Tag Archives: holidays

Ok, I admit that I shook my head a little when I first started seeing Christmas items in stores in July. However, I can understand getting a jump on the to-do list for some things…and this year, one of those things is ordering and sending out our Christmas cards. The past two years (our only two years sending cards) we waited until the last minute, had to pay extra for shipping and then had to get them out as soon as we got them.

I think we run into this problem because we always try to think of different ideas we could do and then have a hard time choosing which one to actually do. We also wonder which printing company to use, looking for deals the best we can.

This year, we vowed to get started much earlier.

The first step: the idea. We were surprised at how quickly we were able to decide on our idea. We plan on taking the photo this weekend, so let’s hope it turns out as planned (I’ll save the idea for when we share our Christmas card - you can see last year’s here).

The second step: where to order, what cards to order and how many to order. I was grateful to be sent a sample box of cards by Simply to Impress to see the various types of cards they offer.

A little about Simply to Impress:

Simply to Impress is dedicated to providing our clients with quality invitations, announcements, and stationery at an affordable rate. We offer unsurpassed customer service, and our attention to detail keeps us standing above the rest. We are known for our high standards and artful presentations. People are shaped by personal and professional experiences - they affect how we see the world, how we react and relate, and how we set our priorities. We adopted our philosophy at Simply to Impress through our search for creativity with our own personal events, and by beleiving they shouldn’t have to come with a high price tag.

Life’s special occasions are notorious for being expensive… With Simply to Impress, they don’t have to be!

 

It’s one thing to see your options online, but it was so nice to be able to see the different sizes and finishes in person. The cards are quite thick, the quality is amazing and they have a nice variety to cater to your different needs:

They have small cards…

All the way to large cards - perfect for displaying an amazing photo. I love the scalloped edge on the left!

Or skip the photo all together and go with a simple heartfelt message…how easy is that?!

Most of the cards also have designs on the back for added fun.

You can also get the envelope customized.

While we liked all the options, we’ll probably choose the large card to best display our photo. I do recommend at least taking a look at card options before taking your photo. You may find one you really like in landscape-style and if you already took your photo portrait-style, you’re out of luck. By having a general idea of what you like, you may be able to plan your photo accordingly.

The third step: find a deal! Currently, you can use code 10FREE4ME to get 10 free cards! (Ends 11/30) And since orders are processed and shipped within 2 business days, you’ll get them quickly in order to send them out and start hearing about how great they are! Then you’ll be ready to move onto the next item on the never-ending Christmas to-do list! ‘Tis the season!

I’ll be sharing our card as soon as we receive them and send them out! High five for not procrastinating!

 

Connect with Simply to Impress to stay updated on current promotions!

 

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Ok, I know that Thanksgiving is still a few weeks away, but I chose today’s photo because when I switched my calendar over to November, I had this cutie pie staring at me and just had to share it. I think I may have shared it at some point last year, but who’s counting?

We had received this Gobble, Gobble outfit at the baby shower and waited 5 long months for him to wear it. What kills me is the turkey on the butt. Only babies can get away with that. I’m sure no one would be saying “Awww, how cute!” if I had a turkey printed on my butt.

He was starting to move around a lot more, making our photo-taking endeavors much more difficult, but also resulted in some cute poses.

On another note, I also wanted to share this because it’s a reminder to me to remember to still take photos of him in this white chair. We have moved it in and out of the studio ever since we stopped taking monthly photos of Trent, but we need to remember to at least take photos of him in it every now and then in order to put together a good progression sequence years down the road. I think it’s fun to look back and see how much someone has grown along with something that has stayed the same (the chair). The holidays are a perfect time to do just that.

 

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As promised, here is a little rundown of our Halloween costumes this year. Brett was Anakin Skywalker, I was Padme Amidala, and Trent was Yoda. We wanted something in the Disney family, since we were going to be attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in Walt Disney World. Since Disney just purchased the rights to Star Wars, we decided to be a Star Wars family. We had a mixture of pre-made costume and hand made items. Here we are as a family.

 

Yoda

Our little man was Yoda, who is little - how convenient!

We bought this costume from BuyCostumes.com (also available on Amazon), which included the robe and a hat.

However, the reviews on the hat were not good, saying it was too small and didn’t fit the age group for which the costume was designed for, but we took a chance anyway. It definitely did not fit. So I panicked, since we were just a couple weeks away from the Halloween Party, but then Brett found this super cute crocheted Yoda hat on Etsy. I can’t get over how adorable it is.

Trent actually likes wearing it (except for the night of the Halloween Party at WDW - go figure). This hat totally made the costume and probably got the most attention out of anything.

And for added fun, we got him a small battery-operated glow stick to be his lightsaber from Amazon.

He just wore brown/khaki shorts/pants underneath and green socks.

