Baby Shower for my newest lil niece

As you can imagine we wanted to spend as much time possible with family before going West. Luckily for us, we had loads of things to do to accomplish this feat. Amongst all the fun last minute things we did, I got to plan a shower for my newest arrival to my extended family. I was getting (now have) a little niece. My sister and I landed on an owl themed shower, and being the good sibling I am I got to "pinning". Like everyone on Pinterest, we found more than we could accomplish, but over all I think it turned out great given the shoestring budget.

If you have been around my blog much, you know that I use to work for a label company, thus always including water bottle designs into every party I plan.

I found something very similar to this on Pinterest, and had to "steal" the idea to make it my own. I like to give credit where credit is due, but when I opened the link to find it, the image was just cache. I put animal crackers inside these and made them our table centerpieces. They did double duty, make the place look pretty, and keep the kids calm and quite while we played games.

Ultrasound pictures were provided by the mother to be, and I made the banner to match our overall color scheme. The lights were a Target dollar spot find! I got them for a dollar and they matched perfectly!

I created this sign in to be very much like the wedding ones I've seen around a lot, but I decided to make the tree more like a storybook theme so that we could hang it in baby's room. I really like how it turned out with the fingerprints as the leaves.

This I can not take credit for, however I wish I could, it turned out perfect! I found one similar on (you guessed it) Pinterest and handed the project over to the mother in law. She did such an awesome job. Definitely competes with the one I found over here.

One more thing that I can not claim as my own, but was amazing! One of the guests brought this awesome diaper cake that just put the final touch on our decor. Is it not lovely?

Over all we had a nice time, delicious food/cake, and great conversation. 

That is what showers are for right?!

Wait! It's October?!

EEkkk.. I'm not scared over here, I am freaking out! I am not ready for this Halloween thing at all! I need to get the girls their costumes, but more importantly, we had traditions in the Midwest... I know where Nothing is here. I don't have a clue where we will be going and trick or treating. I guess I need to get to Google-ing some stuff. I need to go shopping!

While I go get some crap done, here are some cute images from Halloween's past:

My eldest is a crafty one, I may have even shared this one before, but I am just so proud of it/her.

Here is one of the "Chipmunk girls" with her Halloween costume, Yeap you guessed it: ghost!

Cute huh?!

Ding Ding Ding

Here is some information that I want to do my part of getting out to every.single.mother! Every single parent, grandparent, heck every single person that eats in fact. I am so thankful that she puts all of this knowledge in honest terms. For the most part I have a "live your life" mentality and everyone should make their own choices, BUT this is one thing I can get upon my soapbox about. She really hits me in the heart at "A fundamental shift happen in the way we produced food. It was introduced by a chemical company, it definitely helped them sell more chemicals, but it was introduced without ever informing the American public that it had happened."

Does this only disgust me?! I was eating chemicals hand over fist for years, even while pregnant, without knowing. I know a lot of mothers out there that have said, and I quote: "Do what ever you want to me, hurt me, curse me, but don't ever harm my children". This. This! Is why I am angry about this.... my kids are helpless, and apparently the American public is too.