Summer

Backyard bunny

Front porch flower

Strawberries

NY in June means strawberry season. The kids and I spent a little over and hour and a little under $10 picking these beauties today.

We ended up with enought berries for 5 jars of freezer jam, a bag of berries for the freezer, a large bowl of berries for 2 nights worth of shortcake, and half a box for snacking. Mmmm...the bland store bought berries just can't compare.

Father's Day

Father's Day weekend was busy, busy, busy... The kids' had their end of year school ceremony on Friday. Saturday was spent at a parade and then a potluck picnic, so by the time Sunday rolled around we were all looking forward to a little relaxation. Pictured here is the table the kids put together for their Dad.

• Manly tablecloth? Check.


• Newspaper? Check.


• Donuts for breakfast? Check.


• Handmade Father's Day cards? Check.


• A jar filled with has favorite candy and decorated with sticker? Check.


• A fresh pot of coffe (not pictured)? Check.


• One happy Dad? You betcha!

Birthdays and Calendars

I've added a calendar link to my sidebar. I've often lamented that my area doesn't have a good one-stop source for information about family friendly happenings and we often don't find out about some great event until we read the story about it in the newspaper after the fact. So, I've collected event information from many local sources and combined them into one calendar. I've tried to keep the focus on low cost options and so I've highlighted free events in green as a reminder to myself that we don't have to spend a lot of money to live a good life.

On an unrelated note, we recently celebrated my step-son Ethan's 11th birthday at home which is something that we haven't done in a few years. While I strive to strike a balance between fun and frugal when it comes to the kids' parties, we've been holding them offsite for the past few years simply because it's easier. No cleanup afterwards. No worries about things getting broken with 15 kids running around our small house. This year, however, we had a simple birthday celebration and it was a nice change. Ethan decided ahead of time to have a family lunch party at home and then Dad took him to meet up with his friends at the mall that afternoon to go see the new Narnia movie.

The decorations were simple. I hung the birthday banner that I made last year and hubby and Anna took a walk and picked these beautiful lilacs.

The table was very simply set with a vinyl tablecloth that could easily be wiped down (because I have three nieces and nephews under the age of five) and I didn't want to stress over trying to keep a nice cloth one clean. What I really would like to find is a clear, plastic one to protect my nicer cloths.

We had barbecue chicken sandwiches that were cooked and kept warm in the crockpot, potato salad, veggies and dip, and chips. I made a pitcher of pink lemonade and set out another pitcher of ice water. The napkins were left over from last year's party.

The cake was a bit lopsided but yummy. The two layers were filled with strawberry frosting. Here is a picture of the birthday boy blowing out his candles.

Anna's 9th Birthday Party

We celebrated Anna's 9th birthday last weekend with a pool party at the YMCA.

The birthday girl requested a chocolate cake with purple frosting.

There were some other yummy snacks.

Note to self: next time don't fill the pinata so full. It was so heavy that it broke our broom handle.

The Birthday Book

Since it seems like there's a birthday happening around here every few months, I've decided to corral all of our birthday related material into one spot for easy reference. Hence the birth of the Birthday Book.

• I created a section for each person where I can keep notes on party theme ideas, party invite lists and gift ideas. This is handy because we tend to invite the same kids each year and it seemed like I was always hunting for addresses.


• There's a section on party games and instructions for making crafts such as pinatas, paper party hats and goody bags.


• There is a section for party food. I'm always seeing cute cakes and kids party ideas in magazines so this is where I save them.


• I also keep a section with information on area fun parks, party places, arcades, bowling alleys, gyms, and sport parks that offer kids parties. Instead of calling around every year, I keep a list of their phone number, website, pricing information, and related information.

Cupcakes

There's a fourth grade class who will be enjoying these dark chocolate cupcakes with purple-ish vanilla buttercream frosting today. Perfect treat for birthday girl to bring for the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holiday break.

While I was making these last night, I thought about how special I would always feel whenever it was my turn to bring treats in to school for my birthday. We'd get to bring a friend along with us to help hand the extras out to the principal and the ladies in the office who would all 'ooh' and 'ahhh'. I made sure to make lots of extras for birthday girl to share.

Aren't those the cutest cupcake toppers?

I printed them from this template at Martha Stewart's website and then taped them to toothpicks. So much fun.