Tackle it Tuesday 4: Mega Birthday Weekend!

Last week was lil man's 4th birthday, and we had not one but TWO parties for him. First one was last Thursday at school, where we sang Happy Birthday with his classmates, and the second one was on Sunday at home with the entire family.

I had several tackles related to this mega birthday weekend:

1. Create TWO birthday cakes (or in this case, cupcake displays) using lil man's selected theme: Hot Wheels.


2. Assemble the goodie bags for his 23 classmates and 8 cousins.


3. Make some of the appetizers. Thankfully, my Mom helped by also making some.


4. Get the house ready for the birthday. This included getting all the crap out of the way, and putting up all the decorations. Thankfully, hubs helped me with this.

It was all worth it, though. Lil man had a great time, and that's all that matters.

[caption id="attachment_484" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Cupcake display for lil man's classroom"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_483" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Singing Happy Bday with his classmates"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Cupcake display for the family party"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_485" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Singing Happy Bday with his cousins"][/caption]

Now I'm going to have to tackle the toy situation in the living room/play area!

[caption id="attachment_487" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Living room / play area disaster!"][/caption]

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Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

Tackle it Tuesday 3: Homework

Lil man is in Pre-K and already gets daily homework assignments. Most of them are simple enough, color this, trace that, but sometimes he gets more "advanced" tasks, like the one he had last week.

He was supposed to look up in newspapers or magazines the letters that make up his name, then cut them and paste them into the homework sheet.

When doing homework, I always try to help him as little as possible, only sitting beside him to give him instructions and make sure he's grabbing the crayons or scissors correctly. In this case, I decided to have a little fun and dropped several newspapers on the floor for him to dig through. At first, he was a bit hesitant to touch "daddy's paper", but I assured him that daddy had said it was OK - actually he had no idea, but I tried to salvage as much of the current day's paper as possible! :)

We had so much fun going through pages and pages of newspaper, noticing all the pictures, letters, and colors, and he selected the letters he liked the most. He cut them all up himself and used the glue stick to paste them to the sheet. Take a look at the madness fun time, and the final product. Pretty good, huh? Well, I'm biased. :)

[caption id="attachment_456" align="aligncenter" width="314" caption="He even brought 2 of his stuffed animals to help!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_457" align="aligncenter" width="419" caption="He was having so much fun!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_455" align="aligncenter" width="314" caption="It's the little things that we celebrate the most"][/caption]

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Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!

How to jazz up your store-bought, allergy-free treats

A few days ago I was tweeting with @MiscarriageMom about our kids' upcoming birthdays - her daughter turns 4 on October 20th, and my lil man also turns 4 on the 21st, just one day apart, awesome! So I was telling her about how I was taking cupcakes to his classroom and singing Happy Birthday with his classmates, and she mentioned that at her school, they're not allowed to bring any homemade treats because of allergy issues. I thought that was ridiculous! Not the allergy part, that seems reasonable, but the part where you can't actually MAKE anything - everything has to be store-bought!

So we tweeted back and forth with ideas, and finally I came up with an alternative that I THINK is allergy-free: Rice Krispies Treats!

OK, so the individual squares that come in a box don't look very appealing, but there's a way you can jazz them up and make them party-ready.

Here's what you will need:

• Ready-made Rice Krispies Treat squares


• Can of cake frosting - I like the "whipped" version because it resembles the consistency of homemade frosting


• Sprinkles - any kind


• Plastic food bag or piping bag (I used a piping bag)


• Optional: star tip (any size - I used the giant star tip)

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="What you will need"][/caption]

First, open all your individual packets and lay them out on a platter or serving dish, making sure it fits the amount of squares that you will need. Optionally, you can also serve them in individual paper liners.

Using scissors, make a small cut on a bottom corner of the plastic bag or piping bag. If you're using a tip, insert it and make sure it fits snugly through the hole. Fill the bag with the frosting, making sure to press it down so there are no air bubbles.

Using a circular motion starting from the outside in, pipe the frosting on each square.

Finally, to make them look more interesting and festive, add any sprinkles you like!

 Don't they look cute? Much better than the plain-old foil-lined squares in a box, right?

Alternatives:

• If you can make your own, try molding them into cupcake tins to make them look like cupcakes. Or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes!


• Use canned whipped cream! Just shake & pipe. I've also seen some frostings that come in the same type of can as whipped cream - I bet those would be fun too!


• Dip them in chocolate! Melt equal parts chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler (place them in a glass bowl over boiling water) until it's completely smooth, and then dip the treats. Lay them in parchment paper until they're set. You can even dip them in sprinkles or nuts before they set!

Do you have any other ideas for store-bought, allergy-free treats to take to school? Give us your suggestions below!

Tackle it Tuesday 1: Back to School

I have enjoyed and admired the "Tackle it Tuesday" series by 5 Minutes for Mom for some time now - I mean, who would be bold enough to dare show everyone their messy lives and their piles of clutter? But when I read the story behind it (you can read about it here), I jumped on board immediately!

Only a handful of unfortunate people really know how incredibly messy I am, but if it will help me get my life - and my house - in order, then bring it! I think it's safe to assume the hubby will be very happy about this.

This week I will start with an easy one: Back to School. Lil man started Pre-K this week and for the first time he had a big-boy bag and lunchbox, and tons of books and notebooks. Since last year all his gear and materials had his name scribbled on a Sharpie - very sloppy - I decided to plan ahead this year, and purchased a combo pack from Mabel's Labels. Can you say adorable?

OK, full disclosure time: this is NOT a sponsored product review. Mabel's Labels did not ask me to write this post, nor did they give me the labels. I paid for them myself, and liked them so much I decided to share it with you. I do participate in their affiliate program, which I joined after trying out the labels. That is all.

Now that we've taken care of that, I can go back to gushing about the awesomeness of these labels. I mean, sticky labels that are microwave AND dishwasher safe? Clothes labels that are machine-washable? Nah, they must be joking!

Well, take a look at these pics and tell me they don't look gorgeous! It definitely made preparing for back to school enjoyable instead of dreadful. Thanks ladies!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="There are several sheets per type of label. Plus 2 bag tags, fab!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Shoe labels: these are my fave - genius!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Tag Mates for clothes: yet another genius idea!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Sticky labels and bag tags, so friggin cute!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="And now lil man is ready for school, and very excited!"][/caption]

If you have a Tackle it Tuesday post, link it here for others to see!

Here's the fun thumbnail linky:
Here's the text linky:

Thanks to the ladies at Mabel's Labels for creating such great products!

Thanks to the ladies at 5 Minutes for Mom for creating Tackle it Tuesday!