Valentine's Idea- - Brunch party: Entertaining for your own Family!

This is a repost from last year at Valentine's.
Hoping it might be an inspiration for the upcoming holiday.
I had sooo much fun putting on a party for my family,
and I am going to do the same thing again this year.
I'm sure I'll post about it again this year- -
but I needed to get my OWN creative juices flowing. :)
Enjoy!

I put on a ton of get togethers & parties every year.

Mostly because of my hubby's ministry.

But also because we just really enjoy entertaining.

I am constantly putting out the nicest things I have

just for the guests.

(Even if my nicest things I own are from WallyWorld. Ha!)

As I contemplated how I could make Valentine's

"special" for my family this year,

I decided that I would "entertain" for them.

Meaning,

I'd make the table look pretty...

And I'd make a nice brunch...

Even the baby enjoyed her raspberry covered,

heart shaped french toast.

Haha! Meet Chow-Chow & Cheesy- 2 new "dwarfs".

We passed out presents...

and played a game (every party has a good game!)...

They had so much fun!

And waking up to a refrigerator decorated with

sweet sentiment sticky notes in the shape of a heart?

Priceless.

Thanks, honey.

See, Look how sweet. (There were a few that were more

 "spicy", too. lol.)

Now if only I'd gotten a picture of him in his

Cookie Monster T-shirt from the kids.

I'm so glad that I put the effort into

making this Valentine's special for my family.

It was so worth it.

Zoo Themed Birthday Party

2 things that made my job of "party coordinator" a breeze- -
My Cricut & Oriental Trade!

My son decided that he wanted to go to the zoo for his 5th birthday!
I was pretty excited, and immediately started thinking of
how to make it extra special for him. :)

I cut all the little details for the party on my Cricut,
like these adorable elephants on mini soda cans

 & monkeys and balloons on lunchbags:

Or these giraffe cupcake/cake toppers with the birthday boy's age:

And I got all the party & paper goods from Oriental Trade Company on the cheap!

Like these animal masks- which we had so much fun with:

And the kids' party favors, and favor boxes: 

Most of all though, I love that my newly 5 year old

chose to go to the zoo for his birthday.

What a perfect place to enjoy sunshine, fresh air,

animals, friends & family, and running around just for fun.

Added to: Sunday Showcase Party

Fall Fest

This past weekend our church had their

annual Fall Fest.

In the last couple years, we went to

a large farm out in the country...

and that atmosphere was really awesome.

This year, though, we decided to have it at the church.

It turned out so cute, if I can brag on myself a little.

We had a pinata...

and they really enjoyed that!

 

 The kids played some cute carnival games... photos courtesy of my hubby!

 I thought it was especially cute how she was putting her hand

through the hole!! haha.

Then the kiddos dragged us outside to go on a hayride,

and build a bonfire. So much fun! 

I didn't take too many pictures because I was mostly

directing the kids to the different booths,

working a booth,

riding hayrides,

and entering the pie baking contest.

Busy, busy! Fun, fun! :)



Our Shoe Party- Mother's Day Brunch!

When I went to Johnny Carino's last year with my mom

for my birthday & Mother's Day,

they handed us this cute little placemat/ game that had

SHOES on it!

I had just finished up all the decor for our

Mother's Day Brunch at our church- -

in 2009- - Mirror, Mirror, I am my Mother after all!

But when I saw the shoes...

I wanted to jump up & down, and do a happy dance!

So, that's what I planned our brunch around this year.

{my little daughter & my shoes}

We did a "Shoe Showoff" Fashion show.

Everyone wore their shoes to fit into one of 5 categories:

- Prettiest (I won this one!!); - Most Bling; - Colorful;

- Comfortable; - Highest Heel.

It was a total blast!!

Everyone wore pretty  & funky shoes.

(I totally should've gotten more pictures of the shoes!)

One of the girls even sort of matched mine. :)

Cute, huh?! haha.

Of course, we did decorations with flip-flops everywhere.

Surrounding the speaker area.

Covering a pretty trellis.

Those are little shoes on the table, too.

Oh, and you probably notice the adorable black & hot pink pom-poms.

We hung something like 40 of them!!

I made the invitations & programs all about shoes.

And I did the devotional about "What kind of shoe are you?"

It was so fun.

There was so much yummy food, too!

Like these chocolate dipped strawberries

MY HUBBY

made for us!!

I know! He's such a sweet man.

And tons of other yummy-licious brunch dishes, too.

There were so many moms/daughters/friends there.

It was beautiful to see these wonderful women,

just loving being together for a few hours.

Way too many groups of sweet ladies to put on this post!

We had a wonderful time.

I will probably remember most,

how nervous I was about speaking! haha.

I'm sure nobody else will even remember that part of it.

Hopefully they'll just remember having a sweet time

with their loved ones or friends,

and getting to show off their fun shoes!! :)

Here's me & my sweet pea afterwards.

I love that I finally have a daughter to take to these kinds of things.

My two sons are pretty special too. :) FYI.