Nanny to Mommy

I love throwing parties. I love having everyone get together at my house regardless of what we are celebrating. When I was invited to host a Disney Kids Preschool Playdate for the third time, I wanted to make this one different and unique. If you follow me on Facebook or YouTube, then you have seen our #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate Unboxing already. These past few months have flown by and been very crazy, but that doesn't mean that a party still can't be fun. I love how our party turned out. Everyone had a great time, it wasn't time consuming to plan, and it was inexpensive as well. Plus everyone learned about the awesomeness of Walt Disney World.

"All Paws on deck! Mikey is turning three!

Join us on the double for a RUFF-tastic party!"

The holidays are over and done with and went by so fast! My daughter's birthday was 12/9. I cant believe this was her 6th birthday! We celebrated the weekend before. I was going to rent a bounce house, but of course it rained the day we planned her party. I felt selfish for not wanting it to rain when we really needed it. SweetPea ended up getting a stomach virus on her actual birthday and had to miss a day of school. Anyways we decided to have her party at our house and we invited a ton of people, but our new house did very well. And everyone LOVED the Pokémon theme.

We bought her pull apart cupcake cake at Kroger. I think the Pikachu turned out great. We played "Catch the Charizard" game seen above. Which was like pin the tail on the donkey. I loved all the decorations that we got from Oriental Trading. What I love about them is that you can get SO MUCH without spending a ton. Her shirt was made by my mother-in-law since she loves Togepi.

Do your little ones know what they are going to be for Halloween this year? My son is still kind of young to actually tell me what he wants to be while my daughter keeps going back and forth. I think we have settled on Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony. These Halloween costumes and many, many more were easily found at Oriental Trading.

I love using Oriental Trading for all of my seasonal decorating and party needs. They have everything you are looking for and fantastic prices. They have helped me plan multiple birthday parties and I have used them to get my kiddos their Halloween costumes for a few years now. They even have fun crafts for all occasions as well.

I received complimentary products to provide this post. All opinions are my own.

 

Yesterday was not only Easter, it was also my 30th birthday. Yes, I turned the big 3-0. I remember crying, like a lot, when I turned 20 because I was sad I wasn't a teenager anymore. But I wasn't sad yesterday, I was happy and am excited for the journey ahead. We were fortunate enough to be chosen to host a #DisneyKids Preschool Playdate. (Here's a video of our unboxing.) So we had both sides of the family over for Easter and of course all the cousins. We did some egg hunting, had a great meal, enjoyed some cupcakes, and shared the #DisneySide fun.

 



Thank you to Oriental Trading for the decorations and Good2Grow for the beverages to make our baby's day so special.

My baby boy turned TWO on Sunday. I can not believe how fast time flies! We had his party on Saturday so it was easy for my husband to get that day off of work. Peanut is in to cars, balls, trains, and basically anything that rolls, so we decided to have a Thomas the Train Birthday Party! It is such an awesome theme because Thomas & Friends are EVERY where, so there are so many cute ideas out there. We had fun putting this party together and a great time was had by all!

Thank you to Oriental Trading for providing products to help make my daughter's day so special.

SweetPea's had her 5th birthday party this past Saturday. I can NOT believe she turned FIVE on Wednesday! Where did the time go? My mother-in-law was super sweet and let us host the shindig at her house. And I was fortunate to be able to work with Oriental Trading again for all the wonderful decorations.



I brought all of SweetPea's dress up dresses, so all the little girls could wear a dress of their own. SweetPea wanted to wear her Sleeping Cutie dress from GreatPretenders because "it's pink and sparkly". Whoever would have thought I would have such a girly girl.

I'm teaming up with Kandoo to share a fun way to celebrate the potty training process, plus a chance to win one of 50 Potty Training Prize Packs. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter to win one of 50 Potty Prize Kits from Kandoo!

Hosting your own potty training party is easy! Whether you're getting your little one excited to start using the potty or you're celebrating a big success, a potty training party can add some fun and excitement to the potty training experience.

If We Can Get Monsters Out of Closets, Bring Toys Back to Life, and Heal Scrapes with a Kiss, We Can Get Toxins Out of Our Kids. 

If you have been following along so far, you have seen some of our summer fun already. I decided I would put together a little Hello Summer Fun Gift Guide. These are all the awesome products I have found that help you and your family enjoy summer. These are some products I have either come across and just loved or that were sent to me and loved. :)

If you would like to see your product featured, please email me at Diana.n.chastain@gmail.com.

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for the SPLENDA® Brand. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. All opinions and reviews are my own.

I was excited to get together with some friends and family this past weekend to enjoy the sweet life of summer with a little swimming and some yummy recipes thanks to SPLENDA. Swimming is our go to activity during this time of year. It is a great way to stay outdoors to enjoy the summer sun while staying cool and getting a little exercise too.


I think many of us are trying to make smarter choices, whether that means taking the stairs in place of the elevator or being more mindful of the ingredients we use in recipes. That's why I loved sharing this awesome Lemon Crepes Recipe that I found on SWEET SWAPS with all of my friends and family. SWEET SWAPS has a ton of tips and great recipes that aid in living a more balanced lifestyle.

My son turned ONE! I still can not believe it. I will share his one year update soon, but I wanted to share about his great party we had! I think this one was the best one yet! We did a Disney Cars 1st Birthday theme and had the movie playing in the background. Most of the decorations are from Oriental Trading, a few are from Amazon, and the rest were made. But it was super easy and everything looked so cute. We also didn't break the bank!

Thank you to Woody's Jump N Play for the discount and Oriental Trading for the additional decorations.

My baby girl had SO much fun at her 4th birthday party! We went to Woody's Jump N Play, which I mentioned in a previous post is a bounce house party venue that is also opened on a day-to-day basis. This was our first time having a party there and they were nothing short of awesome. SweetPea, of course, insisted on a Disney's FROZEN theme and wore her beautiful dress that her nana bought.

I have always pre-washed my dishes. I didn't know that you shouldn't. It was how I was taught. I was recently given the opportunity to have a little cooking party over at my house to share that Cascade not only provides superior clean for your dishes, but you don't have to pre-wash! I have a long lasting love for Cascade Platinum, so I felt up for the challenge!

 

So I decided to invite some family over for a taste of comfort foods, which included The Pioneer Woman's Mac N' Cheese. I have never made any of her recipes, although I love her blog and show. I also made some yummy Duncan Hines brownies (which I also received) that I was told to make the night before and leave the pan so my guests could see that Cascade Platinum delivers ultimate clean for dishes, even 24-hour stuck-on food!