Soy Vay House Party

The med students are studying intently for boards and planning their get away from Lebanon, so of course a party was in order and lucky for us Soy Vay was willing to sponsor it! We  had applied for the Soy Vay House Party for this very purpose!

Scott and I prepared chicken kabobs and drumsticks marinated in Soy Vay's Veri Veri Teriyaki. HouseParty and Soy Vay had sent us one large and one small bottle of it, which is lucky because the only other flavor I found in Lebanon was Wasabe Teriyaki and I didn't think that would go over well with the children.

And there were LOTS of kids. We had 34 of our close medical school friends come over for the BBQ. I was hoping all week long that it would be sunny so we could have the BBQ outside next to the playground. Oregon has had some really lovely weather, which means of course that everyone is talking about how we need the rain and someone in Oregon is likely leading a rain dance. They were successful dancers, because it POURED right in the middle of our BBQ as I was trying to push the children outside of the clubhouse to play.

Soy Vay also sent us a shirt for my BBQer to wear! Here he is talking about board questions with his fellow student doctors. There will come a day, very soon, when I will cringe when hearing another medical school test question.

Do you love how we had the Food Network on during our party? I think it made everyone hungrier.

Soy Vay also sent us all goodie bags to take home with recipe booklets and coupons. OH! And a mini Glad container for all, which is very fitting because my friends here always joke that I somehow fit a whole lunch for Scott into mini tupperware containers. Would you believe that sometimes he eats the same amount as me? It's strange.

I love my med school friends so much and will sure miss them when they are off in rotations! I might have to hang that group picture up in my living room, Photoshop in Morgan, Chase, and Colt, and bring it with me everywhere I go!

Baby Showers for Morgan

So it's probably time I should post about the baby showers we put together for Morgan at work and with our med school friends! I am not the best party planner, especially when it comes to decorations, but sometimes I have good ideas.

The OSU Foundation baby shower was such a success! Lucky for me no one knew the memory candy game that Maura put together for Twinner's baby shower years ago. They thought I was so clever for matching the candy bars to baby words like epidural=LifeSavers. I love when I can pretend to be brilliant! We also played a game matching celebrities with their baby's name. I was uber stunned when two of our lovely coworkers scored 100%. The celebrity baby I could match before researching the game was Suri!

For Morgan's med-friend shower I was lucky to have the help of our friend Amanda and Morgan's husband Chase. Amanda took care of the food, Chase white gloved their home to make way for the party and baby, we doubled up on some decorations from work, and my only responsibility was games! We played Name That Tune with only songs with "Baby" in the title and a Balderdash kind of game with baby pictures. Morgan was already having contractions by the time we hosted the med-friend party! We're just so glad that little Colt arrived yesterday, and not before the showers!

Hasbro House Party

Am I incredibly behind on my blog posts? Yes.

On New Years Eve I had the honor of throwing a Hasbro Game Night House Party for my in-laws. It was really a no-brainer to apply for the party, since the Chandlers are such gamers (card gamers, at least)! House Party and Hasbro totally hooked us up with games and coupons.

Here is a little preview of a game of Scrabble Catchphrase that night:


Scott was spinning everyone a very twisted web as he circled around the answer. The group told me later that they had stopped paying attention to the timer and just played for fun. So glad the fam could get together for New Years Eve and a rousing night of games!

Foster Farms House Party

If you were hungry last Saturday and in Lebanon, you should have been at my Foster Farms  Always Natural Always Fresh Chicken House Party! Each year Foster Farms sponsors a Cooking Contest where chefs (amateur or professional, I don't know) from around the west coast are invited to submit new and improved chicken recipes using fresh, local ingredients. Of course I volunteered to host a party where we would cook up some of these award-winning chicken recipes and feast like kings! As a party host I was given a recipe booklet from the 2011 Cooking Contest and recipes from the 2012 Third Annual Cooking Contest, that has not yet taken place.

I was chicken-cooking-crazy on Saturday, making three dishes from the 2011 cook-off and two from the new 2012 recipes. Actually, I first had to go to the grocery store Saturday to get the freshest ingredients. I snagged some cherry tomatoes and fennel from our local co-op for my recipes. Shopping for Foster Farms chicken was pretty fun too, because House Party sent me coupons for $50 worth of Foster Farms chicken trays. That turned out to be about six trays of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts. Seriously a LOT a LOT of chicken!

I made "Crispy Orange Chicken with Fennel, Avocado and Orange Salad," the 2011 Grand Prize winning recipe, "Olive and Lemon Poached Tuscan Chicken on Grilled Pitas with Spinach Spread," and "Pulled Chicken Sliders with Hoisin BBQ Sauce & Pickled Slaw." From the new recipes I tried "Cumin Chicken Paillards with Grape Tomatoes and Scallions" and "Lemon-Hoisin Glazed Chicken on Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Sesame Rice."

