Have you thought about the mom?

Most times, one mom is a very prominent figure in the wedding planning and execution. Usually it's the bride's mother, but for my wedding, it was my mother-in-law. She helped with the food, the finances, and the planning. Since I joined my husband’s family’s church, his family was a huge focus in my wedding.

My mother – she purchased her dress, my sister’s dress, and showed up – and was happy with it. BUT… thinking back, I feel she was left out of my big day. I mean, she was in pictures, she was there, she joined us in everything, but she was like a shadow… not a big voice like my in-laws were.

There are many ways that you can make sure you remember the “quieter” mother, and while browsing Etsy.com, I found a really nice pendant:

Five Little Owls, Etsy.com

They also have one that says “the woman of my dreams”.

This is a great gift to give to the mother at the rehearsal dinner, or during a special quiet moment before the ceremony. You of course can give this to both mothers, and the shop also sells keychains if you want to honor the dad in the same way. 

Next week, I’ll have photos from our Adoption (Gotcha) Day party.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Until next time! 

Props for mom to be

So I'm hooked on something new. For those who don't know, I crochet. A lot. I have so much yarn, I need my own storage area. But today I instantly got hooked on another craft - Maternity sashes.

I'm also a hobbyist photographer, so I love photos and props. I heard someone talking about these sashes, and started checking them out. The one below is from Couture Baby Headbands on Etsy.

Cute idea, right?
I thought I'd try some of my own:

I think they came out rather nice! 

I've also made one for a baby boy and a unisex one. If you'd like to order it, I now have my own Etsy page! LesliesCrochet!

Until next time!

Budgeted teen birthday party.

So I've been pretty quiet. I've been busy with so many other obligations that I haven't been able to post.
But here I am, with pics and ideas for a teen birthday party!

I threw a 17th birthday party for my daughter this weekend. She understood that because her birthday is right after Christmas, it's a little difficult to have a huge bash... but we were going to do what we could. So I hit Pinterest for ideas for cheap food. Here is some of what I made:

Macaroni and cheese bites. They were delicious! To make, use your own baked mac and cheese recipe (or google one), and crush some crackers and add butter (I used Ritz). Spray mini cupcake pan with cooking spray. Place a small amount of cracker mixture in the bottom of a mini cupcake pan creating a small crust, add a pinch of cheese, add mac and cheese mixture, cover with a pinch of cheese. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. 

Cinnamon apple poppers use five ingredients - cinnamon, sugar, butter, apples, and crescent roll dough. Roll an apple slice in crescent roll dough, brush with butter, add cinnamon and sugar. Bake according to the crescent roll dough directions. 

 Sorry this is blurry - these are chili cups. Mini phyllo dough shells, fill with hot, cooked chili, add a pinch of cheese. You can also ad a dab of sour cream if you'd like.
Here's where I got the idea from, but I didn't make this chili... Two-alarm chili cups

Southwestern egg rolls - here's the recipe:  Southwestern egg roll recipe
This is the third time I made these, and they never disappoint! You can add chicken or beef and they're great as well.

Banana sandwich bites - skewer a mini Nilla wafer, banana slice, and another wafer onto a toothpick.  Drizzle with melted chocolate. 

My daughter wanted blue and purple as her colors, and we decided to have fun with mustaches. My oldest daughter made the cake and the white chocolate candy mustaches you see in the picture below:

For favors, I went to the dollar store for the bubbles and mints (which were a hit!). I found the mustache keychains and notepads from Oriental Trading Company. 

I also purchased some photo props from Oriental Trading Company for them to ham it up:

All in all, I'd say the teens had a good time, and I didn't have to spend everything I had for them to do it!

Let me know if you have any questions about anything posted! 

Until next time!