Thomas Day at Port Discovery

We went to the Port Discovery children’s museum yesterday because they were having a Thomas the Tank Engine event this weekend! It was also our first chance to use our new membership that we got for Christmas!! (Thanks again, Nana and Papa!!)

We brought some friends along since we could get them in free (and we felt so fancy) and I think everyone had a GREAT time. We didn’t get too many pictures, as between the 3 adults we had 5 kids to keep track of and Spencer was always trying to run away…but here are the ones we took ;)

They had a huge train table set up – he was in heaven!
This is his camera smile, ha ha

We had to make a stop at the percussion room, it’s Spencer’s favorite!

It was really busy, but not so busy that we couldn’t have fun. I think we spent the most time with Thomas, at the water tables and in the diner. The kids had so much fun, they didn’t want to leave, even after we’d been there for 4 hours! I’d say a definite success :)

Love Day Cookies

When I was making my mom’s school themed birthday cookies, I had quite a bit of dough leftover, so I decided to have some fun and make some valentine’s day cookies.

(this was also a good excuse to use some of those cutters that I buy but totally don’t need – I just get them because they are cute. And now I can say that I’ve used them, hee hee)

I’m pretty sure chocolate dipped strawberry cookies are my new favorite thing.
Some Paris themed cookies – because what’s more romantic than Paris?
Donut and hot chocolate cookies! These were Nathan’s favorite ;)

Now I’m itching to make more cookies, but then I just end up having all these cookies sitting around in my kitchen with no one to eat them. Whatever shall I do? ;)

Nana’s birthday visit

Alriiiight I’m finally posting things that happened THIS month! ;)

My mom’s birthday was this last weekend, so she came up to visit, which is always a treat for us. :) The week leading up to her visit I was working furiously on a few birthday surprises for her. The original plan for our Harry Potter party was that I would make Harry Potter robes for everyone in my family. I ran short on time AND fabric (hello, 6’2” brother who took up all the fabric ;) ) so I only managed to make robes for Jason and Eryn. I had half the fabric I needed to finish my mom’s – and she had really wanted one made by me – so I got the remaining fabric I needed and finished up her robe. I’m getting pretty good at them now, it doesn’t take nearly as long to put together. And then I made her some birthday cookies!

She only came up for the day, but we spent every minute capitalizing on our time with Nana!

Stories are usually demanded requested the moment of her arrival ;) She’s stylin’ in her new Hogwarts robe, yes?School themed birthday cookies!
And I packaged them all cute in one of my new fancy bakery boxes ;)
We went to Chuck E Cheeses – we’ve taken the boys a couple of times when we’ve been visiting my parents and they love it. We happen to have one really close so we gave ours a try. Definite success.
You know those games they have that are really just gambling for kids? Well, we tried one for fun (it was pirates, why not?) and just so happened to win the jackpot for that game! We were laughing hysterically as all those tickets came out.
And then we found a LIGHTNING MCQUEEN RACING GAME. The boys were in heaven. We played that game several times. Even after Nathan had moved on to something else, Spencer didn’t want to leave his seat. ;)
And let it be known that I BEAT JOHN in our last race!! (because honestly, we were driving – the kids can’t even reach the pedals!) ;)
After Chuck E Cheeses we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch where Nathan was a selfie master.

With our winnings from Chuck E Cheese, we got some cotton candy and Spencer devoured it on the way home.
He loved it, if you couldn’t tell ;)

The boys had naps and quiet time and then it was time for Nana to go home. Thanks for all the fun Nana! It was so fun to see you!!

Harry Potter Surprise Party!!!

We wanted to make my sister-in-law Eryn’s birthday extra special this year because it was her first Christmas and birthday away from home - at least, I’m pretty sure it was – at any rate, we wanted to make it awesome so that she didn’t feel tooooo homesick. Since she loves Harry Potter and I love Harry Potter, that’s the theme we picked ;) Besides, I’m always looking for reasons to wear my Harry Potter robe that I made for Halloween last year, ha ha

We tried to make it a surprise, though I think she’d figured out the day of that we were up to something, but she just didn’t know what. Our first plan to get her out of the house fell through, so we were just going to send her and my brother out for a drive…for 2 hours…so that we could get everything ready. Then she fell asleep right before they were supposed to leave, so then Jason had to make a sign on their door telling her she couldn’t come upstairs (their room was in the basement), so they left through the walkout downstairs. So yeah, she knew something was up. ;)

But oh, what a fun surprise it was to put together!!

So excited for Eryn to get back for her party!

The anxious welcoming committee ;)

Train tickets and the Hogwarts robes that I made for Jason and Eryn

Once they had their tickets and robes, they could get to Platform 9 3/4
Ready to go!!
Hogwarts!!!!!!! Despite our best intentions of having things ready ahead of time, my mom was painting this fantastic stone wall until midnight (or later) the night before, but doesn’t it really complete the look?! I love it! We used battery operated tea lights with white paper wrapped around them for the candles. We strung them up with fishing line from the balcony above. I love it I love it I LOVE IT.
Party city even sells gold colored paper plates and silverware!!
Nathan is most ready for this feast he keeps hearing about ;)
I have a chocolate frog mold specifically for these occasions, so I made some chocolate frogs and I found this really awesome box template online to make the boxes. They even come with trading cards!
Birthday feast!
And more Harry Potter Cookies!! I added some new ones this time around, they are seriously so fun to make
Happy Birthday to Eryn! :)
And a random picture of Jason trying to curse Sandi

I’m thinking I need more Harry Potter themed parties in my life. Anyone else? ;)