Super Bowl XLV

My Super Bowl Highlights:

• Company...My favorite crowd in the whole world.
  
• Commercials...Funny.
  
• National Anthem...Disappointed with the lyric mix up, but still liked the performance.
  
• Half time show...They were right! It was going to be a good night.
• Penalties...Shame on you Packer fellas for some of those penalties.
  
• And the game...Loved that it was not at all boring. :-)

And now for the food. This is what we wound up with...



I made beef sandwiches and then wrapped them in wax paper to keep them warm and so that the kids could help themselves in the non messiest way.



We had grilled onions and peppers to go on the sandwiches.



Potato Salad. I know it's not a picnic, but the kiddo's love this stuff. They were so happy.



Packer veggies. :-)



Jello. My kids love jello, but I have to admit it's probably not the most common item you would find at a Super Bowl party.


And dessert. Messy, oozy, lemon bars were so good.


And this was my version of Packer cupcakes. I tinted some homemade cream cheese frosting to match the Packer napkins and some green non perils topped these mini cupcakes off perfectly. I think they are so cute.


Our official mascots of the evening. Don't they look thrilled to be sitting still for a photo while they could be begging for scraps?

Getting Ready for the Super Bowl

We are getting so excited for the Super Bowl this year. (We do every year actually.) We love the Super Bowl no matter who is playing for the NFC and the AFC. We love the commercials and the half time show, we love planning a fun menu and enjoying the rare treat of eating in front of the television, we love the hype of the big game and we love the game itself.

Our usual Super Bowl party is a mini celebration of both teams. However, this year our kids have caught Packer Fever. It is a new law here in Wisconsin. Just kidding. But everyone is so excited it is hard not to get caught up in the pride the locals have for their beloved team. So, at the kids' request we are breaking tradition and having a Packer party this year.


Now, we have not lived in Wisconsin for all that long so we do not have a huge collection of Packer 'stuff.' I went shopping for a few fun things and came home with a package of napkins and two spools of ribbon which my husband was quick to point out were not exactly the ideal items for a FOOTBALL party. I did not want to spend a fortune on stuff that I may never use again. So making our Super Bowl Party super was going to require thinking outside of the box. This is what I came up with using my napkins, ribbons and a few other things and I am pretty happy with the results.




My son found an old football garland that I had picked up ages ago for a quarter. I strung it between the two arches in our family room. I added some green and gold ribbon to it, but it was in need of more. I spread some pom poms out by the TV that we had gotten from a Packer game. I liked the splash of...I don't even know what color they are. Anyway, we were getting there, but we still needed something more.


I gathered up a few of the napkins I had purchased, some thin white cardboard, a bit of decoupage glue that I had left over from another project, scissors, a home made football template and a foam brush.




I cut a football shape piece of napkin using the template to guide me. I also cut the word Packers from the front panel of the napkin.



Then I spread a thin layer of glue on the cardboard and placed the napkin on top of the glue. Give the napkin another coat of glue.



Then I added the green Packer cut out to the football.



I gave the new addition a top coat of glue as well.


After that, I just kept cutting the napkins apart and gluing them down.



The dried product is rather rustic. I was very happy with how they had turned out. I was happy with the way they turned out. I did not want them to be too perfect.



I cut the cardboard out leaving a small border area around each shape. Then I simply used a hole puncher to make holes so I could hang them up.



Before I could even hang everything up on the garland, the cardboard started curling up. I taped a few bamboo skewers to the back of each piece and it worked like a charm. I also un-bent (official crafting term) a handful of paper clips to be my hangers.




Ta da! I also printed a few Packer helmets as well. I found a free download on the computer for them. I glued them to the card board so they would not curl up.




While the festive decorating is mostly done now, the food pictures will have to wait until after the Super Bowl. I'll post some pics on Monday morning. But I can share our menu with you and some of the inspiration for our Super Bowl spread.





A pack of Packer peppers. Just kidding.


I bought Packer tortilla chips. Not really, but they really look like they should be.






I just can't wait to spend Super Bowl Sunday at home laughing, watching, munching and cheering with my family. I hope your Super Bowl is just as super!

Halloween Party

This past weekend, we had a rustic Halloween party in our garage. We decided to invite some of our favorite people to come over and spend some time with us. Our plan was to have dinner in the garage and then watch a movie...out in the garage.


Time is flying by. I am constantly amazed at how fast the kids are growing and maturing. I want to celebrate as many moments with them as I can. Making our time together a little extra special and memorable is so worth it when I see the kids smiling and laughing.



To get ready for our party, we gave the garage a little make over.



I am not a huge fan of gory Halloween themes. I much prefer pumpkins and colored leaves. I can handle a few spiders too. I was very conscientious of the fact that we had a group of kids ranging in age from 5 to 16. A wide range of ages is a challenge when you want everyone to have fun and feel like the party had been planned for them.



But for the kids, a Halloween party is all about the treats and candy.



To make this a little more fun, I stuck glow sticks into two cheap little vases and filled them with candy corn. We LOVE candy corn and I had to take a picture quickly before all the candy was gone.



We brought our outdoor tables in from the patio.



I set the kid friendly tables with scrapbook paper for place mats, a sprinkle of fabric leaves, and fun little napkins that I bought at Wal Mart.



We made a few decorations out of empty tin cans. My kids filled the cans with water and froze them. When they were rock hard, I used a hammer and nail to punch holes in the cans outlining a pumpkin face. Then I painted the can with a few coats of metallic acrylic paint from the craft store. Then I went back and filled in the face shapes with black metallic paint.



A few pumpkin spice scented candles and we were in business.



I served hot dogs, orange jello, cooked carrots, and tater tots for dinner. But who cares about that! Here are our lovely desserts compliments of our dear friends. They brought lovely s'mores bars and a delicious pumpkin cobbler. We LOVE pumpkin anything. I also made some little candy corn cookies.



After we were stuffed to the gills, we watched a movie. My dear hubby and big strapping sons had brought our two love seats, the DVD player and a TV to the garage out to the garage for the adults to cuddle on during the movie. The kids sat on patio chairs. We watched the movie How To Train Your Dragon.



Then after the movie the kids turned off all the lights, grabbed the glow sticks and headed outside for some 'running around in the dark' fun. The kids were exhausted by the time they headed to bed, but not to tired to make sure that we knew they thought this should become a new family tradition.