Fiesta Surprise Party

I showed you a little bit of the surprise party on Monday, but here's all the details. Well as many as I can give you, I am such a horrible picture taker when I am throwing a party. I seriously need to hire someone to just do it for me, because I NEVER get pictures.This time I got the people, Mini Fox's party I got the decorations. One day, I'll remember to take pictures of both the decorations AND the people.

So all week I was making these:

I followed what I did to make really big tissue pom poms and modified it. After a lot of trial and error I got it down to a science. I'm going to share it with you, you're welcome. I think this might even spark a new pom pom tutorial, but need to take pictures and find the time to do a tutorial, but it's coming, I promise. Here it is in words, with no pictures. I hope this comes across well. If not, skip past this part.

I used one basic package of tissue paper (bought at the dollar tree store, it came with 25 sheets of multi-colored paper). Separated the colors, each one had 25 sheets, which worked out perfect. Then I laid out one color of tissue paper (5 sheets) unfolded and flat with the fold lines horizontal to me. I then cut the tissue papers into 3 vertical strips. Then each on of those strips I cut in half, now I have three stacks of 10 pieces of tissue paper that were roughly the same size. I then took two pieces of tissue from each pile and created another stack. Then I took one more piece of tissue from one other stack. So now I have 2 piles with 8 pieces of tissue, and 2 piles with 7 pieces of tissue. Then you just follow my pom pom tutorial and you're good to go.

I did make some smaller ones, instead of cutting into three strips I cut them into 4 strips. Just make sure that they only have 6-7 pieces of tissue, anything more then that and it gets hard to "poof". Trust me I learned the hard way.

Then I found some bamboo skewers and hot glued them in. Simple right? Find a vase, in our case we used some metal buckets and create your arrangements. There are 7 arrangements here.

One of them close up.

We bought a lot of the stuff at Party City, and then I made some of the stuff, okay I made two things, but still they were really time consuming.

This is not my house, it's my aunt's house: Here's the entryway. We hung these lanterns here and then the rest of the package went outside in the trees (which of course I didn't take a picture of).

On the wall opposite of the door, we just put one of these fans and some fresh flowers.

Then we put some buplap and fabric on the table with the "flower" arrangement and a fan, I thought it looked great, even though very few people sat here.

 

We hung a fiesta banner in the kitchen to make it a little more festive. 

We bought these margarita glasses for both the decoration and use. Which of course I don't have a picture of. We used some of those pom poms in them and scattered them around. You can sort of see them in the background on that wall back there. They've been moved and used, so you can only really see two, but we had them set up super cute on that wall back there.

We bought these napkins for the drinks, since the Taco Man was going to bring napkins, plates and utensils for us.

 

We bought two more of those fiesta banners and hung them outside. You can see them on either side of the lights. Which happened to already be there, so we lucked out with those! They matched the theme perfect.

Of course you can't forget the pinata! I was actually going to convert it to a pull string pinata, but it came with it already done, score! In case you don't know, see all those strings hanging? Well each kid gets to pull one and only one of them opens the trap door to release the candy. Although the candy we bought was too big, so after the trap door was opened nothing came out, really anticlimactic I tell ya.

We had two small tables outside, which we put the burplap and the fabric on.You can see it there on the left. This is actually the moment when the trap door is being opened, hence the two hand pull.

I cannot tell you how awesome having someone cater and serve the food was. We didn't have to worry about it at all, and everyone loved it. It was a fun part of the party, and of course where we spent most of our money.

Yep he brought all of the condiments too!

Meet Jerry, he's the most awesome taco man ever!

As soon as the birthday got there, everyone ran to get the food, yum! He stayed for three hours and pretty much people were eating the entire time.

And that is the party in a nutshell. So who's ready to throw a fiesta party?! If you can't hire a taco guy, you can still cater from a Mexican restaurant. We did that for Baby Fox's construction party and it worked out great!

Adios!

Linking up with I Heart Nap Time, Lil' Luna, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots & Jello & Today's Creative Blog for Link Party Palooza

Two In One

I bought this dress at Old Navy last year, along with the dress I wore for our family photo session (which I realize I never posted those photos...perhaps that will be a post soon). This might be my go to fall/winter outfit. Leggings, dress, blazer, scarf, ankle boots. Actually I'm wearing this same combo, different dress, different scarf, but same bottom line. Easy to pick out at 5am.

