CHAMPIONS!!!

"We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end."


WE DID IT! We avenged our one and ONLY loss of the season to become the 90lb Central CHAMPIONS! We beat the opposing team 20-6! Lots and lots of happy tears were left on the field that evening; from us parents, the coaches, and even our players. I am still smiling from ear to ear.


Here are a few of my favorite shots from our championship victory:

This is a season and team that I will never, ever forget.


Until next season. GO ADMIRALS!!!


*** Click HERE to see how we celebrated such an amazing season!

Soccer, A Football Party, & Playoffs!

Our weekends are always busy. Some more hectic than others. This weekend was no different. Super busy, but super fun! And the weather, the weather was absolutely AMAZING!


No. 3 had a soccer game. And we were ALL able to be there to cheer him on; myself, my hubby, No. 1, and No. 2. This is the first time that has happened all season!

He played extra hard. I'm sure having his papi and brothers there had a little something to with it. He looks up to them all!


We also went bowling for Coach Hubby and No. 2's football team's end of season party. Click here to read all about it.

So much fun!


And last but certainly not least, No. 1 and his teammates had 2 playoff games in 16.5 hours. (The first at 7:30pm on Saturday and the second at 12 noon today). And they won them both!

Confession: I may, or may not have, shed a few happy tears. They are going to the CHAMPIONSHIP, y'all!!!

Happy Sunday!

Team Mama Idea: Football End of Season Party- II

Football season has come and gone. At least for No. 2. Unfortunately, his team did not make the playoffs. They were bumped up into the American division this year (the toughest division of them all). They made a good run, but still fell a little short.


Here's what we did to celebrate a well fought season.


I booked our party at a local bowling alley. Two hours (one hour of bowling, one hour in a private party room) and your choice of pizza, burgers, or hot dogs with drinks for $16 a kid. Of course, I went with pizza. Almost every kid I know loves pizza. The cost was almost completely covered by our touchdown jar. If you don't know what a touchdown jar is, click HERE to find out. Our grand total came to $224.24, so all I had to collect was $3 per player! How awesome is that?

It also happened to be our quarterback's birthday, so his mama volunteered to bring the cake... and ice cream!

I just LOVE photo cakes.


Coach Hubby and I awarded the boys with personalized medals. I ordered them from Trophy Depot. They looked way better in person than they did online. I was even able to customize the neck ribbon to match our team colors! We also printed out a picture of each player which added even more of a personalized touch.

For coaches gifts, I began by sending out an email to our team requesting donations. I never specify a numeric amount, in fact I always indicate that no amount is too small (or too big!). I find that more people are willing to give, when the amount is left up to them.


I ordered each coach a 23oz. personalized beer glass. I found them on Etsy. Click HERE if you'd like to purchase one yourself. They have their name, the team name, and year on them in our team colors. I absolutely love how they turned out!

I also gave each coach a gift card which was purchased with the leftover donation money. Who needs a gift card holder when you can put them directly into the beer glass? Cheers!

The team had a blast.

Until next season. Go Admirals!


***Click HERE to read my most recent ideas and HERE to read some of my past ideas.

Halloween 2016

Halloween fell on a Monday this year. BOO! Get it, boo? Okay, okay, enough of my corny jokes. We've lucked out the last couple of years, as it fell on the weekend. Mondays are always the toughest day of the week for me, Holiday or not. I sucked it up and did my best to make it as festive as possible for the boys.


I added a "pumpkin" clementine to both No. 2 and No. 3's lunches. I didn't put one in No. 1's lunch as he's in middle school now, and I wasn't sure if he'd think it was too babyish. All I did was draw directly onto the clementine with a black permanent marker.

Aren't they cute?


For their after school snack, I made ghost brownies. Click HERE for the recipe I found on Pinterest. I baked the brownies the night before, so that they'd be completely cooled when I was ready to decorate them.

The boys thought they were so cool!


And then came the fun part, dressing up to trick-or-treat! I had a chimp, SpongeBob SquarePants, and a ghastly ghoul. Don't tell my boys, but No. 2's costume definitely won me over. Totally went with his personality!

No. 1 went trick-or-treating with his friends. Guess that's what they do when they turn thirteen. Sigh. I wasn't too fond of the idea at first, but he had a great time. I'm slowly beginning to let go. No. 2 and No. 3 went with my hubby, while I stayed back and handed out candy. My brother-in-law, nieces, and nephew joined in on the fun as well.

They came back with enough candy to last for months! Of course, I did the mandatory bag check. Yep, I check every single piece of candy. I throw out any pieces that look suspect, and always pull out the Milky Way Midnights for myself. Shhh. They are my weakness! Our elementary takes up a candy collection for active military troops, so I will definitely be sending some of ours in. I love that they do that. Such a great cause!

