Borrowed Decorations

For a simple 1st birthday, simple decorations seem fitting.  Or, in my head no decorations seem ideal.  That was my plan until someone offered her daughter's first birthday decorations to me.  I commented on her picture on Facebook, and next thing I knew, she found me at church and generously offered to let me borrow them.  Several texts and one phone call later, and they were mine for the party.  As much as I would love to claim them as my own creation, I have to say a big thanks to Camille for letting me use them.  

1.  Wide Open Windows.  Camille wasn't the first girl to help me out on the ambiance.  I have to give a shout out to mother nature for a beautiful afternoon!  We had our windows open and the breeze was flowing.  Nothing says AWESOME like a warm fresh breeze, especially in November!

2. Ruffled Strips.  Camille let me borrow a whole collection of ruffled and non-ruffled, pale pink strips.  I had a ball hanging these on the windows and whatever else I found.  Ruffles + pink are my jam!  I can't get enough.



3. Three Cabbages.  I actually bought these for a shower I threw the next day, but they went great with everything.  They're white, green, small, natural, and HALF OFF.  Thank you Walmart guy who drives an easy bargain when it's time to make room for Christmas trees!  I wanted to pot these in three identical containers, but didn't have any at my house and my neighbor-friend who I thought would have something didn't text me back last minute on this.  I found this cute container and stuffed some crumpled brown paper around it and sha-zaam.  A perfect little arrangement.






4.  Fabric Garland Banner Thing.  A couple of you spotted this in the other pictures and asked about it.  It is beautiful.  I'm not sure if Camille (that name is so pretty, I just have to say it over and over) made this or bought it, but I'm sure it would be easy to do.  Hefty rope + Clearance fabric ripped in strips = easy decoration!  Guess who loved it more than me?  The boys.  Burl saw it and gave a dramatic "oh wow" and John said it was so cool we could leave it there.  He said it didn't look like a decoration for a party just something cool I made for our house.  I took this as a huge compliment and gave him a rowdy high-5.

These are all great ideas, but the best idea of all is borrowing decorations!  I want to encourage everyone to borrow or lend out decorations with friends!  Find them at church and say, "hey, I happen to have a bouncy castle in my basement that I could blow up for your block party.  Want me to bring it over?"  Community. Recycling.  Decorations.  The kids' parties are much bigger than the kids.  

To Fern, On Her 1st Birthday

Dear Fern, in true household fashion, your birthday festivities were not limited to your actual day.  After having a little party for you on Friday night, we spent the rest of our three day weekend doing fun family activities.  Saturday was warm and gorgeous.  While I was throwing a shower, Daddy and Burl put together your little baby bike and I got several texts during the party that you loved it and wouldn't stop playing with it.  You are so cute.  Later that night, we went down to the river to watch the rowing competition and enjoy the warm weather.  You were as happy as could be riding on my back in a starfish position.  We took you out to dinner where you were as happy as could be, danced to the overhead music, and ate french fries.  

Monday, we woke and went to Whole Foods to get you and your brother a free treat and Mama a Larabar because she's on a silly diet.  You loved your treat and cried when it was gone.  After naps and lunch, we took you to the park.  We sat you in the grass, where you are always happy playing with leaves and grass.  You giggled when we put you in the swing and were generally happy and sweet with whatever we did.

Now, let's get mushy.  As I carried you in the house a few minutes ago I just looked at your face. I believe you are the prettiest girl that I've ever laid eyes on.  You are sweet and precious and a bundle of joy.  Even though I put you in Carhartts to go to the park, you are still a delicate little girl.  You are by far the most lady like person in this house, and I'm not sure how you got that way.  You have a sweetness about you that spreads to everyone around you.  I feel it, your Daddy feels it, and even your brother feels it.  Speaking of your brother, I love to watch you love him.  You love him, and he loves you right back.  I hope you have so much fun growing up together.  You like to dance, clap, eat sweet potatoes, be a part of the action, sometimes crawl off by yourself to play, be held my your Mama, and play with anything that has a face.  You don't make much noise, but when you do, it's a sweet little sound.  

