About Us

Andy and I met on a blind date in Dec. 2005. One of my 7th grade students was his neice, and she set us up. Go figure. We saw each other every day after that! We were engaged by June and married in September of 2006. In January, 2008, we welcomed little Ethan into our home, and in August, 2010, little Addison arrived.

Andy is a diesel mechanic at Kennecott. I taught middle school science for ten years, and am now an evidence-based learning specialist for a school district.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Free Mario Party Printables

Ethan requested a Mario themed birthday party this year.  We had a lot of fun at our party, and I had a lot of fun creating decorations, and favor bags for our guests.

All the printables that I used for our party you can find here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzv2Ix2hcPrMakFCZThQZWt3eGs/edit?usp=sharing

The printables include:  wall decorations, napkin ring wrappers, juice box wrappers, Mario favor bag face and hat, fire balls bag topper.

I decorated a wall in my house as a scene from the Mario game.  This became the backdrop for photos with friends, and I set up a bench in front of this wall so he could sit in front of it when opening his gifts.  This was by far his favorite part.  He asked if we could leave it up for a "LONG TIME, because it's so COOL."  


I love Dollar Tree, and a lot of what you see here I purchased there.  The vinyl tablecloth, the streamers, balloons, plates, napkins, and the Mario candies! The Mario centerpiece was purchased at Zurchers.  


Here is a close up of one of the table settings.  I made a the napkin ring and the wrapper for the juice boxes on my computer and printed them off.  The Mario & Luigi hats were made out of foam sheets, very thin elastic, and a glue gun.  



These are the party favor bags.  I purchased the lunch sacks at the Dollar Tree, and cut the top 2.5 inches off of them.  The Mario and Luigi hats, as well as the faces can be found in the PDF printable to print, cut and glue.


I purchased cheese balls at Target in a big container, and scooped them into gift bags.  I created the Fire power top, and then folded down the bag and stapled the tag on top.  The question boxes are filled with Chocolate coins found at the party store, and the Mario gummies I bought at Zurchers.


 Happy Party Planning!



Ethan's 6th Birthday Party

Ethan had so much fun this year on his Birthday!  We were able to invite all his friends from the neighborhood, and a few other friends too.  The boys came, had pizza, ate cake, played games, and opened presents.  They all seemed to be having a great time, and enjoyed spending time together!  It got a little loud, but I'm not sure that 10 boys in 1 house could possibly be quiet!

Ethan LOVED the presents that his wonderful friends brought:
Alex - fun interactive world map
Ayden - Nerf disk shooter
Chris Lee - Zombie Hot Wheels Track
Kaicyn - Lego Table and Lego's
Hudson - Mario Lego's
Mason - Superman Lego's
Parker - Money
Spencer - A Skyland Figuring
Tanner - Nerf Guns

Ethan's cake turned out to be a labor of love.  It's not a very big cake, but it took me about  5 hours to decorate it.  (I purchased all the fondant, and the frosting for the cake, so you wouldn't have thought it would have taken so long)  I bought blue and white fondant.  So I colored most of the fondant myself.  This took quite a bit of time.  

For Mario's face, I drew a picture of his face, and then laid the picture on top of rolled out fondant.  I then used a toothpick and poked holes around my drawing and then used a knife to cut each piece out.  This method seemed to work out well.

It's not cake boss worthy, but it turned out okay.  A class might be helpful in the future so I can learn how to get everything nice and smooth and shiny.



The boys ate pizza, breadsticks and birthday cake!

I made them each a party favor bag that included cheese puffs (fireballs) Mario shaped gummies, and little boxes with chocolate gold coins.

Here they are all together in front of the Mario all.
Top Left:  Spencer, Ethan, Addy, Kaicyn, Alex
Bottom Left:  Mason, Chris Lee, Tanner, Ayden


Blowing out his candles

I thought for sure there would be an injury with the pinata in the house, but we made it without doing any harm! :)









Then we played squash the Goomba's.  The kids each had a Goomba tied to their ankle.  Their job was to not let their Goomba get popped, but pop everyone else's Goomba.  Spencer was so cute at this game. He would grab the Goomba and bite it to pop it.  He obviously was the winner! :)

Then we played feed Boo, the Mario ghost.  The kids had to throw ping pong balls through Boo's mouth.


Then Ethan opened presents from his friends.  They all gave such wonderful gifts!  Ethan loves each and every one of them, and has played with them non-stop since the party.