I won a prize from Jessica at 3 Including Me… !!! I received my gift in the mail yesterday – a fabulous handmade apron, a wooden spoon and a beautiful flower clip! Thank you Jessica!!! I love them! The apron is so stinkin’ caute! And it’s so well made. You can check out her custom aprons here.
I didn’t get a picture of me in the apron – yet. The hubby is out of town and I didn’t think the 2 year old would be able to get the shot – you know, the one that makes me look 30 lbs lighter?
Finally getting these pictures posted with a description! I can’t believe it’s taken me two weeks to get to this.
The venue was changed at the last minute due to yucky weather. The plan was to have it in our backyard, but I had the hospitality area at our bank reserved, just in case. Always have a back-up plan! I’m glad I did this time.
I hung a little sign on the door and the balloons outside to let everyone know they were at the right place.
The previous shown banner made with my Cricut.
The cake table. I also had a Mickey mylar balloon attached to the photo frame. I missed that when taking my pictures! I made Mickey confetti that I sprinkled around the tables. 
My Uber Talented Mother-In-Law made the cake! She did it using round pans because the Mickey head cake pan was selling for nearly $50 on eBay.
This venue has a few booths so I decorated them similar to this – the metal containers came from Dollar Tree. They had a lovely floral pattern on the front so I used some chalkboard paint to cover that up. I stuck floral foam in the containers and covered that with sand. The Mickey heads were just cut out with my Cricut and glued to painted skewers. Easy, easy centerpieces.
The food table. I picked up the plastic table cloth on clearance last year at Target for .64. I’m not crazy about plastic, but it worked for a kid’s party. I made the Happy Birthday banner with scrapbook papers.
We served hot dogs with the fixings, Mickey Mouse pasta salad, chips, Mickey Rice Krispie treats, Mickey Cookies, Cake & homemade ice cream.
The bank had a huge room so we took a bunch of toys and a tent for the kids to play with. All 16 kids had a blast playing in the big open room. They were able to run off lots of energy!
The goodie bags. The red ones were for the boys and the black ones were for the girls. 
I rolled up the coloring sheets and tied them with ribbon. The polka dot ribbon were the girls’ and the solid were the boys’. I burned CDs with Mickey appropriate music. This seemed to be a hit and it was very inexpensive. 
I also included Mickey crayons and mini Frisbees that I found at Dollar Tree. 
I'm linking up to Kendra's big party. You can check out more great parties here.
My parents gave us a 6 quart White Mountain ice cream freezer for Christmas. I used it a few weeks ago – I actually made two types of ice cream in one week!
I love how quickly this freezer works compared to the Rival that we had. The ice cream is ready in 20 minutes! I think it would sometimes take me an hour or more to make a batch with the other freezer.
I tried this Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream recipe and it turned out wonderful! Love it! I was unsure about the graham cracker crumbs in it, but they really added to the flavor and texture of the ice cream. I also made 6 quarts of vanilla ice cream for my son’s birthday (pics on the Mickey party to come this weekend! I promise!). Oh, I loved the vanilla ice cream and can’t wait to make some more. I have several more recipes that I want to try this summer.
Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!
We’re still receiving rain, rain, rain in our parts… sooooo unusual for us! It is usually parched and dry. I am trying to be grateful for the moisture though it’s frustrating to not be able to work in my flower beds and gardens.
The hubby did get a few minutes to put down my mulch the other day. Doesn’t it look good? I have alyssum in the front of this bed. Two red dianthus (perennials) and a sun loving coleus are in the middle row. The back row is azaleas that I got for a steal at Lowes this year - $2.68 each!!! I wish I bought more! 
He mulched my herb garden too so I got to put out my rock markers! I’m loving these! 
On unrelated news, I tried out the KA mixer yesterday. It was fabulous! So smooth and quiet. I’m already in love with her!
The blue folder holds store specific coupons and rainchecks along with a slot for Free coupons. I usually sort out my coupons for a shopping trip and place them all in the compartment for that store.
I use this black recipe box to organize my extra coupons. I have it labeled and store coupons that I rarely use and extras... my little coupon binder was busting at the seams until I added this. It's been great to have so much room for my coupons. I can cut out all coupons just in case and have plenty of room to store them.
I found some amazing bargains while garage saling on Saturday… even though we had a college graduation to attend at 10 am, I ran to about 5 or 6 sales. I found the above frame for $1. It has the glass and hanging wire. I might end up turning it into a chalkboard.
My other bargains were all kid related. I found my son a set of play plastic dishes for $1, a nice blanket for a $1, and an OU Sooners windsuit for a $1. I know my post is a bit boring this week…. maybe next week’s will be more exciting. I know there is going to be an estate sale near us so I plan on checking that out next weekend!
Check Rhoda’s for more garage sale finds!
I love hydrangea bushes! My wedding flowers were blue hydrangeas and since then, I’ve been smitten by these luxurious flowers.
My three bushes haven’t fully come out yet, so I had to post stock photos. I have three hydrangea bushes… two used to be blue but because of the composition of my soil, all three are now pink. I am thinking about adding something to make my soil more acidic so I can have blue flowers! I really want an Endless Summer Hydrangea – they bloom ALL SUMMER LONG! I just need to figure out a place to put it!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day!!!
I thought I came up with an original creative idea a month or so ago… I just hadn’t had a chance to implement my idea. Then I saw my very idea in a magazine this month! Gosh, they were reading my mind!
I found these Decor Stones in the craft section at Walmart. They were nearly $5 for the bag… a little high if you can find them for free in the “wild.” 
I used my handy paint pen to write out the name of each herb. I still need to shoot them with poly to seal them and then I’ll place them in my herb garden. I can’t wait to see the finished product! 
We’ve had a downpour of rain around here so I haven’t been able to work in my garden or flower beds. I can’t wait for a few dry days so I can get out and get busy!
We had a yucky Saturday morning – it was wet and cold! But I still managed to hit up a few garage sales despite the fact that we were throwing our son’s big birthday party that afternoon. Yeah, I can be a little insane!
I’ll let you guess how much I spent on these purchases…
I got the trike for my son, a new-in-box lamp that needs a shade, a bird cage (in need of a coat of spray paint) and a brand new t-shirt. My grand total came out to $2.85! You read that right! Under $3 for everything. Here’s how it broke down:
Trike $2 (it’s in excellent condition!)
Bird cage .10 (as in ten cents!)
New lamp .25
New t-shirt .50
Anyone else get good deals this weekend? Be sure to link up at Rhoda’s.
What? I don’t have one of these? Oh well, I thought it would be a great feature for my Friday Favorite because I really, really, really want one! I currently have a KA wannabe mixer which has served me well for the past 6 years… but it is past it’s prime and the bowl just isn’t big enough for my double batches of cookies! Hint, hint, hubby. :)