My hope and prayer for you from before you were born was that you would know God's love for you.  I hope that you feel most loved and beautiful and valuable because of God's perfect, never-ending, all-encompassing love for you, our little Fern.

Happy Birthday.  I love you.  Love, Mama.

Fern's 1st Birthday

On the eve of Fern's 1st birthday, I'm feeling happy.  My best friend emailed to check on me and make sure that I'm not breaking down.  I'm not.  I'm doing great.  We're coming off of a full weekend of family time.  We started with her party on Friday night and have ended the weekend with John taking today off.  We've had some sweet family times and lots of "remember this time last year, we ______"  {fill in the blank}  

Fern's party was great and here's the reason why: she seemed to really every aspect of it.  Here's how things went:

We invited family over for soup and cake on Friday night, so Thursday I got all the errands and cooking out of the way.  Friday, we took it slow, I cleaned during the naps, and we found ourselves relaxed the last 30 minutes before the party.  Planning ahead and not waiting til the last minute to do everything paid off-who knew?

We went outside for some family chill time as everyone arrived.  When Fern rested her had on the tricycle, I was sure that she wasn't going to make it through her party.  Oh, how I was wrong!

Once everyone was there, we served the soups and people ate everywhere.  I served cream of chicken and wild rice, cream of asparagus, and bean with bacon.  My mom was helpful and took Fern right away and got her some food while I made sure everyone had everything (or knew where to find it or ate some soup myself).  

The cousins love holding Fern.  Emily is the oldest and very capable, but the other ones need a little help.  I just love this little detail about cousins!

I ordered the cake and had it ready to go.  Somehow, Burl got his little fingers up there during the party and tasted the "ern" of Fern's name and now that I'm looking at it, it looks like he got some pink flower as well.  This happened with Burl's 1st cake as well, and for some reason I love it.  I think it's our version of a good luck sign.  

While Burl got shy during his "happy birthday" song and wouldn't eat his cake without a fork, Fern was the complete opposite.  We sang while she smiled and looked at everyone and clapped at the end.  It was so sweet.  We gave her the cake and she did the whole get-this-all-over-me thing that I love about 1st birthdays.  She loved it.  

Once she was completely full on cake, I swept her to the back for a quick bath and wardrobe change.  Up next: presents.  She was again opposite than Burl in this.  He was wild and all over the place and wanted the boxes and balloons than any of the toys.  Fern, she loved each thing she got.  A little tip for gifting to babies and toddlers: take everything out of the package and unclipped and ready to go.  It really gives the gift more impact.  You're welcome.

MY FAVORITE PICTURE:  

I explained to Burl that Fern was going to get a lot of presents and need his help opening them. He was great!  He was just excited about the toys as she was, which probably helped with her enjoyment of each one.  She loves what her brother loves.

My sister-in-law was great about taking pictures.  I handed her my camera and she got so many good shots!  Thanks, Melody.  You got so many good moments!

Fern got a set of puppets (she loves the puppets on Baby Einstein, so why not make them in person?)  and my brother quickly swept a pair of them and made them dance.  The whole room was laughing, but no one was laughing as hard as Joseph was at himself.  Perfect.

We barely got Burl still enough to grab a family picture at the end of the night, but here we are.  Watching Fern enjoy it all was by far the highlight of the night.  She was truly happy the entire time and the party seemed to fit her well.  She's our little girl and has brought so much sweetness to our household.    Happy Birthday, Ferny.

This Week's Menu

Well, after that Whole30 mess I did this summer, I'm all in-tuned with my body and notice the slightest changes in how I feel.  If I eat great, I feel great.  The flip side: if eating doesn't go that well, then I don't go that well.  While I hate being this needy with my diet, I really love knowing what it needs to make it thrive.  It needs good food.  That's why I decided that it's about time for some Whole30 action up in here.  Around the bonfire last night, three of us decided to go Whole30 until Thanksgiving.  I'm including legumes this time because they don't cause me any problems. It's a measly 2 1/2 weeks, so this is going to be easy-peasy.  Feel free to join us!  It's so much easier doing it with people.  

Here's what I'm making:

Bean & sausage soup

Salad with rotisserie chicken

Spice crusted tilapia, sauteed green beans, broccoli

Cowboy breakfast skillet