Fall is Here!

I LOVE this time of year! Yay! I love that I can open the windows again (not yet, but soon), plan parties, have an excuse to bake non-stop, and most of all decorate the house! I don't know why...but seriously ever since I was young my mom would do the same thing with our house and it would just "feel" so good to know that the seasons were changing!

So, it's safe to say that I'm keeping the traditions alive! Phil makes fun of me if I start to decorate for fall too early...especially when it's still 105+ outside during the day! In California I think it's allowed to start putting fall stuff up as soon as the kids start school! Sooo, I waited and waited...until today! After continual hints, to my sweet hubby, to climb into the attic and retrieve my "fall" stuff...he finally agreed today! Yay! I think anyone that knows Phil can hear his exact words..."Oh, here we go!" HA Ha! He acts like he's sooo put out at first and then when he sees how excited the kids and I get...he admits how much he loves this time of year too! He's just can't resist my decorative charm!)

I've heard WAYYY too many people complaining that there are no seasons here...all I have to say is make your own! Ha, you may say, "ghetto"...but I'll have you know that it totally works! The other day someone was over and said the weather is starting to cool down! Look at the trees...When I looked outside there was only 1 tree that was changing...it was mine! With all it's fake leaved glory!!! So there!

You know you secretly like my idea!!

So here's my outside take on "fall"...you saw my sweet tree...my cute little scarecrow...and my "Welcome to our Patch" sign, wreath, and door covered with fall leaves and lights! I LOVE it! Okay...so the decorating could be so much better, but it's the idea...okay...I wish I had soo much more time on my hands!

My way of bringing fall into the house is with leaves, leaves, leaves...and of course some cute decorations! I put up the fall decorations...add halloween stuff to them for October...then back to fall for November! That way I can get so much use out of them!

These are my absolute favorite pumpkins in the world! They look absolutely magical!

I LOVE FALL! (In Phoenix)

Day of the Party...

Even though it was a lot of work...we had a ton of fun!!

Here's my "Betty Crocker" pose while I'm "ganaching" this cake...
Dark chocolate ganache over chocolate cake with a light chocolate whipped filling.... Here's where our flames came into use! They turned out pretty cool looking on the cake!
Shavonne turned Walmart's $0.98 birthday numbers into "Harley Numbers"! Ha Ha!
We made a sweet cupcake carrier out of a box...
Here's our finished cupcake! Picture 21 of these beauties on leveled stands below our cake! (Shavonne has the "finished" look...at the party on her camera.) I'll add them when she sends them to me:)

So after a ton of fun...And a few mistakes...It was time to celebrate...because WE were DONE!!!

Busy in the kitchen...

Shavonne's brother-in-law is turning 35 on Saturday and his wife asked Shavonne if she would be able to make some cakes. Originally she was just supposed to BAKE the cakes and bring them to the party to be frosted...but plans changed when the host thought she'd be too busy to worry about the cakes and was going to order professional cakes to be delivered instead. Shavonne was at my house at the time and happen to drop in "casual conversation" that we'd be happy to make the desserts and do our best to fit the "Harley Davidson" theme of the party. We both knew pretty much immediately that we had our work cut out for us...

So we started brainstorming and came up with the idea that we would bake 1 cake and 21 cupcakes. The HARD part was coming up with how we wanted to decorate them...

We started early because we knew that with 8 kids between the two of us...we'd have a LOT of interruptions! (Luckily, I have a few great helpers!)

We bounced ideas off of each other and within minutes had our vision...

Here's Thursday where we put our idea of "flames" into motion...we weren't sure if they would actually work or not, but they DID! (Lot's of things look great in your head...then fail miserably when put into action!)

Then on Friday...we started baking, filling, and roughly decorating the cup cakes!

We first made a bunch of these "hotties" to wrap around the cake and top the cup cakes...Then we created our chocolate "Harley's" to also go on top of the cupcakes...(Greg was a HUGE help with this task!)

Shavonne re-created this logo for the top of the cake! Doesn't it look sweet!?!
Here's our Rough...Rough draft of how the cupcakes might look. The patient husbands were begging to taste test...:)

Paris' New Hobby...

For some reason we have all these little beetle's that are all over outide and have recently been making it into our entry way. I, like most people, stomp on them the minute I see them...but recently I learned that I've been "killing" Paris' pets!

What? You can imagine my surprise when I found out that Paris has been collecting these things...naming them...and keeping them in random objects INSIDE the house!

I suggested that we keep them maybe outside...but she thought it would be too hot for them inside their container (yeah probably right), so I suggested they just go live in their home...OUTSIDE...in the DIRT! No, No, she couldn't do that because she wanted to keep them! Oh boy...so we compromised and I picked out a container she could use...(one that could be thrown away when they all die)and then I personally sealed the top with Press N Seal wrap...so they couldn't escape.

She collected 5 over the last few days...Zoe, Michael, Kirby, Logan, and Cheese. Yeah...she named them! Anyway...she came to me this morning and told me that 3 escaped. Kirby, Zoe, and Cheese...how she knows which ones...is a mystery to me! When I asked her how she said she accidentally dropped it...it's the WHERE that grossed me out! She said she dropped them on her bed this morning! Come on!!!

So before we went on an all out dash to find them...we snapped a picture of the lonely Michael and Logan. Paris looks a little too happy to be missing 3 of her new "pets"! Ugh...

Status update...We found Zoe on the carpet and Kirby crawling next to the wall...but sadly Cheese was "stomped on by Seattle" and didn't survive!

Let's hope she finds a new "hobby" soon!!

Behind the scenes...

