Girl First Birthday Gift: Something Old and Something Blue

I shared here that our daughter turned ONE last month. ONE! ah! We celebrated her first year with a Pink & Gold Sweet Baby Girl First Birthday Party which was a blast. Along with the normal gifts of toys, books, and clothes we decided to get her something that she will hopefully cherish for many years to come.

I had heard of giving a handkerchief to your daughter as a gift when she is young. Later the handkerchief would be her "something old" on her wedding day. I loved the idea so we did something similar. I found a cute handkerchief with blue flowers embroidered on it.

I also found a local embroiderer who would put her first and middle names on the handkerchief leaving room for a last name to be added at a later date. She was so affordable too! $5 and had it finished in no time. Here's her Facebook page.

Once I had the handkerchief ready I wrote a little poem to go with it...

As we celebrate your first year,

We give you something to wipe a tear.

When the day comes to say "I Do"

You'll have something old and something blue.

I hand wrote the poem on a piece of card stock and put that in a frame with the handkerchief. It's something she can keep in her room or wherever until she gets married. At that point she can carry it with her or sew it inside her dress for her wedding day. I hope that someday she will love and cherish this gift even though she may not understand it now!

<-Kassy->

Pink & Gold Sweet Baby Girl First Birthday Party

It's really hard for me to imagine that my baby girl is already ONE! I am always telling new moms that the age-old saying "the days are long but the years are short" is age-old because it is true! And my kids keep proving that with every birthday that we celebrate. I think back to the day she was born and how nervous, yet excited we were to meet her. She was born five weeks premature. Mostly healthy but needed help breathing. She spent time in a special care nursery until she could breathe on her own. Luckily, with the nurses help she was able to breathe self-sufficiently by about 24-30 hours after she was born. She was actually a pretty good size baby considering she was premature. She weighed in at 5lbs 15oz and she was 19" long.

One thing I remember was that she was a grunter. She would grunt when you were holding her and moved, she would grunt in her sleep, grunt as she ate, grunt when we were burping her. We guessed it was because of her breathing issues at birth and they faded fairly quickly. It seemed like forever because it was so loud and she slept in our room so we got even less sleep... if that is even possible! Ha! It's kind of hard to remember all of the details because it happened fast and I was medicated but she was a beautiful baby and we have grown to love her to pieces!

I wasn't lying- she was an angelic baby! :)

A great trip down memory lane as we celebrate her first year. She turned ONE February 20th and we celebrated it adequately with lots and lots of food (her most favorite thing)! We planned the party to be a family get together on Sunday, February 22nd but on Saturday my son and I came down with a stomach bug. It was ugly! But thank goodness it only lasted 24 hours... unfortunately we counted four so far that we infected. :/  We cancelled the party and rescheduled for this past Sunday. Luckily one year olds don't remember or have their heart broken over cancelled birthdays!

She seemed all smiles on the day her party was supposed to be... and to think this wee little one didn't catch the bug that everyone else did! Lucky lady (and lucky mom).

Enough sick talk and on to the party, the fun! :)

For her party I didn't really plan a theme just kept it to a couple coordinating colors. I picked gold because I was able to find some decent deals on gold items right after New Years Ever. I picked pink because I found deals on pink items right after Valentine's Day! Planning ahead is always my number one budget saving tip. Here is the breakdown of all my party planning, links, prices, and how-to's included!

Party Information:
- Sunday Brunch, 10am
- Family Only... about 15 attended

Invitation:
My lovely and talented sister, Kim, created a first birthday invitation. I used the design as my inspiration for the party! I edited the below image so that our address is not out there for everyone to see. :)

She hasn't set up an Etsy shop, though I've been bugging her about it, but like I previously mentioned, she is talented! Kim is a Graphic Design major at Missouri State University in Springfield.

[I send evites for almost all of our parties. They are easy, track RSVPs, track comments/questions, and save a little time and money. I use Celebrations.com and love it.]

Decorations:
Tissue Paper Tassel Garland DIY using this tutorial. I have done this in the past... so quick, simple, and cheap! $5 in tissue paper and the rope was something I already had. This DIY took about 1-2 hours.

