Making Time

Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Fab 50's Christmas Cocktail party!!

I just love going to holiday parties and I would have went to so many more but these are some of the sacrifices you make when you are no longer single and kid free...no more every weekend partying. We still manage to find the time to make as many as we can though. Luckily a few of the parties we were able to bring our kids..this one however was a nice Adults only party where I was so lucky to have a sitter so we could attend.

I just LOVE fun and creative apps! As soon as we walked through the front door there was a very lovely catered display of apps ...I ofcourse had to dive right in. These were tomato and roasted pepper bisque with a skewered triangle of grilled cheese on top...So delish I must have had like 5..I was so tempted to say.. just pour me a bowl and give me a whole sandwich.

OOO and than there were these lovely shrimps with some sort of lime and herb marinade..ALSO..I had a few of those..and they had skewers of chicken breast with a Thai chile sauce..heavenly.

After I combed over the app table and said a couple quick hello's I had to get me a glass of some of this champagne punch. Ahhh It looks like Someone made a Nice Blueberry filled Ice ring for the punch.

Ok anyone who really know me KNOWS that I am a major candy freak! I LOVE CANDY..hence all my fillings in my teeth...yipes.

and they had my faves...Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

and ..Boozed filled chocolate bottles..YES PLEASE

I sat by this table almost the whole night grazing..my poor teeth.

I like aria's little pink Christmas tree

OOOO Fondue!! I hung out here for a little bit too

My fave was dipping the cream puff into the chocolate fondue

Gabe having a cocktail and mingling

I had to make me a whipped cream vodka with Ginger ale

Jen had a few fun games for everyone to play at the party and than we did a white elephant gift exchange..i ended up with some gingerbread bath fizzes and body butter and a gift card to target

Gabe and Roland...This was right after Gabe downed a Yard glass of ale

Later in the evening Roland busted out some of his Posters..he gifted this one to Gabe.

Gabe was loving all the posters

after the posters and some chit chat it was getting late so we soon had to make our exit...Time flies when your having fun! Thanks Roland and Jen for a fabulous party!

A caroling we go.............

Since I work FULL time it is HARD for me to get more involved with Parker's School Activities but when something comes up that is extracurricular or special I try to do my best to take part in these little events. The latest one...Christmas Caroling with Parker's School...Yep....Carolling....I have not been carolling since I was 10 years old and in the Girl scouts! What the hey..it seemed like it would be a good time. The note said Please bring a tray of cookies and dress warm. well the night before The kids and I..oh and Gabe made a WHOLE mess of sugar cookies shaped like Snowman and Stars and had a WIDE assortment of candies and sprinkles and different color icings to decorate..BOY...what a mess and a lot of work...Next Time I am BUYING! ((oh by the way..our handmade sugar cookies were a hit..they were the first cookies to be finished out of ALL the cookies that were brought in and spread out on the tables))

It was raining earlier in the day so we thought hmm maybe they cancelled the caroling but Gabe called and they said they would just round everyone in the cafeteria and sing. Ava was having fun watching a couple of the teachers sing Christmas song Karaoke ( and yes...it was a bit of torturous)

Parker is funny..He wanted to be "cool" and throw on his 3 button Velvet jacket and hat...of course over his skater clothes LOL

After a short while Ava was singing along with some of the kids. It was super cold outside but it was Not raining SO the teachers asked everyone By a show of hands How many of you would still like to go out and Carol around the neighborhood...only a couple hands went up.

Gabe ofcourse was like YES!! I want to carol around the neighborhood..that is what Caroling is all about..I on the other hand was iffy cause I knew it was going to be cold...However I just HAD to get out of the Christmas Karaoke filled cafeteria before my ears would bleed out. One of the teachers was this younger guy who had his Guitar..he seemed like a hipster type..cool dude and he was like Ok so anyone who wants to carol the neighborhood let's go...pretty much EVERYONE got up to go...I guess most of the other adults could not wait to leave that cafeteria as well.

We just went a few streets and stopped at the houses that had lights up.

Gabe and Parker singing...I think this is when they were singing Feliz Navidad ( which I hate that song and my brother and I had this whole count on how many times we would hear that song in December..every time one of us would hear it we would text with the number..I think his final count was 19 mine was 17)

The neighbors that were home enjoyed the caroling

The kids COULD not wait to go knocking on the doors...Ava kept going to the doors with the older kids and saying Trick or Treat

The singing was not too bad and at least there was a guitar playing too

Last house...let's move along folks...it is COLD OUT HERE

Back inside was tables full of cookies and hot cocoa ..everyone sat around and enjoyed while the Christmas karaoke for the kids continued

MMMM...Instant hot cocoa...
I have to say..I think we all actually quite enjoyed ourselves.

Good Ol Shrinky Dinks

I spend pretty much most of my evenings alone with the kiddos and we are always trying to find new fun things to do. Every once in awhile I go to Micheal's when they are having sales and try and find some fun arts and crafts kits on sale. Of course over the Christmas season there was all kinds of sales going on. I found some Shrinky Dink kits for 4.50!! I have not done Shrinky Dinks since I was like Parker's Age!

The kids were having a blast watching them in the stove shrink up.

If you are not sure of what Shrinky Dinks I will explain. You get this BIG sheet of Stencils and a BUNCH of little clear plastic sheets. You find a shape you like and trace and color. For example Ava had me do this Ice Cream Cone. I used color pencils and filled it in. I then Cut out the ice cream and place it on a cookie sheet ( i used this ol beat up cookie sheet )

You pop it in the oven for about 1-3 minutes and it shrinks into this hard plastic mini ice cream cone. You can cut a hole in it before hand and make some charms.

Ava with her spaghetti face ( we made these like Immediately after dinner) I made the mistake of putting this owl on a pizza sheet...it got stuck in the holes.

We made SO MANY plastic dinks that night that Ava cried when I finally put them away..I just could not do anymore. I know..I suck as an adult. If I were a kid every single shrinky Dink would have been done!

Monday, December 19, 2011

1st Christmas party of the season!

We have been invited to a few Christmas parties and this was our First One!! This was at our friends Brian and Brandees out in Menifee. It was so great too cause we could take our kids with us and because they are so far they offered for us and some of the other friends that drove the distance to spend the night.

I love the assorted drinks available..these were pomegranate martini's ..they were so yummy

Then there was shots of Kahlua and bailey's and Vodka and Midori..I had several...

and of course some festive candy cane cocktails which I did not have...Not a huge fan of minty drinks they kind of upset my stomach but they look really pretty.