Chrismas at the Parry house....

I have some traditions that are fun for our family and I was telling my mom what we do and she said I should blog it incase anyone else would like to do these to.... so here it goes...

I get plain white butcher paper and have the kids color and make their own wrapping paper to wrap their gifts to each other. We go to the 99cent store and each parent takes a kid and they pick out a gift for the other with their own money. Some day i am sure the 99c store isn't going to cut it, but until then its cheap and gets them thinking of each other instead of themselves. 

watch a video of them opening their gifts to each other HERE.

When the kids woke up I told them to go outside and see what Santa did. Earlier Jaxon asked Santa for snow and I didn't think much of it until Christmas eve when I to was feeling homesick of my family and Utah Christmas's so I did the best I could to create a perfect winter wonderland with snowballs and snow shields. It was FREEZING at 7:00 when they woke up so it felt like the real deal minus the wetness that actual snow brings.

SNOWBALLS CAN BE PURCHASED HERE

(sorry to lazy to edit these pics and brighten them up before i uploaded them. I am on limited time as my 2 year old has decided he doesn't nap anymore)

using cardboard, spray paint, and fake glitter snow I was able to create these shields. 

All snowflakes were purchased at the 99 cent store. Most white fabric was already mine but you can use white plastic table clothes also from the 99 cent store. 

 Next we open stockings and then eat breakfast. Who knew halloween pretzels from their halloween loot could bring such a reaction lol

Rudolph pancakes for the boys. 

 I gave the sister missionaries in our ward stockings filled with a bunch of my favorite things for Christmas. When they came to pick them up they later disclosed they didn't have a fire place to hang them by. So i crafted up with crap-o-la I had laying around the house. Pretty well no, but is it funny? Yes! yes it is.

After we had our little family Christmas we went to my inlays to celebrate with them.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Skylander Birthday

Jaxon had a epic skylanders birthday party this last weekend. He has been talking about this day since DAY 1 after his Star Wars party last year. This boy is his mother's son when it comes to parties. I think I created a monster because he told me down to exact details of how he wanted his cake. I may have over ruled him on a few ideas, but in the end he won with having BOTH face painting and a swimming party. Mixing the two was a task, but nothing was as hard as keeping fourteen active 5 year olds entertained and safe. 

For his party we swam for an hour then played the Skylanders Trap Team game while some kids chose to get their face painted.  Basically it was a bunch of wet kids on my couch playing a video game (ahhhhh). We then ended with punch balloons, cake, presents and the candy station. 

Vendor credits are at the end of the post but I have to say a BIG thank you to Instabirthday. I am not big into license character type parties so i went with a color scheme and thank goodness for Instabirthday for the printables to tie in the skylander theme so Jaxon was happy.  This Etsy shop has a TON of printables from legos to paw patrols. It has alot of licensed characters that can be added to any party like I did. 

Here is the party in pictures.... enjoy!!!

My camera was doing something weird so I am just uploading a couple different pics of the main table display.

Back drop was a tri-fold poster from target covered in wrapping paper from Home Goods.

Playing skylanders

 Cake: designed by Jaxon and executed by my friend Lindsey. Using Green chocolate melt candies we created the goop. Then orange sixlets purchased from party city we created the rim.

Printables: Instabirthday and if you use the code: BRIDGEYWIDGEY at check out you can get 15% OFF your printable order.

Decor: Me

kidzShake Review

Anyone out there who struggles with a picky eater will agree with me that meal time can be straight up torture. Getting my 4 year old to eat anything other than yogurt and chocolate milk is a battle. This is why I was on the hunt for something I could get my son to not just eat but enjoy.

After searching and searching I came across KidzShake on instagram and knew I had to try it. I LOVE it. My kids love it because tastes really good. I was expecting a chalky-protein-style shake taste and was surprised it was smooth when mixed in a shaker bottle and it tasted really good. 

In the words of the company itself,

KidzShake contains only the good stuff that your child needs to get the nutrition and vitamins they require to grow and be healthy. There is zero sugar, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Its gluten free, lactose free, nut free and totally free of Trans Fatty Acids. It contains digestive enzymes, probiotics, omega 3 and trace minerals to support healthy growth and development.

    Now with something this healthy, I thought that for sure I would have to mix KidzShake into a smoothie and sneak it in, but as it turns out his favorite way to have it is just mixed in a shaker bottle.  

They have a lot of flavors and recipes up on their website here that you can find what works for your kids but my son loves his chocolate milk so I substitute this recipe from KidzShake blog for a healthy version of "chocolate milk." Another recipe I have found that is more of a smoothie consistency is this recipe:

4 scoops chocolate KidzShake

1/2 cup ice

1 frozen banana 

1 cup greek vanilla yogurt

1 

*I also sneak a handful of spinach in there.

Even my little guy digs it :)

I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't mention they also have this cool KidzSprinkles. Turns out I use this more than the shake because I can just sprinkle it on anything I am already feeding them. I am in no way saying I am a great mom and feed my kids all these healthy foods because even I struggle to eat healthy, but I'm trying and that's the first step.  One thing my kids will eat without a fight is yogurt. I like to sprinkle this KidzSprinkles right into their yogurt, ketchup,  even on their Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. My latest healthy snack I have finally gotten him to eat is apples with almond butter. I sprinkle some of this and mix it with the almond butter and he chows it down. The sprinkles don't have any flavor so it doesn't alter the consistency or the flavor of what you are adding it to so that is a major plus. 

After I tried and loved this product I contacted them asking if I could give my readers a discount and they agreed. Can I hear a whoop whoop ;) So for anyone wanting to add some more nutrition into their children diet then use the code: "BRIDGET" for 5 dollars off! 

Robot Party Ideas

How cute is this robot party my friend threw on a small budget. The highlight was when each kid could build their own robot on a rice crispy treat.