Pirate Costume- HOW TO

This is a week of fun for Bryson at school. First, it is his last week at daycare...ever. Second, it's "Let's pretend week". Yesterday they pretended it was Easter and went on an egg hunt...and ate lots of junk food!

Today it is pirate day. It was so fun walking in and seeing the entire class all dressed up!

I refuse to just go buy a new pirate costume every time they have pirate day at school (and they seem to have one every year). And let's just say my pirate making skills have improved. Here is 2013's pirate day costume. This one was easy to make. It was just a bandanna, a white shirt he had, cut off sweat pants, and a t-shirt cut into a vest. I used one of my belts from a dress, and some beads to tie things together. It turned out ok...I prefer this years more :)

Since he had outgrown the costume for last year, I searched the house again. Looking for anything that I could use to make another costume.

We tried on several shirts, hoping to belt them up...

And...well that wasn't going to work.

So I went and got a basic white t-shirt (undershirt). I searched my craft box for some string, and found some leather string. PERFECT!

I cut a V in the neck of the shirt, and several small holes. I used the leather string to lace the neck up like a shoe. Then I cut small triangles in the sleeves to give it a worn/fringe look.

Next I took the shirt that was a dress on Bryson, and cut the sleeves off. I cut it down the middle to make a vest, and cut some of the bottom off the make the length a little better. I did not cut a straight line, rather more triangles to continue the look I had given the white t-shirt.

This is the part where most of you will have to be more creative. I went to my Halloween costume closet (Yes, we have an entire closet dedicated to costumes) and I found an old pirate hat that we had, a few beaded necklaces, a mullet wig, and an old scarf. The sword was one that the boys had in their toy box.

I pulled the mullet wig back into a pony tail, and stuck the hat on top of it. I used the scarf for a belt, since his waist is so tiny small it wraps around twice!

If you don't have a costume closet...lol...then you can always use a bandanna or scrap fabric to make a head scarf.  Cutting old t-shirts is always an option.

To create his beard I used this stuff...I mistakenly bought this from Avon thinking it was liquid eye liner. It is some type of powder/eye shadow...I am low maintenance so I have no idea what the proper use of this is! So for me...it is beard make up! (I used it last year for his beard, and for the hobo costume beard)

Here is a side view of the wig/pony tail.

For pants we just used some old baseball pants he had. Of course you can always cut off some jeans that are too short, or sweat pants. We have a TON of jeans with holes in the knees, or that are three inches too short! He has outgrown all of his winter boots, so we used converse. He wasn't thrilled about that...PIRATES WEAR BOOTS MOM!

Houston wanted a sword too...and he wanted to be a pirate. His class isn't having pretend week...poor guy :(

The ear ring is just an old hoop ear ring that I broke the post off of. I pinched it tighter and made it into a clip on...

He insisted on wearing tattoo sleeves...I don't think pirates have tattoo sleeves. Whatever makes him happy...it's his costume and his memories!

So there you have it...my free, recycled, homemade costume. The best part is including the boys in on the scavenger hunt for things to use. They enjoy letting their imagination run wild and seeing what they can turn something into! 

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

Most of you know us on a personal basis and you know that we have had one heck of a year. I am writing this blog mostly to serve as a reminder that no matter what we are dealt, our attitudes determine the outcome.

Last July, Danny and I were anxiously awaiting Houston's first birthday. Everything was going great. Our business was just starting to support itself. My banking job wasn't too bad, my kids were thriving and growing so fast! LIFE WAS GREAT!

And then...

I was with a customer at the bank, and my phone starts ringing. I couldn't answer it, first my cell...then my desk phone. Within moments a co-worker rushed into my office and says "Danny has been in an accident and they said to stay put". There is no way for me to express the feeling that took over at that point. Long story short, Danny was driving to pick me up for lunch and another car moved over into him running about 60-65 mph. Danny had left his cell phone at the shop and was using another phone to try and contact me. While the car didn't look extremely beat up, Danny's head smashed into the window. He left that day with a concussion...which I was thankful for! It could have been a whole lot worse!

