Are You Bored at Home?

You should think of joining this club. It's $15 a year and they seriously have something planned everyday of the week (not weekends). There really aren't many rules, just some etiquette that's a courtesy to follow (like RSVP'ing). You can just pick and choose whatever floats your fancy and show up. All of their events are tailored with both kids and moms in mind.

The process of joining may seem a little difficult, but it's in place for quite a few good reasons. Just email Shannon  at talleyho2003@hotmail.com and she'll give you a few events you can come try out before you fill out the official paperwork and pay your dues to unlock the treasure trove that is the monthly calendar.

Here are a few events Gwen and I attended when I was blessed to get to stay at home and was lonely and bored. These are just a small taste of all the events they have. Just the other day we met a few moms down at the marina and spent two hours eating lunch and playing.

• Mother's Day Tea Party


• Pajama Party


• Valentine's Day Party


• Owl Handprint Craft made at baby playdate


• Halloween Party

Mother's Day Tea Party

{Disclosure: I was provided with the madeleine cookies by Donsuemor Madeleine Cookies and the tea by Davidson's Organic Teas (who are totally local and off of Wells, btw) in exchange for blogging about this tea party.}

On Friday I threw a Mother's Day Tea Party/ play date for the moms club I belong to. It turned out to be a small crowd, which was perfect. The kids played while we got to chat with each other and enjoy some cookies, cake and cucumber sandwiches.

The party was in the afternoon (right after nap time, thank you very much) and it was beautiful outside so I decided to go for iced tea instead of the traditional hot. I've done this before at past parties and discovered that small tea cups are annoying when drinking iced tea because you drink more when it's iced. Not to mention that tea cups are tiny.

Enter the handy mason jars.

I keep using them at parties and have run into a problem; everyone eventually gets confused on which cup is theirs, since they all look identical. I'm sure there's probably some cute and clever solution out there that I'm unaware of, but I'm going to plan on sharpies next time.

The wraps around the cups? They're those popular water bottle label printables you see everywhere. Coordinating water bottle labels seems excessive to me and I always ignore them when using the printable party packs. Then I saw them wrapped around mason jars here and couldn't wait to try them out. They were my favorite part of the party.

I've been a fan of Davidson's Organic Teas for awhile. and they did not disappoint. My girlfriend's entire tea cabinet is stocked full of their teas which we get to enjoy at her tea parties. My favorite is the Cherry with Almond. It's best served hot with a smidge of cream and a sugar cube.

I used to work at Starbucks, where they sell Donsuemor's madeleine cookies and let me just say I ate a fair share of them. These things are delectable and I'm not even saying that just because I got them for free. My favorite are the chocolate dipped but, I mean, really, can you go wrong with any of them? Chocolate, lemon zest and traditional? Come to mama. I've seen them at Costco so next time you want to jazz up any get-together I'd recommend picking some up.

We apparently can not have these in our home as we discovered that Gwyneth is a wild maniac with them. Like crying and throwing fits after she tried one. She may have eaten five yesterday.

I kept my fingers crossed that the lilacs would stay in bloom for the party. And they did just that. Shhh, don't  tell my neighbor I stole them from his bush. 

The kids enjoyed their tea party as well. By the end of the party I  had "strawberry, rainbow and sprinkle"  tea.

I thought I was being all clever by putting out sippy cups of water for all the kids. Don't do this!!! Gwen immediately thought they were all hers and drank out of each one. Then the children at the party decided they were theirs and there was a lot of sippy cup sharing. Lord save us if any of those kids were sick. Lesson learned.

PB& J for the kids, cucumber for all.

I love Mother's Day, well for the obvious reasons, but mainly because it's the perfect excuse to throw a tea party. They are my absolute favorite type of party because it's simple and cheap. Just cut the crusts off a sandwich and cut it into triangles and you've got yourself party food. And who doesn't like tea?

[Free Mother's Day Printables from Amanda's Parties To Go]

Halloween Party

I didn't think Gwen would have many opportunities to wear a costume for Halloween. 3 months ago we decided trick-or-treating would be silly, so when else would she wear her costume?

She has worn it 4 times in the past week.

She has had so many opportunities to wear her costume that I've even been able to rotate between Princess Leia and her ladybug costume.



Today we went to a Halloween party put on by that Moms club I've been talking about. I've been excited about this party since I joined a few months ago. We meet at someone's house, all the kids get dressed up and we bring candy and they get to go around and trick-or-treat. Such a simple idea with no fuss.

So I popped some popcorn (sans candy corn and almond bark (gasp!)) and picked up some candy. Pixy stix are by far the cheapest candy on the market. $1.99 for 120 stix? Is this a joke? Who doesn't love a pixy stick?

We played with all the neat toys. 

We ate all the awesome food everyone brought.

 And crawled around.

 And then we trick or treated. Or, Gwen sat in the middle of everything chewing on a bottle of water.

And we hung out and took some cute pictures. 

