Holiday Archives - Page 18 of 46 - Enjoying the Small Things

A Spooky Halloween Night

October 31, 2016 By Kelle

Happy Halloween! This is it, folks–the night of childhood dreams. Grab your brooms, light your candles, stock your candy. I love Halloween–but that’s obvious because holidays are my jam. To be honest, I think we all have a little something extra when it comes to chromosomal makeup, and we figure out what it is along the way. Mine definitely includes some kind of over-the-top enthusiasm for Halloween, but enough about me. IT’S HALLOWEEN!

This is the first year we did a Halloween party, and because I could not come up with anything more original, I called it SPOOKY PARTY but always said it dramatically and with a British accent and followed by a dracula laugh (moo-ha-ha-ha-ha).

I turned Lainey into a witch in this picture using Pic Monkey, and Brett’s dad printed it for me for some festive fireplace party decor.

When I went to Utah a few weeks ago, one of the moms was telling me all about the Halloween party she does every year, and I was so inspired, I stayed up in my hotel room googling Halloween-inspired food and ordered a fog machine. That’s how these things start. Whatever the case, we had so much fun. It even felt–dare I say–a little bit like a night at Hogwarts. Dash had his own sleepover with his grandma that night, so it ended up being a girls’ party. And the morning of, Lainey woke up early, came and found me and said, “Mom, I’m so excited I can’t sleep.”

Cue Harry Potter theme song, cue fog…

We served a full dinner of Halloween-inspired food including a witch wart potion that smoked and bubbled all night (I’ll never do Halloween without dry ice again!).

Turns out spaghetti is super easy to die black. Just cook pasta as usual, and then soak for about 3 minutes in a big Ziplock with a little bit of water and several drops of black food coloring.

The bat bile was a mint mousse that turned out delicious–just heavy whipping cream, melted white chocolate, powdered sugar, and a little green food coloring and peppermint extract.

As for decor, the Target dollar spot was ON POINT this year–flasks and beakers and test tubes, graveyard stones and almost everything else we needed. Throw some inexpensive spiders and snakes in the mix, drape some spider web, blast a fog machine, and everything turns spookatacular.

Radioactive bat poop favors (Nerds).

The brain cupcakes were super simple to make, and I swear I don’t mean that in a Martha Stewart “it’s so easy, all you need is 10 professional pastry bag tips, a blow torch and 6 free hours” kind of way. It’s just two shades of pink frosting. You frost the dark layer on first, gently slice a knife to make two hemispheres, and then pipe the light pink frosting on with a big Ziplock bag. (also, not my idea–found these on Pinterest).

Madame Zelda came to the party too and set up a fortune telling boot.

And giggling little girls all in witch hats, eating around the table in a mist of fog and illuminated by candlelight? BE STILL MY HEART. Magic.

The fortune telling ended up being a huge hit. They all lined up and took turns as Madame Zelda read a fortune fish for each girl (have you tried them? So much fun!), and then looked into the crystal ball to see their future. I made up fun tales for all of them and included some that Lainey had written for them earlier–like “Tonight you are going to do the Dab Dance with a skeleton.” It is pretty easy to make fourth grade girls giggle. I’m not sure we can pull that off in another couple of years, but it’s fun while it lasts.

We got this $20 plasma ball to use for our crystal ball, and the kids loved it. It’s definitely something fun we’ll tuck away and pull out for parties again.

Little Ivy was all big eyes and 100% belief for her reading. It was precious.

A few of our Instagram stories from the night:

The girls also made witch balm for their lips, and everyone got to take home their own tin. It’s a great party activity, is pretty easy to make, and kids have so much fun creating their own flavor concoctions. We made the balm from this post–four simple ingredients, and it’s my favorite lip balm. I keep a tub of it in my kitchen cupboard, and it lasts me forever.

And what’s a sleepover party without s’mores? Halloween style, using black widow egg sacs instead of marshmallows, of course ;o) We love our indoor s’mores maker. It’s so much fun to have for sleepovers and cozy movie nights–or breakfast, har har. Speaking of sleepover, does anyone have any tips for how to get a bunch of girls to STOP TALKING AND GO TO SLEEP?! Brett kept coming out and asking me, “Aren’t you going to tell them to go to sleep?” And I was all, “I did. Five times.” YONO. (you’re only nine once)

A few easy ways to transform a party into a witchy good time?

*Switch out light bulbs with green ones–found in the regular light bulb section and a cheap transformation.
*Buy dry ice! We got a huge chunk of it at Publix for $12, and popped pieces throughout the night into our witch potion punch which kept it bubbling and fogging all night. You can also drop a small chunk into individual glasses–better with bigger kids as you don’t want little ones touching the actual ice.
*Fog machine. You’ll use it every Halloween. Makes everything look spooky.
*A candleabra. It added the perfect Halloween touch to our table and made for a great centerpiece. Very Hogwarts. The more candles, the better.
*A spooky playlist. You can find a ton of Halloween playlists on Spotify, from Monster Mash to Thriller.

And the best part? We get a whole ‘nother round of Halloween fun tonight. Grab your brooms, witches!

And a favorite Halloween post from the archives: Our Storybook Halloween.

Have fun tonight!

The Easter of Low Standards

March 28, 2016 By Kelle

We’ve resorted to our low standard celebration this Easter. It goes like this: You know why this was an amazing Easter? Because we are breathing. We are alive, and we are going to let that fact have a lot of merit right now.

We’ve been in varied stages of The Flu Cocoon which is a lot like the horror movie The Fog except we get to keep breathing. Remember, WE’RE ALIVE! BEST EASTER EVER!