 

Anakin Skywalker Costume - From Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Brett was the first person to have his costume completely ready. He got lucky and found a great costume with all of the pieces already together, except for the boots and lightsaber. His main focus was finding a quality robe. Most pre-made Anakin or Jedi costumes come with a pretty lame robe, so he was happy to find this one. Yes, it’s a little pricey, but he can wear it again and again (he claims he’ll wear it to Star Wars weekends at Hollywood Studios - which we’ve only been to once, so I’d like to see that happen - but also says the robe and the boots can be used for other costumes too).

Here is Anakin from the movie:

Here is Brett’s costume:

Available here: JediRobeAmerica.com

It comes with several pieces and looks really authentic. The only adjustment he had to make was putting velcro squares on his shoulders to help keep the shoulder tabards in place.

If you are looking for just the robe, you can find them separately (and ironically enough, I just found this one on Amazon - it’s from the same costume!).

His boots were from: HalloweenCostumes.com. Amazon had them too, but they were much more expensive. These can also be worn with his pirate costume and other costumes too, I’m sure.

Lastly, the all important lightsaber.

This one is available here on Amazon and even though I would have preferred him to just use a cheap lightsaber, this one was really impressive and realistic (as realistic as a “laser sword” can look I guess).

Padme Amidala - From Episode II: Attack of the Clones (The Arena Fight Scene)

Seeing as I was going to be wearing this costume to Disney World, and am not in as good shape as I would like, I opted NOT to go with the sexy version of this costume lol.

Here is Padme in the movie:

Here is a couple versions of the available costumes.

I read lots of reviews and lots of people kept saying how see-through the costumes were (or off-color). So, Brett convinced me that should make it myself…at least by finding the separate pieces and making anything I couldn’t find already made. OMG was this stressful. Some items I found easily, others I was literally shopping for 2 days before we left for WDW. Honestly, I tend to take the easy route with costumes or let Brett make them for me, even though I secretly wish I would learn to sew and make my own awesome costumes, but until then…

Here is the breakdown of my costume.

Top: This shirt in white from Academy Sports

Bottoms: White stretchy pants from Goodwill. I seriously searched EVERYWHERE for a pair of stretchy white pants that weren’t expensive. I found them at Goodwill 2 days before our trip. It’s ridiculous how difficult it is to find anything white after Labor Day, let alone have it not be entirely see-through.

Boots: This was actually the first part of my costume I found, from here on ebay. They were very comfortable and my feet didn’t hurt even after walking around Magic Kingdom for 6 hours.

Holster/Gun: I could not find the holster in an adult size, so I got this child’s Padme holster that came with a gun blaster and just attached a long strip of velcro to the back to extend it to the size I needed. It worked perfectly and was probably cheaper than the adult version, anyway!

Cape: I luckily stumbled upon searched for everywhere and found a white blanket at TJ Maxx large enough to cut to the size I needed. Brett made the cape for me.

He cut the blanket in half (it was a large blanket), then cut out a rectangle where the top of the cape would be, along with a hole right underneath to put my head through.

Then, to make the ends look nice where the blanket was cut, he placed a line of liquid stitch permanent adhesive and folded over the edge and let it dry.

The robe was made so I could put my head through the hole that was cut out, then sling the long piece over to my other shoulder, where we placed a piece of velcro to hold it in place.

Arm cuffs: Brett doubled a strip of duct tape and then covered it with aluminum tape for each arm cuff, then placed velcro strips on the end of each one to hold it together.

That pretty much wraps up our costumes this year. Is it too early to start thinking about next year’s costumes?

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Happy Halloween! Here’s one of our creations from the Halloween Party this past weekend…Zombie Flesh Cupcakes!

Brett usually comes up with some fun, creative Halloween-themed food items for his mom’s annual Halloween Party. He usually makes about 2-3 things. Sometimes I’ll make something…usually crockpot meatballs, which require almost no effort on my part lol, but the past few years it’s been all him.

This year, the item I was looking forward to the most were his cupcakes. He takes his cupcake duties pretty seriously and his are some of the best ever. Back when the menu items were discussed, he offered to make cupcakes, but hadn’t decided what exactly he would make.

When we were in WDW last week, one of my must-try items was the King Cupcake only available at the Pop Century resort, which I got on our way home from the World.

It’s a chocolate cupcake, filled with banana, topped with peanut butter frosting and candied bacon bits. It was so delicious, it inspired Brett to make something similar for the Halloween Party!

Zombie Flesh Cupcakes!!

He thought they would be better without the banana filling and I didn’t care either way as long as he kept the other three ingredients. Here are the steps!

 

Chocolate Cake:

This one is easy. Just prepare your favorite chocolate cake…boxed mix, from scratch, already made from the store…we don’t judge We used Halloween cupcake liners like these ones.

 

Peanut Butter Frosting:

Brett used this recipe for peanut butter buttercream frosting and tripled it to make enough for 32 cupcakes. Once ready, he put it in a piping bag and swirled it on top of the cupcakes.

