The theme for Melody's second birthday was "You are my Sunshine". I made three banners to help decorate for her party. The banners changed some from when I first designed them only because where I planned to use them changed.
Pizza Sauce
I love pizza, but I am not the biggest fan of making it at home because I haven't found a pizza sauce I love. Brad likes PizzaQuick but not me. So I found this pizza sauce recipe online and decided to give it a try. It still isn't amazing, but it is much better than PizzaQuick! And you should have most of the ingredients in your pantry.
Pool Days
We have spent quite a few days at my mom's pool this summer. While the temperatures have been fairly hot outside, the pool water has actually been refreshing and not boiling hot like previous summers.
Birthday Party Food
The theme for Melody's second birthday was "You are my Sunshine". I contemplated the food to serve for quite a few months. I wanted to have food that I knew Melody would eat, but that isn't much these days. I also wanted to do something fancy and unique. However, since we were living in a hotel, we had to adapt.
Chicken Parmesan Casserole
I love chicken parmesan, but it isn't always the healthiest considered it is fried chicken. Well I found a healthier version on Pinterest recently, and I decided to give it a try. It was surprisingly great. And the noodles are totally optional if you want to make it a bit healthier.
Sunshine Coloring Sheet
The theme for Melody's second birthday was "You are my Sunshine". In case of rain or the kids didn't want to go outside during the party to play, I wanted something for the kids to do inside besides just play with Melody's toys and destroy the house, ha! I decided to make a coloring sheet for the kids.
Sunshine Party Vases
For Melody's second birthday, the theme was "You are my Sunshine". Even before we had to move to the party to Emily's house, I had planned for the party to be primarily inside with only a few things outside. I wanted to find some sort of decor to add throughout the party that would play up the theme but also be fairly inexpensive. I decided to make centerpieces/vases to fulfill this!
Mini Burger Appetizers
I made these appetizers for the Super Bowl earlier this year. I found the recipe on Pinterest, but like with most recipes, I didn't follow it exactly. Since it was just Brad and me, I didn't make them super pretty either. But you could easily add some cute, decorative toothpicks to make them prettier and more festive.
Best Grandparent Flower
For Mother's Day, I wanted to do a small craft for our moms from Melody. At the time we were living in a hotel, so my options were fairly limited. I did have my Silhouette Cameo at the hotel since I was prepping for Melody's birthday party. So I decided to use it.
Sunglasses Party Favors
For Melody's second birthday party, her theme was "You are my Sunshine". So when trying to decide on a party favor, sunglasses seemed like the perfect idea. I did have my own criteria before deciding the favor, and that was that it had to be something I could make well in advance (opposed to the cotton candy ice cream cone favors I did last year). I didn't want to be up late the night before trying to put together favors. And these worked out perfectly for that purpose!
Roasted Red Potatoes
I made these potatoes the other night for dinner with Emily and Justin. These are super easy to make and are perfect for a crowd.
Sunshine Cupcake Toppers
For Melody's second birthday party, the theme was "You are my Sunshine". I made a sun using my Silhouette Cameo for Melody's invitation, so I decided to use that sun throughout her party.
Sunshine Party Invites
For Melody's second birthday party, I did "You are my Sunshine" theme. I sing her the song before bed each night, so it seemed fitting. I did some searching online for invitations ideas. Last year after her birthday party, I swore I would buy invitations. Well I never found anything I loved, so of course, I made them.
Lemon Parmesan Fish (or Chicken) and Broccoli
In an effort to eat less red meat, I have been searching Pinterest for more fish and chicken recipes. I found a 20 minute one pan recipe that I decided to give a try. It turned out really good, but my first attempt wasn't the best. I didn't love the dish. I made a few adjustments (including the meat I used), and it was perfect. I have made the adjusted recipe with chicken, and it was great too. Below is my adjusted recipe to the original I found on Pinterest. At the VERY bottom I have included the pictures from my original attempt and some more info about why I didn't love it.
July 4th!
We had a wonderful July 4th celebrating with family!
How to get Printer Toner or Ink out of Clothing
A few weeks ago, Brad sent me a text while a work warning me about his encounter with their printer at work. Apparently he couldn't get something to print, he messed with the toner, and boom! He had toner all over his fairly new work pants. He has very few pairs of work pants, and these were his most favorite since they were the newest. So I had a few hours to investigate a solution!
Melody's SECOND Birthday Party
Melody turned two back on May 25th! It is crazy considering I feel like we just celebrated her first birthday! I started contemplating her theme about 6-7 months before. I went back and forth between two themes, but I ultimately decided on "You are my Sunshine" as her theme. I sing her that song every night as well as sometimes throughout the day when she naps or doesn't feel great. I knew I could easily play up the pink and yellow, so it really would be fairly easy to put together. We ran into a few hiccups, but overall her party was a success. Check out the general details below! I plan to write about the crafty aspects of her party in future posts.
Baked Onion Rings
For the Super Bowl earlier this year, I made these baked onion rings. They were super delicious but must be eaten immediately. I didn't care from them leftover or even as the game progressed to continue to eat them. However, if you are entertaining a crowd, these won't last long. They are much easier to make then frying onion rings. Or at least I think so. I could not make them look super pretty either, but the taste is truly what matters! Also, I didn't use almond flour; instead I used regular all purpose flour.
Father's Day 2018
This year we had a fairly laid back Father's Day to celebrate both Brad and my dad.
