Father's Day breakfast and candy bar bouquet

For fathers day I usually like to play with different recipes and try something new. I guess you could say I use my husband as a guinea pig on his special day. He's never complained. This year I made him French toast roll ups and they were a big hit. I plan on making them again next weekend for the whole family to enjoy.

The recipe was super simple.

• I took six pieces of buttermilk bread, cut off the crust, and pressed on them to flatten them out.
• I then put nutella and banana slices on two of the bread, nutella and peanut butter on two of the bread, and nutella and strawberry jam on two of the bread. (get creative with fillings here)
• I then rolled them up and slathered them with a French toast batter (any kind will due, I just used two eggs with 1/4 cup of milk)
•  I then put a little butter in a frying pan and fried them on every side until evenly golden.
• Once removed from the heat and cooled slightly I rolled them around in a sugar/cinnamon mixture.
• Arrange on a plate and eat with syrup. No forks needed!

**I'm going to warn you, they look really gross throughout the process but once they are completed and ready for eating they will look delicious!



For one of the fun gifts I made a candy bar bouquet because after all, what man wants flowers? I was able to get everything I needed at the dollar store (score!) - the "manly vase", Styrofoam, candy, and TNT pop-its (no man can resist pop-its, it always brings out that inner child).

I thought this tin can would look more manly and rustic than a typical glass vase. Isn't it cute? I cut the Styrofoam to fit into the bottom, taped wooden skewers to the backs of the candy, and stuck them in. Easy-peasy and oh so fun!

ps... notice how I put a heart sticker over the "C" of the Chunky candy bar? I didn't want him to think I was calling him fat while giving him 2,000 calories of candy. "Hunky" was much more appropriate. hehe..

Spring / Summer Revirsible Craft

Another great craft kit found on groopdealz.com. All I had to do was paint and adhere scrapbook paper of my liking. Can it get any easier?

Frog cake

My friend asked me to make a cake for her baby shower last weekend. She's naming her daughter "Lilly" and thought it would be a cute theme to do frogs (lily pads - frogs... get it?). Here's what I came up with. I baked a 9 inch round, 8x8 pan, and two cupcakes. The round in the body, cupcake for eyes, and the 8x8 was carved into the legs. Super easy and super cute!

One year older

It has been so fun watching this little man grow in the past year. Those tie monthly stickers were so helpful recording him each month (not to mention so cute!). I can't believe this chubby boy was 7 weeks early, just look at him now! I want to jump into month 4 and just blow raspberries on those THIGHS and kiss those CHEEKS! Ok, onto the next stage.... TODDLER!

Monstrous first birthday!

For Broderick's first birthday we had a "monster bash". It was fun to plan and come up with different ways to make it cute and fun yet simple for a first birthday party. 



Here is the 3 tier monster cake I made. The top layer is the "smash cake" but I thought it looked better on the cake rather than off to the side. 

I took a picture of the baby each month with numbered ties to show how he's grown. It was fun to look back and see where his hair and skin started to really lighten. I meant to have a poster board to put these pictures on but forgot. The mirror works too I guess. 

I made the happy birthday sign out of scrapbook paper and ribbon. My sister painted those canvas's for her sons bathroom and let me borrow them or the party. They were perfect! That green chair is the one I painted for his first birthday photo shoot seen HERE. 

For party favors I had a candy bar. I collected large baby food jars, painted the lids orange, and glued googly eyes on them. From there everyone could put whatever candy they wanted into the jars and take them home. 

Shots from his photo shoot on display. 

The dining room décor. I'm digging the vertical streamers. 

Birthday boy with his cheesy smile 

Monster punch! 

present time

What's a party without good food! 

Chicken croissant sandwich's, pasta salad, and fruit kabobs... mmmmmm

 Make a wish!

 The cake was almost as big as him!

Big brother helping him blow out his candle 

It's my party and I can cry if I want to! 

It's tradition for the first birthday to let the baby dig in and make a mess.

Oh boy here we go... 

First birthday photo shoot

Today I finally got the chance to take my sons first birthday photo shoot. I originally planned to do it a few weeks before his birthday but the flu hit and once we all got better the weather hit. After that we went on our planned vacation and just got back yesterday. His birthday was almost a week ago but better late than never, right?

I got this great wooden chair at a thrift shop and painted it "shocking green". I love the way it turned out. His party theme is bright blue/green/orange monsters so the shoot was incorporated with the color scheme. I got the cute bow tie and suspenders from the sweetest Etsy shop. The owner was amazing helping me find what I wanted for this shoot. Her link HERE.



We really lucked out with the weather today. Great temperature, little to no wind, partly cloudy, perfection!

Here is my little cheese ball showing off his 5 teeth!



Such a dapper gentleman



I love pictures taken in orchards. I wish there were more blossoms on the trees but that's what I get for taking pictures here in March.



This one is my FAVORITE!





He got so close to the edge on so many occasions....

And only fell off once! Daddy to the rescue!



Tried a different angle of the orchard but didn't like it much.



I seriously love this green chair.



And seriously love this sweet face!