Patriotic Picnic Party!

As promised for a while now, I said I would put up pictures of Lamar's 2 Birthday!

I want to thank everyone who reads my blog that was part of our celebration! I also want to thank my family and friends who helped on the day of! Everyone added a little something, and everything turned out perfect! It was super hot that day, close to 100ºF, and not a cloud in the sky!

I began to get ready with a week in advance, I didn't want to feel rushed or pressured putting everything together last minute. I made the center pieces from recycled glass jars and candle holder. I decorated them with red gingham patern cupcake cups, decorative rocks, scented candles, and ribbon. I added a "2" and and his name on some of them with glitter glue pens in red, silver, or gold..they turned out really neat and inexpensive!

I finished cooking the morning of the party, I made veggie tri-color pasta with fresh veggies and Italian dressing, fresh garden salad, potato and egg salad, corn on the cob and baked beans, mostaccioli, and the grill was going with hot dogs and burgers. Chips were put out on the tables in food baskets and salsa in toy sand buckets with a shovel for spoon. All tables had the picnic red gingham table cover, and a hand made birthday banner was put up; but eventually was blown off by a strong gust of wind... the banner didn't make it, lol but next time I'll know not to use my kids roll of paper from their coloring easel.

For fun the kids had a bounce house/ moon jump house to play in all day, they pulled eachother on he wagon, they had balls to play with, water balloons, and finally a piñata filled with cady to bust open!

For dessert and sweet treats I had red, white, and blue cupcakes instead of cake. They were store bought, but I added my special pin-wheel decorations that turned with the wind, they looked amazing when they were all on the table and the pin-wheels were turning on them! What I did make, were carmel cover apples in cinnamon, and chocolate flavor covered in nuts, chocolate covered strawberries decorated with white icing, trail mix in a snack size plastic bags, and chocolate covered pretzel rods decorated in red, white, and blue sprinkles! I kept everything refrigerated untill it was time to enjoy them, I ddin't get to display them as neat as I wanted to or take amazing display pictures because the chocolate was melting and FAST! lol
My kids had an awesome time and I enjoyed putting everything together! It was a 2nd Birthday to remember for my family and I.

Right now, I am still working on our Appreciation Picnic for work that is coming up pretty soon, Fouth of July, then I have a two week vacation I am looking forward to, and our son's baptism is also coming up! I'm thinking of favors to make right now.... I'll see what I come up, but I will deffinately let everyone know what I came up with!

Everyone take care, god bless, and stay cool from the heat! Please check out the pictures below and let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Ady Nuñez

adynunezevents@hotmail.com

Father's Day Celebration!

I hope everyone had a very happy Father's Day on Sunday!

We had a very relaxed Father's Day, but it was perfect! The boys and I went shopping Saturday morning for gifts to give to daddy and grandpa.

Sunday they both worked, so we got the house ready for them to to come home to and celebrate. I made dinner, and we put up a Father's Day banner I printed for free from www.printabelle.com blew up some balloons, and put out the cake on a stand with the gifts, and cards the kids had colored. They colored a card for grandpa for his gift, and Leo made a special Father's Day card at school with a special "My Dad Rocks" rock gift! It was adorable, the first Father's Day gift for daddy made all by himself at school, it was the best! We had dinner, cake, opened gifts and relaxed the rest of the evening outside with the kids, then movie time until they fell asleep in our arms! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend! We look forward to summer officially starting in just a couple more days!



Everyone keep cool in this hot weather! I'll be posting some pics soon from Lamar's 2nd Birthday!
Come back soon!

Thanks,

Ady Nuñez
adynunezevents@hotmail.com

Free Printable Father's Day & 4th Of July!

Hi everyone, I wanted to share with everyone a new awesome site I found for FREE printables!
They have awesome Birthday and Holiday printables for almost every ocassion.
Don't forget Father's Day is this Sunday, June 17th, 2012! You can print out the free Father's Day Chevron theme at www.printabelle.com. They have banners, candy wrapper, bottle wrappers, stationary, place cards, thank you cards, cake toppers, and many other cute designs to help celebrate Father's Day this weekend!

http://printabelle.com/?page_id=4625

There is also a free printable for your 4th of July picnic!

http://printabelle.com/?page_id=4871

Thanks & Enjoy!

