Pajamas, Pigs, and Pancakes Birthday Party

Do you ever notice how kids LOVE pajama-themed days whether they are at school or a church function? My kids practically live in their pajamas. They want to get them on the second they get in the door after school. Sometimes, if we don't soccer or piano, I let them but more often than not they need to wait until after dinner at least.

When MiniMe was invited to a pajama birthday party, I knew she'd be requesting a pancake/pajama party too. She asked me if we could throw pigs in the mix (she LOVES all things pig) and we had ourselves a Pajamas, Pigs, and Pancake party to plan.

Mae created her invite. She was wonderful and totally agreeable to whatever we requested. I think she did a great job! Check out her site, she has some really cute stuff.

Pig-related decorations are hard to find. I wouldn't have thought this would be the case. I couldn't even find pig pajamas. I thought there was be an abundance of pig stuff to choose from--cute pig balloons, pig party favors, pig plates/napkins/cups, and pig games. But there just aren't a lot of pig-related décor so I had to come up with an alternative.

Because MiniMe has loved pigs for quite some time, we have a lot of pigs we could use to decorate. We went around and collected every pig we could find.

For games, we had an idea that the kids could decorate pig banks so I ordered these cuties. Discount School Supply mailed them very quickly. They arrived within 3 days of ordering and I didn't expedite shipping.

We spread them around to add to the décor.

The morning of the party, I put my dad on the task of making the bacon and sausage. He did an awesome job!

Brian worked on the pancakes and I organized the toppings. We had whipping cream, marshmallow cream, chocolate chips, Crunch Berries, bananas, chocolate jimmies, marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and regular pancake syrup. The huge hit was the marshmallow cream. It is hard to spread but the kids didn't care!

I poured each girl some Mud Milk (aka--Chocolate milk).

I purchased these cute straws on Etsy from Mooses Creations.

After the kids ate breakfast, we decided to decorate piggy banks. I had purchased foam stickers and jewels from Jo-Anns to decorate the pigs with.

Since it was a pig party, the kids made like pigs and played a game where they had to put their hands behind their backs and eat chocolate pudding with just their mouths. They were hilarious! Some kids went all out and others had a hard time getting so messy.

Sophia doesn't like cake (I'm totally baffled how my own flesh and blood doesn't like cake) so as if we hadn't had enough chocolate, she wanted chocolate croissants.

A great time was had by all! The birthday girl was happy, which made me happy. Now how many more years until she just has a friend over for a sleepover and wants just money for her birthday?

Sophia wanted to give pig necklaces and bacon buttons as party favors. I love a good theme party. Hopefully for the next theme party my kids pick a more mainstream theme.

We have a tradition we started when the kids were just old enough to care (4 years old maybe?). The night before their birthdays we decorate their doors so when they wake up, they are super excited to see their door. Since Sophia's party happened the day before her actual birthday, once the party was over I mustered up my last bit of energy to decorate her door. Another year down!

Colorado Floods--Estes Park

I took some time off from by blog later in the summer to just enjoy the end of summer before my youngest went off to school full-time. Here they are on their first day of school--third grade and first grade.

Besides school starting, the most recent event in our life was the Colorado flooding. We have a cabin in Estes Park, which is a touristy town located next to the Big Thompson river. As we had days of pouring rain, it quickly became clear that we were going to experience flooding in that area. Our cabin rents out regularly from end of April until late November via VRBO.com (http://www.vrbo.com/160115). On the day the river crested, we had guests trapped in Estes Park. We couldn't get in touch with them but were praying for the best for them.

Flooding began on early Thursday at 1:30 am. We received confirmation via email from our guests on Friday evening that they and our cabin were safe. It was a horrifying experience for them but they were ok. There was no phone, no cell phone, no Internet, and all roads in and out were literally washed away. The one road open is called Trail Ridge road, which is the highest road elevation-wise (12,000 feet) in the U.S. The road scares me to death to drive on. I couldn't fathom that is the only road in or out. With winter coming, that road is known to close in October.

This image shows the road that our family takes to get to our cabin. It is completely destroyed. It winds through a canyon right next to the river. At of today there is no known date when this road will even open.

Once our guests got out and were able to safely establish an Internet connection in Denver, they sent us these pictures of the river as the flood was happening. This image is of our picnic area. Just a week prior, we were enjoying family time at the picnic area. My kids were gathering ladybugs there next to the peaceful river. What a difference a week makes!

