Our visit to the Christmas tree farm

We set out yesterday to find a pick/cut your own Christmas tree farm.  Brandon was convinced we could make a quick trip to Zachary to the farm he went to when he was a child, despite numerous people telling him it was closed.  He called before we went and was told they were open until 5pm. We made the trip there only to discover they are no longer a Christmas tree farm  but were selling pre cut trees.  We turned around and headed out further to a place his brother told him about which we never found.  Finally, after much nagging on my part, he decided to go to the place I found online before we even left the house.  It was a nice trip in the country and Addison even got a nap in during the ride.

Windy Hills Farm

 

 

We finally arrived at Windy Hills Farm and started our search.  I had hoped we would be able to take a family pic at the farm for our Christmas card but obviously everyone had the same idea as we did yesterday as there were a ton of people there.  They sell mostly Leyland Cypress trees and we are use to a more traditional fir tree for Christmas and contemplated passing on what they had to offer. 

 

 

After walking around for quite some time (and not to mention the drive!), we decided on a tree and Brandon got to sawing.  I had him dress up because I'd planned on taking a Christmas card pic so needless to say he worked up a sweat cutting down our tree, while Addison and I observed.

He cut it down, drug it around to the checkout and we headed back home...it was an adventure but I'll be honest, it's not as pretty as the cheaper trees we've purchased at Home Depot in the past.  Oh well, we are making memories!

 

WDW To do list

I'm taking my youngest niece to Walt Disney World to celebrate her golden birthday this Labor Day weekend. We didn't celebrate golden birthdays growing up but I learned about it in college. Basically, your golden birthday is the year you turn the age of the date of your birth. For example, my oldest niece's birthday is December 10th, so I took her to WDW for her 10th birthday. Olivia turns 7 on September 7th this year, hence our WDW Golden Birthday Celebration. 

The idea struck me to make a to do list as I'm always planning ahead and thought it would be fun to make a sort of bucket list, but not a bucket list...just a WDW to do list. I actually started just making a list but decided it would be more fun for a seven year old to actually have a photo/scrap book that she could keep track of her adventures. Now, please know, I'm not a scrapbooker, in the least. Of course, how I envisioned this isn't quite how it turned out, as most of my projects don't, but I think she will enjoy it immensely!

Here's the list so far, I'm sure we will add to as we go:

1) ride a plane, bus, boat, train, monorail

2) enjoy a dole whip, churro, Mickey bar, Mickey waffle

3) meet Mickey

4) make a wish in Cinderella's wishing well

5) get a Mickey balloon

6) get a pair of Mickey ears

7) wear a birthday button (I highly suggest this, adds so much fun to the celebration)

8) watch a firework show (my plan is from the beach at the Polynesian)

9) get a face painting

10) see lots of princesses (goal to meet all 11!)

11) find all of the fab 5

12) ride Cinderella's Carousel

I think the idea of possibly taking all of these forms of transportation is soooo exciting, and I'm no where near seven years old!

A must do for any trip to WDW!

Should I order ahead of time, personalized with her name?

Have you had the opportunity to wear a birthday button (or any celebration button) at WDW? You can get a button for free at guest services in any of the parks - birthdays, anniversaries, first visit, are a few of the buttons available. What makes the buttons so fun, is cast members notice the buttons and wish you a happy birthday, making it a very special time for little ones. 

I have a confession to make, as many times as I've been to WDW, I rarely watch the fireworks show. It's too crowded and afterwards, it's a mad dash to the exit that totally tests my patience. Last visit I went with my older niece who was ten at the time. She rode the the Mad Tea Party over and over while I watched the fireworks show. It was a win - win, she got to ride a ride I wasn't interested in and I got to watch fireworks outside of the crowds. My plan for this trip is to take a boat or monorail from Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian resort and watch the fireworks on the beach, over the Seven Seas Lagoon. I'm hoping my plan will work out, fingers crossed. 

Seems like something you should do at WDW, right?!? 

I originally thought about making a page for each princess, then was worried that was too ambitious and didn't want to disappoint. Or I had the idea we'd spend our last day running down princesses, not my idea of a good time.  We have reservations for Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at the Norway Pavilion in EPCOT our first night there.  I'm hoping we can cross most of these off the list our first night!

