Polar Express Party

 As I said in one of my last posts, we have been doing MANY fun things found on Pinterest.  When the idea to host a Polar Express Party popped into my head, I had only given myself less than 2 weeks to pull it off.  So I went straight to Pinterest and searched for fun stuff!  If you want to see my Pinterest board about Polar Express, you can find it HERE.:

As with any shindig or holiday, Kennedy wanted to help "decorate." So we had 4 signs to make sure everyone knew they were at the correct place and that they could find the basement theater.  :) Love that girl.

Being that I am who I am, we just HAD to do a craft. Well, not just one craft....THREE crafts.  Yup.  TEN kids on my kitchen floor with paint, glue, buttons....FUN I tell ya! Thank goodness for my mom friends that get their hands dirty and helped out!

Poor Quinn....she wishes she could make a craft too...

It doesn't look too bad afterward, right?!  I just put a vinyl tablecloth down and taped it in place.  It is so nice to just roll up the mess and toss it when they are finished.

These were 2 of the crafts.  Each child was a given a bag as they entered the house.  It contained all the items they needed for the crafts, plus their Golden Ticket and a Silver Bell just like from Santa's sleigh and the movie.  For the first craft, each kid got a bulb ornament.  I had previously written their name and 2011 on the bottom.  I then put brown paint on a plate and walked around so each child could dip their thumb in it.  They stamped their thumb on the ornament once or twice (or ten+ times!) and we let it dry.  While they watched the movie I drew in eyes, antlers and painted red Rudolph noses on each.  The popsicle tree took the most time. Kennedy and I pre-painted the sticks and I cut them to the correct lengths. I basically showed them a model and said "Figure it out - make a tree and decorate it!"  It was funny to see them try to put the pieces together and then glue them.  Decorating is always a blast, too!

This was the last craft.  Each child got a rectangular piece of foam.  I drew what was supposed to be a Christmas light wire on each piece.  On a plate, I had poured various colors of paint.  I walked around and let the kids dip their thumbs in the paint of their choice and press their thumbs to make the lights.  

Aren't my sweeties cute in their matching jammies?!  You know you must wear jammies to a Polar Express Party!  They wear them in the movie!!!

Next up....SNACK TIME! 
I made some homemade hot cocoa in the crock pot...not so good.  But we still had a hot cocoa bar with yummies to put in the cocoa.  I made a cookie dough dip from Pinterest...yuck.  But the kids loved the marshmallow pops, the oranges, the snack mix and eating marshmallows plain.  After the snacks it was movie time!!!  I was so tired by then I forgot to take photos of them actually watching the movie!  Oh well!


And I can't forget! I had printed out a game for the kids to take home and play with their families but I had run out of time to laminate them. Yes. I own a laminating machine.  Go ahead. Call me a dork.  Anyway, my dear mommy friend Janet laminated them while I finished their Rudolph ornaments.  Phew!  That party was a lot of work!  But totally worth it all. And  Kennedy wants to do it all over again next December!  Will it be a new tradition?  Check back next December to find out!

A Pinterest Menu

If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, you are missing out!
I joined maybe 6-7 months ago and it is a favorite spot on the 'net!  I check in at least 2x a week!

Basically it is a giant corkboard online!  I used to try to bookmark sites that I liked or ideas that I saw online.  But I had hundreds of things bookmarked and forgot about them all.  With Pinterest, I can categorize my boards and "pin" things to them.  It is truly a genius idea!

One thing I have been using Pinterest for is new recipes.  I am NOT a fan of cooking.  At all.  And I need all the help (and practice) I can get.  So I wanted to share with you all some things we have tried here in our home that came from Pinterest, or that I pinned myself!

If you want to follow me on Pinterest you can do so here:Danielle's Pinterest

Let's get started!

Rainbow Cake.  We made these for Quinn's 1st Birthday Party!  It was a rainbow theme!  They are easy and super fun to make!

Baked Potato Soup.  This is a crock pot recipe...which I love.  ALL of use gave this two thumbs up!  It is VERY thick, so I think I will add either more broth or some milk next time.  But yummy!

Sweet & Sour chicken.  This was fabulous...lots better than I expected!!!

Home made mini deep dish pizzas.  We made these when Kennedy had a sleep over and each girl

put on her own toppings.  It was a hit!!!

Crock pot pizza soup.  Originally made this to take to my father-in-law.  He raved about it and I loved it!  So I made it again and Jeff loved it!  Kennedy, not so much...but she is quite picky.

Chicken parmesan.  It sounded so good.  But none of us cared for it.  Pretty blah.

These looked good but weren't anything special at all.

Breakfast casserole in the crock pot.  YUMMO!  Easy and good!

Apple Crisp.  We all gobbled this one up!  A go-to for sure!

Caramel apple cake with apple cider frosting.  I was beyond excited to try this one.  But it wasn't good.  The frosting ruined it. 

Mini Corn Dogs! Jeff and I liked this.  Kennedy says she likes the long corn dogs better.  But we will be making it again!

Chicken and dumplings in crock pot.  Jeff LOVES chicken and dumplings so I was eager to try it and see what he said.  His vote was a big YES!!!!

Sugar cookie dough dip.  Sounds delish!  But it wasn't.  Yuck.

