Lindsey Unedited: October 2013

We had our annual family Halloween party last Saturday and it was so much fun!

My mom reserved her church building so we could have enough room for everyone. She says we have outgrown her house.

We started out with the costume contest - my sister Crista and her son Tanner won best costume. He was the headless horseman and she was the girl on the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. I was a Reconnaissance lady - hair extensions, mask, face paint and all. We didn't spend any money our costumes this year.

After that we had lunch and spooky treats. Then the kids played lots of fun games. After the games we watched a Pixar Halloween movie up on the stage with a projector. It was like a real movie.

When the party was over we met up with my Dad and Candice for ice cream so they could say Happy Birthday to Cambrey and give her a gift. They gave her Minnie Mouse dress up shoes that light up. She loved them.

After that we had to rush back home and send Gabe to another Halloween party with his friends. They had witches brew and pizza and played a lot of games.

There are still four more parties left before Thursday. Like I said October is our busiest month for parties. We always get our use out of our costumes.

We went on a date after all the parties were over

skull and bones ice cubes in my apple cider/orange juice concoction

Everyone got to take home one of these cute lanterns

Celebrating Cambrey and Manuel's birthdays

Grandma Bev

Cherise's moon and bat cookies

Pin the tail on the cat. Cherise's cute game

Cameron had surgery on his foot and had some toes removed. The consolation is getting to ride around on these awesome wheels!

The cousins all watching a Halloween movie

It is a big deal for Gabe to get water on his face so this was pretty impressive!

He got an apple!

The little ones loved playing in the leaves outside of the church

Me and "Cam Cam"

Opening her present from Grandpa Roger and Grandma Candice

The winner of the adults

Cherise made this tasty pumpkin cheese ball

My awesome face paint

Cambrey turned three on Friday! All year long she asked when her birthday would be and if she could have a Princess and the Frog party that she called a "Tiana party". I thought it sounded like so much fun and the ideas began pouring in.

Let me just say that this is one of my favorite Disney movies. I think it's because it reminds me of my favorite vacation to New Orleans when I was fourteen. The beautiful plantations, swamp tours, the French Quarter, Po-boy sandwiches, eating frog legs for the first time, southern hospitality and the charm of it all - those fun memories resurface every time I watch this movie. So, I was excited about Cambrey's choice. Tiana and Snow White are her two favorite princesses.

Throughout the months whenever I came across anything with princess Tiana or frogs - I bought it. I'm glad I did because if you go to the birthday isles at any store in Utah, you will not find anything that is just Princess and the Frog or Tiana. She could only be found on things that had all the Disney princesses on them. I was lucky to find the party horns on clearance at a party store. It was all they had of her.

The only thing I had to order online was the balloon from Walmart. I left it to the last minute so I had to pay rush on it and it came to about $15 total. Overall, it turned out very nice and six of the eleven girls that were invited came (which was just enough).

Because it's almost Halloween, our yard and home already have the scary decor that took care of the "voodoo" part of the movie. In fact my cute skeleton tablecloth was able to fit right in with the theme. We played kiss the frog, pass the frog and gator golf. The girls had a blast.Of course we watched a little of the movie too.

For dinner that night we had gumbo! It's the soup that Tiana makes in the movie. I've had it before but I've never made it. This recipe was so delicious that we couldn't stop eating it and my parents requested that I bring them some. I think this is my favorite soup! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/gumbo-recipe/index.html

I wanted to make Beignets "ben-yays" from the movie but there wasn't enough time. Here is the recipe that I would have used. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/french-quarter-beignets-recipe/index.html

The cake is my own special recipe - Vanilla Lime Cupcakes. Check out my recipe herehttp://cookwithlindsey.blogspot.com/2013/10/vanilla-lime-cupcakes.html

My pictures are a little out of order but as you can see we had a lot of fun with this theme :)

Cambrey was so cute - as her guests arrived she walked over and softly hugged them and then took their hand and guided them down to the basement.

The invites

The goods inside the goodie bags. I found the toy frogs in a bulk bag at the thrift store (D.I) for just fifty cents. The green licorice vines reminded me of the swamp and moss in the Bayou.

I bought these cute bags at Fundayze the party store. I like that they were clear so my party horns could become a part of the look of the bag.

I put matching lip glosses in the bags. You get 10 for a few dollars on the party isle at Walmart.

I bought the frog mold at Hobby Lobby and the green chocolate.

We let her open a present from her Oma in Germany when she woke up on her birthday. She was so happy to get her favorite two princesses.

Because our guests were two and three year-olds, I knew there would be a high risk of drink spills so I planned ahead and bough bottled drinks to rid the problem. These are airhead drinks from Walmart. I then printed Tiana's face and glued them on the caps and tied ribbon that I already had around the bottles to make them prettier.

Lime green and cream colored balloons. I hate driving with balloons in my car and the strings getting tangled so for all my kids' parties I keep these balloon stems around and make them a balloon vase instead. I also save money not having to buy helium.

The only splurge I made.

I always got to the D.I (thrift store) to get my cake toppers. We searched the toy isle shelves for an hour trying to find a princess Tiana. We found every princess but her, after almost giving up I saw a plastic bag of tiny toys and noticed a hole it. I shook it and a tiny Tiana fell out! I was so happy. She only cost 25 cents! Despite the teeth marks on the side of her face I was so happy to have found her rather than paying $6-10 for a new one at Walmart. I pushed her into a large cupcake to make it look like her dress. I used gummy frogs for the other toppers. This is my own recipe for vanilla lime cupcakes.
http://cookwithlindsey.blogspot.com/2013/10/vanilla-lime-cupcakes.html

I threw some masquerade masks that I already had on the table to give it that Mardi Gras effect. I saved money buying vanilla plates and fun green chevron napkins rather than ordering actual Tiana plates, cups and napkins online.

I put my chocolate frogs on cute little cake stands

I already had the yellow and white crepe paper from past parties.

Watching the movie

Cambrey and her friends

An Aurora doll! She got three Disney dolls in one day.

SECONDPICTURE

Making a wish

Eating Tiana

I've learned after enough parties that kids lick off the frosting and don't eat the cupcake. Still I always feel the need to make tasty cakes. Let's just say it was a shame I had to throw away all those yummy gourmet cupcakes. I've also learned that no one ever eats their ice cream. We were able to put back five scoops that went untouched before they melted.