"Happy 1st Birthday" Banner DIY. No tutorial because I simply cut the letters, glued on the banner pieces, and then glued to the rope to hang. $8 in paper supplies but I had the rope on hand. This DIY took about 3-4 hours since I cut it all by hand!

Vintage wooden highchair painted white... this was just something fun to do for pictures and to go with the rest of the party decorations and colors. It was pretty old and beat up but it turned out nice. It was $12 at Goodwill and I used the paint and supplies we already had to fix it up. This DIY took about 4-5 hours over the course of three days, allowing for drying between coats and about one week of drying before use.

"ONE" banner for the highchair was also a DIY. $1 and it took about 30 minutes.

Table coverings... I am not really a fan of plastic table cloths but there is no denying that they are cost effective! The pink and gold plastic table cloths were $3 total plus I found these beautiful lace like cloths to go over them to make them look more refined. :) They cost me $2 each so the total for table coverings was $7. There was no time involved in this one... quite simple!

I printed pictures of her throughout her first year and glued them to a poster board in the shape of a "1". It was a nice walk down memory lane.

Food:
Since the party was a brunch we served some breakfast foods as well as lunch foods. Pancakes, bacon, yogurt, and granola for the breakfast foods. Mini sandwiches, chips, veggies, and fruit skewers for the lunch foods. In line with loving on our sweet baby girl for her first birthday everything was heart shaped (or everything that I could make to be heart shaped).

I cut out paper hearts and glued them to cake pop sticks to help keep the pancake stacks in line.

We served raspberry lemonade and coffee for the non-morning people. We had hot chocolate with strawberry heart marshmallows too.

I made the birthday girl an extra large "smash cake" to devour... it was a healthy version with bananas. Here is the recipe. The "frosting" was a mix of pureed strawberries and greek yogurt. It was a hit for sure!

In all the food and drink was about $65. I spent an hour at the store and about four hours prepping the food the day before and morning of the party... with help from my wonderful husband of course!

Attire:
The outfit she wore was actually something I bought on a kids buy/sell/trade site. It was $2 and in perfect condition. :) I washed it as I would anything used and that's about it. The petti-romper was bought with a gift certificate for Etsy. Very cute!

Summary:
All in all the total spent for the Pink & Gold Sweet Baby Girl First Birthday Party was $99 and about 15 hours of work... that is aside from the endless hours of Pinterest-ing I did to get ideas and inspiration! We had about 13 people at the party not including the birthday girl. It was a small gathering of just family but we still did great with the budget for time and money.

I really enjoyed putting this party together. I love party planning so now I guess I am off to plan the next one!

Come back tomorrow to see the heartfelt first birthday gift we gave her... I think you'll really love it!!

<-Kassy->

Homemade Body Wash

There are a number of reasons why I DIY or make homemade.... cheap, easy, don't have to pack the kids up to run to the store, don't have to wait to ship, and in the case of many personal hygiene products- my body doesn't like them. My skin hates lotions, soaps, detergents, etc. My hair hates shampoos, styling products, and heat. My face hates soaps, makeup, and breaks out at the thought of stress and hormone changes. Ugh.... so unlucky!

Slowly over the last few years I have turned over the products we use to homemade, natural alternatives. I have a list of homemade recipes I should probably share but for this post I am excited to share about my latest endeavor. HOMEMADE BODY WASH. Not quite as scary as it sounds, I promise!

I looked around for a recipe with honey in it because my last body wash (which was an organic brand) included honey and I liked how my skin did better with it. I also wanted Vitamin E because I have been using Vitamin E in a miracle skin cream and I am loving the results. Luckily, others agree that those are good ingredients because I found a handful but settled on this one because I enjoyed reading about all of the research that went into making the recipe.

Here's the recipe:

2/3 C Castille Soap
1/4 C Raw Honey
2 t Oil- Almost any oil will work! I used coconut oil this time but am going to use almond oil or jojoba oil next because I've heard both are good for your skin
1 t Vitamin E Oil
50-60 drops of Essential Oils- I used 45 drops lavender and 10 drops tea tree

Recipe courtesy of DIY Natural. Check out the link for some good information on why these ingredients work for a body wash and also some ideas of other essential oils.

