May 26, 2015

End of School Pizza Party

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and TONY’S® Pizza, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BigPizzeriaTaste http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV


School's out for the Summer, well for us it is almost out. We have 8 days left, but then who is counting. The end of the school year calls for a celebration.

This year we decided to throw ourselves a little pizza party.

An Hasta La Pizza School party. Oh gosh. I kill myself. After I laughed at how clever I was, I went to work making posters and decorations for our end of school pizza party.

Download HERE

If one is having a pizza party, one must have pizza.

When you have four boys with bottomless pits for stomachs, you have to have good pizza that is affordable. Good news for me is that TONY's®  Pizza is now 30% larger, comes in a variety of yummy crowd pleasing flavors, and they are super affordable.

I ran over to Walmart and I picked up a few of our favorite flavors of Tony's Pizza. We cooked them up and set them out to start our pizza party.

To make our party all fun with very little clean up necessary, I laid out butcher paper and served the pizza right on top of it. I labeled the butcher paper with which kind of pizza was on the menu.
  


Even the drinks were served up easy in paper cups with paper straws.


We can't forget the decorations. You all know how I like a good coordinated party. So to go with our pizza I made up pizza decorations.

A simple pizza banner.


I whipped up these banners using PicMonkey.


If you are feeling the urge to throw your kiddos an Hasta La Pizza School party, I have made this little pizza banner print out for you to use.

Download HERE

I also made up some invitations just in case you want to invite the whole neighborhood.

Download HERE

Time to load up the plates with all the yummy pizza. All that authentic pizzeria taste, made with real cheese, and lovely herby tomato sauce piled on a plate. My boys love pizza.


I completely lost track of how many pieces they each ate.


Pizza is always a good idea. Especially for a celebration. You can use these printables to throw your own Hasta La Pizza School pizza party. You can also load up with a COUPON for Tony's Pizzas: SAVE $.75 off of any TWO (2) Tony's Pizza (14.14 oz. or larger). The Walmart digital coupon is available until 6/30/15. (While supplies last)


May 22, 2015

Place Mat Outdoor Throw Pillow



When we moved into this house, we were so excited that there was a little front porch. We have lived in our house almost four years.  First off let me just say that I can't believe we have lived here that long. Technically we have lived here long enough now that this is our second set of cushions/pillows for our white outdoor chairs (from Target).

Previously our chair cushions were gray and the pillows were coral and white. I bought them when those colors were super popular. After some wear and tear, I needed something new. When I was looking at what to get now, I decided to look at not just what was popular color wise, but to also look at what I knew I loved and would always love. That meant blue people.

I am sure you are shocked. Blue and white. I am nothing if not consistent.

I went back and forth on what to do for the throw pillows. Then I remembered a set of gray place mats I had laying around. I had originally bought them for another project, but I changed my mind. I have had them for like two years just waiting to fulfill their design purpose.

That is how the Place Mat Outdoor Throw Pillow was born. Two place mats plus some stuffing equals two perfect lumbar throw pillows for our porch chairs.


I have made throw pillows from place mats before. They are one of the easiest throw pillows you will ever make.

You just need--

a place mat (one that is layered like a quilt, basically not just one piece of fabric)
stuffing
needle/thread


On one of the short sides of the place mat, in the middle, pick the seam and create a 4-5 inch opening.


Stuff, stuff, stuff away. Make sure to really cram it full and get the stuffing into all the corners.


Hand stitch up the opening.

BAM! Done.


The throw pillows were not the only new addition this year. I got this bird cage for 60% off at JoAnn's. I then filled it with an IKEA plant and container that we already had. The wind blows something fierce around here, so something heavy has to anchor it down.


I really, really love IKEA's faux plants. If you were to walk around my house, you would find a lot of them.


Now we have the perfect place to sit and enjoy the delights of Summer. I always like coming home, but driving up to my house and seeing this little porch set up really brings a smile to my face.


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May 21, 2015

Breakfast On the Go




I have said it before, mornings are crazy around here. This is due mostly to the fact that the Little Men have to catch the bus pretty early and well, frankly, I don't want to get up at the butt crack of dawn. So we sleep until the last possible minute, leaving barely just enough time to get them up, dressed, fed, and off to school.

Breakfast and putting on shoes are the two time suckers. While breakfast is an obvious place to use up time, don't ask me why putting on shoes is the other. There is no good reason. Notice I said putting on shoes, not finding them. The shoes are always there. I am this close to only buying slip on shoes. 

So slip on shoes will solve that issue. 