I've been taking photos of all the steps along the way...I'm cheesy like that! I get so blasted excited for this party every year! I love any excuse to decorate and clean my house! If you want to make sure your house stays clean...host a party every other month or so! (I'm not even close to being that ambitious...but it would be fun!) I promised my sisters, that I would blog it all...once the party had finished. So here are some of my very fun, pre-party preparations...

I first sent out the "save the dates"...to ensure full "RSVP action!"

Then came the invitations...which I always have so much fun trying to create! I went to Hobby Lobby this year and tried to find the most 80's looking paper possible! The glitter page won! This was the character description page...where everyone got to see who was playing which character. Some of the descriptions were pretty funny!

Then came the actual invitations...we dropped these babies off about a month in advance to try and get them excited for the 80's! I tried to make them look seriously top secret...and this was the best I could do. I even melted red wax on the back...next year I'll look for a better sealing mold!

Now with the date set, R.S.V.P's confirmed, next came the party favors...Thanks to Elena (who texted me that Martha Stewart was doing a Halloween Special) I recorded the show...and saw these awesome coffins! If I wouldn't have seen how easy it was for her to make these...and how much candy they fit...I wouldn't have even thought twice! These things are pretty awesome! I just printed the pattern off her website, glued and folded some cardstock, filled it with some candy, and tied them shut with some twine! The finished product was pretty "sweet!"

The frames were a bit different then years in the past. I couldn't think of anything "80's"...I seriously lack vision...so I found this "totally" orange feather boa that I thought might frame their faces nicely! They turned out more like 70's shag...but who's comparing?

My sister Shavonne was also doing a Murder Mystery 80's party in Utah on the same night...so it was fun bouncing ideas off of eachother all month. I don't think we did anything the same...and I really want to see some pictures of her party now! My mom wanted to see all the "pre-party" things we were doing...but we didn't want to blog it all and give it away! I know, I know, cheesy but I wanted it all to be a surprise!

I get a little party fever around this time of year...so Phil, Sandy, Shavonne, Sarah, and my mom have had to hear tons about it...sorry...but you all were so great in helping me out with all the details!! Thanks for all your help! My mom flew in on Tuesday...which was such a HUGE help! She was great! She helped me come up with a few impromptu table decorations...

She told me that next year...she'll plan a little in advance! I think she did great on a few hours notice!

I decided I would take a few pictures of the place pre-party...so you could get a general idea.

Our "italian soda bar"!My attempt at an 80's background for the couple pictures.

This is where the murder victim was placed...post murder! I had a cool sign that said "Autopsy" but forgot to put it up...classic!

Okay...so that sums up the pre-party details! Now for the real fun! Stay tuned for the sweet party pics!

It was a Super Saturday!

(apparently Madison didn't get the "Super" part of the Saturday Memo)

Yes...Super Saturday finally arrived. I also think it's safe to say that it really lived up to it's name once again this year! There's something so awesomely classic about hanging out in the Cultural Hall...painting and creating crafts...that almost never get finished because we're too busy talking or hurting ourselves! I think this was my first year not being punished by a commercial strength hot glue gun! (Those things are seriously a hazard not to mention extremely dangerous!) It also helped that none of the "crafts" I signed up for...needed glue! Yay! Unfortunately, some of my friends weren't so lucky. One decided to delve into a craft requiring glue...you know where that ended up...and the other sustained wounds from both a tack and a hammer! I'm telling you...this Super Saturday stuff is SERIOUS!

I signed up for some cute 4th of July Blocks, (which still have yet to be touched) a cute tote bag class, and a Tamale Class. In my defense, the blocks weren't finished because I did not get a copy of the schedule and apparently a few of my classes were overlapping! I'll show you a picture of my sweet tote bag...but the blocks will have to wait until I get in the mood to paint 4th of July stuff. (Probably next July)





As for the Tamale baking class...I'm way excited I went! I have a new found appreciation for this art! Growing up in Patterson, we would either have awesome neighbors, or my dad would have sweet patients that would make our family tamales! I'm not a meat eater...so naturally tamales aren't my thing...but my husband would love it if I could make some of these beauties! The ladies that taught the class were "professionals", making tamales for the past 40 years! Anyway, not only did I score some hands on experience...I got a detailed recipe...and the names of markets with the best "Masa"! (you know you're dying to know!)





As soon as my "Super Saturday" ended...my "Super Sister" Shavonne came to visit! She's moving here to Phoenix in December, so Greg, Haven and her are staying in Peoria with her in-laws for the weekend, and decided to come and visit! It was fun to see how big Haven has gotten! She's so flipping tuute! Shavonne kept up the tradition of keeping my kids busy by bringing them Caramel Apple kits from Cracker Barrel. The kids loved it! (as usual!) Her visit was short and "sweet" but we can wait...since she'll be here long term starting December 1st!

(Shavonne was not a fan of this picture...but I think she looks so cute!)

Then as it began to get dark...we decided to have a "Super Date Night" with some "Super" fun friends last minute! (Do you notice the cheesy theme I've got going??) We decided to try Oregano's! It was really delicious! They have the greatest appetizer...The"Boom" dip, the Pizza was yummy, and the dessert was crazy good! It was a cookie baked in a deep dish pizza pan, but still doughy, served hot with vanilla ice cream on top!! Worth every calorie! Nights in Phoenix, make Phoenix worth living in! We dined out on the patio and the weather was PERFECT! Oh, I mean "SUPER"! Okay, last "super" reference! Anyway, you get the idea...it was a fun, busy, yummy, and very informative day!! (told you that would be the last one!)