 

Candied Bacon:

Mix together in a bowl: 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 tbs of cinnamon, then coat each piece of bacon, then place bacon on a rack on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

We used Hormel Black Label Maple Flavored bacon to have thick pieces of maple bacon perfect for candied bacon.

Cut up several pieces of bacon into tiny pieces and then cut the rest into pieces a few inches long. Place 1 larger piece on each cupcake and then sprinkle the rest of the bits on top of the cupcakes.

Enjoy!

I think these aren’t just for Halloween and should be made for my birthday too (wink, wink Brett!).

 

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I am currently a member of the Hormel Foods Extended Blogger Program and this post is part of my involvement with the group, however I purchased this bacon on my own and totally ate like 6 of these cupcakes myself.

Wow, these past few days/weeks have been super crazy! We got back from WDW late Thursday night, then I went to a painting party on Friday night (post and VIDEO to come in the next few days!), and then Saturday night was our family’s annual Halloween Party! All of that while being sick too. Sorry to those that were near me the past few days - I wasn’t about to miss out on any of the festivities and I made sure to use my hand sanitizer!

Before I get to this year, here is a photo of what we dressed up as last year…a pirate family!

OMG look at how adorable Trent is in his little pirate costume! Kills me. Luckily, we’ll get to wear these costumes again for the Pirate Party on the Disney Cruise in January, although I will need to get a new costume for Trent since that one is now too itty bitty for him. I’m hoping to score a good deal with either a last-minute Halloween or after-Halloween discount.

This year, we had an even tougher time deciding what to be, since we knew we were also going to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in Walt Disney World. The last time we went (2008 I think), I dressed as a Disney character and had the best time, so I wanted to do SOMETHING Disney. But it seems like we found issues with almost every idea we thought of…ORRR it may have been because Brett decided what HE wanted to be long before any of it and there was no convincing him otherwise. Yes, my friends, my husband takes Halloween very serious and will hopefully one day transition his costume efforts to his kids instead of his middle-aged self. But I digress…

This year, we were a Star Wars family!

Brett was Anakin Skywalker, I was Padme Amidala and Trent was Yoda. I’ll talk more about where we got our costumes in another post, as some of it was purchased and some of it was made by us Brett.

Trent was kind of a butthead with his costume, sometimes he didn’t mind wearing it and most of the time he didn’t want anything to do with it. Like at the Halloween Party at WDW. That would be why we have ZERO photos of us at that party (which makes me incredibly sad)….we barely left the hotel room without him ripping it off.

But at least he left it on a little while longer at this party.

Note to self: A skin tight all white costume is a very bad idea after a Disney vacation.

Onward.

Here are some other cool costumes from that night:

A Gladiator…with camouflage shorts lol

A cheetah. Auntie Jane always creates her costumes from random stuff from her shop. So simple and creative!

A witch.

A firefighter…at least a teenage girl version of one.

A Witch and a Warlock.

One Night Stand and 50 Shades of Grey. Mr. One Night Stand took his costume off after 10 minutes because he couldn’t eat, drink or sit in it! But we sure did have a good laugh for those 10 minutes. Yes, there was even a condom on it. And yes, there were actually 50 shades of grey on her. Home Depot is going to start charging for their paint samples lol.

Evil scientist and a pirate.

The hosts with most…a ghost couple!

A goddess and a lumberjack (or Billy Mays or the Brawny guy)

A Flapper girl.

Besides the costumes, the food is always a big deal! Most people bring a Halloween-themed dish or at least think of a Halloween name for it.

Brett made a cheese ball shaped into a pumpkin (recipe post forthcoming). This was a hit. Cheese + Doritos is always a good thing in my book.

He also made “Zombie Flesh Cupcakes” - Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, topped with candied bacon…modeled after the King Cupcake at Pop Century in WDW!

He also made his famous deviled eggs, with a Halloween twist! It killed him to touch the chives for the pumpkin stems…he HATES any kind of onion. These were also quickly entirely consumed.

Mummy dogs. If you make these, I suggest cutting the hot dogs in half to make bite-sized mummy dogs that are easier to grab and eat.

Chocolate spiders.

Witch’s Brew Trifle (you can see the recipe on my sister-in-law’s blog here).

Bones and blood (breadsticks and pizza sauce).

Various chocolate treats.

Crunchy zombie eyes…a Pinterest favorite with a Halloween spin.

An annual must…a vomiting pumpkin! That’s some tasty vomit (cream cheese/corn dip).

Trail mix.

Chocolate wizard hats.

The dessert table in all it’s glory.

Sweet Ogre Eyes (meatballs).

Kitty litter and poo (rice and beef). It felt weird eating from this!

Various drink concoctions.

Brett’s mom sure goes all out with the Halloween decorations. Here’s just a sample…

It was a somewhat chilly night, which made sitting by the fire all the more delightful.

Trent had his own little glowstick lightsaber, but he much preferred Brett’s fancy lightsaber!

That’s not very nice, Yoda.

May the force be with you!

 

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xoxo

Lynn