The Sanchez Family Recap Because I'm a Slacker

Alrighty then. I’m a bad blogger/procrastinator/over-committer and I haven’t written for months. Which seriously makes me hurt inside. I’ve got stuff to say, people! I’ve got thoughts and feelings and random musings! But it felt wrong to sit down and write a ‘musings’ post when I haven’t written a ‘here’s what’s going on in our lives’ post in so long. So, without further ado…

Here’s what’s going on in our lives! A recap of the last couple of months. With pictures. You’re so so welcome.

Eden and Adaleine ran in a one-mile kid’s run called the Pumpkin Run in October and loved it! Eden ran in the second grade heat and finished that mile in 10:30, then decided to run again in Adaleine’s kindergarten heat a little bit later and finished 40 seconds faster! Leave it to the oldest to show up her kid sister in her own heat! Anyway, Eden had so much fun in that race she wanted to run in the Governor’s Cup Run the next weekend and finished in 9:02. She was the second 7-year-old girl to finish, and the first one was only one second ahead of her! 

The girls before the Pumpkin Run

Miss Eden before the Governor's Cup Run

We played in the leaves...

Halloween went off without a hitch. Well, except for the bald patches all over my head from pulling my hair out while trying to make three costumes last-minute because I had about two crazy weeks leading up to it. Anywho…Halloween. We went for a Star Wars theme this year because our kids are young and impressionable and we were able to convince them that’s what they wanted to be. #Winning. Judah rocked the world as Han Solo, Adaleine was the cutest little Leia you’ve ever seen, and Eden was Padme. The coolest part? They all had their own {fake!} gun. We’re pretty serious about Halloween, y’all. 

 

Right after Halloween, we shared some pretty big news with the world…new baby due in May! We find out this next week whether it’ll be pink or blue because I obviously cannot wait until May to find out. Did you just meet me? I’ve gotta plan and decorate and stress over names! Oh, and before you ask: yes, this was on purpose. Yes, we know how this keeps happening. No, we’re not crazy. And yes, we know our lives are going to be turned upside-down. We can’t wait!

Adaleine Grace turned six! Six. Seriously. Let’s let that sink in for a second. Here she was yesterday:

And now she’s six. It ain’t right. 

We celebrated with a Princess and the Pea Pajamas & Pancakes Party {say that ten times fast} and it was a hit! Party time was a Saturday morning and all of her little friends came over in their pajamas, which was a special treat. I didn’t do a big dessert table or anything for this party like I’ve done in the past; I just set up a long table on cement blocks on the floor and had the girls eat their pancakes, fruit and sausage together to kick off the party. For party games, we played ‘Pin the Pea on the Mattress’ which really had no winner and was just fun. I also had kits for everyone so they could make their own princess on a pile of mattresses, but we ran out of time during the party so they took those home. Sissy had so much fun and so did her friends!

Thanksgiving. Eden and Adaleine both won the wishbone battle so we’ll probably be like the luckiest family in Lincoln for all of 2015. We visited family after Turkey Day and the girls wrangled chickens. Because that’s what you do on the farm. My grandpa, who is 98 years old, dressed up as Santa Claus! He didn’t fool any of the kids but they loved it! He pretty much rocks.

 

The girls had their Christmas concert at school in which they both--of course--sang beautifully and stole the show. {Biased mom alert!}

Ready to head out to the concert!

After the concert with their flowers from Mr. Bug

Then finally, Christmas. The munsters gave a little concert of Christmas songs at their Nana & Papa's on Christmas night, and I wasn't even the only one who thought they were cute! We had about two weeks off of school, so we spent a week on the road visiting family and the second week at home in our pajamas. Basically the perfect vacation.  

Santa usually stops by my in-laws' house if we're there on Christmas Eve ;)

Ready to open presents Christmas morning! Judah loves snuggling up to his girls.

So that’s our last couple months in a nutshell. I’m hoping to get back here a little more regularly in the future, so hopefully we’ll have more regular updates from now on! I hope everyone is having a fabulous and marvelous and beautimous new year so far!

 

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Party On! Judah's Beatles Birthday Party: Food

I'm back today to share the rest of the details with you about Judah's Beatles birthday party. Last time I told you all about the decorations and activities, and today I'll share my favorite part: the food!

You saw this little sneak peak of our dessert table last time, and I can't wait to show you the specifics. I've got all the inspiration on my Beatles Birthday Party Pinterest board, and I'll post a few links throughout, too.

Here is our menu. We totally went for it on the theme for this party, and it was a blast!

