DIY Jessie Costume

Here's the SIMPLE, no-brainer instructions for how I made Brittlynn's Jessie from Toy Story Halloween costume :)

Supplies:

• 2 sheets of yellow felt
• 1 sheet of brown felt (each sheet of felt was only 22 cents)
• cow print fabric (i bought 2 cow print bandanas for 99 cents)
• red fabric marker (you could just use a red sharpie too but I wanted to make sure it'd work!)
• 2 large sized round jewels
• white long sleeved onesie
• jeans (I'm proud of myself for asking around to get some for free! thanks to Crissy for the donation!)
• boots (found at a kids sale for $3!)

• You'll also need scissors and a glue gun!

Instructions:

1. I cut out the yellow felt to fit in the collar area of the onesie as well as two yellow pieces to make cuffs around the arms

2. Then I took the marker and drew loops on the collar piece and cuff pieces. In the past I would have stressed out over making them perfect. But as I add more children to my life, my need for perfection becomes less and less. Haha!

3. I cut an oval out from the brown felt to look like a belt buckle on the jeans. I also cut the cow print fabric to look like chaps.

4. I placed the jewels on the chest to look like buttons then used a hot glue gun and glued it all on the outfit!!! NO SEWING! :)

Having an infant meant not even attempting a cow girl hat so I used a bow I had that matched the theme! Looks like a good match to me :) A cute, simple Halloween costume costing me under $15 total!

Quick Yummy Corn!

This is THE easiest recipe EVER and so, super delicious!!!

Ingredients:

• Corn in the husks. That's it!

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. DO not do ANYTHING to corn (not even rinse it)
3. Place corn directly on oven rack
4. Let cook for 30 min
5. Take out and let cool some then the husks come off SUPER easy!
6. Add some butter and EAT!!!

Seriously...best corn EVER!!! Try it and let me know how much your family loves it. It's a new Parker Family staple!

Ice Cream in a Bag

This original recipe was taken from Family Fun Magazine!

This is a SUPER easy, quick and fun family activity. Great for preschool age as the reward is quick :)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbl sugar
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup salt (the bigger granules the better. Rock salt or Kosher work best...we used sea salt)
• Ice Cubes (enough to fill a gallon-size bag about half full)
• 1 pint-sized ziplock bag
• 1 gallon-size ziplock bag

Directions:

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly
2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well
3. Seal the larger bag and shake it until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). You can feel the smaller bag to tell when it's done
4. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one and eat away! You can eat straight from the bag for easy clean up!

Orange Party Punch

Finding a YUMMY punch is so important for any party! I like to have my punch match my color scheme so I recently needed to find an orange punch. I found this recipe from Taste of Home and it was super tasty so I thought I'd share!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (12 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 2 liters lemon-lime soda, chilled
• 1 can (46 oz) pineapple juice, chilled (they were out of the can at Publix so I bought a big bottle of it and guesstimated how much to use)
• 1 quart orange or pineapple sherbert (I used orange to match my color scheme)

Directions:

1. Prepare orange juice according to package directions; pour into a punch bowl.
2. Stir in soda and pineapple juice
3. Top with scoops of sherbet (we didn't worry with making them pretty scoops as you can tell haha)
4. Serve immediately

 

Breakfast Casserole Muffins

These are PERFECT for a breakfast/brunch event. They were THE HIT of the baby shower and everyone asked for the recipe! You could easily freeze them as well to warm up for breakfasts! Original recipe was found on CDKitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sausage, browned and drained
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup Bisquick baking mix
• 2 cups half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups grated cheese (I didn't use grated...instead I used shredded cheddar cheese)

Directions:

1. Lightly grease muffin tins then place drained sausage in them.
2. Mix eggs, bisquick, half-and-half, and salt and pepper together
3. Pour evenly over sausage
4. Top with grated cheese (I used shredded cheddar and just put a BUNCH of it on them, you can never have too much cheese right?!?!)
5. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees

Goldfish Carrots

The creation of Pinterest also created more pressure as a parent to have "cute" stuff for everything. When it came time for Kye's School Easter Party I searched on Pinterst for Easter snack ideas. I found this and liked that it was simple but that it also wasn't something so sweet. Kids get enough junk at school parties am I right?!?!

Supplies:

• Large box of orange Goldfish
• Ribbon 
• Disposable Decorating Bags (got mine at Hobby Lobby!)