This should be an easy list too...we have breakfast reservations for Donald's Safari Breakfast in Animal Kingdom, all of the fab 5 should be there. 

I figured she can write in her favorite rides here. I also left several pages blank for photos, journaling or coloring pages if she'd like. In total, I spent about $12. 

I'm looking forward to adding pictures of our trip and having her check off the boxes as we accomplish things.  There are several adult items I would add to my list, including drinking around the world at EPCOT, must have a Grand Marnier slush for the first time this trip.  What's on your WDW to do list?

Abadie Command Center

I'm super excited to share one of my latest projects...the Abadie Command Center! I'd been perusing Pinterest when I came across the idea. The Command Center would be the key to dejunkifying (I'm pretty sure i just made up a new word)and getting it together over here at the Abadie house!

When we moved in to our new house, the large island in the kitchen seemed to be the catch all for everything! Mail, loose change, newspaper, school stuff, etc. You name it, it was there. I needed a plan fast!

I decided on three components:
1) magnetic board for calendar, menu, miscellaneous papers to be in sight
2) Cork board for invitations, art work, cards, stuff that would be time limited and likely to be tossed every few weeks and
3) the piece de resistance...peg board for organizing all that stuff

The cork board was obviously the easiest and cheapest component...one pack of four 12" square cork tiles at Walmart. Smack them up there and done!

Magnetic board wasn't that difficult either. We purchased a piece of sheet metal at Lowes that was the right size, attached with 3M strips and voila! I already had a dry erase calendar that we were using but it previously was affixed to the front of the upright freezer that was in the space. It's new home on the magnetic board. I made the menu board with an inexpensive dry erase board and scrapbook stickers. Please notice the menu is planned for Monday - Friday, the Abadie kitchen is closed on weekends. This means we mostly eat leftovers or out on weekends. I added a couple of magnetic clips to hold coupons, receipts, and the like. You know, the stuff that's always junking up the place.

The final, most difficult (but oh so fun) component was the pegboard. I'm completely obsessed with all things chevron as of late and decided that would be perfect for my command center. If only I'd realize the challenge that would pose...I'm talking math people, math that was too complicated for this girl to figure out. I eventually just counted the number of holes and didn't even do any measuring or complicated math (I don't do math bit I can count).

I found the galvanized buckets, pegged accessories (including the basket that I painted white) at Lowes and the letter A at Hobby Lobby. The chevron pattern is painted using the wall color (SW Universal Khaki) and a random blue I selected at Lowes. I added some hooks to hold Addison's artwork and the stickers for her multiple sticker charts (I'll confess, I'm a little addicted to sticker charts). Each bucket is for each of us, I've toyed with the idea of personalizing them with our names, monogram, pics or something but haven't got around to that yet. Brandon's is the one on the far left, you see it, the overflowing one. I just scoop up all the stuff left on the island and put it in the owners respective bucket. In an ideal world, each of us would return the miscellaneous stuff in the buckets to it's rightful home but that doesn't happen as often as I like. Truthfully, it's usually when one of us is missing something we end up looking in our bucket.  

Here's the complete project, helps give me a feeling or organization and it kind of cute in my opinion. How do you stay organized at your house?

Good dirty fun

Last weekend, I "ran" the 5K Foam Fest with some friends from work and had a BLAST! I was quite worried, feared impending doom before the race started but laughed the whole 5K.

One of the items on my bucket list is to be a contestant on the show Wipe Out. I figured this was the closest I'd get to making it a reality, so I signed up like no biggie. Not until a friend of mine, who I was trying to talk into joining us, educated me on some of the obstacles, then I feared for my life...seriously, I'm not a swimmer and truthfully don't consider myself physical fit.

My coworker, Emily (third from left) came up with the name of Foxy Foam Fighters and made our capes. They were a challenge on some obstacles but went with our superhero theme. This is our fresh and clean pre race shot.

Here we are mid race dirty and foamy...we were having so much fun but getting tired at this point. They all made fun of me because I kept my mask on the whole time. My eyes are very sensitive to the sun so I kept my sunglasses on over the mask which kept it firmly in place. And added a little mystery....who is that masked girl flying through the course (that's a joke, obviously, despite the cape, I didn't not fly).

