Mother's Day Heirloom Luncheon

 This weekend, I had the privilege of hosting a mother's day luncheon for the important ladies in my life!  I have been wanting to host this party for about 3 years now, but couldn't seem to work it out until now.  There were still several people who were unable to make it, and the weather ruined my plans for hosting it in our backyard, but, as my sister-in-law said, if I wait until everything is perfect, I will never get to host it!

So, for this luncheon, I wanted to use special family recipes and family heirlooms in the form of dishes and serving pieces, etc. that have been passed down from generation to generation in our families.  Since I was going for an "heirloom" theme, I wanted everything to appear vintage and as if it would have been at a family gathering several years ago. 

 Did you know that you can run lunch sacks through your printer?  Well, you may be able to, but mine kept getting jammed!  So, this banner was part printer, and part me.  I wanted it to look old, and so I chose a font that looked like handwriting anyway.  I tried my best to match it :)

 The table was decorated with a piece of chambray fabric used as a runner, a candelabra from my wedding, some crystal taper holders that belonged to my grandmother, and some mason jars filled with daisies. 

 I used our everyday dishes and silverware that was a wedding gift to my inlaws when they were married.  Hobnail glasses completed my vintage look.  Each mother in attendance had a little flower as their name card on their place setting.

 I labeled the items that previously belonged to someone else, so that everyone in attendance would know that the item was a family heirloom.  I printed the tags out on cardstock and tied them to the item with raffia.

 I used an old quilt that was made by my mother-in-law's grandmother as my food table backdrop.  I hung an old window over it, and ran twine throughout the panes.  I used clothespins to clip photos of all of the beautiful ladies who we've loved and lost.  They are a very important part of why we're here today, so they should be celebrated as well.  I also clipped some inspirational quotes about mothers that I printed on cardstock.

 My sisters-in-law helped me by bringing food they cooked using family recipes.  We had fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, a cheese ball and crackers, coconut cake, fried pies, banana pudding, and banana cake.  We served sweet tea and lemonade for drinks.

I used burlap from my sister-in-law's wedding to decorate this table.

 This pitcher once belonged to my husband's grandmother.  It now belongs to my sister-in-law, and was perfect for serving the tea out of.

 I tried my hand at my mom's coconut cake.  Her version is SO much better, but I did my best!

 I've been told that my husband's grandmother made delicious fried pies.  I never got to try them, but we represented them today.

 Every family gathering I can remember, my grandmother always brought a cheeseball.  I definitely had to include one today.

My mother-in-law makes the best banana pudding that was her mother's recipe.  My sister-in-law did them both proud today by her version.  It was delish!

I've said before that I love hosting parties, but even moreso, I love making people feel special.  I hope that all of the moms in attendance today felt very special.  I really tried my best to use things that would evoke good memories, and bring a smile to their faces.  My mom spent her entire life going above and beyond to make my life wonderful, and although this was just a small luncheon, I tried to show my gratitude and give a little bit of that back to her and the others today.

Sweet Sammi

My heart is heavy tonight at the passing of a sweet family friend!  Sammi was such a sweet, sweet soul and so full of life.   I met her on the very first date I ever had with my husband.  She didn't treat me as a stranger on that day, and I think that was pretty much her philosophy on life.  She always had a smile and a hug for you, and a story to tell.  If more people in this world were like her, the world would be a much better place!  I know that she is now resting comfortably in the arms of our Lord, with her mother and grandmother by her side.  I am thankful she has shed her earthly body for a complete, perfect, heavenly body.  I am thankful that I had the pleasure of knowing her over the past 14 years, and every time I think of her, I will smile! 

11 Months

This sweet girl turned 11 months old on the 5th!  Only 1 more month to go, and I'll no longer have a baby anymore!  :(

At 11 months old, this girl is a chatterbox!  She can say: wow, mama, daddy, bubba, bye bye, hi, paw paw, dog, clap, awwww, and I love you (although I've never actually heard that one).  She's constantly jabbering away in her gibberish telling you something or other.

