Hello Kitty Stump Village birthday party

I will admit that I am a closet party planner. I LOVE planning birthday parties for my kids and I LOVE going all out. With two kids, it's really not so bad. I am sure I would feel different if I had more kiddos to plan for. Our rule is that up until they are 6 they get a friend party. After 6 it goes every other year which also makes it easier on me. 

I usually max the invite list at 8 because that's all we can squeeze around our table, but this year it was 10 to accommodate all the girls in her preschool and Primary class. It was such a fun group of girls.

Berlin really wanted a Hello Kitty birthday party this year. I really wanted a woodland party. So when she fell in love with the Hello Kitty Stump Village dvd's we found at the library last year, we knew we could combine the two seamlessly.

Setup.... I was up until 2 am making and putting up decorations. Then I went to bed only to wake up by 8am to get the final touches on. Needless to say, I was pooped by the time the party ended that afternoon. 

 

I found these darling trays and plates at Target in the dollar bin months ago (they were the basis of my ideas for a woodland party). The girls got to choose one as they were leaving with their parents. I just love these. They make me happy.

 

 

These were the strawberry-lemon Hello Kitty Cake Pops that Berlin helped me make. This was my first time working with a food-safe marker. Yeah. Lame. For being a brand new "marker", it was really dry and I just didn't like it. It wasn't dark enough and if I tried to go over the whiskers a second time, it just make it look worse. Oh well, they still turned out pretty good.

   

When the girls first arrived we had them put on some of my old t-shirts and aprons so they could paint some cute birdhouses I found in the dollar bin at Joann's. This was our painting station.

All the little painters hard at work. Their finished birdhouses turned out so cute! We did this first so they could dry during the rest of the party.  

Once dry I put them in cello bags to protect them.

Pin the nose on Hello Kitty was up next. Ryan made the sweet vinyl for the window. It's HUGE but it was perfect. Now it's hanging on the wall behind Berlin's headboard.

 

  

Finley getting his turn ... FINALLY! He waited so patiently for all the girls to go first. The girls all thought he would be the closest and win, but his Hello Kitty nose ended up the farthest away.

 

The girls all wanted Ryan to take a turn ... so they kept spinning and spinning and spinning him around! Then they pushed him to the target. I guess they didn't want to see him fail :). And they were laughing hysterically the whole time.

 

Then we ate lunch: PB&J sandwiches, chips, fresh strawberries, bananas, and blueberries with whipped cream, all washed down with lemonade. YUM!

These are the scavenger hunt prizes. There were 4 brown bags with different animals on them: an Owl (woodland erasers), a Hedgehog (sixlets), Mushrooms (pixie sticks), and a Squirrel (trail mix). Ryan hid these in our back field, then gave clues to the girls so they could find them. It was so cute to watch them running around.

 

  

  

  

 

Finley watching the hunt go down.

After the hunt the kids came inside to warm up and give Berlin their cute presents. One of the hit presents was a can of glitter hair spray. The minute the girls saw it they wanted to open it and spray it in their hair. So we took them back outside on the deck and sprayed it all over their hair. It was so much fun!

The girls in the picture above are all looking at Finley - who's wearing the ribbons from the presents on his head. Ryan seems to have started something here. The girls thought it was the greatest. Finley of course loved the attention. Such a ham!

Enjoying the cake pops and vanilla ice-cream with sprinkles on top. My friend told this GREAT idea to cut down prep time during the party. I scooped out all the ice-cream in little cups that morning, added sprinkles, then stuck them in a cupcake pan (the cups I got fit perfectly) and put it back in the freezer. Then, when it was time we just pulled out the cupcake pan and handed them out. SOOOOO nice & easy!

While we waited for the parents to arrive we let them pick out a Hello Kitty tattoo and put them on their hands/arms. And that wrapped up the party! It was such a lovely day and we thank our cute little friends who helped make it so much fun!

A huge shout out to Ryan who is AMAZING with the kids. He helped with all the games and made that awesome vinyl Hello Kitty Head. He isn't afraid to get silly with the kids and they love it too. And another shout out to my sister Val. She is at every party without fail helping setup, take pictures, cleanup, entertain, and just deal with the mass chaos kid parties bring. She is wonderful for this and for so many other reasons. But Finley was the sweetest of all. He was such a good helper with the girls. While I was answering the door, he found aprons for some of the girls and helped them put them on and tie them. He was like everyone's big brother, willing to lend a hand. Sure do love that kid!

The JOY of being Five

Berlin's big day came and went and now my little whippersnapper is officially FIVE! Crazy. She told me the day of her birthday over lunch that she didn't feel any different at 5 than she did at 4 ... She wasn't taller, or in a higher grade at school, or bigger than Finley. Her list went on. As a mother however, I notice so many changes and they seem to have happened overnight. Like how 5 apparently means 14. All of sudden it seems like she wants to watch teeny bop movies, listen to teeny bop music, dance like a rock-star all night long (literally, all night long), wears very bright & shiny makeup just like a hip teenager. Yep, she's no longer my Itty Bitty Boo, she's now my Tiny Teeny Bopper! 