 The cupcakes were just basic white cupcakes (thank you, Betty Crocker!) with white frosting. I wanted a little calm in the midst of all the color we were doing on the table, so white on white made sense there. For the toppers I used these Beatles and Yellow Submarine freebies that I came across on Pinterest. I just did toothpicks with one set of Beatles and six submarines and did the rest with a little bit of washi tape. For display I used the same cupcake stand Mr. Bug made me for Adaleine's Fancy Nancy birthday party and re-covered it in yellow wrapping paper I already had on hand. My cupcake liners are from this Etsy shop.

We served more candy at this party than I usually do, but I went with cost effective and Beatles-related. We had Strawberry Fields Forever, Starr Bursts, Rich Man Gold Coins, and an Octopus's Garden. The garden was made up of carrots, celery and red, green, yellow and orange peppers. For dip I just put some ranch dressing in a bowl and called it good. Simple and easy!

My favorite part of the dessert table (hands down!) were the yellow submarines. It was this little morsel of awesomeness that made me decide to have a Beatles party in the first place! I saw these at my inspiration party and knew it would be a hit. They were really simple to make; just use a little frosting to stick on the Mini M&Ms. Then trim a bendy straw for your periscope and you're all set. I used a record glued onto a candleholder for a stand, and then set the lower levels of submarines on records right on the table. Don't worry, I washed them all first : )

Drinks were a little bit of a splurge in the cost department, but I loved the look of the little cans all lined up together. Once I got that picture in my head, using regular cans just seemed too boring. (I know. I'm ridiculous.) More song lyrics over here! For the Benefit of Mr. Sprite, Here Comes the Sunkist and Love, Love Me Dew. I couldn't think of a Beatles lyric for the water, so I just tossed out the Good Day, Sunshine line and committed. Paper straws (from the Target Dollar Spot) made the area just a bit more festive.

So there you have it! Our very own Beatles Birthday Party! If you want details on party decor and activities, check out the first post here. See you soon!

Party On! Judah's Beatles Birthday Party: Decor and Activities

I’m basking in the afterglow of another birthday party! We had Judah’s Beatles birthday party yesterday and it was so much fun! I couldn’t wait to share pictures with you : )

I saw this Beatles party over on Hostess with the Mostess and had to go for it. The invitations she had put together by She Paperie were amazing, but at $2.75 per invite, they were way outside my price range. They are gorgeous though, so if you have the budget for it I would encourage you to take the plunge. I put ours together in PicMonkey and it probably took me about three hours. Once again, lack of sleep pays off! ; )

Upon their arrival, guests were greeted by some {kind of sad} streamers and a Beatles sign on the front door. It got better, though. It was just by the time I got to the front door it was time to go get Eden from school and I was completely out of steam.

I borrowed some old records from a friend of ours and hung them from the ceiling, along with streamers galore! I’m sure if you’ve seen any of my other parties, you’ve noticed a pattern with my décor staples. I just love streamers because they’re a low-cost item that makes such a difference! {Check the other streamer explosions here, here, and here .} Color, color everywhere and I just used rolls that I had left over from other parties. Mama likes free decorations, guys.

I changed up my washi tape wall with some Beatles lyrics printables and our menu for the day. I'll list the sources for all the printables at the end of the post. Again, some of them I created in PicMonkey since I didn't have it in my budget to purchase them, but all the credit goes to the original creators!

I printed off Beatles coloring pages (found here) for the kiddos to work on while we waited for everyone to arrive, and then we let the games begin! The kids got to play musical chairs (to Beatles music, of course) and everyone had so much fun. It's hilarious to watch one- and two-year-olds play musical chairs, by the way. : ) There were even calls to let the adults play their own musical chairs game but our space was too small/I didn’t have enough chairs/we didn’t have enough time.

I’ll tell you all about the food in a shorter post later this week, but after breaking for goodies it was time to open presents. This guy got so many toys! We now have about 700 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys, all the RescueBots, and some more toys I know nothing about. Someone help me : )

Once present time was over the kids went to the playroom to kill some time and the adults busted out The Beatles: Rock Band. We borrowed it from my brother-in-law and it was a huge hit! This was my way to let the grown-ups have fun, too. Kids’ birthday parties can be totally lame so Mr. Bug came up with the idea to have a sing-off. Winner got the Beatles poster you can see in the picture there. 

Here’s our winner (and the friend who loaned us the records). It was so much fun to have everyone rock out to the songs! 

When the little guests left, each one received a Beatles Fan Bag. I got the idea from this same party and this was one of my favorite things to put together. I had them all assembled and ready about two weeks before the party! They included Kaleidoscope Eyes, I Wanna Hold Your Hand Clappers, John Lemonheads, Beatles Juice (which Eden later told me didn't make sense) and Rock Star Sunglasses.