I have considered taking care of sick children one of those rites of passage in motherhood and one that can present itself to be quite beautiful actually–rocking warm little bodies, sweeping hair off hot foreheads, tucking covers, perfecting chicken soup recipes, feeling a surge of satisfaction from the call to nurture. But the other night when both Brett and I fell asleep with fevers and chills and awoke to the same fevers and chills plus two more kids with it, crying “Moooooooommmm!”? I did not feel a surge of satisfaction. I passed a kid to Brett–I don’t even remember which one–and bid him God Speed. “Here, you take this one. I’ll take the other one. Whoever survives until morning wins life.”

Turns out, we both won life, another thing to celebrate this Easter.

We had big plans for Easter–a giant spread of food planned, people coming over–all the Easter things. And I’m holiday girl! I live for this stuff.

But it just didn’t work out this year, and it was all we could do to take care of us. So we canceled all our plans and focused on breathing and staying alive. And you know what? I kind of liked it. Once in a while, it’s nice to be forced to step back and just do nothing.

Turns out we still did a few things. Quietly, slowly, and under the influence of Motrin.

Our eggs got dyed (made some speckled eggs from Martha Stewart Magazine–eggs tossed in a cup of lentils and food dye).

And the bunny still came. Also, word is the bunny got smart this year and ordered eggs pre-filled with tiny toys like puzzle erasers and tattoos. Praise be for shortcuts when you need them.

These tiny Calico Critters pups? Obsessed. All of us.

I was actually feeding one with a bottle yesterday without realizing Brett was watching me.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“What? I’m feeding a bottle to a tiny plastic dog wearing a diaper, what is it look like I’m doing?”

The kids tried on their Easter outfits at various times throughout the week, but mostly we just hung out in our pajamas yesterday. But look! For the record…BOWTIE. You’re welcome.

The cake that didn’t get eaten, but it’s okay because WE’RE BREATHING.

I did get through Season 2, Episode 12 of Parenthood after marathon sick watching and cannot begin to understand why I wasn’t watching it when it was on. My obsession with the Braverman family is so for real, I dream about them and count down the hours for the kids to go to sleep so I can keep watching.

And for once, I’m actually glad it’s Monday. New week, fresh start. Disinfecting the house and kickin’ last week in the shins.

Fatema sandals, from my fave spring picks and a continued partnership with Børn Shoes.

Hoping you all had a great weekend and a happy Easter.

Epilogue/Prologue

January 4, 2016 By Kelle

Happy New Year! I’m hoping your new year opened like a box of new crayons or a fresh jar of peanut butter…promising, with colorful sharp points and a delicious buttery swirl. (If not–no worries. Nobody tells you this but, psssttt….the broken crayons color just as good and the bottom of the peanut butter jar holds treasures too.)

The speed of which January arrives never fails to amaze me. In fact, I’ve enlisted Dash to demonstrate my feelings on December 1st – December 31 with a photo I’ve titled “Whee! That was fast” He was all in.

Thank you, Dash. That was beautiful. Now go play with some trucks, and I’ll be with you in a minute.

Our tree is still up and the mantle garland is twinkling away. Normally, I’m itching to get everything cleaned up and out of here come January 1st because wreaths and bottle brush trees feel like depressing clutter after the new year, but this year? I’m grabbing this whole thing by the reins and showing it who’s boss. Here’s how it goes now:

1. I’m in charge of my feelings. I say what’s cozy and what’s clutter, not the last person who told me she just cleaned her entire house and threw her tree out to the curb because “NEW BEGINNING” and definitely not that 99 cent plastic tree collecting dust. I can do what I want, I set the tone and that tree in the corner there is smiling at me. Besides, National Treasure is on T.V. and I don’t really feel like wrapping up ornaments tonight.

2. The twinkle lights stay. Somehow, some way. We’ll weave them into spring decor, summer decor, fall decor. But I need them. So they stay.

Now that that’s out of the way…we went on a trip. It’s become an annual thing now with our neighbors–our way of ringing/wringing–ringing in the new year together and wringing out every last drop of the holidays, plus Brett’s end-of-the-year time off. I look forward to it all year long. It’s short–three days–and it’s woven with lots of very unmagical realistic moments. But there’s something about it that’s really special. It’s both the epilogue trip of a closing year and the prolgue to a new one, and somewhere between leaning back to pass another fruit snack on the way up in 2015 and pulling that car seat strap back to nipple-height on the way home in 2016, I tie up the strings to a full year in my brain. This is it, man. These loose laces on scuffed shoes passed down from your sister, this cracker-littered van, that graying hair, those sun-kissed shoulders, the hands on that steering wheel–the ones that still make me feel safe and secure, that little footprint in the sand–filling twice the space it did two years ago, that attitude, that vocabulary, that look in your eyes that brings me to my knees, that cowlick in your hair–same as the day you were born, this aging skin, this feeling of your hand in mine, this head on my shoulder, these friends, this toast, this year, this trip, these plans, these memories, this shredded patience, this hope, this grateful heart, this perfect moment…this is it. Another year, and I’m so thankful to have lived it messily and fully.

We went to Orlando this year with our hotel reservations our only confirmed plans. Maybe we’ll check out Disney, maybe we’ll hit Universal, maybe we’ll go explore the city. We ended up never leaving our resort as it had a built-in water park, playground, restaurants…and everyone was happy.

One of my favorite vacation rites of passage? Mini cereal boxes. Every time I pack food for a trip, I splurge on the tiny cereal boxes. My kids think they are about the most precious things in the world.

Other big and small things enjoyed…

Gold & Sparkle.
Nella’s dress is a $12 women’s tank, and I added a tie-on Peter Pan collar that we already had. She puts that tank on now every day. Dash said “Happy New Year” to every person we encountered on the trip.