She is the wildest child, constantly wiggling and squirming and climbing and moving.  But, she is also the sweetest child, and will give you the sweetest hugs, smiles, biggest open-mouth kisses, and sweet pats.  Every morning when her daddy gets her out of bed, she gives him the softest pats on his back.  Whenever I get her up from her naps, she will burrow into me and lay her head on my shoulder.  SO very sweet!

She got her top 2 front teeth last month, so that brings her total to 4.

She is a hungry thing these days, and can often be heard screaming at you during feeding times.  I'm pretty certain the neighbors can hear this as well.  I'm not sure why they haven't knocked on our door to ask what in the world is going on in here.  (Side note-- they really did do that when Rhett was a baby and wouldn't stop screaming one day).  She eats about 3 jars of baby food per sitting, eats snacks after her afternoon nap, and then nurses just before bed time.  I have a feeling she is going to be hard to wean from her evening feeding, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

She has a temper and a stubborn streak a mile wide! (Can't imagine where she gets that from!)  She's recently decided that she doesn't want anything on her head (hat, bow, sunglasses, etc.).  She will take whatever it is off and toss it as far away as she can.  When I go to put it back on, I am met with a stiff, rigid body and lots of squeals!  We repeat this over and over and over until I'm too tired to fight it and just let her go bow-less, or she forgets it's up there!

Preparations are underway for a perfectly pink, perfectly girly first birthday party.  Although I wish this last year wouldn't have been such a whirlwind, we are looking forward to celebrating our baby girl!

Cute wrapping!

 I absolutely LOVE to wrap gifts creatively!  I try to match the wrapping of the gift to the theme of the party.  Sometimes I can't find any wrapping paper with the party's theme on it, so I improvise.  I saw a post about wrapping on pinterest, which brought to mind these that I've done:

 This was for Mr. Westin's Little Man Party.  I used black wrapping paper for the jacket, 1 piece of white cardstock, and one piece of black cardstock, and some scrap fabric and buttons that I had. 

 This was for Sam's Batman Birthday.  I used black wrapping paper, a black plastic table cloth cut to look like a cape, yellow and black cardstock.  I even added black "ears".

 This was for Mr. Westin's Little Monster Party.  I used some wrapping paper that I had that I thought would look good as a monster's body, used a bag of googly eyes, a feather poof, stuffed some socks I had with batting, and glued on some toenails that I painted green.  Kinda silly, but looked monster-y to me!

I've posted this one before, but these were for my mother in law.  I didn't have a way to wrap one of them, and so the candy roll was the only way.  That kind of set the stage, and when I ran out of wrapping paper and had a tube left, I knew that the candy theme was the way to go! lol!

This was for Jack's Halloween Party.   This was another monster one I did.  I used some rope and some cardstock to make the mouth, added some little wooden pieces I had as teeth, the rest was the same thing I did with Westin's above.

This was for Westin's brother, Corbin's Baseball Birthday.  I also wrapped one like this for Jack's 5th Sports Birthday, too.  I just used some craft paper that I had, stuffed the inside with a bunch of leftover grocery sacks, and wrapped painters tape around one end to make a bat.

There are others that I forgot to take photos of, or just can't find.  This kind of stuff is so fun for me! I hope this inspires you to get creative next time you go to wrap a gift!

Teacher Appreciation Week

 This week, Rhett's preschool celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week, and I was on the planning committee.  It was a couple of weeks of hard work, but so much fun.  We provided the teachers with 2 home cooked breakfasts, chair massages throughout the school day, a catered lunch from WhichWich, their favorite candy and Sonic drink as an after school snack, and each teacher received a gift card tree made up of "leaves" which had notes from each child in her class.  Here are some photos I snapped of the breakfast on Tuesday morning.  I did most of the decorating for it. 

 Our theme was "Thank you for helping our children grow", thus the flowers everywhere.

 I made 32 tissue paper poms to serve as flowers, and we used them on the back of each chair, as centerpiece decorations, and as table decorations.