What to do about breakfast? What to do? What to do?

Well a portable breakfast of course. Cereal in a cup to me more precise. 




Cereal in a cute cup nonetheless. These Kellogg's cereal cups are adorable. You guys know how I love myself some good packaging. They are easy to grab on the go. You just peel back the paper and start eating with or without milk. Half of my kids eat cereal with milk and the other half prefer cereal dry.
Either way these cups make it so I don't have to clean up any bowls. Thinking beyond the bowl means I can go back to bed one those sweet children of mine head out the door. Can I get a virtual high five?
"CLAP"
That was us high-fiving.
I did try to make our cereal-in-a-cup breakfast a little bit special by adding a coordinating plastic spoon and a fun patterned paper napkin. The cereal, spoons, and napkins all came from Walmart.  Package up the cereal the night before. Set out everything (but the milk of course) out on a tray.
That way when it is breakfast time all you have to do is shove the tray at them. Er, I mean stand lovingly with the tray in hand and offer them breakfast. Yes that is what I meant.
One might even have to hand it to them on the way out the door.
Have I said how great it is that these cups of cereal are easy to take on the go. They can even eat them at the bus stop.
No matter how the kiddos eat it, it is a time saver. They also make great snacks on the go too. Bean loved having his own cup of Fruit Loops just as a snack in the car on the way to the library.
So in our kitchen, on the way to the bus stop, or in the car we loved ourselves these cups of cereal.
With Summer coming school might be out, but that doesn't mean that our life isn't getting crazier. I am keeping lots of Kellogg cereal in a cup around. We have a pretty lengthy car trip coming up. You better believe I am packaging up some of these. These will help me make the most of my time and Make The Most of my Summer.
How are you #MakingTheMostOfSummer? Leave a comment below to enter for a chance to win a $100 Walmart gift card!
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May 19, 2015

Homemade Croutons


It will be a cold day in you know where when I give up bread. Bread is grand. I know carbs are supposed to be evil, but I just ain't buying it.

Do you wanna know what is better than just plain old bread? A loaf of chewy, delightful French bread turned into croutons, that is what.

Months and months ago I was watching an episode of The Pioneer Woman on Netflix while I was up late prepping for Middle's Woodland Theme Baptism. In one of the episodes she was making a restaurant style steak dinner. One of the items on the menu was a delightful Caesar salad with homemade croutons. The concept was not a new one. Perhaps since it was late at night and I was feeling especially peckish it seemed brilliant and extremely necessary that I have homemade croutons. I told myself I would get right on that as soon as everything settled down.

 You know what I have determined? Nothing ever settles down. For whatever reason, today I decided I really wanted a Caesar salad with some homemade croutons. I wasn't sure how to go about it and the original show was completely out of my mind. So after searching out a few ideas and then changing things up a bit, I came up with this recipe.

First off let me warn you these are good enough that you will attempt to eat them without the salad. Try to save at least some for the salad. They really do make the salad spectacular. I promise.


These are so very, very easy to make.

You need:

French bread
butter
olive oil
salt
pepper
Parmesan Reggiano cheese

So easy. These are so yummy and take barely any time. They make any salad that much better.


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May 13, 2015

Father's Day Poster (Funny)




Father's are just as special as Mother's. Seriously they are. Knowing that then, why do I always tend to migrate toward funny, if slightly inappropriate gift ideas for Father's Day.

On Mother's Day the gifts are highly sentimental and very warm and fuzzy. I have made sentimental Father's Day gifts before, for instance, these Framed Scrabble Photos for The Hubs. One year I also made my own dad a set of t-shirts with sayings attributed to him on the front. You know like Chili Dogs Only Bark at Night. 

So yes, sometimes I go warm and fuzzy and sometimes I lean more toward humor.

This would be a funny year. My dad is in public service. He deals with a lot of people day in and day out. As you can imagine sometimes those people are less than pleasant. Heck, he deals with us, his children a lot, and as you can imagine sometimes we are less than pleasant.

So that lead to this poster. I had pinned something similar to my Gifts for Others board. I wanted a poster and I wanted it to be a little more simple. I opted for navy and white, because yes we all know I love blue and white.




Right click on the image to save it to your computer. This poster is best printed off in sizes 8x10 or larger. I printed off a 16x20. The ladies from the print shop thought this poster was quite witty. They even mentioned maybe they hang one up there.

Sorry ladies, this one is for my dad so that everyone can see it the minute they walk into my dad's office. Hopefully this will preempt a lot of turdy behavior.

Happy Father's Day to all the funny dads out there.

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