We went to a pretty terrific birthday celebration for our sweet friend Preston early last month and I haven't shared the photographs with you yet! Preston just turned one and is a little boy who stays with Sophie during the week. His big sister Madeline is a friend of Ella's and his mom, Michelle, did a fantastic job on the party. It was so funny listening to the little conversations going on around the tables. We still think these are "little" kids, but sometimes their conversations are so grown up! Ella's face cracks me up so much in the photograph -- she was smirking at me -- and is pretty typical of her these days. I cannot believe I didn't get a close up of the table! Michelle did such a great job and the spread was divided into two categories of food -- herbivores and ...
birthdays
Rivalry
I'm guessing you know there was this little game on Saturday. One that people in Alabama talk about for 365 days, only to start talking about again. Well, the fact of the matter is... we won. I didn't get to go this year, but SD did and not only did he sneak on the field after the game, but he met David Pollack and Trent Richardson and snapped a picture of his beloved Erin Andrews. All's fair in love and football, right? A few weekends ago we celebrated the birthday of our little friend Madeline. She had a pretty awesome tailgate rivalry party where all of her friends wore their Alabama/Auburn gear and partied it up at the playground. It was so fabulous, in fact, that I am totally bookmarking this idea for an Ella party in the future! ...
Thirty-two Things
Thirty-two things I loved about my birthday. That at 7:30 on Friday night, I was sitting in a theater with my best friend of 32 years watching a movie made for teenagers. That we laughed until we cried and tried hard not to go home when it was over. That we talked about all of the "middle-aged" women who were there... only to realize the teenagers were probably saying that same thing about us! On our way to Chick-fil-A last night, in the dark, Sophie said "Happy Birthday to Momma", completely unprompted. A late-night texting conversation with Ryan last night re-hashing how much fun we had on Saturday. The second-hardest I've laughed in awhile. At 12:02 this morning, Sophie cried out and SD grabbed her up and snuggled her in bed with us. I got to sleep in this ...
The Birthday Girl
My favorite little five year old was born on September 11th... on the 5th anniversary and it's hard to reconcile the two days. I thought all day yesterday about posting, but I didn't know which part to blog about. The part where I was a senior in college and watched the world change in the printmaking studio with fellow artists who were just as confused as I was or the part where a precious little girl made me a mommy. They are both such poignant moments in my life, game-changers, "marker" days as my pastor called them on Sunday. Both days, one ten years ago and the other five, left an indelible impression on me and will forever profoundly affect my future. So instead of attempting to tell two stories that are so very different, I devoted the majority of my day loving my little birthday ...
DIY Mermaid Birthday Party
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times. Birthdays are my love language. No matter the cost or the countless hours spent planning, prepping, and crafting (and not sleeping), there is nothing better than making all of your girl's dreams come true! It's been so much fun sharing Ella's special day and all of the little projects that made her party just perfect. I know you've been waiting patiently and what you really want to see are those beautiful party pictures, right? As always, my beautiful sister documented all of the details for us and we couldn't be happier with how the photographs turned out. We hope you love our DIY Mermaid Birthday Party! Ella really wanted to "be" a mermaid for this party, so I did everything I could to make that happen. These photo invitations were ...
Birthdaypalooza: Mermaid Tails
Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I earn a small commission on any purchases made. Your support of this blog is always appreciated! After seeing a mermaid towel for sale online, I couldn't help but think that Gran could clearly make one just as cute for a fraction of the cost. It only cost us $16 and 30 minutes one afternoon after school to whip this one up. We were halfway through the process before I realized we weren't taking pictures, so you'll have to bear with my very rudimentary illustrations. I really wanted to share the tutorial, pictures or not! We used these oversized bath towels for our mermaid tail. How adorable is this? Pin this post for later! ...
Birthdaypalooza: Pinata!
I'll admit that I kind of laughed when Ella told me she wanted a pinata at her party this year. I figure that since she didn't ask for very much we could certainly pull that off. I looked around on-line a bit and called some local stores, but I couldn't really find what I was looking for. Then I read this blog post and remembered this blog post. If they can do it, I can do it. Right? So I started with my computer, pinterest and a big cup of coffee in my favorite cup ever (yes it has a cross-stitched watermelon!), these supplies, and it doesn't hurt to have an assistant (even if he is a vampire -- remember on the vlog I was watching this while folding laundry? well i finished all three the next day during this little project). First, I cut out two large number fives and several ...
Birthdaypalooza: Pinspiration & Paper Products
To say that I got lots of inspiration from Pinterest would be an understatement. Although I didn't use every idea that I came across, I think I did a pretty good job of sticking to my color scheme and overall theme for the party. You can click here to visit my pinboard for Ella's birthday party. First up is always invitations. I was so proud of my idea this year, I was just worried that I couldn't pull it off! K took Ella's pictures against a white backdrop and I clipped the background out and cut her off at the waist. I illustrated the mermaid tail and other sea creatures in and around the invitation and could not be happier with how it turned out. We had them printed on a pearl cardstock, which really gave a sparkly and ethereal look to the paper suite. She was tickled to see herself ...