My Vegetables

About to leave for Family Christian, dressed in our Veggie best.

Remember my post on Dressing like a Veggie today at Family Christian!  I was planning on making Baby F a Larry the Cucumber outfit with felt.  My other kids got so excited that I ended up making felt outfits for all of them.  Except E, who wore the Bob Tomato costume I picked up at Family Christian last week for only $10!  All of the felt outfits were made with shirts and felt that we already had at home using scissors and a hot glue gun so the cost was $0 - pretty sweet!

 A as an Asparagus!

 Close up of her shirt.

 B wanted to be Petunia Rhubarb.

Close up of her shirt.

 C as Jimmy Gourd.

Close up of his shirt.

 E as Bob The Tomato.

 Baby F as Larry the Cucumber.

 Baby F checking out Family Christian's VeggieTales section.

 Close up of Baby F's onesie.

 D was Madame Blueberry, here is a close up of her dress.

All my vegetables at Family Christian today!

What do you think?  Did you make it to the event?  If not, there is still time.  The event runs all day during store hours.

Disclosure:  I am proud to be a Family Christian Blogger.  All opinions expressed are my own.   As part of this campaign I am eligible to receive and win prizes!

Dress Like a Veggie Event at Family Christian Stores 10/31

VeggieTale Characters

I have a super fun event to tell you about!  This Friday, October 31, Family Christian is having a Dress as your favorite Veggie event.  I am so taking Baby F and the other kids to this!

What do you need to do?  Bring your child/children into the store dressed as their favorite Veggie on 10/31, and enter to win cool prizes like a $250 Family Christian gift card.  How great would this be with Christmas coming?  While you are in the store snap a picture of your child and upload it to twitter and/or Instagram with the hashtag #FCVeggies and tag @familychristian by November 1st.  That's it!

Not only do we love Family Christian and VeggieTales around here but this is another great opportunity to talk to my kids about their bodies and eating healthy.  Go Veggies!

Need some costume inspiration?  Below are a few collages I put together.

Larry

Bob

Larry Boy

You guys know how much I love felt so I think I am going to show a bit of my creative side.  Stay tuned for Baby F in his veggie best.

Personalized Children's Book Mother Goose Review

Have you heard of KD Novelties?  They make personalized children's books that will encourage your children to read and enhance their self esteem at the same time.  Children become the stars in their very own story.  These books are fun for the avid reader and can help ignite the magic of reading back to children who might have lost interest.  KD Novelties have personalized photo books, children's photo DVDs, as well as personalized books, music and gifts!

 Mother Goose

I chose to make a personalized Mother Goose book for D for her upcoming 5th birthday!  This is going to be a surprise present for her so she hasn't seen it yet.  I am so pleased with this book.

Here is the front and back covers of our book.

Creating this book on-line was so easy!  KD Novelties has an extremely user friendly website.  There is a fabulous virtual tour of each book on-line allowing you to choose the best book for every occasion.  I loved being able to read the story and see where exactly my personalization would come into the story.  You have the option to auto play through the book or flip the pages yourself.  Once I chose my book, I selected the personalization button to begin making the story my own.  I entered D's name, hometown, a few siblings and a dedication at the beginning of the book.

The beginning of the story has a dedication page.

 We chose to have C and E appear in the story with D.

So, now I have this book, and I like it!  The hardback cover is nice, the printing looks good, and the pages are cut cleanly.  The binding could be a little tighter, but it's not bad.  I have to say that I am impressed and for $9.95 I think it is a superb value.  This would make a great birthday or Christmas gift!

In this Mother Goose book, D is going on an adventure to help Mother Goose find her way home.  Along the way they run into many familiar Mother Goose characters.  I really like that numerous actual Mother Goose rhymes appear throughout the book - Old King Cole, Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Quite Contrary and many more!  D is familiar with many of these nursery rhymes already so I think it will be easy for her to imagine herself in this story.

I have just begun to teach D to read and I really look forward to seeing her excitement when we read this together for the first time.

To purchase your own book visit KD Novelties.  You can also connect with them on facebook and twitter for the most updated information.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

E's Minnie Mouse Party

Miss E the day before her birthday.

E turned 3 at the beginning of this month and I turned 37 a few days ago so collectively we are now 40!  E knew that she wanted a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party and she and I had a lot of fun planning it.  We really didn't do a ton but I made sure to serve some of her favorite snacks and A and B came up with a fun game of Pin the Bow on Minnie!  I used serving dishes to make Mickey/Minnie displays and I think they turned out well. 