It wasn't a month after Danny's car accident that I started my new job. There was a six week lapse in my insurance coverage. Well, I asked Danny to help me move the bottle cap table (which I mentioned in a previous blog). Let's note that this things has SEVEN gallons of plastic on it. The sucker is super heavy....well, Danny didn't come in my version of a timely manor...so I tried to do it myself. (All wives who have tried to prove a point and it back fired...raise your hands) Needless to say the table was too heavy, and my wrist bent backwards and broke. Did I mention we didn't have insurance?? GEEZE oh Pete what a time for this to happen...

On Halloween Danny calls me at work and says he doesn't feel good and I need to come home. I immediately assume that he is just being a typical guy baby. I bring home stomach medication, and tell him to suck it up. Until I realized that he is rolling around in the floor in the fetal position. So I dress him, carry him to the car, and start on the way to the hospital. On the way my two front tires blew out...again this is one of those "It can't get any worse moments". My in laws quickly come rescue us and we end up at a local hospital. Several hours later Danny is in surgery having his appendix removed...I guess he wasn't being a big baby!

All four of us were supposed to be in a wedding the day after we left the hospital...so guess what we did? Packed up and drove four hours so we could share our friends special day! Danny basically slept the entire weekend...

Oh, and after the wedding Bryson was FINALLY able to get the Mohawk he had been wanting. I must say...dude rocks a Mohawk!

The night before we were set to leave for Asheville, NC little Chubby had a severe asthma attack. One that I was certain would land us in the hospital. Thankfully, he was able to get better with steroids and breathing treatments...and one VERY long night in the pediatric ER!

AND...we were able to join my family in Asheville, NC. By the way, if you haven't toured the Biltmore...you should! It's beautiful!

After returning home...the super tragic loss of "Wub" happened. I had run into Wal-Mart to grab a few things with the boys. Somewhere in there Houston threw Wub down, and had a melt down later when he couldn't be found. I searched the entire store, Danny drove over and searched the entire store....and I called and begged the store manager to please call if they found Wub. I cried...cried a little more...this was Houston's FAVORITE! At 5:00 AM the next morning Wal-Mart called me to inform me that the lost Wub had been located! It was a day of rejoicing!

Then, we got nearly a week of snow. It was amazing! I am so thankful that both boys were old enough to enjoy it! 

And then....we went to Mobile for Mardi Gras and came home to a flooded house. Yes, nearly five months later we are still repairing the damage. I am grateful insurance covered it and we got new floors, but I had a one room at a time plan for our house. Not another complete redo. So after a few days at my mom's house, nearly a dozen loud fans, and every thing ripped out of the house...we have brand new pretty floors!

Not even two weeks after our house flooded we had to have Bryson's tonsils and adenoids removed. His tonsils were HUGE...this has by far been one of the best things we have ever done for him. I am not a fan of surgery, but for the first time in his life he can finally get a good night sleep! 

Then when Bryson was better...we went to the beach with Danny's family. Don't be fooled...this was the ONLY sunny day we got. We were there for TEN days of rain. It wasn't all bad...we enjoyed laying around watching movies all day!

Bryson graduated Pre-K!! I just thought I cried a lot the night he graduated...I have cried more buying things for REAL school! Can you tell I am having a hard time accepting the fact that he is growing so fast??

I am seriously so proud of him...when other kids were too scared to say their lines, or sing their songs Bryson jumped right up and filled in for them. I hope that he always keeps his outgoing personality!

We went back to the beach, with my family...it rained AGAIN. While playing in the indoor pool area Houston fell and broke several of his front teeth out. We rushed him to the emergency room and then came home and went to a pediatric dentist...his teeth can be repaired once everything is completely healed up.

For laughs we shared this picture on Facebook. Most people believed that we actually got him a mouth full of silver teeth! SAY WHAT?? Really...teeth are so important...silver ones won't do LOL

Before his mouth could even completely heal we landed ourselves back in the hospital. This has to be one of the scariest hospital stays I have ever had. There are no words to express how I felt when the nurse came in and said "You're being moved...to Atlanta". My first thought was...only REALLY sick kids go to Atlanta. I honestly had no idea that my baby was that sick. Thankfully, they were able to treat the MRSA in his leg with medication and no surgical procedures. But, after a rushed move to Atlanta and a week at Egleston...saying I was stressed is an understatement.

So we are back to the one year mark of Danny's car accident. I am praying that nothing else goes wrong, that this year is full of boring and uneventful days! What I have learned through this entire year is that you can not help what life gives you. You can't change it, you can't just magically make it go away. You can only control your attitude and outlook. Please don't read this and think "Gosh she is so positive"...that's not true. I have spent countless hours in tears asking "How much more can I take".