Now onto the weekend! Here in Nevada we celebrate "Nevada Day" which happens to land on Halloween (or around it, or something like that). My Mom is coming up to visit and Jake is home for three whole days. We're done with our Halloween parties, but have pumpkin patches to go to, parades to be seen and a little trick-or-treating at the Children's museum.

Halloween Party

I didn't think Gwen would have many opportunities to wear a costume for Halloween. 3 months ago we decided trick-or-treating would be silly, so when else would she wear her costume?

She has worn it 4 times in the past week.

She has had so many opportunities to wear her costume that I've even been able to rotate between Princess Leia and her ladybug costume.

Fall Pics

Today we headed down to meet some other moms at a gorgeous park down by the University for a little photo sesh. Could you ask for better scenery?

These aren't even the professional ones. Gwen was happy to oblige and smile sweetly for the camera while perched on a bench with pumpkins littered around her.  I can't wait to see them. It was totally worth missing her usual nap time. We'll have to go back to the park with Jake for a nice little romantic family stroll (is romantic and family allowed to be in the same sentence?) before the leaves are all gone, which seems like it will be awhile this year. Yay!

Fall Pics

Today we headed down to meet some other moms at a gorgeous park down by the University for a little photo sesh. Could you ask for better scenery?

These aren't even the professional ones. Gwen was happy to oblige and smile sweetly for the camera while perched on a bench with pumpkins littered around her.  I can't wait to see them. It was totally worth missing her usual nap time. We'll have to go back to the park with Jake for a nice little romantic family stroll (is romantic and family allowed to be in the same sentence?) before the leaves are all gone, which seems like it will be awhile this year. Yay!

Socializing In Our Pajamas

About a month ago I signed up for this cool M.O.M.S (Moms offering Moms Support) club in town after realizing that MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) wasn't exactly my cup of tea. 

It's been amazing. There is an activity everyday that ranges from going to an Alpaca Farm to making grandparents day crafts to simple play dates. Baby G is still a little young to enjoy some of these things, but I drag her along as a great excuse to get out of the house and talk with someone other than an 8 month old and Facebook.

 On Friday we joined the other Moms at a pajama breakfast. We were asked to bring a breakfast favorite, so I whipped up a batch of my mom's Bitsy Bread (aka monkey bread in cupcake form). 
I was going to give you a recipe when I realized I don't really have an exact one. And to avoid posting a recipe that will only frustrate (as it does me when i see them) that is arbitrary and only makes sense to me, I will make another batch and come back at you with measurements. Lets just suffice with this for now, it's biscuits rolled into balls, dipped in butter followed by a dipping in cinnamon sugar.

I used some liners I got from Joann's on sale awhile ago that really don't work with cupcakes. Throw in some leftover cupcake picks from last year and bam! Impressed the pants right off those ladies.

Baby G and I had a blast socializing and playing with the different toys. Another mom hosted so baby G got to test out that baby's cooler toys that she doesn't have. She also had this awesome baby cage type deal that was tons less oppressing than a playpen. I need to find one stat. Baby G is mobile and everytime I turned around it seems she's sticking her finger in a socket, holding a knife or trying to eat small things.

Rest assured, I did brush my teeth and put a t-shirt on over my nursing tank top and left baby G in her actual pjs. It totally reminded me of pajama day in elementary school, which was always a favorite. Then again, everything in elementary school seemed to be my favorite.

Socializing In Our Pajamas

About a month ago I signed up for this cool M.O.M.S (Moms offering Moms Support) club in town after realizing that MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) wasn't exactly my cup of tea. 

It's been amazing. There is an activity everyday that ranges from going to an Alpaca Farm to making grandparents day crafts to simple play dates. Baby G is still a little young to enjoy some of these things, but I drag her along as a great excuse to get out of the house and talk with someone other than an 8 month old and Facebook.

 On Friday we joined the other Moms at a pajama breakfast. We were asked to bring a breakfast favorite, so I whipped up a batch of my mom's Bitsy Bread (aka monkey bread in cupcake form). 
I was going to give you a recipe when I realized I don't really have an exact one. And to avoid posting a recipe that will only frustrate (as it does me when i see them) that is arbitrary and only makes sense to me, I will make another batch and come back at you with measurements. Lets just suffice with this for now, it's biscuits rolled into balls, dipped in butter followed by a dipping in cinnamon sugar.

I used some liners I got from Joann's on sale awhile ago that really don't work with cupcakes. Throw in some leftover cupcake picks from last year and bam! Impressed the pants right off those ladies.

Baby G and I had a blast socializing and playing with the different toys. Another mom hosted so baby G got to test out that baby's cooler toys that she doesn't have. She also had this awesome baby cage type deal that was tons less oppressing than a playpen. I need to find one stat. Baby G is mobile and everytime I turned around it seems she's sticking her finger in a socket, holding a knife or trying to eat small things.

Rest assured, I did brush my teeth and put a t-shirt on over my nursing tank top and left baby G in her actual pjs. It totally reminded me of pajama day in elementary school, which was always a favorite. Then again, everything in elementary school seemed to be my favorite.