Pixie Stix Martini Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz blue curacao
• 1/2 oz midori
• 2 oz guava nectar or pineapple juice
• 10 - 12 pixie stix
• martini shaker
• ice cubes
• rimmer dish or flat plate

Directions

1. 1Cut the ends of 10 to 12 pixie stix and empty them into a rimmer dish or flat round plate. The color of the rimmer will depend on how you mix the colors. Reds and oranges will give off a light, pastel color, while the blues, purples and greens create a deeper color. Do not recommend mixing all together as it will create a "mud" color.
2. 2Dip your martini glass into enough water to coat just the rim. Gently shake off any access water, place the glass onto the rimmer and slowly move it in a circle to coat. Let the glass sit a bit to let the rimmer set.
3. 3Fill the shaker with the gin, midori, blue curacao, guava nectar or pineapple juice and ice.
4. 4Shake for a few minutes and then pour into the rimmed glass.

Cranberry Orange Adult Popsicles

 Cranberry Orange Adult Popsicles

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup cranberry juice
• 2 cups orange juice (fresh squeezed, or store-bought)
• 1/4 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed, or store-bought)
• 1/2 cup tequila

Directions

1. 1Mix juices and tequila in a container with a pour spout.
2. 2Pour mixture into popsicle molds or 3 oz paper cups with a popsicle stick inserted.
3. 3Freeze overnight in the freezer.
4. 4Remove from molds, or tear away paper cups and serve immediately.

Blow Pop Martini Cocktails

 

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and strained to remove solids
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cup bubble-gum flavored vodka
• 4 tbsp sour apple, sour watermelon or berry blue sour liqueur
• 12  small lollipops, unwrapped, for garnish if desired

Directions

1. 1Combine liquid ingredients in a large pitcher and stir well.
2. 2Refrigerate until serving time.
3. 3To serve, pour into martini glasses.
4. 4Immediately before serving, garnish each glass with a lollipop, if desired. 

A poem called "Want"

Why is it that when you can't have someone,

You want them more than anything in the world?

Knowing that they're happy somewhere else,

Makes you crave them in your arms.

The further away they get from you,

The more you see them in your dreams.

And as soon as they jump the fence of Happily Ever After......

Your just waiting for them to fall off of that horse.

Hoping you will be the next title in the story of their life.

Written By ~ Autumn Banks

Tips for Planning Your Child's Birthday Party!

 Tips for Planning a Kids Birthday Party!

Invitations should be sent out 2 weeks before the date of the party. Sooner if possible.

Plan With Your Child ~ Not For Your Child

• No little kid wants to have a birthday party that momma planed and they didn't like! Let your child help you make decisions. It'll be fun for the both of you!
• Make sure the child gets to help you pick out the party's theme. Along with the games and activities.
• Letting the birthday girl/boy decorate their own party invitations makes them feel useful and important. They'll feel very proud of their design and enjoy handing the invitations out to family and friends even more. If they're to young to write clearly, you can do the writing while they do the decorating or help you with the design. For Example : Cut out pictures and glue onto blank invitations and let him or her color, or add some stickers.

Integrate the Theme

• Once you choose a theme, make it run through every portion of the party.
• For Example : A Pirate Party may have Boat Shaped finger sandwiches, eye-patch party favors, along with napkins/decorations with skull and cross-bones. Or a Princess Party with flower cookies, Tiara party favors, you can lean a tall mirror against a wall have a basket of dress up clothes and let the girls do the rest!!
• Have a Guest Book where everyone (parents of small children or older kids)can sign and put their phone number along with adress so they can recieve a Thank You Card and be invited to the next party.

Keep it Short and Stick to plans

• Keep the kids busy from the time they get there till the time they leave.
• The "Main Event" should start as soon as all or most of the guest have arrived. (Main Event can be any Special activity, pinata, Etc.)
• Food and Cake is best served in the last hour so no one gets sick during activities.
• 2 hours is a good length for a children's party of any age.
• You can tale when the party is comming to a natural end when the youngest guest start getting ill and sleepy!

Plan Activities around Age of Guests

• Don't pick games with hard directions that would either be hard to understand or take to long to learn.
• Toddlers are to young to do alot of games that older kids enjoy doing, plan your games around the age of the birthday kid and his or her guests. If there are 1 or 2 young kids and the others are older, have an activity just for the younger ones so they can enjoy the party as well.
• Try Familiar games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, or maybe a treasure hunt if they match your party theme.
• Kids over 5 (school age) need more excitement than toddlers. You can hire a magician or dance teacher or take the party to a bowling ally or something of that nature. (Cheaper options below)

Entertain Kids with Simple Activities

• Being Creative comes natural to children. Why not bring it to the party??
• You don't have to spend alot of money to entertain any age kids, use your imagination: For Example using "Carnival Style" activities, with or without the carnival theme. Meaning having more than one activity going on at a time, a small group of kids at each activity table.
• Have kids decorate their own cookies or cupcakes.
• Fill buckets with crayons/colored pencils, stickers, stamps to decorate party crowns/hats or scrapbook pages.
• Have bowls of buttons, colored sand, glitter, other small crafting supplies to glue on plain picture frames. If you have a digital camera and able to print out pictures you can send each guest home with a picture from the party to remember the fun they had.
• Collect old un-mated socks before the party, let the kids decorate them and make sock puppets, They can put on a Puppet Show. (If your able to video-tape the puppet show, it would make a great keepsake)
• A Disney party can have ~ 1 activity where Captain Hook's Treasure is hidden from Peter Pan in sand and the kids get to keep what they find; While at another table kids can be making Princess tiaras for girls and Prince crowns for boys. You can have 3 or 4 activities going on at one time depending on how many guests you have. Set a time limit at each table/stand and switch to make sure every child gets to do every activity. Any unfinished craft can be taken home to complete.

