Teddy Bear Picnic

Parties shouldn't be saved for birthdays, anniversaries,

and graduations...

Every day should be a special occasion...

Just like grabbing your camera for a photo op.,

one should seize the moment for life ops!

We love picnics.

Whether it's a backyard campfire, BBQ, or a snack at the picnic table

at home or somewhere out and about...

eating outdoors in beautiful weather is one of life's great joys.

And who doesn't love teddy bears?!

The children's classic Teddy Bears Picnic is a fav of ours.

My 4-yr. old son loves it, too.

He grabs his favorite stuffed animals,

his little play picnic basket and felt food,

and he and his stuffed animals have a pretend picnic.

So I decided to seize the moment

(because they're only little for so long)

and have a special Teddy Bear Picnic!

He gathered up his stuffed animals and all of his special picnic play things

and I gathered up supplies for us to have our own REAL picnic :)

I whipped up some luscious little treats,

some cute table decor,

a few of my favorite bears,

and voila!

An adorable, woodsy bear picnic!

The Menu:

Tiny little cheesy bite herb sandwiches

Toad stool hard-boiled eggs topped with tomatoes

Sunflower oreo cupcakes

Crunchy peanut butter stuffed celery sticks

Baby carrots in ranch dressing

Bear claw cookies

Chocolate cupcakes with whipped buttercream frosting

Maple acorn cakelets with maple frosting

Mixed berry salsa

Sweet bear sugar cookies

Baby Bel cheese

Red little Hug juices

Beary good trail mix



Beary good trail mix in snack-size cups



Maple acorn cakelets with maple frosting

Imagine a little one's joy after an active day of playing at the park and bike riding, coming home to find a bounty of sweet snacks ~ and all of your favorite playthings!



Bear Claw Cookies



While we enjoyed our picnic...

his stuffed animals had their own felt food feast!



Cupcakes galore at this rustic woodsy picnic!



With handmade flag picks for added cuteness :)



Cute little sunflowers made from Oreo cookies (with teeny little ladybugs)



Not all treats have to be sweet to be adorable!

Healthy fruit salsa and cute toad stool eggs with tomato caps add plenty of color

and cuteness, too!

These tiny wooden picnic baskets add charm galore and hide a hidden treat -

mini Babybel cheeses!

What's a Teddy Bear Picnic without more bears? 

These sweet, 3-dimensional bear face sugar cookies are too cute!




Enjoying the day.



Traditional picnic "red and white" tied the theme together...

and lots of adorable stuffed bears and friends, of course!

A fun and delightful way to make an ordinary meal magical and memorable!

Happy Picnicking :)


.....

This post is part of

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

and Making the World Cuter

Words of Advice from Susan Branch

If you haven't discovered Susan Branch yet,

you simply don't know what you've been missing!

I've been a HUGE fan of hers for many, many years!

I don't know which of her delightful books that I love the most...

all of them useful, charming, and inspirational!

And all of them chock full of recipes and her adorable watercolor illustrations!

I had to pass along her sage advice for finding happiness ~

after all, life really is all about the simple pleasures :)

No More Pencils, No More Books

Today is my son's last day of preschool for the year! This was a monumental year of firsts for him. He really thrived having more educational structure. Just one month into the new school year and he learned to recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance!

But it seems like just yesterday it was his very first day of school...clutching his backpack, ready to burst through the doors! And now that first year is just a memory now...

Last night he made each of his teachers a handmade card (sorry, but I'm an old-fashioned kinda gal that still believes in a handwritten note of thanks and appreciation) ...and we stopped at the dollar store to get some supplies to make each of them a little gift.

Gift checklist:
6 packs of colored pencils, some double stick tape, leftover ribbon from other projects, two empty soup cans, and some flowers from our yard and the grocery store and we made these:

I wanted them to be able to remove the pencils

if they actually wanted to use them at some point,

so I affixed them with double stick tape and a rubber band

the ribbon hides the rubber band!

Little gifts to say "Thank You" in really big ways :)
And now we look ahead to a sun-filled summer of fun!

This post is part of Tutorial Tuesdays on Hopestudios.

Love & Appreciation

We all have a need to feel appreciated. 

It'd be nice if we took the time every day to let those we love,

 and those that work so hard to make our lives easier,

know that they're valued.

Then maybe we wouldn't need the greeting card companies to nudge us

to make time once a year to say,

"Thank You."

I'm so grateful to have a very special little boy that loves me almost as much as I love him!

Now that he's 4, he has a much better comprehension of special occasions. 

This year, he took great pains to hide the Mother's Day presents that he had worked so hard on at school so he could give them to me on the actual day. 

He made his dad carry them behind his back

so I wouldn't see them when they came out of the school. 

And he announced that he was putting something in the spare room,

and I wasn't allowed to go in there for a few days.

So come Mother's Day morning,

this is what I awoke to:

Beautiful gifts of appreciation & love!

Handmade (from my son) and store bought (from my hubby!)

followed by a Mother's Day brunch together...

an afternoon of bike riding,

followed by a BBQ...

but most importantly,

time spent as a family,

lots of hugs and kisses

XOXOXO

surrounded by

love & appreciation.

Happy Mother's Day!!

I hope all of you were treated like queens for a day

and recognized for all of your many sacrifices

for everything you do!