By the time our contest was over and all the kiddos had gone home I was exhausted : ) But I had so much fun with this party! I feel like I was more prepared for this party than I have been for any other, so it wasn’t stressful at all. I just got to enjoy everyone’s company and have a great time celebrating our little man. And this guy had a blast, which would have made any amount of stress worth it anyway. : ) 

 

 Sources for the printables are all in my Beatles Pinterest Board, but I'll list them here, too.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Here Comes the Sun

Good Day Sunshine

Strawberry Fields Forever

Let It Be

In My Life

Take These Broken Wings

Hey Jude

Dear Prudence

 

Party On! Adaleine's Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

Hello Dahlings! Just popping in to say bonjour and share with you all the particulars of Miss Adaleine’s Grand Birthday Soiree that we hosted last weekend! I think everyone had a mahvelous time!

I was so excited about these invitations. I purchased them for just $10 from the Etsy shop PixelParade (here's the link to these invites if you want it) and just used a little glue to attach some sparkly cardstock to the back. I got the sparkle cardstock when it was on sale at Hobby Lobby, but if you don't want to spend the extra bucks these invites would still look super cute without it.

And here is a picture of our birthday girl! (Sorry about the weird lighting. This house has wonky lighting all over the place. Sigh) I somehow missed this step last year, so I made sure to capture her pretty smile this year. Since it was a Fancy Nancy party, Sissy chose her fanciest dress, put a pink shirt underneath, and added some fun leggings to complete the ensemble. You can see one of the signs I made for the party on the door behind her. This one says, "Bonjour! Welcome to my soiree!"

Here is our food table before I got the pink punch out. I had so much fun with this and I think it turned out looking pretty fancy : ) I used doilies under everything so that upped the fancy factor, too. My cake-making sister moved away for a year (curse you, Minnesota!), so I went with cupcakes for Sweet Adaleine's party. Since my dear sister was unable to make cake for this party, she made a million tissue paper flowers instead! And I have to say, they really made the party. : ) If you want to see some of the cakes Tiffany has made for our other parties, click here, here, and here.

Side note about the cupcake stand: my husband rocks. He cut plywood pieces for me before going to work one night so I could set up this cupcake stand. I then covered the boards with some of the disposable table runner left over from Eden's butterfly party and used upside-down drinking glasses as supports. I got the idea from this brilliant lady here.

I added pink and purple food coloring to white cake mixes to color the cakes and just went with simple white frosting. Sprinkles and pom picks from Target {clearance!} made them fancy. I wish I had taken the time to make pretty wraps for all the cupcakes like this, but that would have just been too much for me this time.

I dipped a package of marshmallows in almond bark and then covered them in rainbow sprinkles that I already had. Bonus points for not dishing out more dough! (I'm so cheap it's scary)

I bet you were wondering where the pretzels were, huh? I simply cannot have a party without pretzels, so I went with the old 'dip them in almond bark' standby and called it good. I may have eaten a couple hundred while I was dipping them. Those things are so good!

For our games, we played 'Accessorize Fancy Ada,' which was a big hit. I had a Fancy Nancy coloring page (found here) printed as a 24x36" engineering print at Staples for less than $4! Then I bought a new box of colored pencils and turned on a movie. I colored her hair a little darker than the actual book character's so she looked more like the birthday girl. The bows are not in this picture, but I just used white return address labels and printed pink, orange, and purple bows onto them. 

I didn't think this one through since it was a preschool-age party and THEY CAN'T READ, but next we 'played' (being very kind with that word usage) 'Fancy Talk' where the kids match up fancy words and plain words. Oh well, I had fun making it. : )

Right behind this little stud muffin here you can see the table we had set up for the kids to kill a little time while they waited for everyone to arrive. The sign said 'Adorn Yourselves' and I got little plastic top hats for the boys and tiaras for the girls, along with mustaches and bracelets. I may be biased, but I think this kid really rocks the socks off that 'stache.

 I kept favors simple (and cheap!) by just doing little baggies of chocolate chip cookies tied up with ribbon and a card that said, "Thanks for being fancy with me! Merci!" 

And last but not least I had to share this picture. See sweet Adaleine with her little bouquet of flowers in this picture? See the little boy in the background? He brought her those all tied up with a ribbon. Cutest.thing.ever. I might be planning their wedding in my head already. Justkiddingnotreally.

I didn't get a picture for some reason, but I also hung up a buttload of streamers (reminds me of Wreck It Ralph every time I hear that phrase) all around the rooms so it just felt like a great big fancy party. Adaleine asked if we could keep them up forever. I said one week. It has now been eight days and I'm too tired to take them down. Hey, if we leave them up another couple weeks I can call them Christmas decorations!

Have a very fancy day! : )