food truck party.

Remember that day in June when we celebrated father’s day??? well, the sun came out from behind days and days of rain clouds, and we called all our friends together to celebrate the dads in our lives.

For this party, I wanted to mix traditional New England style with casual party flair. To achieve this I set the table with neutral, classy details – adding chalkboards and neon chalk markers for the kids to doodle. And! For food, we hired a taco food truck that pulled right onto the backyard lawn in the middle of the party scene! Did you know you can hire out most food trucks for private parties?!? This was an entirely new idea to me, and now that we’ve done it – it’s going to become a party essential!  Who doesn’t love a good food truck?!?

I also planned the activities to be as traditional as possible with burlap sack races. It was funny to see the bags get smaller and smaller as they were first used by the kids, then the momma’s, and last the dads! the bags were barely thigh-high on the dads! the dad’s were such good sports, they decided they couldn’t hop & could only “walk” in the bags – it was a riot!  very good times.

{with Mexican coke in hand} cheers my friends!

{other details for this party here, and here.}

{all photos by me.}

Posted in father's day, friends, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, parties, sela | 7 Comments »

soda bar

Have you noticed the new trend to make your own soda at home? SodaStream is everywhere. For father’s day I wanted to set-up a make-your-own soda bar as part of our party, and use this idea without the soda maker appliance. however, I did use the SodaStream syrups for flavoring.

It was a fun way to serve beverages to kids and adults alike.

take a look:

Using airtight cylindrical bottles, I created homemade labels with this font & applied these to the bottles with gold washi tape.

Next, using a funnel i poured the syrups into each bottle and sealed.

The syrup colors looked so pretty in the jars!

I wanted our guests to be able to make soda or italian cream sodas. To do this, I also added one bottle of half ‘n half, in a glass bottle that was designed slightly different than the other bottles.

I used mason jars for each guest and of course – stripy straws.

to make…

1. scoop of ice
2. 1 oz. syrup of choice {i used shot glass size 1 oz. measuring glasses on the bar}
3. add sparkling water {we used small bottles of polar seltzer water, pellegrino, and perrier}
4. stir & enjoy!

need more syrup? more cream? more ice? make it as slushy, creamy, and sweet as you’d like!

cheers to summer! this would be a fun bar for any 4th of july festivities – happy soda parties!

{sources: cylindrical bottles. soda syrups. mason jars. stripey straws.}

Posted in father's day, friends, kiana, myla, parties, party plans | 3 Comments »

father’s day 2012.

Father’s day was full of sunshine, good food, good friends, and lots of love for our big papi. Like last year, we gave him a blurb-blog book. This was 2008, so we’re only 4 years behind. It’s magical looking through those pages, and seeing all the memories. Makes every minute I spend taking photos, editing, writing – so incredibly worth it.

We cherish our papi. He has always been a hands-on dad, involved in everything that goes on in our home. He works so hard and takes such good care of us. I love all the little things he does – last month he took sela to our neighborhood diner for breakfast, then let her walk next door to the toy store and pick out a puzzle. Then they walked to the park, sat at a picnic table and put together the puzzle under the trees and sunshine. When they came home and sela told me about their morning -it melted my heart. Sweetest daddy ever. we are so lucky. I hope you all have special men in your lives, and you were able to celebrate their goodness this past weekend. xo.

photos via my instagram feed, you are welcome to follow me @see_jane.

Posted in family life, father's day, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, sela | 1 Comment »

*new to me*

ManCrates! check these out! these crates are packed with male-inspired-goodness, and delivered with a crowbar to crack them open! how cool {and tough!} is that? perfect gift idea for the man in your life — on father’s day? or, any day of the year that you need to plan a gift for one of your special men…

there are at least five of these crates that i know husband would love! plus, you can re-use that crate as decor somewhere in your home after it’s cracked open.  perfect for organizing. father’s day is less than 4 weeks away – time to start planning!

{collage by me, images via. this is not a sponsored post.}

Posted in father's day, gift ideas, new to me | 4 Comments »

happy father’s day weekend!

i hope you enjoy lots of sunshine with the men in your life!
we will be givin’ extra loves to our big papi!

xoxo.

Posted in family life, family pictures, father's day, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, sela, weekend | 1 Comment »

my dad and i, circa 1980.

fyi…i am named after both of my grandmothers.

it was a typical weekend morning in our home. we were lounging to the finest degree. i walked in the room to see kj snuggled up around his big papi with his arm around him. {not to mention i love their cute shirtless backs. especially that strong one on the left!}

this is a very typical scene, but at this particular moment, i was stopped in my tracks. stopped by the amazing man i get to call husband. the amazing man my children get to call daddy.

i think dusty & kj were on the computer checking out cool baseball stuff…

the scene melted my heart with love.

i love that you see the ‘sorry’ game set-up on the table, too. big papi is so so so good at constantly playing games with our kiddo’s. not just once-in-a-while, but ALL the time. every board game you can imagine, video games, outdoor sports games. dusty has always spent the most genuine time playing with our kids.

i never dreamed my life would be so complete.
happy father’s day, big papi!!!

Posted in father's day, greetings, jane | 4 Comments »