The eight of us were all on chicken overload! We were able to determine, though, of all the dishes we preferred the "Lemon-Hoisin Glazed Chicken on Roasted Asparagus and Cherry Sesame Rice." I thought it was even better than the 2011 Grand Prize dish! I asked Scott which one was his favorite, and he chose the Hoisin Glazed Chicken, saying "...because it reminds me of Chinese food, but better." All of the dishes were delectable and gourmet. I would say that they didn't take a lot of time, for all the compliments I received. But I can't say that because I literally spent all day prepping these five dishes. Maybe one gourmet chicken recipe is incredibly manageable. You should try that out and let me know. The recipes highlighted some fantastic flavor combinations I hadn't thought to try before.

Now that the party's over I have a fridge full of gourmet leftovers. Scott is going to be eatin' pretty this next week of lunches at school!

If you'd like to snag a copy of these 2012 recipes, visit the link here. You definitely want to try some of this deliciousness the next time you are eating chicken. You can also find the 2011 recipes and more on Foster Farms site!

Spin Master HouseParty

The Spin Master HouseParty was a success! We had six medical school families come to enjoy food and Spin Master games. There is no way all of those people would fit in our apartment, but luckily our apartment complex has an awesome clubhouse that is available to reserve.

Our guests enjoyed soups, breadsticks, chips and dip. I'm SO glad that Shaila offered to bring dessert because she brought these scrumptious pumpkin cupcakes and oatmeal cookies that were gone in a flash. It's hard to estimate how much to cook for such a large group. One very good reason I'm not a caterer. Somehow we still had extra food! The only thing I under estimated was everyone's love for seven layer dip.

With this group, you really don't need much to entertain. Of course the kiddos had a movie going and a few toys to play with. The adults however could have kept chatting away if we hadn't stopped them to play a couple games and bless the food.

As I described earlier, Quelf is a new game where cranium meets curses. When I first played Quelf, it took me awhile to get into the game. The activities they ask you to do are a little bit outside any adult's comfort zone, but I think the kid inside of us really wants to participate in a big way. By the end of the game everyone is going full blast and rolling on the floor with laughter. I had several party guests tell me it was their favorite.


The Quelf Hoe Down from Katie Chandler on Vimeo.

With moments like this, I'm not sure I could blame them. Though Most Outstanding Duo in a Quelf Series most definitely goes to our two pregnant mamas who danced cheek to cheek... and subsequently belly to belly! I think we all felt the sacrifice they made for the love of the game.

However, by far my favorite game was The Logo Game. The game tests your brand knowledge, and I would say is MUCH easier on the brain than a game of trivial pursuit. I thoroughly enjoyed, and was entertained, by the random facts about slogans and products. Scott and I played this several times more after the party was over, and sometimes he likes to just pull out a card to break the ice during conversation. His favorite cards to be quized on are of course the sports brands. My best performance was with food brands... go figure!

After a full weekend of partying and victory dancing for BYU, we are kind of warn out!

Logos, Quelf and More

I was so excited to get our HouseParty package in the mail a couple weeks ago. It arrived so early, which is fantastic! I think HouseParty has really improved their system, because our first party through them almost went on without any of the supplies! Luckily that box arrived the night before, and we were able to party without a problem.

The HouseParty we are hosting tonight is sponsored by SpinMaster board games! As you can see the package included  The Logo Game and Quelf, $5 off game coupons for our guests, napkins, drink sticks, magnets, and more. Scott and I made sure to test out the board games and learn all the rules before our party. We REALLY enjoyed the games so far and think our guests will have a lot of fun!

I planned out a pretty casual menu of soups and appetizers, since our party will be around dinner time and we are having potentially six! med school families over to play with us. The HouseParty Spin Master games have a suggested age range from12+ . We want this to be a family party, as we are one of only a few med school families without chil'en. So we suggested that families bring games that their kids would like to play.

HouseParty at the Chandler's tonight, and the OSU v BYU game in Corvallis on Saturday! We'll be sure to share the details!

Halloween House Party

Are you planning to throw a Halloween Party? HouseParty announced last week that they are offering a Monster Halloween HouseParty HouseParty... which means that it's a Halloween party to promote House Party as opposed to a sponsored product. I saw this announcement in my email last week and had to pass it on to all those who want to give their Halloween party a boost! I would probably have a Halloween party myself, except we've been accepted to host the Spin Master Board Game HouseParty on October 14! I'm so excited!!

Speaking of parties, today is my best friend, Maura's birthday! Happy Birthday!!