We even had nicknames...flirty, fierce, and I can't remember the others. Emily added our names on the back of our capes.

Here I am at the top of one of the four walls we had to climb. This was a challenge, especially since I'm so short. Apparently though, it was easier for me with smaller feet to get in between the slats, so the tall girls said.

Victorious at the top! But then I had to get over and down...tough stuff. I was so proud of me at this point because several of my teammates were going to skip the third and fourth walls but I was pumped to be so close to the finish line. I gave a little motivational speech and we all gave it our best. 

Last obstacle, worlds largest water slide, into dirty foam. This picture cracks me up because I was so preoccupied with not getting dirt, water, foam, who know what else in my mouth. The shot of my landing shows I totally nailed it.

Final jog to the finish line as a team. 

Team photo op...I have this framed in my cubicle at work. We decided it was a good team building exercise and we should recruit other coworkers next time.

Dirty shoes, post race. 

Tons of fun...and I burned 1256 calories!

Emily told me on Tuesday that another foam/mud race is coming to town in the fall...she's already recruiting team mates...I'm in!

Minnie Mouse Extravaganza

We recently celebrated Addison's second birthday with a toned down Minnie Mouse extravaganza!  Her birthday party was originally scheduled for Sunday the 27th of January but due to unexpected funeral arrangements we postponed to February 2nd, which also happened to be Brandon's birthday.  We ended up with a smaller celebration of Addison (and her daddy's) birthday with a pink and zebra themed Minnie Mouse party.  I joked that it was a good thing Brandon didn't mind a Minne Mouse themed birthday party. 

I was glad that it worked out we were still able to celebrate because in true party planner style, I had big plans for that day and didn't want all of my ideas, hard work and Pinterest research to go to waste!  Here are some pics and details of how it went.


Minne Mouse Wreaths

 I saw a lot of cute wreaths on Pinterest but since we have double doors and need two wreaths, I had a hard time justifying the cost for wreaths that would hang on the front doors for a few hours.  I found the grapevine wreaths pretty inexpensive at Hobby Lobby, with a little floral wire and a can of black spray paint...voila!  I also found the letter A and number 2 at Hobby Lobby, covered with pink polka dot scrapbook paper.  Then added the polka dot bows which I made from ribbon also found at Hobby Lobby.  As things turned out they ended up hanging for over a week and were recycled for a friend of a friend who is having a Mickey Mouse party in March, so it was a good investment of time and money, in my opinion!

 

 

Party Favors

 I have discovered based on my own personal experience that I don't really want to send folks home with party favors they will just throw away.  As a parent, I find it wasteful to receive something that just goes in the garbage when you get home.  So I tried to think of things Addison enjoys and included them in the goodie bags...coloring sheets, bubbles and candy.  In the small bags were a small bottle of Minnie Mouse bubbles and one piece of Minnie Mouse candy (either a lollipop or a fun stick). I printed the coloring sheets from disneyjunior.com and was pleased to find several birthday themed sheets, rolled them up and tied with tulle.

Candy Bar

 I had not originally intended on doing a candy bar but when I saw the printables that came in the package from Amanda's Parties To Go, I couldn't resist.  I'm lucky that Addison's birthday is so near Valentine's Day and she's a girl because there is never a shortage of pink candy this time of the year.  I used the candy bar wrappers and kisses stickers from the printables, had pink m&ms and black sixlets.  I made the cookies myself, which is my speciality but used Wilton Sugar Sheets for the first time.  I have a hard time getting the right color black and when I saw the zebra printed sheets it was a no brainer.  I iced the 2s with royal icing as I usually do but the sugar sheets were a huge time saver for sure.  I wasn't certain they would be tasty but there wasn't one cookie left after the party so I'm guessing they weren't all that bad.  I found the zebra printed bags at Party Time and strongly encouraged each guest to fill up a bag of candy before leaving!