  All the kids right before the party in their best Minnie/Mickey attire.

 E's cake

 Inside the cake, there were polka dots.

 These Minnie Mouse Oreos were a hit with all ages!

 My Oreo display.

 Rice Krispies Minnies, these were a bit hard to cut.

 chips, salsa and guacamole

fruit display

I bought the Mickey cheese already cut and served it with crackers.

Mickey F!  A and B made him these cute homemade ears and I adore him in them.

Pin the Bow on Minnie

themed plates and napkins

Hope you enjoyed the photos and if you are having a Minnie themed party I hope this inspires you!

THE BACHELOR By Stehpanie Reed Kindle Giveaway and Facebook Party!

Don't miss Stephanie Reed's newest book in the Plain City Peace series, The Bachelor. This compelling second book deftly weaves together the strands of a solid, simpler time with the turmoil of an era of change, revealing the strengths of both in its powerful narrative.

Join Stephanie in celebrating the book's release by entering her Kindle giveaway and RSVPing to her Facebook launch party on October 28th!

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire
• The Bachelor by Stephanie Reed

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on 11/9. RSVP for the Facebook launch party today for a chance to connect with Stephanie and Amish fiction fans and a chance to win some great prizes! Winner will be announced November 10th here.

A Tribute to My Cousin Brigid

My beautiful cousin, Brigid Anna, on her wedding day.

Two weeks ago today, I lost my cousin, Brigid.  She was young, bright and beautiful.  And although she had MS for over half of her life it was a shock.  I have so many memories of us as children.  We were the two redhead cousins and we could make some mischief.  In the summer, we would swim in the pool so much we practically looked liked raisins when we came out.  And then we would stay up way too late watching Nick at Nite reruns.  Of course we would sing the Patty Duke Show's song - Cousins, Identical Cousins! 

You don't expect to lose loved ones that are younger than you.  While Brigid was only here on this Earth for 32 years, she touched so many.  My life will forever be changed because of her.  I laugh more, I appreciate my blessings and I look at peonies with wonder.  You see, Peony, was Brigid's nickname.

If there is anything that I have learned from loss it is that time is so short and faith is so important!  I have no doubt that my cousin is in heaven with God, her Mom and so many other loved ones.

If I have been a little out of sorts the last few weeks I apologize.  Uncle Billy and Mike - Brigid was a treasure and she will be missed.

Fall Crafts and Table Display with Dollar Tree

I don't know about you but Dollar Tree is a hot shopping spot for my family.  We visit Dollar Tree for just about every party we have, and we have lots of parties.  Our kids buy birthday presents for their siblings there because they find great items that fit their budget.  We always get Mylar balloons there, only $1!  Everything's $1.....So Everybody Leaves Happy.

Today, I want to show you my new Fall table.  Everything came from and can be found at Dollar Tree, which also means that it is super budget friendly.

The first thing I did was cut some cardboard letters.  I chose to spell out FALL.  Then I took the floral moss and applied it to the letters using my hot glue gun, easy peasy.

 Here I am halfway finished with the F.

 I started applying candy corn using my hot glue gun.

Next, I started my two sided wreath.  One side is layered candy corn and the other side is floral moss.  I like the idea of having a two sided wreath that can be displayed with the candy corn side or the moss side.

I went around and around with the candy corn.

Then, I started to layer it.

Now apply the moss to the back side.

The moss side

My finished wreath!

My wall display together.

 No lid

Next, I cut off the stem of a pumpkin to make a vase.  I arranged the Fall flowers in the pumpkin vase and that was it.  This was super fast.

So pretty.  I think this would be a fun thing to take to a friend just to say hi or hope you are having a great day!

Under the lettering

 Cutting the pumpkins in half

Lastly, I decided to make pumpkin lids for my drink dispensers.  I simply cut the pumpkins in half using a large knife (be careful).  I applied a thin layer of scotch tape along the bottom edge of the pumpkin so no Styrofoam would drop into my drinks.

 Pumpkin halves

 I set the pumpkin lids on my dispenser.

 And here is the dispenser with tea and lemonade.

So, what do you think?  Are you looking to make a Fall display?  Dollar Tree is your one stop shop for everything you need for a Fall party!

For more Holiday craft ideas, visit http://ileavehappy.com/.

Disclosure:  Thanks so much to Dollar Tree for sending me items to facilitate this post.  I seriously love your store and hope to work with you again in the future!  All opinions expressed are my own.