Golf Themed Birthday Party

We celebrated the second birthday of our twins a bit early this year. I wanted to get a chance to enjoy the outdoors instead of being stuck inside. I decided I would do a quick post to share some of the ideas we incorporated into the party. Many were inspired by all the amazing parties on Kara's Party site.

The best part of this party was that we were given probably almost a thousand golf balls a few years ago from our family member. They had collected them in their yard on the golf course they live on.  They helped to make an instant decoration for our party. They finally served a purpose because Rob is not playing too much golf nowadays. I filled buckets from Oriental Trading and Dollar Tree with golf balls and made signs from Scrapbook paper and skewers for the food and announcement signs.

I set up a spot by the front door with a book I purchased from Amazon called "P is for Putt", which is an adorable book with a ton of information. I asked guests to sign the book as a memory for the boys in as they grow up. I made the sign on a wooden cutout from Michaels, paint, scrapbook paper and my Silhouette Cameo.

I made golf ball white chocolate lollipops from Wilton Candy Melts and a plastic golf ball pop mold I purchased on Amazon. Then I added them to the bags I had leftover from their first birthday party, and attached a thank you tag that I had made from an Etsy vendor.

 A Pro Shop was set up for our little party guests complete with golf bags from Walmart for the toddler and older kids. The Sassy golf club set for our youngest guest was found on Amazon.  I also bought foam blue visors from Amazon as well. The table was decorated with some tissue decorations from Oriental Trading and a homemade Pro Shop banner. I made it using scrapbook paper and my Silhouette Cameo.

Here is some of the food that we served at the party. We kept it very basic. I do sort of have my hands full right now as you may know. I ordered Subway Subs and Chick-fil-A nuggets. We had oranges, watermelon, chips and cupcakes. I also made some Party Burgers from the recipe shared here by Kevin and Amanda.  Just for fun I put tees in the sandwiches. I borrowed an idea from Delightfully Noted to place the toy golf carts I bought on Amazon on my Boon Drying Racks that resemble grass.

At the 19th hole we served Water Hazards, Beer Birdies, Arnold Palmers and Amateur Apple Juice.

 The cupcakes were store bought, and then I cut out golfer silhouettes on my Cameo. I simply glued them to toothpicks to make instant cupcake toppers.

 Best picture of the whole group enjoying the party. We were so happy to have beautiful weather and everyone had a blast. These two boys are a trip and we enjoy their joyful spirits.

The Fireplace That Took Years To Paint

When we first moved into our house I swore I wanted to paint the fireplace right away. Fast forward seven plus years later and it still sat in the original red brick glory.  Now it is also four kids later, and I get an itch to paint it after seeing a 40% off sale email from Sherwin Williams in my inbox at a 3am feeding.

Here is a picture of the fireplace prior to painting. 

We first wiped down the fireplace with Simple Green, and then dried it off with a towel.  I purchased the masonry primer from Sherwin-Williams that was approximately $54 a gallon prior to the sale discount. It took a half a gallon for the size fireplace we have.  You must wait 24 hours prior to painting. I assumed we wouldn't tackle this project any time soon, but Rob got started as soon as Wynn and I got home with the paint.  The new paint job is Davis approved.

Then we used the same colors we have in our master bedroom to paint our family room.  The fireplace was painted with Sherwin-Williams Amazing Gray along with three walls. The wall adjacent to the fireplace and behind our bookcases was painted with Anonymous Gray.  It took approximately one coat on top of the primer using a roller. We used a brush to get any deeper sections of brick that needed to be coated better.  We used their Harmony line with no VOC's in the paint.  

Now the mantel really stands out and does not blend into the brick.  I was so happy that Rob did this project and painted all the walls in this room in a day and a half.  The next weekend he even took out our ugly florescent box lights and put in some recessed lighting.    Who knew you could get more done in the house with four kids versus zero?

Fall Wreath and the New Addition

I have been missing in action over the past several weeks. I did actually have a really good reason to be. On August 12th, I gave birth to our fourth child. Our newest addition is our sweet little boy who weighed close to ten pounds. My biggest baby by far. I'm not quite sure how he got that big considering I moved more and had most of my meals eaten by two growing one year olds. It feels like he has already been a part of the family. I am sharing a cute little picture of him at the bottom of this post. 

Well, I really wanted to incorporate a new color scheme to my fall decor. I picked up some navy chevron burlap ribbon from Michaels. Using a straw wreath with the plastic covering still in place I wrapped the wreath with the burlap ribbon. Then I took the fall themed arrangement from Michaels and attached it to the wreath with floral wire. 

I made a simple bow from burlap ribbon and brown satin ribbon to top off the wreath. I wanted simple and sweet, and something I could make between feeding the baby. Although, this one was also made with the twins hovering at my feet wondering what I was doing and asking all sorts of questions.

Glad to have something on our front door that says we are ready for the change in season. Even though this week we are still going to be in the low nineties and high eighties temperature wise. Have a great week!

Now here is the picture I promised I would share of our sweet boy.