Ady Nuñez
adynunezevents@gmail.com

Hello everyone!

Welcome back and thank you for checking out my blog! Last post I mentioned Leo was off from school for a couple weeks, well his vacation is over! As of this morning he is back at school for the summer session! He did so well, he got up and had some breakfast; I put his clothes together and helped him get ready, brushed his teeth, and he wore his new favorite Toy Story baseball cap to school. He looked so cute! I was afraid he would get nervous or cry like the first couple of days last session, but he didn’t! They helped him find the hook with his name on it, he hung up his backpack, then he went to take his seat and begin the activity they had set out for them on the table. I am so proud of him, I know he loves it and he is learning so much!

Also, my son Lamar is turning 2! Time is slipping away so fast! We are planning a backyard PICNIC PARTY!  Since it is warm enough I couldn’t wait to have an outdoor birthday party! Leo has also had birthday parties, but his birthday is in the middle of January, there’s just no way we could have outdoor parties. Anyways, we will have the grill going with hot dogs, sausages, and hamburgers; I’m making pasta, salads, and sandwiches. Were having chips, drinks and salsa. I’m putting sweet treats together like chocolate covered pretzel sticks, caramel dipped apples with and without nuts, chocolate covered strawberries, and cupcakes!  Were renting tables and chairs and we will host the party in our backyard patio and lawn. We will have a moon bounce for the kids to jump and play in all evening, and I’m putting games together like badminton, hula-hoops, chalk, jump-rope, and soccer, volleyballs and basketballs! I’m putting together some table decorations using empty glass jars. It’s going to be great I can’t wait!

I’ll take tons of pictures so everyone can see what I came up with for the theme, hand-made crafts, treats, display and decorations! I just joined the Hostess with the Mostess community, and I’ll be sharing some of my pictures on my profile as well. You can go to http://www.hwtm.com/ and check out party themes, decorations, crafts, recipes, free print-outs, and shop! If you have reached my blog from Hostess with the Mostess, THANK YOU FOR CHECKING ME OUT, and come back soon! If you are on HWTM and would like to “favorite” me as a member you can look for Ady Nuñez, or display name: adynunezevents. I love this site and blog, http://blog.hwtm.com/, they have great themes and inspirations for ANY party or celebration. Everyone stop by!

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and are enjoying the great weather with the people that matter… it’s these memories that we have left from experiences that make us who we are. Materials and money come and go, but they don’t last forever. Memories last a lifetime! Everyone be safe and take care of your loved ones.

Thanks,

Ady Nuñez

adynunezevents@hotmail.com

http://www.hwtm.com/index.cfm?page=accounts/dashboard

Hello! Hopefully everyone is enjoying the hot spring days! Perfect weather for parks, and bike rides, picnics, and soon pools and beach! Memorial Day is coming up; hopefully everyone can have a three day weekend! Father’s Day is June 17^th! Summer is around the corner and will be here before we know it!  4^th of July, and so many more fun things coming up!

 I’m also looking forward to a couple of week’s vacation in July! My sister and brother in-law will be coming in for vacation, and to do us the honor of baptizing our son Neo Lamar.  It’s always exciting to plan a celebration, but especially one as important as our son’s baptisms. I can’t wait!

Our son Leo just finished his first preschool course and has a couple of weeks off until they begin again in June. He has learned to ride his bike, and has made new friends; he can say his numbers, alphabet, and colors in English and Spanish! He is doing great so far! He loves his school and his teachers. He is anxious to go back! We had a last-day family picnic a few days ago to get the kids together one last time before the older kids go to kindergarten, and so the kids could bring in their parents and siblings to mingle. All the parents brought in a side salad to share with the hot dogs and sandwiches for lunch. I made a potato and egg salad fresh that morning, but I also spent the night before making the parents and kids a special treat. I made Cake Pops!

I took a trip to Michaels Art and Crafts store for supplies and wrapping materials.  I want to add that I LOVE THAT STORE! It’s craft HEAVEN in there! I could easily spend hours and days browsing the isles! My goal is to have an office and/or craft room and fill it with EVERYTHING I need or want!  lol… ok back to reality, for now my plastic storage drawers will do.