Themetastic Simple Food

• Keep the food simple but don't forget your pick theme!
• Use cookie cutters to shape sandwiches to match the party theme.
• Use cookie cutters on Jello for a jiggly treat
• Make finger foods small enough for small hands.
• Don't have any food that needs to be cut
• Make a Monkey Platter of snack foods like different fruit sliced up; crackers with cheese, jelly or peanut-butter; nuts or raisins or veggies (Check for food allergies in the guests)
• To keep kids busy while waiting for the food to be served, cover the table with paper and have buckets or flower pots of crayons in the center.

Birthday Cake Fun

• A good time to serve cake is after the food, within the last 45 minutes of the party. 
• Once the cake is cut, serve the youngest kids first. (They don't like take good to waiting!!)
• Cupcakes are a good choice because it lets all the kids be served together, you can put one candle in each cupcake, if wanted.
• If you use cupcakes, have a small personal cake or a larger cupcake for the birthday girl/boy so they can feel special. Try setting they at the head of the table, if possible.

The Decision of Gifts ~ "To Open or Not to Open"

• Before you decide if your child is going to open the gifts during or after the party; There are 2 questions to ask: What are the ages of the party guest?? & How many people are coming?
• For younger kids, a lot of parents think it's best to wait til after the party to open gifts due to other children having a melt down and/or getting jealous of the presents.
• Older kids (school age, including kindergarten) seem to understand that the party is for the birthday boy/girl and they are the one who gets the presents.
• Most kids are okay with watching the presents being opened, some part is due to knowing that everyone will have party favors!
• If the party has alot of guests and the gift pile is quite large, then opening all the gifts can be tiresome and kids may get bored and want to stop unwrapping and play with what they have already. If thats the case, then waiting til after the party is very reasonable.
• If you have a small party and a small amount of gifts then opening them in the last half hour of the party would make a great way to slow the party down as guest start to head home.

The Parting Treat ~ Goodie bags

• Stick to the party theme when making the goodie bags.
• You can add bubbles, toy jewelry, stickers, small notebooks, etc.
• Make sure all the items in the bags are safe and age-appropriate.
• Get creative with what you put the goodies in. It don't have to be a bag. For example ~ Use small pocket books/cloth bags for girlie parties, Chinese Food Take-Out boxes, A large hand-towel with art supplies folded up inside for Art or Pool parties, etc.
• Add guest's names on the Goodie "Bags" to add importance.

Thank You Cards

• If everyone signed a Guest Book, or if you know everyone's address; Your child can write Thank You Notes for enjoying the party with them and for their presents. If your child is to young to write the notes, they can help you decorate them while you do the writing.
• Thank You notes should be sent out within the week after your child's party.

Fun Facts!!!
May 22nd is the least common Birth Date other than February 29th
August is the most common birth month!!!
The most common Birth Date is October 5th! (The Day before mine!!)

Written by Autumn Banks

References from MarthaStewart.com

*Choices*

The saying is "You made your bed, now lay in it." In other words : You made your choice, now deal with it! It's the way of life. Every corner you turn, every path you cross... they are decisions you have to make. You have to chose before you take your next step. Go right or left? Climb the mountain or go around it? Take a train or go by bus? Stay where your at or run like hell?! How you choose to make that decision doesn't really matter... it's the outcome that can change you life! For the better, for the worse, or everything can stay the same. The question is.... What if you would of make a different decision years ago? Where would you be? Who would you be with? What would you be doing? It's the questions that everyone has or will ask themselves atleast once in their life time. Millions of questions...... with no answers to be seen. Life can take you to some crazy places. It's how you react and how you make your next step that molds your life. A single thought can change a decision in a blink of an eye. Just how much trouble could of been stopped with alittle thought? How much heartache could of been spared? The True Question is if we all had one chance to change our life....... Would you? Look around you? Would you have the kids you love so much? Would you be as happy as you are now? Would you be happy once your whole life got changed? Could you live with your world being turned upside down??

To be Continued...................

Break Up

GIRL's DIARY :
I broke up with him today.
I told him I wasn’t happy.
He didn’t even ask why.
... I thought he would ask me to stay.
But he didn’t. He just let me go.
And just like that,
I lost the guy I waited for so long.:'(
 
GUY's DIARY:
She broke up with me today.
She said she wasn’t happy.
I was too hurt to ask why.
I wanted to stop her from leaving.
But if she’s not happy with me,there’s no
way I can make her stay.
So I just let her go.
Just like that,
I lost the girl I’ve been dreaming of for so
long.. :(
That's the problem of ego..
Its always come in the middle of love...
and separate two lovers always like this
way....

