I Am Grateful

I could not let this holiday weekend come to an end without a public expression of my gratitude.

I have so much to be grateful for.

I am grateful for these four beautiful faces and that I have been able to spend the last few days with all of them together!

I am grateful for a husband that tells me daily that he loves me and that I am beautiful – even on those days when I am not so lovable or so beautiful.

I am grateful for family – especially for the family we have been able to spend the last few days with, playing , eating, shopping and eating some more!  It never fails that when we leave one of us always says “I wish we lived closer.”

I am grateful for parents and in-laws who have provided us with a firm foundation upon which our faith could grow and develop.

I am grateful for the challenges life brings.  The last four years have been especially challenging for our family.  I have learned so much through these challenges.  My faith has grown and deepened and I know that through these challenges we have become better and more compassionate people.

I am grateful that my husband has a job.  Having experienced unemployment three times in the last four years I will never take for granted the blessings of having employment.  A few weeks ago Jim began working for Aflac (yes, that crazy  duck on the commercials!)  He has been in sales since college and is excited for this new opportunity.  He came home from work last week and said “I am having so much fun!”  I am grateful!

I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knows me and watches over me on a daily basis.  He loves me, strengthens me and supports me.

I am also grateful to you!  For the kind words and expressions of love and support so many of you have offered us, especially during our last few months of unemployment.  Many of you took the time to share with us information that was so helpful!

I am grateful that you read this blog, enjoy it and that it may in some way help and enrich your life just as it enriches my life to write it.  So many wonderful blessings have come into my life as a result of it!

I am grateful!

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Little Princess Tea Party Party Favors

This is part three in a series of three.

One of my favorite things to do for party favors is to allow the party guests to create them for themselves!  This helps to keep the party guests busy!

The Marketing student in charge of the party had purchased some cute foam crowns from Oriental Trading.  They came complete with stickers and  other decorating material and they kept the little guests busy while everyone arrived.

All the little girls and some of the big girls looked darling in their princess crowns.

Since a princess isn’t a princess with out a scepter I created edible scepters for all of the little princesses!

I just placed a large marshmallow on the end of a sucker stick and then dipped half the marshmallow into melted chocolate.  I just added some pink food coloring into white chocolate melts but you can also purchase pink ones.  I added some white sprinkles and a pink M & M on the top (thank goodness for Breast Cancer Awareness M & M’s)

I placed the sceptors into a small plastic bag, tied it with ribbon and added a cute little card.

My favorite line in the show Little Princess is at the end – “Every girl is a princess”.  Using my digital scrapbooking program I made these cute little pink cards.

They made a nice little memento too.

As a fundraiser they had also created darling little autograph books for each of the party guests.  The books had photos of the characters in the show and they could collect autographs during the Meet & Greet after the performance.

A highlight of the tea party was when some of the performers made a special guest appearance!  The evil Miss Minchin put them through a lesson in posture for all to enjoy!

A party fit for a princess!

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Little Princess Tea Party Food

W were on a limited budget for this tea party.

We also ended up feeding about 50 people although that is not how many I had planned on. There was a little communication glitch and I had actually planned on half that many!!

Thanks to the fact that I always err on the side of excess and  a last minute call to my sweet husband to fix some more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we did o.k!

Our tea party menu included:

Heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Since we knew our tea party audience would be young we went for kid friendly food. I found this great heart shaped sandwich cutter at a Harry & David’s outlet store but you can also order one here.

It is the perfect shape to take advantage of the entire peace of bread with very little waste!

White chocolate dipped strawberries with pink sugar sprinkles

Grapes

Cupcakes, of course!  I took the easy route with this one and used a cake mix but did make the frosting from scratch!  I did up one batch of white cupcakes with pink frosting and another of chocolate with white frosting and pink sprinkles. I found some cute pink and white polka dot cupcake liners that worked perfect.

We served lemonade to the little ones but the grown ups enjoyed some tea – a nice selection of regular and herbal!

Several of the “maids” from the show came down to help us serve – they were so cute!

Fairly simple and easy tea party food!

Nest Post:  Little Princess Tea Party} Favors

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Little Princess Tea Party Decorations

I think one of my favorite types of parties to do is a tea party.  I think it must be all that English blood flowing through my veins.