I hope to share another Pinterest post soon!  We have done lots of fun activities that were found on Pinterest! Thanks for stopping by!

Photo A Day 2011

2011!!!

I am finally posting for the new year! We have been waiting on a new laptop battery and charger - I didn't realize how much we really used it! It was actually a good thing - Jeff and I were using the computer much less! But now that it is back, I can finally upload my holiday photos, start editing and posting again!

Last year I attempted to take a photo a day. I was VERY good at taking photos nearly every single day. I was NOT good at posting them! This year I have several other friends doing the photo a day and I plan to be more diligent about POSTING my photos! :)

So, now that the month is half over I had better get started! *wink wink*

~~~~~

January 6th
We came back from Iowa with a bunch of Box Tops, Labels for Education and Coke Rewards from Grandma Jodie! Yippee! So I spent a few hours cutting them and organizing while eating some Starbucks ice cream! I know Kennedy's school will appreciate them!

~~~~~

January 5th
Kennedy had an idea to make her own recipe! She took some random left over Halloween candy and put it on a cookie sheet. (sweetarts, hershey kisses, crackers, M&Ms, etc) Then she wanted them in the oven for 5 minutes. Next, she got a small dish and put some peanut butter in the bottom with some honey. She poured her candy on top and added chocolate syrup and sprinkles. She called it Candy Sugar and wanted to sell it to the neighbors! But we just kept it for ourselves! ;)

~~~~~

January 4th
Phew.....I took down our Christmas decor. Big job but I was glad to have it done. I stacked the boxes and bags in the garage and Jeff put them in the attic!

~~~~~

January 3rd
Our last day in Iowa. We had to snap one more photo of Papa Doug and his girls!!! And don't forget Wilson the dog!

~~~~~

January 2
Kennedy and Cousin Eva have become great friends over the last year. During each visit to IA we try to get the gals together. On this day they played Wii, drew pictures, and had some snacks! Aren't they cute?! And only 2 months apart in age. Can you guess who is older?

~~~~~

January 1
We went to my Dad's house on the first day of the year. All of us took a birthday cake to my Grandma Vera. Her birthday was December 26th but we wanted her to see all of us. She has pretty severe dementia so I am not sure just how much she understood, but I was thankful we were able to spend time with her and that she could meet Quinn. Four generations in this photo ranging in age from 3 months to 94 years!

Hooray! I have started! Hang on for more photos and stories to come!

Preparing for Halloween

We are getting quite excited for Halloween here in the Holsapple household!!! Kennedy has always loved anything that involves holidays!

Weeks ago we started making Halloween treats....we decorated sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins, ghosts and stars. Sprinkles are Kennedy's favorite thing in the kitchen! She tends to go sprinkle crazy!!!! See her handiwork below!!!


We made one set of cookies into lollipop cookies!!! We just stuck some sticks in them before we put them in the oven - easy and a fun way to eat cookies!!!


Kennedy was soooo excited to carve pumpkins that I caved and let her do them early! They are already rotting and gross....next year we will need to wait until closer to Halloween. The pumpkin with the diamonds cut out is mine. The scary face is Kennedy's. She drew the face more or less and Jeff cut it out. We say the last pu mpkin is Jeff's, but really Kennedy and I created it. We used a drill and different sized bits! Aren't they lovely?!?

I somehow found time to create a Halloween dress for Kennedy! It didn't turn out quite how I had planned, but it was the first Tee dress I have ever made. ;) Kennedy loves it and doesn't know the difference and that is all that matters!



We already had one Halloween event last night with Daisy Scouts! Lots more Halloween fun follows the rest of the week! I am sure I will post some photos of K in her costume so be on the lookout!!!

Thanks for visiting and be blessed!

Pies & Papas!

The last few weekends had consisted of good, quality family time. Jeff's Grandpa Hank has been visiting for the past month or so. We have gotten to spend a lot of time with him! Also, Kennedy's cousins from New Jersey were here for a visit! I think this time she is old enough that she will remember them whenever they get to visit next!

Two weekends ago the weather was warm! Still felt summery! We got out the sprinkler for Kennedy!!!

This weekend it felt like the beginnings of fall! Fall is my favorite season by far! I cannot wait for the leaves to start turning! I got to break out some of Kennedy's more fallish wardrobe! So she modeled this little outfit she wore to church yesterday!
One Friday night we met up with Papa Lou, Papa Henry and Aunt Barbie for pizza! YUM! We had been playing princess party before we left and Kennedy insisted on keeping her jewels on!!! So here she is posing with her Papa Lou and her Great Papa Henry!!!!

Then this Friday we went out to eat again! ;) We met at Chili's and I must say, I am just never impressed with their food. In fact, I hardly ate any of mine because it was gross. So I don't see us going back there anytime soon. :(

But Kennedy enjoyed her corn! Two weekends ago something CrAzY got into me! I baked TWO pies! They were only the 2nd and 3rd pies I had ever cooked in my entire life!!!! So don't laugh at how silly they look! I defintely need to work on the crusts! But hey - they still tasted yummy!!!
Homemade blueberry pie

Homemade peach pie

Thanks for taking a peek at our life as of late!

God bless!