Happy Cinco de Mayo

So one of my all time favorite days to celebrate is cinco de Mayo. I don't really know why we celebrate it, but nothing beats a party with a pinata, some good mariachi music and Mexican food! Some of our friends host the party every year--this year, we're bringing the pico de gallo and the tres leches cake (recipes below). I'll post pictures of the event tomorrow so you too can feel the spirit of Cinco de Mayo. A whole lot of Pico de gallo:

1. 8 lb Roma tomatoes (about 20)
2. 1/4 C garlic salt
3. 2 oz minced garlic or to taste
4. juice of 4 lemons (or limes)
5. 3 jalapenos (leave seeds in 1/2), finely chopped
6. 1 bunch of cilantro (cut off bottoms), chopped
7. 4 medium yellow onions, finely chopped

Seed and finely chop tomatoes. Add garlic, lemon juice, jalapenos, cilantro and onions. Serve with chips.

5 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 Cups white sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 cups milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch baking pan.
Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside. Cream butter or margarine and 1 cup of the sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla extract, beat well. Add the flour mixture to the butter or margarine mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, mix until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Pierce cake several times with a fork. Combine the whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk together. Pour over the top of the cooled cake.

Whip whipping cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup of the sugar together until thick. Spread over the top of cake. Be sure and keep cake refrigerated, enjoy!

Survived Another One

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures from the party (we had 14 kids show up, that probably has something to do with it--how on earth do you keep parties a secret from the entire neighborhood?!) Overall, I'd say it went pretty well. It was awfully chaotic, but what kid's party isn't? My mom reminded me of my own 6th grade birthday party where I invited my entire 6th grade class (30 some odd kids in one modest house), which right there makes my mom a candidate for canonization.
This has to be my favorite picture from the party. Note to self: tie ribbons from the tree (or swing set) before the kids arrive. It's no easy task to do it with 13 eager kids waiting for their turn.
Kids everywhere--I nearly lost my head (and forgot a few essential things, such as plates, napkins, the apple and orange slices, the carrot sticks, and giving the kids a glass of milk to go with their cupcake--all of which I had, just forgot to pull them out).

What I would change: I would go with about 6, maybe 7 kids next time (stick with either the neighborhood friends or the school friends--not both). On top of the chaos, the games (we did the "guess who's the ghost" game and the cotton ball relay race ) were nearly impossible because of the limited space and the kids not all being familiar with each other.

What went well: I think the kids had fun and it was a good memory for Gabby. Decorating the cupcakes was a success (they didn't all turn out like the pictures in the Martha Stewart magazine but what kid is going to stick to a template when there are bowls of different candy lying around)? The party favor pumpkins turned out really cute and were super easy. I put a homemade carmel popcorn ball in each which filled the bag, but were easy on my budget. Overall I spent about $30 on the entire party--not bad!

By the way, Gabby's costume turned out so well! You got a hint of it in this blog, but I'll do a whole post on it tomorrow when her hair is done up.

More on the Halloween Party

I need to get a picture of the mummy invitation that I mentioned earlier. The one pictured above seems easy enough (I'm all about easy after the baby shower) and very kid friendly, after all, this is a kid party.

As far as what to do . . . I like to start kid's parties off with a craft (keeps them quiet and they can work on it as the other kids trickle in). I'm thinking play dough creatures would be a fun, unisex activity (and it would be in line with my budget if I make the play dough myself).

After all the kids finish their creature, we'll do a cotton ball relay race where the kids are in 2 groups and race to transport cotton balls ("ghosts") from one bucket to another using a spoon.

And then it's on to the donut on a string game (or bobbing for apples--is that sanitary?) where I'll hang donuts on a tree by a string and have the kids eat them without using their hands (this is one my mom did at my birthday parties and it was always a favorite). I'll probably use mini-donuts to avoid an immediate sugar high (Gabby is quite sugar sensitive).

Following the donut game, we'll have the snacks I mentioned in a previous blog along with apples slices, oranges and carrot sticks.

If I have time, we'll do "pin the hat on the witch" or something like that.

I still haven't decided exactly what to put in the party favor bags, but I'm thinking along the lines of a craft to do at home, a glow stick, and maybe one treat. I'm planning on having the party last 1 1/2 hours.

Hello Again

We've had one crazy summer so far and I've pretty much occupied every spare second I've had with reading, as opposed to blogging (sorry). Here's an update: we went to Noah's uncle Bud's ranch / resort for the 4th of July.
This is a picture of Gabby and Alex with their cousins, Paige and Charlotte taken at Bud's "gold mine".
This is Uncle Bud's train (plans are in the works to build a railroad that circles part of the property).
Gabby had her 5th birthday--she changed her mind about the whole pirate party thing when Jacob got on her bad side by playing with other kids when school got out. Instead, she went for a princess party just so he wouldn't come (she's a bit spiteful for a five-year-old).

I made my first fancy cake--yes it's supposed to be tilted-- (I got the recipe and instructions from the Whimsical Bakehouse Cookbook--highly recommend it)
We had quite the party (Gabby had about 8 friends, and an additional 4 girls from mine and Noah's Sunday school class that came to help out). Yes I know the rule that suggests you invite however many kids that your child is old (5 in Gabby's case), but with all the kids in our neighborhood, how do you avoid hurting feelings? I thought this picture was so cute of Gabby opening her present--she had quite the day! for more pictures, visit flickr.

Another Day, Another Party to Plan

While I'm still in the process of planning the baby shower for my sister-in-law, Julene, I've got Gabby's 5th birthday party to plan (Alex is also having a birthday but since he's only turning two I'm not bothering with a party).

Party Theme: Since Gabby has discovered that boys are twice the fun as girls (well, some girls still ranks up there with the boys but they're the exception), we're doing a Pirate party to accommodate her boy-friends.

Invitations: I was so inspired by the lemon head baby-shower invitations featured on Oh Happy Day it got me thinking about cute, unconventional invites for Gabby's party. So here's what I'm thinking--a message in a bottle. I'll put a little sand and sea shells in the bottle, along with a pirate map-style invitation (the one pictured is from Miracle Munchkins--although I want my invitations burned at the edges and kind of antiqued), top the bottle off with a cork and you've got yourself a can't-miss party.

What to do: my good friend Mirjam had a great idea when she did her son's birthday party by having them go on an elaborate treasure hunt where they got clues from neighbors and even a near by police station--how cool is that! While on the "treasure" hunt, the kids had to perform different tasks such as playing a soccer game. The treasure ended up being in a neighbor's backyard that the kids had to dig up. Check out her blog, she recently did the cutest Fairy tea party for her daughter Anouk--It made me wish we weren't inviting boys to Gabby's party.

I know the Oriental Trading Company tends to have mostly junk, but their party stuff is actually quite fun--and inexpensive. I love having crafts at my kid's parties, mostly just to fill up time so decorating pirate hats would be great ($9.95 for 12).

As for what to eat--what do pirates eat anyway? coconuts and whiskey? I might have to forgo the whiskey and settle on cake and ice cream with a tropical fruit tray or something. Ideas would be great!

After the pirate hat decorating, the treasure hunt, the eating of cake and opening presents, I might just pull out a slip-and-slide and have the kids "slide the plank." I'm also open to suggestions in the activity arena (nothing too elaborate)

Party favors: Oriental Trading Company also has little treasure chests ($12.95 for 12, which, again ain't bad). I'll probably put a little bag of those chocolate coins with the nasty chocolate inside (kid's don't care--it's a temporary sugar high to them) and call it good.