I love everything that goes along with a tea party – usually pink and frilly!  And then those scones aren’t so bad either.

Last month my daughter Tessa had the role of the evil Miss Minchin in Little Princess at her high school.  As part of the performance they offered a tea party with a special visit from some of the characters in the show.

The tea party was a project for one of the Marketing students and I volunteered to help.

I couldn’t resist – I offered to help with the food and decorations.

Since it was a fund raiser the budget we had to work with was rather limited but we made it work!

We decided to go with a pink and purple color scheme.

The party was being held in a bare, ugly teacher’s lounge so we tried to add a little softness and color to the room.

I was able to use the tissue paper pom poms from Tessa’s Pink Birthday Party.

I added in some pink chinese lanterns that I bought online – very reasonably priced – from Luna Bazaar.  I hung the pom poms and the lanterns using clear fishing line and thumbtacks from the ceiling.

For the tables we used plastic tablecloths from the dollar store (small budget) and pink and purple paper goods from there also. One of the teacher’s brought her china teacup set so the grownups could drink their tea from real teacups.

For the table decorations I took about a yard of pink tulle per table and created a little pink cloud in the middle of each table.  I placed a cake stand in the center of each cloud (ones I had at home).  I went to Goodwill and found some inexpensive teacups, they don’t have to match.  I stacked them one inside another and glued them together and placed the teacup stack on top of the cake stand to create a whimsical, cute and inexpensive centerpiece.

A piece of ribbon tied to one of fhe teacups was the finishing touch.

We also created a little vignette just outside the teacher’s lounge so people would know where the party was.

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Your Homebased Parties

Today I am excited to invite you to another party – Your Homebased Party!

I have always loved a good party.  This may seem strange to some of you but I would really rather put on a party than just go to a party!

I love the challenge and process of coming up with an idea or theme and then developing it through food, decorations, games and fun!

I have hosted many parties over the years from a small intimate dinner party to a large group event of over 400 people!.  I started with my first dinner party at the age of 13!

Thanks to requests from many of you and my love for a good party I am excited to share with you today my latest venture – Your Homebased Parties!

Your Homebased Parties is a place where you can go for a party – every day!   A place for ideas and inspiration for your next party or a place where you can find me, Your Homebased Party Planner!

I am excited to share my love for planning a party with you – yes, you can have me as your Personal Party Planner.  How fun is that!!

If you have a party, big or small, coming up that you would like some help with be sure and let me know – just use my Party Form!  It may be as simple as needing some help with the menu for a dinner party or maybe you need help developing an entire plan!  I can help.

At Your Homebased Parties, I will feature parties I have planned and helped with as well as tips, ideas, inspiration and resources for party planning.  I’d love to share your parties too.  If you have photos to share from some of your favorite parties please email me and let me know – I’d love to feature your party on Your Homebased Parties!

I want to give a great big THANK YOU to my dear friend and amazing blog designer Sherra of Standout Impressions.  Sherra took my ideas and vision and turned them into an amazing reality.  I can’t wait for you to see the new blog – it is so PRETTY!!!  Without Sherra I never could have done this – thank you dear friend!  If you or someone you know is looking for some help in starting or freshening up a blog please check out Sherra’s website!

So hurry on over right now, look around and be sure and leave me a comment and tell me what you think.  You can also check out some fun photos from my very first dinner party!!

Be sure and subscribe by email or add me to your RSS reader to receive regular updates.

Your Homebased Parties – party planning from my home to yours!

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Happy Birthday Dear Cali!

Will someone please tell me how this cute, adorable, sweet baby girl….

 

grew up to be such a beautiful, amazing, fun loving college co-ed!!?!?

Today Cali turns 20!  I am now the mother of 3 children in their twenties and only one teenager.  How did that happen?

Cali, I wish I was there to celebrate with you and cook for you but this year the box full of surprises I sent will have to do.  Your love for life and all that you do is an inspiration.  Your tender heart and spirit are a blessing.  There is never a dull moment when Cali is around and we so miss your energy and noise in our home!!

You are entering a new decade of your life.  It will be an amazing and exciting one – I can’t wait to see what is in store for you and am grateful that I can be a part of it!

So today I will have to entrust you into the hands of your darling roommates…

and your loving brothers…

I love you sweet Calista Mary Wilkes!  Your Mother

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