So how is it working? Amazing! It is weird because the first time I used it I was washing it off and thought it was going to dry out my skin. It really has done an amazing job of moisturizing my skin and cleansing it at the same time. I swear to you it's like RainX for my skin.... the water bubbles up on top of my skin and doesn't soak in! If water is not soaking into your skin then it will not dry out after your shower. Trrrrrrry it. Now!

This recipe is shelf stable for much longer than it will take you to use it and I recommend storing it in a glass bottle/jug. I also recommend using it with a sponge because it is a much thinner liquid than traditional body wash.

Let me know if you try this recipe and/or if you have a different one you use!

Thank you for stopping by and look for a few more DIY beauty recipes in the coming weeks. :)

<-Kassy->

Chocolate Protein Frosting

Have you stopped by Aldi lately?? They now have a large selection of organic products and produce. I loved when they used to feature grass fed beef and antibiotic free chicken and now they expanded in almost every isle. There are chips, salsa, baking mixes, cereal, pasta, produce, etc. And it's all really decently priced.

I have slowly tried almost all of their organic offerings and there isn't one that I don't like. My most recent was the Organic Fudge Brownie Mix... it tasted as good as it sounds! Don't get me wrong, this mix still had a ton of sugar but it was indeed organic. 

I decided to make them for our small group and add some frosting on the top to finish them off. I baked the brownies and then started mixing the frosting and I cannot for the life of me understand why I didn't check if we had all the necessary ingredients first... but it made things interesting!

I started to improvise with coconut milk, protein powder and a little bit of cocoa. I am not lying when I say it was not bad! I liked it! And I have a chocolate, sweet tooth. :) Check out what I did and keep in mind that I was improvising so my measurements are give/take. 

Ingredients:

1/2 C Powdered Sugar

2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder

1 1/2 T Low Fat Coconut Milk
2 T softened butter/margarine

1 1/2 T Cocoa Powder

1 t Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. Easy peasy.

Grap a cup and a baggie. Spoon frosting into the baggie draped over/in the cup. Cut a small piece from the corner of the bag and frost all of your favorite desserts! :)

In case you are wondering what protein powder I used...

I am going to test out a vanilla protein powder frosting sometime in the near future too! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. :)

<-Kassy->

2015 Clean & Organized Home Challenge: Week 5 Recipes & Cookbooks

I talked about the 52 week challenge here and in January I really shaped up my kitchen! I put together a summary post where I will track all 52 weeks of the challenge. If you missed any you can check it out to get caught up.

This week I tackled recipes and cookbooks. Honestly I don't have many cookbooks, maybe two?? I have a bread machine cookbook and a kid's cookbook but the rest of my recipes are all over the place. The place where I have the most recipes is Pinterest. I love the new recipes we have tried from Pinterest but to be honest I haven't made even half of the pinned recipes! I have been meaning to go through and better organize them so this week I spent most of my challenge time on Pinterest. ;)

I went through and moved "tried and true" recipes to one board and ones that I still want to try on a different board. That way they are easier to find, easier to meal plan, and I know where to look for new meal ideas.

Also, my sister is putting together a digital cookbook (that can be printed in a number of ways as well) of recipes from our family and friends. They will be all of our favorites in one place! Here is a sample of the recipe cards... She is a graphic design major so this is her expertise. :) I love the retro contemporary feel. I haven't decided if I am going to keep it digital or print it out yet. I may try digital first and see if it works well enough!

Cute, right? Well I am just excited to have a "family cookbook". We have so many recipes just floating around!

How do you organize your recipes?

<-Kassy->

How to Clean Your Keurig

Oh hey. :)

I have slacked on my blogging but partially because I have been trying new things. I have lots to blog about in the coming weeks!

Today I am sharing some easy ways to clean your Keurig coffee maker. I also have some tips for keeping it clean and in good working condition. We bought our Keurig almost four years ago. We aren't huge coffee drinkers, a couple cups a week for each of us. It's done great but occasionally it stops working. It will fill and heat the water but it doesn't come through the nozzle to fill the cup. I searched the internet about how to fix this and you know what I found to be the most common recommendation? Bang on it. Ha! But believe it or not... that really helped. Along with banging on it to get it to work I figured I should start maintaining it better (or at all) to help it last longer.