Then I took the jacket off for a more relaxed look. I love this look too. Super comfortable but put together.

I love these fake eyelashes, they're great! They are actually from Daiso Japanese store, and were $1.50, I think they are prefect for me.

So that's what I would look like if I actually had eyelashes.

If you look closely you can see my grey hair coming in...yea that white streak on the left side of my head (well left to you, right side on me...that's confusing) that's not shiny hair, that's grey coming in.

Mr. took action shots of me taking off my jacket.

What's your favorite go to outfit?

Here's a random story for you:

About 18 years ago my Grandma decided that she wanted to get all of the grandkids pencils with their name on it. I thought it was cute and used them throughout college. She bought each of us like 20 pencils or something. Anyway...fast forward and I'm now working, and I like using pencils you sharpen over mechanical pencils, don't you just love the smell of freshly sharpened pencil? I'm down to my last 3 pencils, which makes me sad, so I am using them down to the point I can barely hold them. So I've lost one, and I'm sad because now I only have 2 of them left. I'm in a meeting and someone has my pencil! They're using MY pencil! I say, hey that's my pencil! And they're like no it's not, it's mine. Besides you can't prove it. Then I'm like yea, does your pencil have YOUR name on it? He rolls over the pencil and sure enough he has egg in his face as my name in printed on the pencil clear as day. Bam, take that pencil stealer! I'm down to my last pencil, last 4.5 inches of it.  Now that my Grandma has passed away, I think it will just sit at my desk reminding me of how awesome my Grandma was.

Oh one more thing! It's my sisters birthday! Happy Birthday Aunt Foxy, the most fun, loving, creative and best aunt my kids could ask for!

 also Linking up with Because Shanna Said So, Get Your Pretty On, The Pleated Poppy, Tucker Up 

Christmas Wish List

I thought I would help Mr. out and just go ahead and tell him what I want for Christmas. I dream big.

1 - $178 | 2 - $148 | 3 - $150| 4 - $68 | 5  -$298 | 6 - $38 | 7 - $340| 8 - $139 | 9 - $99

I dream big, most of what I want is in the higher price range...but I'm okay with that, hehe. I have no need for jackets, let alone two new jackets, but hey a girl can dream can't she? You know what? I'll just take any of Olivia Pope's jackets, yep that will do. Then I might have a reason to go to cold weather places, I need to to use my jackets, totally reasonable right?

In all reality, I told Mr. I wanted a leather jacket for Christmas, my current leather jacket I got in 1995, yes it's almost 20 years old and the sleeves are looking...vintage. I think I deserve a new one right?

 

Who doesn't like a good Olivia Pope jacket? I'm sure that show has created a ton of sales for the jacket industry. So they can go ahead and thank her being pregnant and needing to hide that fact on the show with awesome jackets.

I want a new snowboarding jacket. When we first started snowboarding I pretty much just bought the cheapest thing out there, it's baby blue. I'm ready to start looking like a girl when going down the slopes. I love that this jacket is 3 in 1. I have that style already and love that I can take out the fleece lining if it's getting warm out.

 

After seeing Shauncey wear her red jeans, I needed to have a pair. I don't like the Old Navy ones, they are a little too thin for my liking...but one day..I'll find a pair.

 

I have been using the same purse for over a year now, it's time.

Love comfy cozy scarves. Who wouldn't want this?

These are the perfect neutral pump. I've been looking for a pair, and I think this is it. Anyone want to donate money to the cause?

Love the lace detail on the sleeve. Great LBD for any season.

I've heard these work amazingly well. I want to try one out and see if I can help my skin feel a little better, especially since I've been wearing make-up a lot more lately. It feels like my skin needs some TLC.

What's on your Christmas list this year? Any must haves that I need to add? 

Have you been naughty or nice?

Linking up with Cheers Y'all, A. Liz Adventures, Miss Dixie, Southern Style for My Favorite Things

Surprise!!!