Anyways, I made white and milk chocolate covered cake pops and I decorated them in primary and secondary colors for preschool, and then I made some milk chocolate covered with pink sprinkles for the moms.  Someone asked if they were hard or messy to make, and my answer to that was that working with the melted chocolate you’re more than likely to have a little mess. Overall, not bad though! You do have to dip the pop in melted chocolate, but you can let the excess chocolate run off before decorating. Sprinkles are the easiest way to decorate, but there are more elaborate ways to decorate them. I would say the most time consuming part of my decorating was that I added the star sprinkles by hand, one-by-one. I wanted them to be either all one, or a certain theme of colors, or to match the sprinkles… the stars were also bigger and thicker than regular sprinkles; I couldn’t just tip the bottle over the cake pops. I took pictures of the process and will explain the steps I took below, enjoy!

So, after spending too much time at Michaels, and then going out for dinner with the family, it was a little too late to go home and start baking and cooling cake sheets to make the cake balls. So my little shortcut, "cheat" is to use Dunkin Donuts' Munchkins! But you can use any "donut holes" though. I realized the best and easiest ones to use were the glazed white, or glazed chocolate donuts. The powdered and jelly filled donut holes have the powdered sugar covering that makes the melted chocolate hard to stick, and it falls into the melted chocolate and can make it bumpy or clumpy instead of having a smooth chocolate coat.

Once I had all the donut holes laid out over wax paper I dipped one end of the popsicles stick into the melted chocolate and then inserted it in the middle of the donut hole. I did this for all the donuts, then I put them in the fridge to cool the chocolate. This is to help stick the donut to the stick so it's easier to dip and decorate. Otherwise, the cake ball/donut will just fall into the chocolate, or fall off when you're trying to eat it.

While they were in the fridge cooling, I used nacho trays to lay out my sprinkles color coordinated to the star sprinkles so it was easier to match since the stars were all in one bottle. I also melted the chocolate melts.

I dipped the donuts in the white and milk chocolate and let the excess run off before adding sprinkles. I decorated them, then I placed them on a green, florist foam circle I used as a stand to dry. Then I placed all of the decorated pops in the fridge to cool and harden the chocolate completely before wrapping them.

Once the pops were hardened and the sprinkles were on without falling I wrapped then individually and tied them off with colored ribbon. I decorated a box with the same ribbon to place the pops in for presentation.

I made 40 donut pops that night! I went to bed at about 1am after wrapping all the pops, placing them in the box and back in the fridge for the night, then cleaned up! It was all worth it the next day! They were delicious and everyone enjoyed them! Some people thought they were store-bought, and were surprised when I told them I had made them myself.

If you have read my previous posts, and are back to follow up on my blog, I thank you very much for your continued support. If this is the first time you visit my blog I also thank you and I hope you have liked it so far! I welcome everyone to continue visiting my blog and comment on any of my posts. If there is anything in particular you would like to know, or hear more about please let me know! I would be more than happy to research for you!

If there is anything I can do to help with any upcoming event planning please contact me on this blog or at adynunezevents@hotmail.com. Everyone have a safe week!

Thanks,

Ady Nuñez

Hello, I hope everyone had a Happy Mother’s Day! I believe all mothers, mommy’s to be, grandmothers, step moms, pet moms, and all moms make a difference in someone’s life! Cherish the moments you have with the loved ones around you, and make them feel special every day of the year! I must say this was a very special Mother’s Day weekend for me. I received my first handmade Mother’s Day gift from my son Leo; the “Handprints” poem was in a card with his own handprints on them, and he painted a flower pot that had the stem and leafs of a flower. It was the best gift I could have received, I love that he is using his creativity at preschool to make a hand crafted card, and I love plants! We had a busy, but wonderful weekend, including my mom and sister, there were gifts, cards, dinner, drinks, dressing up, it was great!

I’m currently working on Unit 2 in my course.  I have completed lessons 1-6 and I am working on lesson 7 now. I have read over all the self-examination questions, vocabulary, and lesson exams, all I have to do now is read and review the lesson to find all the correct answers needed. So far so good!