Here's how to clean your Keurig in three easy steps:

1. Empty the reservoir. Clean it to remove hard water spots and have a fresh start. The reservoir for my unit is actually dishwasher safe! Or you can wash it by hand with hot soapy water.

2. Fill the reservoir with white vinegar. Sprinkle baking soda in the filter. Run the Keurig at least four times which will send the heated vinegar through the system. The vinegar will help remove hard water in the system (clogs) and the baking soda will clear the built up grounds in the filter. You may need to add a little more vinegar as it depends on how much your reservoir holds.

Not sure if you all can tell but that cup on the left went through my Keurig. It's cloudy and dirty! I sat it next to a cup with just vinegar for comparison. EEK!

3. Once you are finished running the vinegar through the Keurig, empty any remaining vinegar from the reservoir and fill with water. Run it through a couple of times to remove any remaining vinegar from the system.

UPDATE: I'm adding a fourth step because it is something I recently discovered!

4. See the circle where you put your k-cup? See the little white triangle on the top? Well that is actually a removable cup! You simply pull it out, clean, rinse and replace it. Make sure it clicks into place. I don't have a before picture of how grungy mine was... and that's probably a good thing so I don't gross you out! Below is a picture of mine out of my Keurig.

Now you can enjoy coffee (or tea or hot cocoa... whatever you fancy) in a nice, clean coffee maker!

Here are a couple tips to help maintain your Keurig:
- Clean your system about once a quarter (or more if you make 2+ cups a day)
- When you finish making your morning (or evening) cups, run water through without any kcups
- Use paper towels to keep the tray from getting "gunky"
- Keep the kcup filter open and clean between uses
- Use filtered water to avoid hard water buildup inside the system
- And I guess if all else fails... bang on it a few times if it stops working ;)

Any Keurig cleaning tips?? I am hoping ours holds up for another four years! :)

<-Kassy->

2015 Clean & Organized Home Challenge: Week 4 Refrigerator & Freezer

I talked about the 52 week challenge here and my kitchen is looking better than ever! This week I tackled the refrigerator and freezer.

But first I wanted to share some cuteness with you. My son picks up on everything and mimics us constantly. The other day I caught him "taking pictures" of the cabinets, refrigerator, and pantry. I wonder where he got that idea? Haha.... I've been taking pictures of everything in our kitchen the last four weeks for this challenge and my son wanted to be just like me. It was so cute! :)

And almost as cute as him taking these pictures with his play camera is how he says "chi-seeds"... yup he's his mother's son, loving chia seeds!

Ok, back down to business. I just semi-cleaned my refrigerator before Christmas but it needed the full gamut and the freezer was in bad shape. I also wanted to go ahead and tackle the refrigerator/freezer we have in our garage. To be honest it was in really bad shape! I've got some before pictures... don't judge me. haha :)

Week 4 Refrigerator/Freezer:

Before Pictures:

Main refrigerator/freezer

Garage refrigerator/freezer

 ** Eeeek... there's mold in there ^^^^

Steps:

1. Start at the top and work your way down.
2. Remove expired items. 
3. Wipe all shelves and drawers with a disinfectant. 
4. For similar items, put them in order by expiration date with the closest date in front.
5. Organize foods by type as well- meats, produce (fruits/veggies), dairy, snacks, condiments, etc

Tips:

• For tough spills use a baking soda vinegar paste and scrub.
• If you have a mold problem use a bleach cleaner which will help get rid of the mold and also help deter mold in the future. You should also consider finding the source of the mold- temperature control is a good place to start!
• If your refrigerator is prone to spills then consider covering the shelves with clear wrap. The wrap can easily be removed when there is a spill and then replace it with new wrap. The downside is that items don't slide easy when you use clear wrap.
• You can use organizers like these to help utilize the space and organize items efficiently:
• 4 Piece Clear Refrigerator Storage Bins
• Rolling Refrigerator Storage Tray

After Pictures:

Side by Side Comparisons:

Any other tips or tricks? I would love to hear them!

Have you joined the challenge? It's not too late! The challenge runs continuously so you can pick it up any time!

<-Kassy->