Under My Umbrella

This last weekend we went down to Visalia to celebrate Ella-Bella's first birthday! Ella is a miracle in our lives, and we were so excited to go down and spend time in Visalia before leaving for Oregon in a week. Saturday was also my brother Matt's (30th!) birthday. So I told him we were having a proxy birthday in his honor, and I sure hoped he liked the rainbow theme that Sara picked out.

Actually the theme was umbrellas, because in the fam when someone says "Ella" it's typically followed by the echoing "ella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh!" from this song. Umbrella themed things are hard to come by, says Sara, so the theme expanded to spring rainbows. So fun!

Me and the birthday girl

Sara made a rainbow layered birthday cake

I helped out with a very important task. The mother of the birthday girl wanted this shabby chic party to be complete with canning jars of white wild flowers topping each table. Sara had seen some flowers around Visalia that she thought would work and asked if I would go out and pick these wild blossoms. So I drove around to the various fields and store fronts to pick some flowers. I didn't feel bad. CVS had a whole hedge of rose bushes that were PLENTIFUL! Plus, Visalia seems to have these grass bushes on every corner, in front of every store, with random white iris type flowers poking up.

Right when I brought back two grocery bags full of flowers, we realized that the Radmacher's (Sara's amazing parents) have these BEAUTIFUL snow pea flowers in their back yard. They offered all the white flowers therein for the party. All put together, we had some beautiful bouquets.

The secret to these flowers, the Radmachers said, is to plant the snow peas in the fall, and in the spring they will bloom to their full purpose: gorgeous flowers! Snow Pea Flowers are now added to my list of future garden features.

Happy Birthday to Ella and Matt!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom!

Thanks to the Chandlers and Radmachers for a wonderful birthday and Mother's Day weekend.

Philadelphia Cooking Creme Party

Last Friday we held our Philadelphia Cooking Creme HouseParty at the Chandler home! I spent some time on Thursday making the desserts using the Original Flavor Cooking Creme, and then was pretty much busy all day Friday with party preparations. In total I made five dishes with the cooking creme, three entrees and two desserts. I made sure we had a green salad and drinks to go with the meal, and everyone was more than disappointed that the salad and drinks didn't contain cooking creme. Maybe next time!

Don't you love how Martie hobbled out (she recently had a terrible shower accident, if you haven't heard) to the kitchen table to tie up the Philly swag? She did an excellent job, even if I told her it could have been done just as well resting in bed. She doesn't listen!

Thank you Dr. Matt for your excellent poses! They are so realistic! I had forgotten to take pictures during the eating and reviewing action. But I can tell you that the food was all enjoyed.

Menu included:

Santa Fe Creamy Enchilada Soup
Creamy Bacon Fettuccine
Sausage and Veggie Calzones

and for dessert
Mini Lemon Cupcakes topped with Lemon Creme Frosting
Chocolate Shooters

For the cupcakes, if you substitute the original cooking cream for cream cheese, it actually has a better consistency (at least I think)! Plus the flavor isn't as strong, so the frosting has a more subtle sweet flavor. Excellent! I had enough of these minis to last us all night!

Thank you to Scott for being willing (SLASH ecstatic) to eat yet one more calzone. I'm pretty sure, from all the comments that the calzones were a party favorite! This is great news for me, because as I was making them I kept thinking that Scott would love the combination of sausage and garlic creme sauce, PLUS I'm pretty sure these would be easy to make and freeze for lunches or lazy nights!

The boys loved the fettuccine! FYI, not the best left overs. The creme gets absorbed into the noodles when refrigerated. But the fettuccine I thought had the best cooking creme flavor - Italian Herbs and Cheese! Yeah, it was nummy!

And of course, no Chandler party is over without games!

Thank you to the Kartchners and Danielsons for making this a real party! If you were in Sacramento, but couldn't make it to our HouseParty, we missed you! But don't worry, there are still swag packets left over! Come by to pick one up and give Martie sympathy!

My Bestie's Baby Turns One

As mentioned before, the main purpose of our visit to Utah was to see my best friend Maura and celebrate her son's first birthday! You must see all the beautiful Hungry Caterpillar party details on Maura's blog, because she would make an excellent party planner. She has an eye for detail and loves to incorporate the party theme in all aspects. Of course it helps that she has a darling little boy, Crew, to celebrate and inspire! Thank you, Maura, for letting us be apart of this awesome event! I always leave your house feeling happy!

Here are some of the pictures we took from our camera!

We visited this ubber cute shop village with candy store in Salt Lake City in search of the perfect lollipop decorations for the party. While I didn't buy anything, I was more than tempted by their amazing selection of old school candies, not to mention their expansive gummy candy selection!

