Christmas Brunch

This year I decided to host a Christmas brunch for the ladies in our Sunday morning Bible class.  This brunch had become quite a tradition for our age group as Rachel hosted one yearly.  Because she and her family no longer attend WWCC.  I thought I would host one this year instead.  I knew our Bible class girls needed a get together.  I thought maybe a Girls Night but went with the brunch idea.  I invited everyone on a private Facebook invite and was super surprised giving only 2 weeks notice that 10 girls were able to come.  I know how busy it is during December, so I was super pleased with the turn out.

I love hosting things.  Unfortunately, I don't do enough of it.  I had a great time planning the menu, baking, and decorating for it!!!

 

 

 

For dessert, I made red velvet cake balls, peanut butter blossoms, and chocolate peppermint coconut macaroons.

 

 

 

 

 

My mom found the recipe for this amazing punch in one of her cookbooks.  It was delicious!!!! I definitely would make it again.

 

 

 

 

The menu was ham and swiss pinwheels, French toast soufflé, hot spiced fruit, sausage and spinach quiche and apple spinach salad.  Everything turned out delicious!!!

 

 

 

I have no idea if I will make this an annual thing,  but I sure did enjoy putting this together.  It was a great way for us girls to get together and really talk without hubbies and kids.

 

Date Night + Baby Shower = Busy Weekend

We had a great weekend!!!

Friday night we celebrated our anniversary with sushi and frozen yogurt.

 

 

Saturday we slept a little later than usual because J was at my parents.  After working in the garage a little bit, we met up with my parents for lunch and to get J. 

Then, my mom and I were off to decorate for the Audrey's baby shower the next day.  Plans went awry because someone else was using the fellowship hall for a birthday party. We decided to make the most of it , so I came home to cut lots of crepe paper into 7 foot strips.  Why? Because it takes a lot of crepe paper to create this--

 



We headed back up to the church at 6:30 (after the birthday party) with tons of crepe paper streamers and blown up balloons.  You wouldn't realize it, but it took 2 hours to make the corner look like that.  That's a lot of crepe paper!!!  We headed home at 8:30, which was actually 9:30 because of Daylights Saving Time. 

Then, we spent our Sunday afternoon hosting the church baby shower for Audrey, Aaron's cousin.  It was a great shower!!!  Baby Lugo got some great stuff!!!  I am so excited to see if it will be a boy or girl.

My eyes were closed.  Ooops!!!

 

To end our Sunday, we got Jimmy John's subs, ate outside, and went on a walk.  Not a bad way to end a weekend!!!

 

Especially when you get to spend time with this little cutie!!!

Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party- Cars and Trucks

Last Saturday we celebrated Jackson's second birthday.  Because this boy LOVES him some cars and trucks, I went with it.  I was determined this year to have a much lower key party than last year.  I wanted it to be fun and cute but not a lot of work.  My approach this year was to buy decorative items off etsy to tie the whole party together and keep my menu super simple. 

I found a lady on etsy who had a great package with a cars and truck theme that I really liked.  She worked with me and customized the items I wanted to buy.  Because she lives in South Africa, she sent me the attachments via email and I took them to my local Staples and had them printed.  I cut and assembled and like magic my party looked super cute with not a ton of effort.

 

I kept the food super simple!!!

 

 

 

I served hot dogs with fixings and chips.  For dessert, we had Walmart cupcakes, stoplight Jello cups, and little chocolate donuts.  Super easy because the only thing I actually made was Jello!!!

 

To tie everything together, I did bright fun primary colors and sprinkled in some of J's cars and trucks for good measure.

 

 

 

 

It wasn't a fancy party, but it sure was fun.  And more importantly, J LOVED it!!!  He truly had the best time!  We just invited our closest family.  All the people he knows and loves.

 

 

 

We ate hotdogs...

 

We had cake...

 

We opened gifts...

 

 

It was all around a great party!!!

 

 

A big thanks to all of our family that came and helped us celebrate this special guy!

 

Love my little car loving boy to pieces!!!