The James Family
A smile happens in a flash...but its memory can last a lifetime.
OK, I'm officially in love with a company. It's called Nostalgia Electrics. A few months back, I was at K-Mart and found a chocolate fountain for less than 10 bucks on clearance. I totally bought it, and it has been great to have. All you need is 2 bags of chocolate chips, 1/4 cup oil and you have an instant party. So when I came across the punch fountain...I couldn't resist. I was lucky to get that one for less than 10 bucks as well! I used them for Tatum's birthday and it was so much fun. And just when I thought I had all the "nostalgic electrics" I needed...I found this lemonade cart for 4 bucks clearanced! Wahoo...what a find! We took it home and made homemade strawberry lemonade this week for family home evening. The kids loved squeezing the lemons on the top of the machine and pouring it from a spout. It was pretty cute. (Where was my camera?!) Anyway, it's fun to start collecting stuff like this because as the kids get older I have more chances to use these things. If someone had given me a lemonade cart 5 years ago I would have laughed. But now the wheels are turning in my head...lemonade stands...creating little entrepreneurs... Totally worth 4 bucks to get my kids business savvy!
My friend emailed me a couple pictures from Tatum's party last week. It was so fun and I'm resting up for next year. : )
Here are just a couple snapshots of the kids from the past couple of days. My friend was at the Navy Thrift store and found this cute little dress she got for Tatum. Tatum LITTERALLY has not taken it off in 2 days except to go to bed. I think it's cute. Carson has been a little crazy as well. I finally got around to getting him a haircut and he looks just as handsome as ever.
Doesn't Carson look so enthused???
The kids got me a new dough hook for my Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday. I made oatmeal bread with it. It turned out ok. But I still need a lot of work...
We carved our pumpkins this year with the kids and they had a pretty good time. It's our tradition to name our pumpkins every year. This year, Tatum decided to name our pumpkins Ben and Lou, after her cousins.
We took another trip back to the pumpkin patch so we could go through the corn maze. It was a lot of fun!
Well I am officially recovering from Tatum's way too big birthday party. I haven't posted pics from the dinner yet...they are on my friend's camera so I hope to have them in the next couple days. HOWEVER...I am so excited I just had to post about my latest cake project. My friend, Amy, found this cupcake mold online today. It was clearance- only 6.99! WAHOO! (It was originally 40.00) Anyway, it's a train mold and you piece all the cute little parts together. The possibilities are endless and you can have as many train cars as you want. How cute is that! This will be the perfect birthday cake for Carson in December. In other news...Ned is getting ready to head to Japan. Blah. But such is life. We should have a lot of pictures of some fun things over the next couple weeks. Stay tuned!
What would a fancy party be without something special for the boys? I had so much fun making these little guys!
I have been having so much fun putting together Tatum's birthday party this year. Tatum told me she wanted a "fancy party". So I have been left to interpret what that entails. Maybe I'm going a bit overboard, but it's been fun to be creative and work on projects after the kids go to bed. Due to the amount of work going into the party, we had to limit Tatum to just a couple of friends she regularly plays with, but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun for her. I made these cute hats for the girls' place settings. I covered a layered brownie with fondant. 
And for the boys, I found these cute Tuxedo boxes (8 to a pack) at the dollar store! What a find!! But as much fun as it has been getting ready...maybe next year we'll stick to Chuck E Cheese.
I have really been looking forward to Tatum's birthday this year. I have wanted to try doing a fondant cake for a couple of years now. I made her birthday cake this morning and I am really proud of it. A big thanks to my sister Amy for giving me lots of tips and advice!
I found the perfect Halloween costume for Carson. I was on OldNavy.com last night and saw that they had a skunk costume. It was clearanced out so I bought it! (Ned later reminded me that it was Sunday, and I feel kind of guilty about it...) but I honestly wasn't thinking. Anyway, for anyone who knows my beloved Carson, this costume is perfect. Because he's a cutie...so sometimes he can be quite the little stinker. I lucked out, too...because as soon as I purchased the costume, it sold out!