Isn't Crew adorable! He was a trooper! The Lansford home was a busy hive, or maybe I should say cocoon, all day Tuesday putting together party decorations and preparing the food. I was so glad that I could be there make the party load a little lighter and of course to celebrate this little man turning one! I'm wishing a strong wish that I will be able to get from Oregon to Utah next year to celebrate his second birthday!

Home Again

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Someone obviously adorable (and mysterious) dropped this packet of love on our doorstep today, which by virtue of it's appearance makes us lucky!

This also means that we are home from our whirlwind trip to Utah! I am anxious to post pictures from our amazing trip, but am still getting myself organized back into Sac Town life. Unpacking, scheduling school work, planning tomorrow's HouseParty and my review of Franklin High's production of Les Miserables has given me very little time to blog.

So I'm going to get back to party baking with Philly Cooking Creme... with a promise to post about Utah next week!

Phantastic Philly HouseParty Box

It's Here! The box of Philly goodies has arrived for our HouseParty next weekend!

The theme of the party is overcoming dinner dilemmas. We are planning a fun game night (Bunko perhaps, among other fun games) with a sampler buffet of Philly Cooking Cream dinner recipes! I was a little dissapointed that I couldn't find a dessert recipe. But I feel like I have enough culinary skills to make a dessert using Cooking Cream. Plus when you add cream cheese to anything it always tastes better! I'm pretty excited to try out all the fun flavors. Of course, it's always fun to give your family and friends free things too!

Any ideas for how to make this HouseParty special?

House Party Sweepstakes

Many of you are probably registered by now with HouseParty.com since my posts about parties last year. We haven't hosted a HouseParty since our DiGiorno Football party last winter, though I've applied and been denied.  Tears for the lost Tombstone Pizza party (by far my favorite frozen brand) and that beautiful bacon party that are past!

Recently I received an email from HouseParty letting me know about a sweepstakes on their site. To enter all you need to do is register or login to your existing account at HouseParty.com/win. Easy enough! Then automatically you can check to see if you've won an iPod, iPad, trips or other fabulous prizes, and six times within the next year there will be a drawing for a large prize! Entries are excepted once a day. The sweepstakes ends December 31, 2011.

Count me in! Scott's hinted at (several times a day) his desire for an iPad. It would definitely be sweet if I could hand him one for free!

I'm not benefiting at all from sharing this news with you, in fact I'm probably ruining my odds at a larger prize. But I try to be nice like that. May the force be with you!

Day of Christmas Craft Reckoning

The day finally arrived that the Chandler women would craft the morning through. The night before I had been talking with my mom about how excited I was to craft, and she asked me if I tested my craft yet. I had decided on the tile coasters that I found before on the Curbly blog and had watched the video on the blog where i found instructions. But I decided it would be best to test the craft out before I try to teach five other women to make it. It wasn't difficult, really, but I'm glad I tested it because I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't by doing my set first.

So yesterday morning I brought all of my craft ingredients to make the tile coasters. Though we had a few delays in getting started, and I had to leave in the middle, I feel like the day was still a success! After a full day of the ladies crafting I get to take home beautiful tissue paper candles, an ornament, and had some help making a fun fabric tree and some present tags!

Tips for making the napkin coasters:

Watch the video on the Curbly blog
Choose which part of the napkin design you want on your tile before you paint ModPodge on the tile. The napkin is difficult to move and makes more wrinkles when you try to adjust.
Let the ModPodge completely dry before pinching off the napkin (we liked having the napkin torn on the edges for a painted look, so remember to pull down)
Apply two coats of clear coat polyurethane to cover the tile
When the two coats completely dry, apply one more coat to seal the deal
AND the polyurethane doesn't smell pretty, so you may want to apply it on a good weather day where you can leave the tiles outdoors.

I got napkins at Target ($2/pack for fancy pattern), tiles (16 cents/per) and polyurethane ($6) at Lowes, and  ModPodge at Joanns ($2 with % off coupon). You'll also need paint brushes you don't want to use again. I may also get some felt circles for the bottom of the coasters.

Simple, inexpensive gift for Christmas, wedding, birthday, etc.

Thanks Chandler ladies for a fun day of girly togetherness!

Christmas Crafts

So my sister-in-law Sara had a great idea for this Christmas. She suggested that each of the women in the Chandler family put together a craft for one of the days that we are together for the Christmas holiday. It's like a family Super Satruday! I'm so excited!

So excited, in fact, that I've been keeping my eye open for good crafty ideas that I could facilitate. Here's my thoughts so far:

Christmas Wrapping Wreath from the red thread blog

Felt Flower Pillow from Classy Clutter blog

or
Poinsettia Pillow from Censational Girl blog

Paper Napkin Tile Decoupage Coasters from Curbly blog

Or

This Family Tree I saw on etsy and on a blog, but the etsy store now appears to be closed.

Which craft do you like best?

Do you have any other crafty ideas?