Remember on Friday how I told you I was making all of those "poofs"? Well it was for my sister and the surprise party my mom and I planned for her. This is a picture of how many I made. Guess what I made?

Okay you don't have to wait long for the answer, I made them into flower arrangements!

The party was actually at my Aunt and Uncle's house, so on Friday after work my Mom picked me up and we went to decorate. I think the decorations came out pretty great, too bad I forgot to take pictures of all of it. DOH! We decided to hire a taco man for the food, so we just ran with that theme. Plus it's a long time joke that my sister always says she's Latin (p.s. she's the whitest, as she says, ghost like girl you can meet)

I'll post more pictures of the party tomorrow.

Saturday was pretty low key until we had to go to the party. Baby Fox and I went and got some balloons and another fiesta banner, can never have too many of these. These made the party. Well that and my flower arrangements of course.

The balloons barely fit in the car. Baby Fox did not want his picture taken. I can't see you, you can't see me right?

While waiting for party time, Mini Fox really really wanted to get up on the chair. Girl has determination.

Made it Mommy!

And then I took her off the chair and put her here, and she threw herself on the ground. Dramatic much? So I took her picture instead. Yep see that foot back there, she was actually kicking and crying. Where do they learn these things?!

We had some last minute things to set up outside, that we couldn't do the day before. But we were ready 30 minutes before guests started arriving...win in my book. Usually we're still setting up before guests arrive, I think having a party at someone else's house gets stuff done faster and more efficent...hmm...

 Me and the birthday girl

See that lipstick? I got that from my November Ipsy bag, LOVE it and the color. I might have to go buy it.

 Taco man was a HUGE hit. If you're in the Los Angeles area, I have a taco guy, it's awesome and worth EVERY PENNY!

Yep taco man provided everything seen, we had to do NOTHING. Okay that drink there at the bottom right, we provided that, haha. But he provided all of the condiments, chips, beans, rice and 4 different kinds of meat.

 The party goers

When you can't find Mr. it's probably because he's playing with the kids. Yep Mr. against 5 boys, a girl and Mini Fox. Although the latter two aren't in the picture. Mr. says he was really "winning" he was just letting the boys think they were winning, haha.

This picture doesn't really convey how crazy all the boys and Mr. really were.

 Like the kids needed more reason to go crazy, we did a pinata. It was a hit.

Mr. picked out and got Mini Fox ready, he did a pretty good job. He said that she had 4 different outfits on and that he was having trouble finding bottoms to go with a top. He complained that none of her bottoms go with her tops. Guess we'll have to guy some more :)

 Selfie...I think I might have perfected the selfie. This is the first try, with a real camera I might had, so I really couldn't see what picture I was taking.

We spent the night at my Aunt and Uncle's and Sunday morning we went out to breakfast. Do you think Mini Fox liked her breakfast?

Usually we don't let her go wild with the food, but we had been sitting there for a while, and she was STARVING, and well, it was just cute.

After we got home the kids wanted to blow off some steam, so I took them to the park.

After naptime I took the kids to my parents for dinner. Mr. stayed behind to get some work done. Baby Fox really wanted to help my sister open her gifts.

All done!

 

Yep that's avocado up her nose

 Time for some pudding, don't worry it's sugar free, and she only got a few more bites after this.

Then Baby Fox got the rest...and of course everyone sits like this while eating pudding right?

And to end the night, we let Baby Fox watch one episode of Little Einsteins...him and my sister are "blasting off"

If you don't know Little Einsteins, look it up. It's one of my favorite shows for Baby Fox. It's educational, the whole episode is based around classical music, it's interactive and Baby Fox absolutely loves it. And let's face it, we're watching it most of the time too, and this one is one I actually enjoy watching with him.

That was our fun weekend! I won't mention that my sister is trying to pass kidney stones and we weren't sure if the party was even going to happen. She's a trooper, this is the third time she's gotten them, at least she knows what to expect...let's pray they pass quickly. She's passed some of them on Thursday night, but still had some more to go. Insert sad face here.

Linking up with Faith, Sarah and Heather for Mommy Moments

With Bella & Lisa for Weekend Link-up
Molly and Carly for Let it Shine  
Meg for Mingle Monday