Center Piece

 I made the centerpieces from the printables as well, found the zebra printed tins and plates at Hobby Lobby.  Luckily, zebra and hot pink was en vogue at the moment because I found a lot of items available.  The Minnie Mouse items were printed on card stock and taped to bamboo skewers which I stuck in Styrofoam and covered with hot pink gift filler.  I used scrapbook paper to back each pick so you couldn't see the tape used to attach to the skewers.

"Minnie" Corn Dogs

I got most of the menu inspiration from Pinterest, saw one party where every single menu item was Minnie inspired...I wasn't that creative but did have a few touches of Minnie here and there.  These were purchased at Walmart and just baked in the oven.

Ham & Swiss Sliders

 No Minnie inspiration here just plain old deliciousness! I found these bad boys on Pinterest and they are my go to party sandwich now!  They can be made ahead and just thrown in the oven on party day, so delicious.  You can find the recipe here.



"Bow" Tie Pasta Salad

 The "Bow" Tie Pasta Salad was found here from Pinterest.  It's a La Madeleine copycat and is pretty spot on.  I chose it for the menu solely based on my love for La Madeleine's pasta salad and the fact that it used bow tie pasta helped with the Minnie Mouse theme.

Cake and party hats

 The cake! The driving force of the party! It was already ordered, made and paid for before we originally cancelled the party and was the main reason we decided to reschedule.  I couldn't imagine this beauty going unappreciated!  It was white cake with white icing, bottom layer pink with white polka dots, middle layer zebra (of course) and top layer was a Minnie head made out of rice krispie treats.  Thanks to Jennifer with The Baked Cake for helping with instructions on how to freeze and defrost, it was just as delicious and beautiful a week later!  The party hats were thrown together from the printables and plain pink party hats I picked up at Walmart. Also, not to go unnoticed...the cake knife.  This was a very special gift from Addison's Grams and PawPaw Donnie and is probably the sweetest gift she's received.  It came with the cake knife shown here and a cake server, both engraved with her name and date of birth and the sweetest poem.  The poem indicates it should be used at every birthday celebration until she gets married and then used to cut the cake on her wedding day.  Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye because it was the last gift she received from her Pawpaw Donnie and it will be a least 30 years until she'll need it for her wedding (so her Daddy thinks!).

Millie, the puppy sister

 It wouldn't be a party without Millie, the puppy sister, joining us.  I had to have a matching outfit for Millie, so I found this pink zebra print collar just for her to celebrate the occasion.  The collar is from Comfort Collars, local girls who hand make the collars.  I originally found them at a local craft show where I bought Millie's Christmas collar.  I like that it is handmade and local!

Birthday girl waiting for cake cutting

Birthday girl checking out the photo collage

I'm not going to lie, this was probably the most labor intensive aspect of the party.  I'd seen a picture on Pinterest which was the inspiration but it was one of those pins that was just a picture with no link or instructions.  So here's how I did it...I taped together several pieces of newspaper to make the size I wanted.  Next, I drew out a large number two on the newspaper and started arranging the pictures.  Once the pictures were all where I liked then, I cut out the shape of the number and hung it up on the wall.  All of the pictures used were from the past year and since I ordered so many pictures, we ended up with two #2 collages.  She seemed pretty impressed with it and was so funny because she pointed herself out in a number of pictures before realizing ALL of the pictures were of her.  I used masking tape to tape the newspaper, pictures and hang on the wall...simple to use and no damage to paint/wall.

 

 

Birthday girl and birthday daddy enjoying a piece of cake

 We had been practicing blowing out the candles for a while before her birthday.  At dinner, we would have her blow on her "hot" food before eating and remind her that is how she would blow out the candles on her birthday cake.  Well, when it came time for it, she got so upset!  I'm not sure but the only thing I could guess was the fire on the candles was a surprise.  As soon as I lite the candles she started crying and didn't stop until they were blown out.  It was pretty funny but all of our planning kind of backfired (no pun intended).

Abadie family party portrait

 Here we all are at the end of the party, I think she has a good time, seemed to enjoy the cake and ice cream and the presents too of course.  Thanks so much to our friends and family who were able to make it on such short notice for the rescheduled party.  I do love planning a party and think it's time to get started planning her third birthday! ;) Special thanks to my friend Michelle (mom to Gia and Gracie) for taking pictures at the party and spending time away for your two little miracles!