Party Pictures

For Levi's 2nd birthday party we had originally planned on inviting several of his little friends (and their parents - our friends) and some family and letting the kids eat cake and play outside...but 3 of his friends already had plans (vacations, etc) to be out of town on the day of his party...so we just had a family gathering for his party. The structure of the party changed a little, but we still had a wonderful time of celebrating Levi. I did things a little simpler than at his first birthday party - we just had brisket sandwiches and some sweets as we got to mingle with family that we don't get to see super often. The party started at the kickoff of the OU game, so we had some extra entertainment as well. It was a great time!

On a side note, the memories are great, but they were captured....not so well. I wasn't paying much attention and my camera settings were way off and so all of the pictures are blurry and terrible. There's always next year ;) I'm posting this mainly for those who didn't get to make it to the party for whatever reasons (both of my grandma's weren't able to be there, and also two aunts - for different and unexpected reasons - WE MISSED YOU!) Anyway, they have been asking for pictures, so here are some. Look past the blur and you can kind of make things out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Lesson learned: have the party earlier in the day!:) He was SO tired and about to fall asleep}

 

{Better once he realized it was cake}

 

 

 

 

I still didn't do a great job of getting a picture of everyone here. Again...there's always next year. I vow not to fail at pictures! It was a great party and I'm certain Levi had fun. We had it a week early and we are looking forward to celebrating with our little guy a little more intimately on his actual birthday this Friday.

Halloween Candy Bark

We had Levi's birthday party over the weekend and it was such a great time! His party was "construction"-themed, which is a really perfect theme to have before Halloween because there are an abundance of orange, black, and yellow party supplies in every store.

One of the things I found on Pinterest and made for the party was this Halloween candy bark (the colors were perfect for our theme). I have never made anything like this so I wanted to try it - it was fast and easy! I did everything according to the recipe except the way I melted the chocolate. I just do it in the microwave and add a little shortening if it needs to be thinned out. I'll definitely be making this again for Christmas :) It was a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:
1 lb. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 Butterfinger candy bars (or 8 fun size bars), roughly chopped
3 toffee candy bars (or 6 fun size bars), roughly chopped
8 Reese cups, cut into wedges
¼ cup honey roasted peanuts
3 oz. yellow and orange peanut M&Ms, coarsely chopped
3 oz. good quality white chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions:
Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Pour the chocolate over the foil and smooth into a thin layer with a spatula. Evenly sprinkle the chopped candy bars, Reese cups, honey roasted peanuts, and peanut M&Ms over the melted chocolate. Press gently to adhere the candy to the melted chocolate. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

Melt the white chocolate, again using the double boiler method, until smooth. Drizzle over the chilled candy bark. Return to the refrigerator and let chill again until the white chocolate is set, 3o minutes more.

Peel the sheet of chocolate away from the foil and break into irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

 

Nail Spotlight: Party Nails & Other Details

Last year, some of you may remember this manicure and this post about it:

That manicure was for Levi's first birthday party (camouflaged-themed). It was really fun. This year, I had decided his 2nd birthday party (construction-themed) would be a bit more toned-down, without going to the extremes we did last year with decorations, food, manicures, gifts, number of guests, etc.....


And then I saw this:

{Courtesy of here, via Pinterest}

And then I realized my Pinterest board for Levi's party inspiration looked like this:

And Tyler brought me these from work yesterday:

The planning began months ago. Several things have been made and ordered... It's 2 months away. Here we go!

Family Fun Night

Our church has outgrown our current facility and recently purchased some land across town for a future location. Last year we held our back-to-school community block party on the new property (I blogged about it last summer), and back in June, we had a "Family Fun Night" there. It was at 6pm and the summer temperatures were already relentless (100+). Everyone was dreading being outside in the heat but that afternoon (due to a lot of prayer), the skies miraculously clouded up and the temps dropped over 20 degrees as some storms rolled in (un-forcasted). It was a beautiful display of God's grace and everyone had a great fellowship! 

 

Wedding Bells

This past weekend we were in Dallas for what was a quick weekend "shopping trip." Although there was not as much shopping involved as I would have hoped (ha), we were actually there to be a part of my sister's surprise engagement (ok, ok - that's better than shopping).

It all went as planned (she said 'yes'), and now she is an engaged woman. I am thankful Paul (fiancé) let us in on the plan and that we got to be there. It was important to me that she have pictures of it.

I'll spare you on all the details, but the main part of the "plan" was for Paul and Allie to go to lunch and to a movie, come back to the hotel where everyone had planned to lounge around the pool that day, and direct her attention to a banner (he had made) hanging on the side of the hotel. She turned to look at the banner, then turned back around to Paul on one knee. There were a ton of people out at the pool that day, and once the banner was hung, they were all sort of in on the plan. So when she said 'yes,' the crowd went wild! Here are some pictures of the event.

Congrats to Paul and Allie!