Suburban Soiree

Movie Night: The Biggest Little Farm

Movie NightAmy WileyComment

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Roll up your sleeves and get ready to dig in to a darling movie night. The Biggest Little Farm is a delight! It’s a beautiful story of hard work set against a stunning backdrop of nature, animals, and dreams.

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The Biggest Little Farm is a documentary chronicling the eight-year journey of a couple who followed their dog (yes, their dog) to create a haven of vegetables, baby animals, fruit trees and chicken coops.

For parents… this movie has one bad word (it’s more implied than heard) and you will see animals both give birth and fall victim to predators. We found it suitable for our family, but just know some scenes will be hard on little (and big) hearts. However, there’s a payoff when you see nature truly work in harmony and did I mention the baby animals? So many adorable baby animals!

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My goal was to create a table for this movie night that had a farm or barnyard feel, but more rustic and sophisticated than many of the preschool-themed products I initially found. I discovered this set of plates and napkins and they were just perfect.

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I used honeycrisp apples we had in the pantry to create a centerpiece. Look at all of the darling plates! I used kraft paper for a runner and a random collection of mason jars and glasses.

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Our farm-worthy feast included oven-fried chicken, grilled corn on the cob, and salad.

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Of course the corn was an excuse to use my pig corn holders!

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Movie night is all about the treats. For dessert I served strawberries dipped in orange chocolate on a bed of crushed Oreos. It looked like a sweet little carrot patch. Just stick Oreos in your blender and you’ll have “dirt” in no time. I thought this turned out to be such a charming little treat for this movie.

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The Biggest Little Farm is big on heart, brimming with cute baby animals, and will leave you amazed at how God created all the earth’s plants and creatures to work together. It will warm your heart!

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Movie Night: Twelve

Movie NightAmy WileyComment

It’s Friday night and that means movie night is up to bat! This one not only delivers an encouraging message, it’s the perfect excuse to eat hot dogs for dinner… which is a home run after a busy week.

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Our movie is called Twelve and follows a young boy as he learns about hard work, patience and sportsmanship through baseball. This movie contains a couple of crude jokes (that don’t completely cross the line), but I consider it to be clean and family-friendly. It starts off a little slow, but by the end it offers a valuable message and will have you cheering.

Of course the one of the best parts of watching sports is the food. We dined on cheddar brats with baseball cheese puffs and root beer. Baskets with paper liners made us feel like we were at the ballpark. I had peanuts in the shell on hand for snacking as well.

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Just like our movie, the meal had a sweet ending. My kids aren’t big on Cracker Jacks, so I tried to think outside the traditional baseball treats for dessert. I ended up picking up some Bundtlets from Nothing Bundt Cakes and calling them “bunt cakes”… because who doesn’t love a good pun? Or cake?! Baseball napkins completed the look.

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This movie night was a way to come together, eat an easy but delicious dinner, and cheer on the good sportsmanship we saw in this movie. If you have baseball players or any kind of little athletes in your home, I recommend Twelve.

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Crazy for Christmas Challenge: August

Crazy for Christmas, ChristmasAmy WileyComment

We are days away from Pumpkin Spice Lattes and it’s just four months until Christmas! If you are new around here, the 25th of the month is when we take a little time to prepare for the most wonderful time of the year. By doing a little each month, we are preparing ourselves for the best and most relaxing holiday season yet. Put on your favorite Christmas album and let’s get to work…

Choose or Schedule Your Christmas Card Photo

December is my favorite time to head to the mailbox. I absolutely love sending and receiving Christmas cards. Don’t you? Today we are going to figure out a photo for the cards we will send. If you have a great photo from this year’s vacation, go ahead and earmark that one for your card. Maybe you took several cute shots of your kids on the beach this summer. Go through and choose a favorite. If you still need to take a photo, reach out to your favorite photographer today or schedule a day to take it yourself. Having that photo (or photos) planned is a huge step!

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This month’s printable is a simple checklist to keep you on track in the coming months so that you can get those cards out with ease. Join our Crazy for Christmas Challenge email list to get all the printables.

Update Your Address List

If you have been following the challenge all year, then you did this in January. Either way, those address lists have a way of getting out of date quickly as friends move. Go through your address list of Christmas card recipients today and make sure it’s up to date. It’s a great time to reach out and ask for addresses you don’t have, avoiding the rush of the season later.

Go Shopping

How is your gift stash looking? Mine is pretty impressive if I do say so myself! Check a few more off your list today and pat yourself on the back for being such a good little elf. Here’s a gift guide of a few ideas to get you started. This list includes my favorite robe, the perfect mug for just about anyone, and a few things from my kids’ lists.

Here are the previous month’s challenges. You can go back and catch up, or just jump in today.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

Merry planning and shopping, friends!

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