While in this blog I covered the bigger events, we were constantly challenged with smaller hurdles. Nothing like getting ready to go somewhere (on your birthday) and the car won't start. 

If any of you are going through something right now, it may not be a dozen hospital visits like us. It may be financial or emotional (we have had those times this year too), there is always joy in the morning. What seems like your world crashing down on you today...tomorrow is a little bit lighter. You have to choose to rejoice in the good and the bad. Despite all of our hardships this year, I still have a wonderful family, a home that is ours, and numerous friends who are there to pick me up when I am down.

I am not a mushy person, but I feel like someone needs to know that they are not the only one going through something. 

My favorite...hands down...

Romans 5 New King James Version (NKJV)

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have[a] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Treat your teacher...

With the start of school rapidly approaching I have been racking my brain for something to give to Bryson's new KINDERGARTEN teacher. Did guys catch that?? KINDERGARTEN! WOW..where did time go? I cannot believe I am old enough to have a kindergartner in my house! This is not possible...

Anyway...back to talking about gifts for teachers.

For Bryson's pre-K teachers I made these adorable flower pots. SUPER SIMPLE. Here is what you need.

• Construction Paper
• Number 2 Pencils (sharpened)
• Single Hole Punch
• Paper Punches (optional, you can use scissors to cut the shapes out)
• Flower Pot (or large coffee cup)
• Styrofoam

I borrowed my co-workers paper punches (she has a TON of fun shapes) and I punched out different shape flowers and butterflies. You could use scissors to cut each shape out, but punches are easier and faster. I used all solid primary colors, I felt like that was fitting to Bryson's class/age.

I hole punched the center of each flower and stuck a number two pencil through them. I purchased the already sharpened pencils...because that was easier than sharpening each one. (You need them sharpened so you can stick them in the styrofoam.) Fill the flower pot with styrofoam, the stick the pencils in the foam. I am no florist, but basically you just fill up the empty spots with a flower on a pencil.

I added some tissue paper at the bottom to hide the styrofoam...you can leave it exposed or use whatever you want to cover it.

His teachers loved these so much they refuse to take them apart. I had plans of them using the pencils...LOL. 

Another favorite teacher gift were these precious mug/candles. My husband purchased me a candle making kit from Amazon for Christmas last year and of course I was dying to use it! I was cruising through Family Dollar and found these adorable mugs for ONE DOLLAR! I came home and filled them with pretty red candle wax (I don't remember the scent I chose) and let them set. Once the wax was dried I put the mugs in a treat bag and added a few pieces of candy and a fun pen. These were so precious!

The best part, once they use the candle up all they have to do is boil water and pour it in the mug. The hot water will melt the remaining wax and it will float to the top. Then they will have a CLEAN nice coffee mug!

All you need for this:

• Coffee Cup
• Treat Bag
• Ribbon
• Candle Wax & Wick
• Goodies for treat bag

Another option for teacher appreciation is the paper rose. I know most moms are on a tight budget. If you are like me and have two kids in daycare you are on a BROKE budget! To make tissue roses all you need is a roll of streamer paper and a little time on your hands. I could write a three page long blog on how to do this...or just show you this tutorial and let you try your hand at it. WARNING...the first four or five you make will be super wonky looking. Then you will get the hang of it and they will look awesome! You can make flower balls for weddings, centerpieces, or little girl's bedrooms! Read the post in the above link to see how many options there are! I LOVE tissue roses and find reasons to use them!

All you need for this:

• Tissue paper streamers
• Coffee mug or flower pot
• Tape
• Skewers
• Styrofoam

These are a few I used at my mom's 50th birthday party. The vases were super easy...modge podge and glitter. I learned that it was easy to mix glitter in the modge podge and then put it inside the vase, adding more glitter once the modge podge was spread evenly. Either way...it's super easy and makes awesome vases!

The two vases on the bottom (left and center) are actually old ceiling fan globes. The fan was getting trashed when we replaced it...so I up cycled them!

One last idea for you is burlap door hangers. Personally, I HATE burlap. After making hundreds of these I have come to loath the sight of burlap. It sheds everywhere and is itchy...but it is tolerable if you are making one or two things.

