Tuesday, June 21, 2016

A Daddy Of A Day!

My husband and I we're both extremely Blessed in the Dad department. Two Good Men! Two Great Grandfathers to our kids! Unfortunately, they both celebrated Father's Day in Heaven. We Miss them and Love them so much . . .

 My Dad taught me the importance of Working Hard & Playing Hard! And Loving Hard!! Thanks for being the Man you were to all of us.

 
My husband has often said, regarding his Father "I am who I am because of the influence you were in my life."

And It has been one of my greatest joys in life watching this man of mine become the Father that he is! He is the best Dad our kids could ever have!

Here in Arizona we are having record breaking heat! As you can see in the above photo it was 123' degrees in the car. On Fathers Day, the actual temperature was 118'!

 We had a cookout & swim party at our Daughter-In-Law's parents house! You can't be outside here right now, unless you're in the water! I call the above pic, taken on Father's Day; Enjoying the "Donkey Days" of Summer! ;) I hope you enjoyed your day as well and that all the Dad's out there felt appreciated! Happy Father's Day!

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Wicked Themed Graduation Party!!

 

On my girls' 18th Birthday, this past October, we took them to see the Broadway Musical Wicked. The untold story of the witches of Oz. It is so good! If you ever get a chance, go see it! Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth were the first to play the rolls & both won Tony Awards for them!


 Well, my girls fell in love with Wicked! Singing the soundtrack constantly. It was Lexi's Halloween Costume and how she got asked to Prom!! So naturally, when thinking about our up coming Graduation Party, I thought of Wicked! If you know anything about me, you must know that I love Party Planning, and I love a Party Theme!! And with two girls, one who loves Pink & one who's favorite color is Green, this was perfect!


There are a lot of one liners & cute saying's from Wicked, so we started by making posters to hang around the house & back yard. And we incorporated The Wizard of Oz as well, since that is what Wicked is about after all!



Greeting our Guests at the front door was Our Welcome sign! Along with what happens to unwanted guests! ;) Watch out or we might drop a house on you as well! 


I pulled out my Scarecrows I decorate with in the Fall, to sit in the Backyard. Where we turned a Corn Hole Game into "Toss Toss!!" (How Galinda teaches Elphaba to flirt by flipping her hair!) ;) We also strung white lights around the backyard with about 25 Mason Jars with tea lights inside them. And placed candles inside our fire pit (since we live in Arizona & it's too hot to actually use the fire pit!) circled by chairs, which made for a nice outdoor space after the sun went down! 

 

I found this Tin Man cup at Goodwill for $1.99! I've had some little Wizard of Oz figurines since my girls were little, and once had a Wizard of Oz Birthday Party. I put them on a shelf in the entry way with a Playbill from the play! So cute!


Also in the entry way, I sat a vintage suitcase, like is used in the play, along with the Book. Yes, Wicked was a Book before it became a Broadway Musical Sensation! See, you learned something new today! :) Easy, but effective decorating!


Pinterest is a great place to get ideas! We started a Wicked Graduation Party Board awhile ago. You can see ours here.  One idea we got from Pinterest was to make little Witches Brooms out of Pretzel Sticks and mini Peanut Butter Cups. Easy, Cute and Yummy!



For the food, we of course, in Wicked Fashion, had Pink and Green; We had green vegetables, and pink fruit. Made Yellow Brick Roads out of Meat & Cheese trays, Put potato & macaroni salads in pink & green bowls. All served on Pink & Green Plates & Napkins. We ordered Pink & Green Cup Cakes, but no place had Wicked themed cake decorations, so my creative daughter, Erica made some Good Witch Crowns & Bad Witch Black Hats Picks for the cupcakes. They looked so cute!


 

I made a Poster board for the gift table, of pictures of them through the years, from birth through Graduation, that said "Follow Your Own Yellow Brick Road!" Perfect for Twins! 

 


I also found this idea for Party Favors on Pinterest; Changed For Good is one of the great songs of Wicked! So we made a sign saying "If knowing Erica and Lexi has Changed your life For Good, wear a pin." Then we had a Dorothy Basket with pins we'd had made, by my son's friend who has a pin business with one of their senior pictures on them. They turned out really great, and everyone loved them! You can find him here on Instagram.

 

 

Other party decorations included Pictures of the girls, and Their High School, along with sayings from the Play or Movie . . . 



 

We found little magic wands and wanted Ruby Slippers to set around, but couldn't find any. Maybe if it had been around Halloween time, we could have found more Wizard of Oz & Wicked stuff. But what we did find was little plastic Cinderella shoe pencil sharpeners at Party City, we bought like 12 of them and some Red sparkly spray paint & made our own! You can see them throughout some of the pictures. 



 

Our Party was Open House Style, guests could come between 6 & 10 pm. We had Family & Neighbors come. Some Friends we hadn't seen in a very long time, or not nearly often enough. And a bunch of our girls' High School Friends! Our little house got pretty full at times. It was loud & fun!!


 We are so proud of our Girls! They are both Brilliant, and Beautiful! And are each headed to Great Places, with Bright Futures!! Stay Tuned & just watch them Defying Gravity!

 Congratulations Erica! 
Congratulations Alexia! 
We couldn't be Happier! 
Or Prouder!!