My Lazy Day

Yesterday was such a lazy day for me! I mostly just laid around the house doing nothing at all. I did get to do a small Photo Shoot though. One of my friends is going through a custody battle over her step-daughter. She needs pictures of Hope, her step-daughter, playing with her friends and being happy. The pictures are going to be shown in court. My daughters and a couple more of Hope's friends came over and I pretty much followed them around, snapping pictures. I'm very happy with how the pictures look on my computer. Now I'm just waiting on the finished product to show up in my mail! I just love getting pictures in the mail! It makes me excited! I'll be sure to let everyone know how the prints turn out.
Ohhhh~~Before I forget.... I have updated my prices for my Photo Shoots. The package prices have all changed along with a new package being added.I have also added a couple of other things as well. The prices are posted on my website ~ Check it out!!~ www.AutumnBphotography.weebly.com
*I'll be adding more pictures to my site very soon. I've been very busy and have gotten a bit behind!*

Here is one of the shots I got yesterday!

A Text from my Momma

As most of my readers know, I have many blogs, 1 of them is a Freebie and Deals blog. Well lately when I have been finding really cool freebies that I think my momma and little brother would like, I sign them up for it along with myself. Well I guess they started getting them today because I just got a text message from my mama saying that her and my brother want me to sign them up for more freebies!! haha That's wonderful! :0) My family is having way to much fun with all these freebies!!!! (I get something in the mail EVERYDAY!!! Something different! It's Wonderful!!!!)

Diamond Candles Video Release Contest!!

Diamond Candles is doing a wonderful contest for the release of their new company video!! You get the chance to win LOTS of free Candles. The special treat is that in every candle is a ring that is worth from $10 up to $5000!!!!!!!

Click the link below!!!

Diamond Candles Video Release Contest!!!!



DIY ~ Note Cards / Invitations

How To Make ~ Note Cards:  Would be Wonderful Invitations for any Party!

Use Spray Mount to attach two different patterned papers of the same size back to back,

Let it set for a few minutes and then fold paper in half.

Photocopy the flower template from the MarthaStewart.com website (or draw your own), enlarging or shrinking it to your wanted size

Cut out the shape.

Unfold your homemade card (or store-bought card) & place the template over the middle of the crease, Trace half the flower in pencil on 1/2 of the card, on the fold.

On a cutting mat - Use a utility knife to cut out the half-flower.

For the flower seals, shrink the flower, then cut it out.

Trace the flower onto paper and cut out,

Use a glue stick to attach to envelopes.


MarthaStewart.com

More of My Favorite Quotes!

A grownup is a child with layers on.
~Woody Harrelson

Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.
~C.S. Lewis

Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do. ~Jean de la Bruyere

Because my gut tod me differently, I began a Mission to find my own Truth
~ Unknown Writer

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.
~ Reverend Larry Lorenzoni

A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who does not play has lost forever the child who lived in him.
~Pablo Neruda

Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young.
~Sainte-Beuve (1862)

A man is getting old when he walks around a puddle instead of through it.
~R.C. Ferguson

The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.
~Erik H. Erikson

Deep meaning lies often in childish play.
~Johann Friedrich von Schiller

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
~Albert Einstein

How do we know that the sky is not green and we are all colour-blind?
~Author Unknown

I am a thread too slender
To suspend all this reality...
~Phillip Pulfrey

Flower Cupcakes from Betty Croker

Flower Cupcakes

 

Ingredients :

                                                                                

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix

Water, vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box

                                                                                           

1 container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla or creamy white frosting

                                                                                           

30 large marshmallows

Betty Crocker® colored sprinkles

Birthday candles, if desired

 

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans).
• 2 Make, bake and cool cake mix as directed on box for 24 cupcakes. Frost cupcakes with frosting.
• 3 Spray blades of kitchen scissors with cooking spray. Cut each marshmallow crosswise into 4 slices; sprinkle slices with colored sugar. Arrange 5 slices on each cupcake in flower shape. Place candle in center of each flower. Store loosely covered.

BettyCrocker.com

Loopy Blackberry Lemonade

Now tell me that this drink don't look YUMMY??? I will be making this very soon!
Loopy Blackberry Lemonade

 1 1/2 ounces Three Olives Loopy
5 Blackberries
3 ounces Lemonade

Squish 4 blackberries in the bottom of a tumbler.

Add ice, vodka and lemonade. Garnish with a blackberry!

 (via Three Olives Vodka - Milwaukee)

 

Orange Slice Jell-O Shots

Orange Slice Jell-O Shots

Cut an Orange (or lemon or lime) in HALF and gut it.

Mix the jello shot (1 cup hot water, box jello, 1 cup various liquors)

Stir till disolved

Then add the jello mix to the half shell and refrig for 3 hours or more

Once solid, slice and serve!!!

YUM!!!!!!!!!