Instructions:

1. I first cut the bags to a smaller size. They all had the logo on them so I cut right below the logo to get rid of it and make them smaller.
2. Then I filled them with the Goldfish (great thing your toddler/preschooler can help with!)
3. I cut the ribbon and tied it tightly to make the top of the "carrot"

Cute, Simple, Cheap and Yummy!

Panty Poem

I found this adorable gift idea on Pinterest and you can go to the original site here. I thought this would make a great lingerie shower gift. Personally, I still have some of my lingerie with the TAGS on them. And I've been married for almost five years!!! I get more wear out of sexy undies than anything else because you can have them on during a date and be instantly ready for dessert ;) I bought all the panties from Victoria's Secret and tried to find pairs that fit with the poem but that also were fun, different, and (most of all) sexy!!!

I typed up each line of the poem and made my own gift tags to tie on the panties:

To last all the way to old age - starting with your wedding day

Here are panties for every season - A sexy underwear display!

(I picked a pair in one of her wedding colors)

We have a pair for March 31st (frilly, lacy and white)

Raise a toast to the Sexy Bride on your wedding night!

Racy red ones for the Honeymoon - a sexy thong with lace

We hope you leave the hotel room and see the rest of the place!

Slip these on for your first big fight as a married couple

When Jordan sees you in this set, he'll forgive you on the double!

White ones for the 1st Anniversary - you'll be feeling naughty

Jordan won't believe his luck for marrying such a hottie!

When the time is right for you and Jordan 

(and don't be saying maybe)

You'll wear a little pink or blue in honor of your baby!

As the years go by your marriage might hit the 7 year blues.
Just remember this feisty animal print and your love life will never snooze!

After 10 years of married life, you'll still be going strong

But if you need a little boost, just put this number on.

When your years of wedded bliss ring in the big 2-5,

Slip on this spicy number and keep the sparkle alive

(these were my favorite panties...they have little bells on them!)

Finally when you're old and grey, with these you can't go wrong

Sorry Jordan, but at this age, she won't be rockin' a thong!

(for this pair you buy a pair of "grannie panties")

I put all the panties in a large hat box (found at Hobby Lobby). She can use the box to store all of her lingerie or other sexy surprises!

Birthday Banner

I am not very good at crafts but I refuse to pay a bunch of money on Etsy for someone to make something that I can totally make myself. I've figured out a simple way to make a cute birthday banner and I use this same technique for all the banners I make (great for parties, showers, etc!). It's SO easy and they always get lots and lots of compliments! Here's how I do it!

Supplies: I'm a big fan of over-buying. I buy WAY more than I need for a project so that way I don't stress if I mess up and then I just return all the left over stuff I don't use.

• 12x12 sized patterned paper (I buy one piece per letter that I plan to do)
• 8 1/2 x 11 sized plain paper (Again, I buy one piece per letter)
• Photo stickers
• Chipboard letters (I get ALL my supplies at Hobby Lobby, these are kinda pricey but often go on sale and you can get 40% off coupons all the time online. The packages come with two of each vowel but one of every other letter so, for me, I have to buy THREE packages in order to spell out "Happy Birthday Kye" because all those dang y's!)
• Paper cutter. I have one from my scrapbooking days. Make sure it has a good ruler on it too, makes life easier!
• Hole punch
• String or ribbons or twine
• Hole protectors (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut the patterned 12x12 paper into 6x6 squares (so yes, you can get two squares out of each sheet)
2. Cut the solid 8 1/2 x 11 paper into 4x4 squares (so you should be able to get four squares out of each sheet)
3. Cut the pieces of photo stickers to fit on the chipboard letters and place in center of each solid square
4. Place photo stickers on back of solid square and stick on center of patterned square.
5. Punch holes in the top corners or along the center edges (but not too close to the edge or they will rip) of each patterned square. When I made this one I had an after thought that it'd be SUPER smart to use hole protectors on the backs (those little stickers with holes in them) of the patterned squares to protect the holes from ripping. I'll probably do that next time!
6. Thread the string or ribbon through the holes, leaving extra space to be able to separate the letters. I have also made these where I tie a ribbon from one to the next instead of having them all on one long string. It just depends on the look you're trying to achieve. For this one I wanted a western type look so I used some string I had a roughed it up a little bit. I also put it through the top of the patterned squares so you could see it and it added to the look.

Finished product (you can click to make pictures larger)