These are easy to make...paint your picture on the burlap. Cut around them, allowing enough space to sew or glue them shut, make sure to cut the front and back pieces out at the same time. Glue (or sew) most of the way around and stuff them with plastic grocery bags. The hardest part about this is cleaning up the fuzz and strings (no washing it before using it doesn't help...that tutorial lied lol).

All you will need for this is:

• A yard of burlap (any color)
• Acrylic paints
• Plastic grocery bags (or tissue paper)
• Hot glue (or sewing machine)

So now I am back to racking my brain for a fun gift to surprise Bryson's new teacher with. Sure I could do a gift card or a fruit basket...but that's not complicated enough for me LOL!

It's time to P-A-R-T....Y, Because I gotta.

So, the title of this post isn't near as funny as hearing my cousin, Gabe, mock Jim Carey in The Mask. So re-read the title and pretend like you are the Mask!

I LOVE to have a good party! So today I wanted to share a few of my past parties, showers, and events.

I love to make a party personal. I am a sentimental person, I love to make things memorable to people. Let's look at my Pop's 50th birthday party. There is nothing my dad loves more than being a Pop and CANDY! So there was no better theme than a POP theme. These were simple to make...popcorn box (super cheap on Amazon) candy, and dollar store styrofoam. Put the styrofoam in the popcorn box and stick the candy in there. Seriously, this took less than two minutes to make. The guest LOVED them! Edible centerpieces!

I let the boys help paint posters to hang around..they doubled as birthday cards!

One of my favorite parties was Bryson's third birthday...ELMO style. I personally really don't like Elmo...he is annoying...BUT he makes for a cute party. My mom and I made the cupcakes, and cookies. The small cake came from my friends Tammy and Mallory, they have a great cake business here and have made several cakes for me over the years.

The cookies are left over Oreo cookies (from the cupcakes below this) with these on them. I also got the Elmo cupcake toppers on Amazon. They were just simple little rings.

My favorite part about this party was the Elmo cup cakes...my mom made red icing and covered the cup cakes. Bryson and I used Oreo cookies, skittles, marshmallows, and tiny chocolate chips to decorate them. I am pretty sure Bryson ate more of the decorations than he applied to the cupcakes. These were SIMPLE and super fun!

For Chubby's first birthday we did red, white, and blue themed. This wasn't too personal...so it really wasn't my favorite. There isn't much to brag about here, I really should have put my thinking cap on big time and made this better. So this is what I would consider one of my failures...enjoy...LOL

Recently, I wanted to have my friends over and have GIRLS NIGHT, but I wanted to have fun party favors. I spend so much time making fun things for my boys class parties and birthday parties that I wanted something fun for my friends. Dollar store wine glasses, vinyl decals, and a pack of wine stoppers made excellent favors!

I also made pedicure buckets. They each had a towel, head band, face mask, lotion, nail polish, their cups, and a manicure/pedicure set. Needless to say...we had a wonderful time!

Another fun event was my nephew, Cainan's shower. My sister in law isn't a big fan of blue, and puppies so I had to be creative. We made cute skull cupcakes and used mostly black for decoration. It was homemade and super cute! The skull cupcakes are just miniature Oreo cookies, tic tacs, and chocolate chips.

I found these adorable ice cream bowls on Oriental Trading for super cheap. I used small zip lock bags and filled them with different sundae toppings. Shipped them off to school with a few gallons of ice cream, some chocolate syrup, and they had a sundae party! It was super cheap, easy, and the kids LOVED it!

These are super easy cup cakes. The trees are just cake pop sticks with cotton candy on them. The lorax cup cakes are just icing and candy eyes. The boys decorated these with my mom and grandmother and had a blast! Again...I am sure Bryson ate half of the toppings. If you want to get real fancy they sell a mustache candy mold....so you can make a yellow chocolate mustache.

This is Houston's baby shower photo. The flowers are coffee filters. These are super easy to make. You can find the tutorial here. I have actually made these for numerous events. Tomorrow I may blog on exactly how to do this and tissue roses. These are a cheap way to create fun center pieces.

I make treat bag covers for most any event for the boys. These were some that I made for Bryson's birthday this year. He chose dinosaurs...so his wish...my command!

I may go into detail on each party and the budget break down in another post. I just wanted to share a quick snap shot of how homemade, cheap parties can be fun! You don't have to go broke trying to plan a pintrest style event!