Anyway, we had LOTS to celebrate cause turning 5 is a big deal in our house. We celebrated with just our little family the night before due to conflicts with Ryan's family FHE gathering and Valentine's Day. She woke up to a new birthday dress for church and after surviving the next 3 hours of being reverent, she came home to presents!

In her new dress...

Opening her presents under the watchful eye of a loving brother...

 

Some Just Dance Summer Party, Hello Kitty Stump Village (the best Hello Kitty dvd's out there!) and some fun makeup.

Hello Kitty Mega Bloks (wanna-be Legos perfect for little girls).  

A Hello Kitty Sewing Machine! She was very excited for this and wanted to sew a bag for her friend Abby right then and there.

 

And don't mind this crazy kid wearing part of his Link Halloween costume ... Ryan put the present bows & ribbons on his head and he went a little cuckoo. Looks like he's warming up for some Just Dance Summer Party!

Modeling her new Rapunzel Dress that Grandma Leach so lovingly made. It's gorgeous and just puts all those cheap store dress-ups to shame. We are so lucky to have such a talented Grandma!

 

I love Finley's head peaking out behind her. He kept doing the cuckoo bird thing and wouldn't stay out of the pictures. Silly Goose!

And to wrap-up the night we headed downstairs for some Just Dance Summer Party FUN!

On her actual birthday we took her out to dinner with her Aunt Val, Uncle Ben & Aunt Karen. She chose Five Guys for her feast. Then we headed over to Grandma Lynne's for FHE night & dessert with Ryan's family. I made these fun treats to take along. Dark Chocolate Mint cake pops. They were such a big hit with all the kids and super YUMMY! I used the basic recipe here.

(but with chocolate cake, 1 1/2 cups homemade cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate mint wafers (Wilton) and fun sprinkles.)

This is Berlin in the hot-seat listening to all the things that our extended family loves about her.

All 5 February birthdays on Ryan's side. 

This weekend is her big friend party! She is so excited to have all her Preschool and Primary friends over. She helped me start making these beauties in preparation for it. Can you guess what they will be? Hint

Pomegranate Ginger Pork Loin Steaks

Most of you (the few) who read this blog know I don't love to cook. But the past few months I have been trying new recipes. Some good, some bad. This one is one of the BEST ones I have tried. So I just have to share it ...


A few days ago I bought a bunch of pomegranate seeds at Costco and needed a way to use them. When I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it. Though I did alter some parts of the recipe, it turned out better than I expected! The clincher ... the hubby and kiddos loved it just as much as I did.


Here's my version:


Pomegranate-Ginger Pork Chops
(makes 4-5 steaks)

• 5 oz POM Wonderful Juice
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (if you don't like heat, reduce this, but we loved it)
• 6 TBSP light soy sauce
• 6 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (originally calls for more, but Ry's not a fan so I reduced it)
• 4-5 boneless pork loin steaks
• 1 C fresh pomegranate seeds (I buy these at Costco. So much faster and easier than getting the seeds out of the fruit yourself. Cleaner too!)

1. Mix together the pom juice, sugar, cornstarch, and red pepper flakes in a med sized saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, bringing to a gentle boil or until the liquid turns into a syrup. Turn off heat and set aside.

2. Mix together soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat frying pan on Med-High heat and add a little olive oil (or butter). Put your pork loin steaks into the pan. 

4. Place about 1 tsp of the garlic mixture on top of each loin steaks and cook for about 6-10 min (this varies depending on the thickness of the meat). Then turn them over and add another tsp of the garlic-ginger mixture on top. Cook for another 6-10 min. Cover the pan with a lid while the second side is cooking. This keeps the pork from drying out and getting tough.

5. Once the meat is cooked all the way thru, remove from the pan. Turn of the heat and add the POM-chili pepper syrup to the fry pan. Stir for a couple minutes, scraping up any pork bits. Spoon the syrup over the pork chops and sprinkle the top with fresh pomegranate seeds.

I served it with fresh broccoli (steamed) and butternut squash (mashed with a sprinkling of brown sugar on top).

My picture doesn't do it justice.

Holiday Treats

I don't really bake a ton over the holidays. I'm just not a baker. Don't love it, never have, and I admit that I probably never will. But this year I have really tried to do a couple treats that the kids can help prepare because I want them to have those memories.

Last week Ryan made some cookies that his mother made when he was a child: Hazelnut Thumb-print Cookies. Here are the kids taking turns measuring, dumping, stirring.

Then yesterday we made these Pretzel Turtles that my friend Jen told me about. Seriously, this is my kind of homemade treat - prepped and done in less than 15 minutes. And they taste pretty good.

Ingredients:
1 bag of rolos (maybe 2 if your kids eat as many as mine do during the process)
bag of pretzels
m&m's, salted cashews, walnuts, etc.
parchment paper & cookie sheet


Set oven to 350 degrees. Place rolos in center of pretzels. Place in oven for 3 minutes (just until rolos get glossy and barely start melting. Too long and it will be a mess). Take them out and push your other toppings into the rolo (smoosh it all down baby!). We did salted cashews and m&m's - both delish!


Here the rascals are placing the pretzels & rolos on the parchment paper ... can you guess what's in Finn's mouth?