Pirate Birthday Party

Well folks... its what you've all been waiting for!!! (okay... maybe its just what I've been waiting for....)

Bubba's Pirate Party is complete!! Yay! I have to thank my mom for all of her help... she did soo much the day of the party (I owe you!) And for my sis for helping me with the cake, and for JDub for helping with the boat, and for everyone that came! It was a blast. I have to admit I did not do a great job of taking photos... (I was pretty frantic the day of the party) but thankfully my mother-in-law took some wonderful photos for me to share!

goodies for the kiddos included duct-tape and cardboard swords, mini-treasure chests, beach balls, and eye-patches.

orange boats floating in a sea of blue berry jello!

pirate ship cake

How cute are these cookies! Emi's Treats did an awesome job!

pin the parrot on the pirate

Beware of sharks!

So when I told JDub I wanted a pool full of water he did a double-take.... Really?! He said.. Let's just say the kids had a blast... but it was a mess! Ceej's pants came off quick and he was swimming around before you knew it. My niece got in on that action as well. 

Didn't JDub do an awesome job on my boat?! We had part of our swing set behind there so each kid could get up tall and "be on a boat".

a view from inside the boat... this was when we were setting the party up! See Ceej already diggin in the sand?!

each child dug for a rubber duckie, some beaded necklaces, gold coins, and buccaneers!

I think the kiddos loved digging in the sand for their "trasures". All though between that and the water it sure got messy! But really can kids have any fun if they're not making a mess or getting dirty?!

I'm not sure why some of the pics are so grainy... but anywho it was a lot of fun!

I got the banner, eye-patches, mini-black treasure chests, rubber duckie pirates, pirate beach balls, and some temporary tattoos all from Oriental trading. Everything was really great quality I thought. A few of the treasure chests were broken... but I figured that would happen.

I found the idea for the jello orange boats from Pinterest!!! Jell-O orange boats

I also came across the Pirate Ship cake recipe on this link. Pirate Ship Cake I have to say I put the cakes in saran-wrap and put them in the freezer for about 4 hours and it all came together great. I did also use some straws inside the cake for extra support.

Those awesome cookies were from Emi's Treats. If you are in the Cedar Rapids area and in need of delicious/cute cookies you should check her out! Here's her fb page... http://www.facebook.com/EmisTreats


Well folks... I tell you what even though the party was yesterday and we had a lazy day today... I am still pooped! I know some of you might be thinking I went a bit over-board for a 4 year old's birthday.... but eh... Bubba loved it so much! And with his birthday being so close to when school starts... I figure he wont' be able to have all these elaborate parties when he's in school right?! Or maybe if I'm crazy enough he will... who knows!

Refashionista inspiration

Ok... So I know I haven't re-fashioned much lately... for myself anyway... I just hadn't been inspired much I guess. Well thanks to my friend TJB!!!!! I found http://refashionista.net/ She is good!!! And so freaking tiny. So of course she can take just about anything (a pillowcase) and turn it into some sort of dress. It would take one gigantic pillowcase to do that for me... but anywho... her stuff is cute! You should check her out. I'll admit a lot of her dresses are duplicates... but they sure are cute!

Well I mentioned we had a garage sale a couple weeks ago... it wasn't too bad! I, personally, made over $100! Sounds good to me. Well of course not everything sold... and my mom had a few shirts in there too... I snagged this one!

it was a XL before

I don't know why I had never thought of it before.... but the refashionista just turns her stuff inside out and pins along where it needs to be taken in... and then sews along the pins... so much easier than cutting and repinning like I've usually  been doing. It does however make me wish I had a dress form!

see the yellow pins?!

i started where the flowy part of the sleeves started and moved on down....

however... i should have sewed on the other side of the pins!!! oh well...

So it turned out allright... not the best... but the material is soo soft and comfy! The boob area is the problem... See an XL obviously has room for some XL boobies... and mine are not so XL... I might have to go back and tweak it a little.

the boob area needs some help....

But hey, it is super comfy! It was still a little warm to wear for today... but I will def rock it in the cooler temps!

2012 Summers ending....

Allright folks... I've been a little M.I.A. lately. My apologies! I've been watching kids, having garage sales, and JDub's been working over the weekends lately.

This summer just flew by didn't it?! Ok... so technically its not over, but its getting close! JDub has one more week of vacation coming up so that should be good. I'm a little sad we haven't been camping though... (we broke my parents camper last summer.... so maybe its a good thing b/c once you go camper, you don't really want to go back to tent...). I have a feeling we'll hit up a zoo somewhere... and get out and enjoy the weather.

Bubba starts preschool in a few weeks?! I can hardly believe it. He's growing up so fast. It's 4 days a week, but only in the afternoons (what is up with that?! They really just have it for like 5 hours...) He's a little hesitant about it, but hopefully will enjoy it! And don't you worry.. his birthday party is approaching fast! You'll get to see all the fun pirate stuff in September :)

For the last 2 weeks I've been watching a co-worker of JDub's daughter. I watched her earlier this year and she's such a sweetie. I came across this shirt I bought at a garage sale a while back.....

It was a Large, but still ran a bit small.... The arm holes were kind of tight you can see some holes that were forming on the sides from the straps that tied in the back.

I took it in a lot, b/c she is a tiny thing! And turned it into a dress. I put the straps back on so she could tie it in the back to have a better fit. It was pretty sweet when she wanted to wear it immediately and then she proceeded to wear it every day she came over! :) I'm not gonna lie it made me smile!

I also made a lil something for Bubba's "fort"

i backed it with fleece to make it a little heavier for hanging

and of course had to add some ties again!

Are you ready for summer to be over?!