 Another mom and I each cut out 45 flowers with our Cricuts out of several different colors of card stock.  We then had another mom write each child's name on a flower and make a banner using our theme.  We hung this behind the breakfast buffet table, and later in the hallway so each child (and parent) could see their name on the flowers.

 I brought my two chalkboard easels (because the colors matched our theme so well).  I found some more cute sayings on Pinterest, and someone wrote them on the chalkboards to tie into our theme.

 Another shot of the eating area.  We served this breakfast in one of the school's rooms, so there are some crazy things on the wall.  But, the tables and chairs looked so cute!

 A shot of some of the buffet.

 I made this banner using my Cricut and cut out more flowers, and we tied it to the front of the buffet table.

 I found these adorable felt flowers in the dollar spot at Target.  I wanted to use them so badly, and finally decided they would make cute food labels.  Some of the items were casseroles, so these were a way to let everyone know what they were digging in to.

We also provided the teachers with an adorable floral journal and matching pencil.  We placed those at each place setting along with their plate and matching floral napkin.

Another mom collected all of these branches, and we placed them in turquoise pots tied up with a cute floral ribbon and each teacher's name.

Another mom and I cut out all of these leaves on our Cricuts.  We sent two leaves home with each child and requested a sweet note about their teachers.  We also requested a gift card in the amount of their choice for each teacher in the class.  Then, we attached the gift card and leaf to the branches, filled the pots with sand and rocks to steady them, and voila!  Cute gift card "trees" to go along with our growing theme!

Another mom approached me after the teachers were given their trees to thank us for doing the notes this way.  Apparently, in years past, the notes were posted around each classroom door.  The mother thought this was a much more personal and private way to do it. 

After school one day, we provided the teachers with their favorite candy and Sonic drink.  The teachers had all filled out a questionnaire at the beginning of the year listing their favorite things.  These questionnaires were sent home with each child to give the parents ideas as to what kind of gift card the teachers might appreciate.  The questionnaires were also so helpful to the planning committee because we were able to get the teachers their favorite drink and snack and surprise them.  I found the soda-lighted idea on Pinterest and changed it to say, "Soda-Lighted You're My Teacher".  Another mom tied up all the candies with cute flower and garden themed tags with the teachers' names on them.  Sonic was so helpful too.  The mom who was in charge of getting the drinks just handed over the list, they made and labeled all the drinks, and gave us happy hour pricing even though it was before Happy Hour!

Here is a happy teacher with her after school surprise!

I didn't get any pics of the other breakfast or lunch, but I made Rhett's teachers their own little gift for him to give them.  I found some pretty flowers on clearance at Lowe's, wrapped their container in some cute fabric, adorned it with ribbon and a fabric rosette, and a little card.

I found this saying on Pinterest, already had this photo of Rhett (from when he actually picked these daffodils that weren't meant to be picked out of my flower bed!), and found the daffodil card template at walmart.com.  I had them printed at WalMart and they cost around $1.60 for all four!  Not a bad little gift!

I am worn out from a wild week, but it was also so much fun.  This kind of stuff is right up my alley, and even more so is making people feel special.  I sure hope these teachers felt special on their special week.  Rhett attends a wonderful school that I am so thankful to have found!

Rhett's Easter Program

 I totally forgot to post these photos when I posted about Easter.  Better late than never, right?!?  Rhett's preschool hosted an Easter program on April 5th.

 Cousins Rhett and Dylan managed to squeeze out the other kiddos and stand next to each other!

 And, they matched!  (Not planned, but so cute!)

 Rhett's randomly waving at someone across the room.  Our whole family was sitting with us, so I have no clue who he was waving at.  Such a friendly guy!

 MawMaw came to watch (and hold Ms. Gentry)

 A little pre-show smile

 The school ran a slide show before hand.  Somehow, this lovely cake was included!

 Daddy stealing some kisses

 Baby Blayke fast asleep during the performance!