I have a small project I am working on; I am helping with the event planning at work for an upcoming “Employee Appreciation Picnic”. It will be July 3^rd and should be pretty cool since we will not be working next day, July 4^th! I am working on getting some quotes for entertainment, catering, but we are also considering going with a cookout and renting grills and purchasing the food. I have to reserve the time and place were using for the picnic, and then of course let all the  employees know this will be taking place by flyers or invitations. We are all very excited about this event, and we hope everyone will be able to make it and enjoy a nice couple of days off!

I want to congratulate anyone with an upcoming graduation from Middle School, High School, College… any school, any degree!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!  We will have a couple of High School graduates in our family, and they are moving on to college, and we are just so proud! It’s such a big step to begin college, and move away from home, begin a new work or school schedule. Time goes by so fast, and I wish everyone the best of luck!

Everyone have a good work or school week and I will keep in touch soon!

Thanks,

Ady Nuñez

Hello everyone!

Does anybody remember the traditional cake toppers for everyone's wedding cake that you went to? (Or maybe yours..) Or maybe you don't remember... because they were the same ol' plastic couple at the top of the tier for their wedding cake? No emotion, no personalization, maybe plastic and shiny, looks nothing like the couple?? Maybe something like (uh-hum..) this,

Well, good news!!! It doesn't have to be that way anymore!!! Your wedding cake toppers can be so much fun now! Every cake topper can be personalized to fit your personal lifestyles, hobbies,themes, careers, match your hair and skin color, or have a topper made of a self-portrait!

I was on www.weddingstar.com and found the best cake toppers; some are even funny! Take a look..

Aren't these great? I'm sure whatever your life style or hobbies you can find a great cake topper to match your personalities! Also, another very popular and trendy thing to do now is to have bride or grooms cake. In addition to the wedding cake, brides or grooms get ther significant other a whole cake on a theme, or sport, or band, or hobby, etc.. of their favorite, and represent them in a whole cake! I hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures!

If you need help with your event planning and coordination DON'T PANIC!

Let me know how I can help! adynunezevents@hotmail.com

Thanks everyone and goodnight,

Ady Nuñez

Bridal Expo!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

I want to start by giving my husband a HUGE Thank You! He is sharing this ride with me and has been a huge support and help on a daily basis so I can get every lesson done in a timely manner and with the least interruptions as possible. Also, I want to extend a special thanks my sisters, Yaritza and Nancy, and my mom Salustia, for always being there for my family and I. Whenever I need a favor, a babysitter, advice, when I need to share good news, and when I want to have fun, I can always count on them! My family means the world to me, I do what I love with their help, and I couldn't do this alone!

On that note, I would like to share that I have completed Unit 1! First four lessons complete with an 80%, 100%, 100% and an 85%! I have learned the best times and places I can get my work accomplished successfully. I made my next tuition payment and now I'm just waiting for Unit 2. I love the course so far! Everything is explained clearly, the lessons are just the right length; the books are colorful and easy to read... it feels like you're reading a magazine rather than a text book. The instructions are easy to follow and listening to the CD's in like being in the same room and having a conversation with them instead of a long boring lecture. I'm looking forward towards the future with an open mind and big hopes; we will see where this road takes us!

We recently attended the Bridal Expo at the Double Tree Hotel in Oakbrook. There were many booths for many vendors including invitations, florists, photography and videography, tuxedos, venues, honeymoons, caterers... everything you need for a wedding! We got there just in time to see the runway show for bridal gowns and bridesmaids/special occasion dresses. Mario served as my photographer the entire day. We only took pictures with our phones so I apologize if the pictures aren't the best quality.

If you liked the pictures and would like to attend the next Bridal Expo, the upcoming dates and locations are:

• Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at the Chevy Chase C.C., in Wheeling, IL 6pm-10pm
• Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency, Shaumburg, IL 11:30am- 4pm &
• Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 at the Marriot Hotel, Naperville, IL 6pm-10pm

I was going through a couple wedding websites the other night and I found the cutest wedding cake topper ever! There are funny ones, romantic ones, traditional, and personalized toppers, all customized to your skin and hair color. I love them, I'll share them on my next post so come back soon! Everyone have a great week!

Thanks!

Ady Nuñez
adynunezevents@hotmail.com