty worthy method of tidying up.

Um, technically I am suppose to be doing said "speed cleaning" right now, but I decided to get on the blog and tell you about it instead...so I better get back to work!

Draw your Own Placemat

Drawn by an aspiring artist. Cody, age 5.

I may have written about this before, but we were at a Kid's birthday party, where the hostess had a long role of brown paper stretched out on the table, with large rectangles drawn at each place setting.

Sitting center of the table in colorful little tin buckets, were art supplies.

Each child was given the opportunity to draw their own placemat. It was super cute!

Pretty Table

This is a table setting from my friend's engagement dinner, when the families of the Bride and Groom met each other. Dishes were turned upside down b/c the dinner was held outside!

Ronald McDonald House

Did you know that you can volunteer your time fixing meals for families that are staying at Ronald McDonald House? Did you know that you can also contribute groceries to their houses, for people that need to stay there while their child is being treated for a serious illness at a children's hospital?

Did you know that you can save the tab off the top of your soda cans, and turn the tabs into Ronald McDonald house? Then they can send the tabs to a recycling companies that will turn those tabs into $$. So, you are doing good for the environment and helping a home that offers a place to sleep/rest for families who are caring for sick kids.

I have friends that served brunch to a Ronald McDonald House about 40 minutes from my home last Saturday. They made breakfast casseroles, muffins, made to order omelets and pancakes hot off the griddle. They had so much fun cooking together and meeting the families, they are going back next month!

Bobbie's Strawberry Pie

My friend, Bobbie, sent me this recipe for strawberry pie. Can't wait to try it out!


Bobbie's Strawberry Pie
1-8oz package Cream cheese (Philly)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Dash of nutmeg
1 cup strawberry slices
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
9" inch ready pie crust (easy) graham cracker taste good with this

TO MAKE:
Combine softened cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg, mix until
well blended.
Mash 3/4 cup strawberry slices; stir into the cream cheese mixture. Whip cream with the confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks forms; fold into cream cheese mixture. Fold remaining strawberries into cream cheese mixture. Spoon into crust. Chill for several hours or over night. Garnish with additional strawberries if desired.

Flowers for a Friend

Vase from the $1 store.

Flowers from my garden. Well, my four rose bushes. If you know me, you know I clearly have no idea what I am doing! :-)

Here is where this gets funny. The flowers were actually for my daughter's teacher during Teacher Appreciation week. Children were asked to bring in a flower for their teacher, and I was asked to bring the vase in for the flowers that the kids would be bringing in. So I went to Wal-mart, got a tall vase. I knew we would pick our flowers from our rose bushes, but didn't take in to account that our stems would be super short. So, said tall vase that I got, didn't work with my short stemmed roses! I felt like a real dufus. The only short vase I had was square shaped. So I had to shear my rose bushes, so to fill the vase. It turned out cute for a really big mistake.

BUT, it made other kids feel bad. Which I didn't take into account as I was shearing bushes, so that my child wouldn't get upset about her contribution to the flowers.

What does this say? To me it says, give from the heart...don't worry about what others think. But am I teaching this to my children? Something for me to think about.

More Cards!

Laura's Baby Shower

First let me say, this was sooooo much fun to plan with my other 3 co-hostesses! I have pictures, but I am having computer problems...so as soon as my computer is behaving I'll upload pictures.

We had the best, the BEST baby shower games ever. It also helps when your game leader, aka cruise ship director, is bubbling with personality!

Games
Purse Scavenger Hunt- points awarded for things like grocery store receipts, voter registration cards, ponytail holder, baby shower invite, etc.!

Baby Gift Scavenger Hunt- You are given a blank board and you predict what gifts the mom-to-be might get. She opens a gift, you check your board, first one to bingo...gets the prize!

Put a sock in it! Our game leader, Jaime, put baby socks on a safety pin, and then pinned the socks to a ribbon that was sort of a necklace. Everytime someone said baby, they lost their sock.

Baby Pictionary

Baby Songs- divide into two teams come up with songs that either had baby in the title or in the song and paired with the artist name.

I cannot take credit for any of these games! Jaime did it all and it was really fun!

Carvel Ice Cream cake was our cake. Sweet baby bear napkins and blue plates.

Rachel's 9th B-day Party

Recently, my daughter was invited to her friend, Rachel's 9th birthday party. First, I loved that they had the party in their backyard. They had a luau theme. 4 long tables decorated with luau themed decorations, bright colors. Each girl received a lei when they arrived. They played limbo. Each girl was given flip-flops to decorate and take home. They were also given tiki cups with lemonade or fruit punch. And then they were given these super cute party favors. Plastic cone shaped bags, lined with scrapbook paper, filled with layers of skittles, swedish fish and gumballs.

Really fun!

Having computer problems!

I haven't given up on the blog, just given up on my computer!

I have oodles of pictures and ideas I've gotten over the last several weeks and I can't wait to share them with you! In the mean time, please pardon my neglect of the blog. Life has been crazy, but mostly I am suffering from serious computer issues.

I'll get back to work soon! Promise!