My mom decided to surprise my dad with a little party this year for his 60th birthday. We usually do a family dinner for birthdays, but this time we enjoyed it with 30 of our favorite people. Josh and the other men in our family took him out for an early dinner at Dreamland BBQ while my sister and I helped mom set everything up. Of course, dinner was uncharacteristically short and Josh ended up having to stall all the way home, but by they time they arrived we were all ready. We had been so worried he had figured it out, so we were thrilled to see this face when he turned the corner. ...
birthdays
Birthday Boy
Happy Birthday to my favorite person on the planet. Nothing is worth celebrating without you. 1/31/98 - Josh's 19th birthday - the first we spent together ...
Art Party
We went to a pretty amazing art-themed birthday party on Saturday morning and my girls LOVED it. The birthday girl was precious in her paint pallette t-shirt and everyone loved making so many fun crafts to carry home. What a great idea! ...
Round ‘Em Up
Ella's birthday party was a dream. It was an easy, relaxing party and she had the best time. Just like every year it was her "favorite birthday ever!" a chalkboard greeting Ella's invitation framed in a barnwood frame picnic table centerpiece with bandana & gingham fabrics crock full of corn chips & doritos Sophie's tiny cowboy boots for silverware watering hole labels for the water oil burning lamps for ambience hot dogs in the crockpot (thank you, Pinterest!) rotel cheese dip & tortillas a cupcake for the birthday girl bandana bouquet for the guests ella's first glimpse mom tying on her bandana I should mention that she told me ALL cowgirls showed their bellies! ella greeting her friends emma & lane kynnedi madeline ...
Six.
Six. How are you six years old? Happy Birthday to the girl who made me a mama. To the spunky rock star who knows the words to every song on the radio. To the fashionista who knows the difference between "matching" and "going together". To the girl who insists that cowgirls show their stomach and only wear button down shirts. She's conscientious and thoughtful, she loves her little sister and can roll her eyes with the best of them. The past six years have been the best of my life. I love you, Bellsy. BIG. ...
Bunny Fun, Again
Yes, I know I promised to share more party pictures on MAY THE EIGHTH, but let's face it, it's a miracle I remembered at all. I'm just shy of a month later delivering the details, so I hope you remember the first post about Sophie's bunny birthday well enough and that you'll enjoy these precious pictures just as much as you did the first ones. Almost two months later, I'm still pretty sure this was one of my favorite parties I've planned. Ella's fancy party would be pretty hard to beat, but this one is running a very close second. We decided to have story time and an egg hunt as part of the festivities and the kids all had such a great time together outside. The weather was beautiful and there were plenty of fun activities to keep them busy. First up was story time. My mom spread ...
A Bunny Birthday
So, about that party... We were lucky enough that Sophie's birthday fell on a Saturday this year and even luckier that it was only a week after Easter. I decided that with all of the bunny goods on the market in the weeks leading up to her party, that an Easter-themed soiree was definitely the way to go. Then, after the she had such a great time hunting eggs on Easter morning, it was confirmed I had made the right decision! First up were invitations. I had them printed on linen paper and bought grey linen envelopes from a local paper supply shop. I originally wanted a pencil drawing of a bunny, but I just didn't have time to do one myself. Instead, I used a stock image of a bunny and filtered it in Photoshop to give it the look I wanted. They were so sweet and just what I was looking ...
Hoppy Birthday
Sophie's bunny bash was perfect. She was happy and healthy (for the first time in over a week) and giggled every time you said the words birthday and party in the same sentence. She sampled her cake, read her favorite story book, hunted eggs with her friends and opened a fabulous selection of birthday gifts. She clapped after the birthday song and blew out her candles like a champ. I only have about 250 photographs to upload and organize, so maybe I'll be ready to share the details in a month or two. Kidding. Sort of. This is her "cheese" face. Now every time you aim the camera in her direction this is the face she makes. No more cheeky grins, just teeth. K & I did manage to catch her unaware a few times, so there are some sweet smiles to come. ...