The next image is the one that really breaks my heart. The water spared our property but it overtook our neighbors across the river. I pray all people and animals were ok.

Here is an image from our deck to give perspective of how lucky we are to be on such high ground.

Mother Nature is amazing. Our insurance adjustor who had come to our house for a hail storm we had in August (seriously!) had been to Joplin, Missouri after their tornado. He told me that Mother Nature is the worst serial killer. No doubt. Here is a picture of our favorite slide in happier times and the area now.

As this flooding was taking place, our own home became part of the drama when we woke up on Saturday to this scene. Brian literally fished from our backyard that day.

News continues to trickle in as the damage is being assessed. The federal government is quickly stepping in to grant $30 million to start repairing roads. To date, 8 lives have been lost with so many more still missing. We continue to pray for families who lost their homes and loved ones. Words can't express the devastation being felt all around Estes Park, Boulder, Evans, Lyons, Jamestown, Firestone, and Greeley. Please keep our state in your prayers.

Fun Birthday Tradition

Every year the thing my kids look forward to and talk about leading up to their birthday is how we will decorate their door. When they fall asleep, Brian and I pull out the ladder and decorate away. As they've gotten older, we've gotten more elaborate.

The next go around, I think I'll have to tape some balloons and sprinkle confetti outside their door.

It's a fun tradition and when they wake up, they are super excited to open their door. If you like to sleep in, it's a good way to say those special words without getting up at the same time they do. It will tide them over an extra hour or so, I promise.

Recipe: Best Broccoli Cheddar Soup--Hands Down

Downtime. We needed it. We miss it. A snowstorm last month gave us the opportunity to have some. We stayed in our pj's all day. I made some homemade bread and soup. Do you love Broccoli Cheddar soup like it do? Mmmmmm... Panera Bread has the best version ever. I'd compare my soup recipe to theirs. If you love BC Soup, you have to try this recipe! Download the PDF here.

You start by steaming broccoli.

Then you bring the butter ingredients to a boil.

Once the broccoli is steamed, you add the broccoli to the boiling butter mixture after adding some chicken broth and milk (it's all in the recipe).

You have to add the cheeses so they melt in the mixture. Once they've sufficiently melted, add salt and pepper to taste and serve. Yummy! It is even tastier with some homemade, warm bread to dip in. Best veg out day ever.

InstaFriday

I am linking up with Jeannette for InstaFriday today. I work from home so I tend to spend most of my time with the dogs during the school year. From the moment I get out of the shower and have to step around this guy:

To this girl who constantly wants to sit on my lap and get pet while I'm on the computer. I can't say no to this face, can I?

It was an exciting start to our week because my youngest lost his very first tooth! Aren't those some cute big browns? I love this boy!

And do you ever have a week like this where you feel like all your very best efforts don't bear much fruit? MiniB really wanted the GORP and I really wanted some salty chips but I had enough for both. I purchase the GORP and it gets stuck. I couldn't very well get my chips and MiniB not get his treat. So, I put my chip money in to push his stuck one forward and then the second one got stuck too. It was a good analogy for my life this week. Try as I might to accomplish stuff and do it well, I felt thwarted.

Ah, at least I have this cute mug to drink my chai tea from! Isn't it cute?

I love that MiniB loves his taikwondo class. He just moved up to Orange Tiger level-way cool!

Happy Friday!

InstaFriday

Yay! It's Friday and that means linking to Jeannett for InstaFriday! My days are melting together with lots of activity in each day--so much so that I haven't taken many pictures while in the moment. But here are some random pics from my week:

I love piano lessons! I love watching MiniMe get more and more confident and listening to her play as each season goes by she plays more and more difficult pieces. I can't wait for the day she surpasses my own understanding of music theory and she can show me a thing or two. That day isn't too far off!

I got this fortune this week. I hold out hope it is true and my shop will continue to grow and grow!

This week we had more taikwondo testing. MiniB is now moving on to a yellow belt! Go buddy! Doesn't he have the eye of the tiger here?

Here are the Tiny Tigers!

To celebrate MiniB moving on to yellow and to welcome Brian home from a week in Switzerland, we made a chocolate bundt cake. Here it is pre-icing:

And post icing--yum!:

Here are my gifts from Switzerland. Is there any question I love Toblerone? I've never seen one so big! I must pace myself.

How was your week? I'd love to follow you on Instagram! Let me know where you post. I'm at carolynmae18 if you want to follow me! In posting the link, I realized I take pictures of a lot of sweets. I just might have a problem. Maybe.