Simple Girl

If you are one of my kids, you've come to expect a green lunch on St. Patrick's Day!  My youngest tends to remind me a few days in advance. "Do we get a green lunch again this year?" My oldest, a super-cool 17-year old, grabs the inevitable bag and shoves it in his backpack. Despite his apparent ambivalence, I bet that when he's a dad, his kids will get a green lunch, too! #StillFunny, #ILoveMyJob! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hahaha!  I am so putting these in my kids lunch boxes tomorrow! Plastic Vampire Teeth stuck in the center of a bagel, topped with candy eyes. There is so much to love about being a mom! :-) HAPPY HALLOWEEN! xo Rachel Source:  Family Fun Magazine

I believe. In small parties.  Now, don't get me wrong. I've had sleepovers for 15 girls and chaotic, thunderous celebrations at Chuck E. Cheese's. I have. Which is why I can tell you that a small, intimate soiree is a lovely way to celebrate the birthday of a whimsical girl.  Four girls. Three hours. It's a beautiful thing. Because October in Minnesota can be a bit unpredictable, we brought our garden party indoors. A look around the house was all we needed for a beautifully set table. Candy-coated sunflower seeds are perfectly miniature in scale. Caprese "Mushrooms" grow from a moss-covered pot. Berries look beautiful in flower cups. Ella made the "Acorns" with kisses, mini vanilla wafers and chocolate chips. Beautiful little bites. Petit Fours with fanciful mushrooms and ferns (Grandma's Bakery). Exquisite flower cookies (Grandma's Bakery). A well-...

  Anyone who has ever hosted a sleepover party for a dozen 10-year old girls knows this:  A bowling party is SO MUCH BETTER!   When Arielle turned 11, we invited her friends to some Friday Night Bowling.   Advantages : No need to clean the house 16 friends is not a crowd! Easy cleanup! Mom gets a good night's sleep Everyone has fun! Add a few cute details and you still qualify for the cool mom award!    First Thing:  Make some cute iron-on bowling T's. Matching T-shirts are great for crowd control AND the girls loved them!   Michael's is a great resource for inexpensive T's. I downloaded this cute bowling design from Scrapendipity Designs on Etsy.  The design cost only $2.50 and I was able to fit two images on each iron-on transfer sheet. I ordered these "Bowling Ball" Cupcakes from our local bakery, but you could easily make them yourself.  Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing ...

The St. Patrick's Day "Green Lunch" started as a family tradition many years ago when the kids were little and we lived in Atlanta. #momhumor.  I made sure that I was on school lunch duty when they first opened their "all green" lunch.  I couldn't stop laughing. Tears streamed down my face when I saw their puzzled expressions. #ithinki'mfunnierthanireallyam. The big surprise came only once, but even now they still remind me, "You're going to pack us a green lunch on St. Patrick's Day, right?" #familytraditionsrock. Happy St. Patrick's Day! xo Rachel

It's my brown-eyed girl's 11th birthday! When we lived in The South, March 4th always marked the day that the daffodils bloomed. Clearly, we are not even close to blooming here, although despite the fact that we have had some 50+ days of below zero (Fahrenheit) temperatures this winter, the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a turn toward spring.  I love the Farmer's Almanac.  How can they always be right?  As you can see, we are attempting to bring some spring into our day with our brand new spring birthday outfit (Thanks, Aunt Rita!) and this very spring-like gum cake!  A Sugar Free Gum Cake is as close to dessert as school allows.  Leave it to Arielle to make a more beautiful cake than her mother! You can get some step by step instructions HERE ! And as long as we are reminiscing, How about this sweet photo of Arielle and Ella? They were little flower girls in cousin Sherah's LightHouse Oregon Coast Wedding. For the record, I am so glad...

When your kids go to a Sugar Free School, sometimes you have to think outside the box when it comes to birthdays.   I was willing to give up the sugar, but I wasn't willing to give up the cake! This Sugar Free Gum Cake provided the perfect solution for celebrating our teacher's birthday last week! It was surprisingly easy to put together.  First of all, start with two styrofoam cake rounds. (Available at Michael's.) Buy some contrasting grosgrain ribbon and cut each piece an inch longer than the circumference of each cake. Fasten the ribbon with pearl corsage pins (also available at Michael's) at the top of each cake.  I love how the pearls give it some dressmaker detail! You can reinforce the ribbon with a few glue dots. Attach two glue dots to the back of each pack of gum.  Attach the gum around the outside of the cake. For added reinforcement, tie some more ribbon around the packs of gum.   Add more glue dots to th...

This is typical for us.  Somewhere around late September the kids start asking when they can get their pumpkins.  "Too early," I say.  In early October it continues.  "Still too early.  We don't want them to rot before Halloween."  Rewind 14 years.  That's how long we lived in Atlanta.  A place where pumpkins will actually rot and be filled with fire ants if put out on your front steps any more than, say, two hours before trick-or-treating.  I keep forgetting.  We're not in Atlanta anymore. So this past Sunday, after church, we experienced what was perhaps our last gorgeous 50 degree day before snowfall. We packed up the kids and drove to the Apple Orchard where there are breathtaking, scenic fields filled with pumpkins just ripe for picking. Or so we thought. When we arrived, we hiked through fragrant, picturesque rows of apple trees only to arrive upon lovely fall fields.  With no pumpkins.  The words Bad Mommy c...

It just wouldn't be The Fourth of July without some Red, White and Blue Food!  My kids were so excited to see these, I think they ate them all in about 8 minutes.  It's amazing what a few marshmallows will do! To make your flag kabobs you will need sixteen skewers. Skewers 1-7: 7 Blueberries Marshmallow Raspberry Marshmallow Raspberry Marshmallow Raspberry Skewers 8 - 16: Alternate 7 Raspberries and six marshmallows, beginning and ending with a raspberry. The result will be an almost anatomically correct flag. Happy Independence Day!

So maybe this is a bit too easy to be blog-worthy, but I love ideas that are sweet, simple and to the point!  I'm hosting 20 of my favorite in-laws for Father's Day tomorrow and needed to set up three tables.  I've seen edible centerpieces.  Why not drinkable ones? Dad's Root Beer needs no explanation or further ornamentation for the Father's Day theme and I love the fact that they still come in these cute old-fashioned bottles!  These inexpensive centerpieces will do double duty.  After dinner, we'll have Root Beer (Or Orange Cream) Floats for dessert!  Don't forget these cute paper napkins and paper straws from Target! To change things up a bit, put small glass jars inside the cardboard carrier and fill them with wild flowers. I'm also displaying these framed 8 x 10 posters which you can down load HERE and HERE ! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!