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Football Cake & Cupcakes

No. 1's birthday always falls during football season (usually on a practice night). Well, this year it falls on a game day, so what better way to celebrate than with his teammates and a football cake AND cupcakes!

Here's what you'll need for the cupcakes:

• Boxed cake mix
• White frosting
• Burgundy icing color
• Gold decorating gel
• Gold cupcake liners

I began by baking the cupcakes according to the instructions on the box. While they cooled, I worked on my frosting. I won't even lie, burgundy is a tough color to achieve! I feel like I had to use a ton of icing color, and they still didn't turn out as burgundy as I would have liked. Oh well. Once they were completely cooled, I iced and then added each player's jersey number to them.

On to the cake. Here's what you'll need:

• Boxed cake mix
• Chocolate frosting
• White decorating icing
• Football shaped cake pan

I again followed the instructions on the box, changing nothing except for the type of pan I used. I purchased a football shaped cake pan from Michaels. Don't forget to use a coupon! Oh yeah, the pan also called for a longer baking time than the box did. When the cake was completely cooled, I took a serrated knife and sliced off a tiny bit of the middle so that when I flipped it, it would be leveled. Before removing it from the pan, I took a butter knife and went around the sides to loosen it up a bit. After that, I flipped it over, gave it a bit of a pat, and out it came!


I began decorating the cake by icing it with a very thin layer of the chocolate frosting first, also known as a crumb coat. When the crumb coat was applied, I stuck the cake in the fridge to let it set. Once it was set (no longer sticky to the touch), I added the final, thicker layer of chocolate frosting. I then took the white decorating icing (which already had a piping tip attached-I love that!), and drew on the laces. That's it! It was my first attempt at a football cake, and I must say, I really like the way it came out!

It's also my turn to bring snacks to the game. For halftime fruit, I sliced several navel oranges (click HERE to see how I do it) and placed them in snack sized baggies. For post-game snacks and drinks, they will have Gatorades to help wash down the cupcakes. I also grabbed some goldfish crackers for the little siblings.


I can't wait to share them with the team tomorrow. Go Admirals!






*** Update: We won! Victory never tasted so SWEET!!!

*** Here's my most recent take on football cupcakes! I used blue liners and orange sprinkles to match our new team colors as well as chocolate icing for the "footballs" and white cookie icing for the "laces". Easy peasy and the team loved them! #WINNING

*** Click HERE for my basketball cupcakes and HERE for my soccer cupcakes! ***







Team Mama Idea: DIY Team Spirit Pom Pom Gloves

I am ALWAYS looking for new, fun ways to show my team spirit. I'm sure you already knew that though. I am also ALWAYS on Pinterest. I came across a pin for spirit gloves awhile back, and finally got around to making them.

All you need is a pair of gloves, yarn (in your team colors), a fork, scissors, a needle and some thread. Click HERE to view the original post. It includes easy to follow photos as well as step by step instructions.


A bunch of us football mamas (and a sweet little football sister!) worked together while our boys practiced. Half of us made pom poms and the other half sewed them to the gloves. Teamwork makes the dream work!

They are absolutely perfect for those crisp, chilly Fall games.

We've got spirit, yes we do. We've got spirit how about you?!

Easy Football Brownies

Yep. I'm that mama that doesn't need a special occasion to surprise the team with goodies. Today's reason...simply because it was Thursday! I wanted to venture away from the usual donuts and cupcakes, so I went with brownies. And not just any brownies, FOOTBALL BROWNIES!


Were they hard to make you ask? Nope. I don't do hard. At least not during the work/school week. I started by baking my favorite boxed brownies. I suggest using a dark chocolate version as opposed to milk chocolate for that true football brown color. Once they cooled, I cut them into squares. If you really wanted to go all out, you could cut them into footballs using a football shaped cookie cutter. Again, it was a weeknight, so I went for quick and easy.


For the laces, I used white decorating cookie icing. The great thing about cookie icing, is that it sets, making them stackable. It even came with a decorating tip attached! I drew a straight white line across the middle, and four smaller lines across that one.


And voila, (easy-peasy) football brownies!

They were a HUGE hit with the team. Super cute. And super yummy!






Sports Mama Tip: Not a baker? No worries! Store bought brownies work just the same!

Here's another fun, easy idea. 

Football rice krispie treats!!! One of my sweet (all the pun intended!) neighbors made them for us. So cute and yummy!

*** Click HERE for my basketball brownies! ***