Climbers and Piano-ists

Caleb wasn't feeling well this morning, so he stayed home from school.

He doesn't actually have specific symptoms, but sometimes you just need a day off.

He's playing the piano beside me, and it sounds really pretty, so I told him so.

He quickly answered, "Thanks. I think I wanna be a professional piano-ist now."

Usually it's a firefighter/Army man/pilot/doctor/missionary/basketball player/police officer.

Yesterday on the way to church, Isabelle pipes up from the back seat and asks me if I know what she wants to be when she grows up. Oddly enough, I have never asked her this, which makes me so sad, since I used to ask the boys All. The. Time.

Anyhoo.

She informs us that she is going to be a climber.

"A what?" we inquire.

"A climber, you know, trees and rocks and really high stuffs," she announces proudly.

Well alrighty then! You go girl! I just thought that was the funniest thing to say!

 I know I say {and think} this all the time, but I truly cannot believe

 how

 quickly

 they

grow up.

What a Beautiful Day for a Butterfly Birthday Party!

I was thrilled to wake up to beautiful sunshine this morning!
  Look at that...barefoot in JANUARY!?!?!?!

It seemed like an extra special gift in honor of Isabelle Kate's "Posa" {Butterfly} Party!!

I just can't believe my little girl is five! She is the prettiest, sweetest girl in the whole world!

I'd been planning for weeks and weeks, but even after promising myself I wasn't going to be all crazy nuts the morning of the party, I think I failed as I was finally finishing her cake around noon, which was already an hour later than I'd promised myself to be in the shower, which is...you get the idea! Crazy time!

In my defense, my carb-junkie cats make it impossible to leave out any type of confection ahead of time, meanwhile Ryder looked all too ready to swipe a few goodies off the table.

And the butterfly cake I was attempting to do was a colossal FAIL. Just plain miserable. Of course the cute lady on Betty Crocker made it look SOOOO easy. It wasn't. It started falling apart and crumbling, so I pieced it back together, whipped on a new layer of crumb coat, and saved it for morning. That's what really put a kink in my plans!

Definitely not what I was hoping for, but the birthday girl loved it, so that's all I cared about.

Our entrance to the party...

It was so much fun decorating for this party! Except for the food, everything was under ten bucks! Flowers and Dollar Store tissue paper, napkins, plates & balloons... and pretty basic balloons from a local party shop. Everything else I already had!

The food table off the kitchen:

$1 cupcake stands? 

Dollar Store white plates placed atop a glass vase...worked great!

I got the idea for "critter crunch" off Pinterest-

Cones filled with Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, gummy bears & worms...though we ended up calling it Posa Munch.  :)

You gotta have jelly beans in"fancy" glasses!

 I made pink lemonade and served it in the punch bowl, which was a big hit with little girls! 

We also had apple juice and tea.

Decorations in the dining room

 The pictures don't do these pretty tissue paper flowers justice- they were my favorite thing!
The room looked so magical!

We thought it would be fun to make bracelets to take home ~

everyone did such a good job!

This was very inexpensive, and the girls loved it!

 

Then it was time for gifts!

The excitement was really mounting...girls are LOUD!  ;)

I love how her dress draped over the chair ~

Isabelle had asked me to make her a posa dress, with lots of spin, hee hee!

I was happy to oblige! I meant to make a flower for her hair, but I forgot, and it wasn't going to happen this morning, that's for sure!

Such sweet little girls!

Ha Ha- see Isabelle's feet? Mimi knit her some special socks for her boots and ice skates to keep those tootsies warm...and she didn't want to take them off! They're so cute!

And the...CAKE!

 I just love this picture!

ha ha, look at that expression!

 May all your wishes come true, my sweet girl!

We love you so much!

Projects & Party Prep!

It's a slushy, soggy, gray morning here in NH! But I don't mind...we've got lots of things to do for someone's birthday party tomorrow!

I thought I'd share one of my latest projects in our home office/music room. I can't believe I stared at blank walls for over a year! I think I get so afraid of making a mistake, so I don't do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. I took a deep breath, and then took the plunge. With the hammer, that is. Now I luuuuuuuuuuurve what I get to stare at!!!!

These are all pieces from our children! This is my absolute most favorite place in the house now!

I've left room for more masterpieces...please pardon the photos on the piano & the winter duds on top of the dog's kennel- it seems Ryder has a certain affinity for my mittens when they're on the floor, ha!

Most of the pieces fit standard frames, however, a few did not. So I chose pretty scrapbook paper to use as a matte, and that added a fun pop of color.
Up on the right, there was a narrow but veeeerrrrry long painting one of my sons made- there was NOTHING that would fit it! Besides, it was just plain awkward looking no matter what I tried, until...I cut it in thirds and fitted it into the 3-matte frame. Genius! Well, maybe not, but I love it more now than I did when it was whole! Splitting it up gave it great definition.

This is what it looked like the day before...it was so uninspiring, it simply became a dumping ground for everything.

And here is the wall above my desk now...

I took this pic on a sunny day before Bill put up my ledge...

I think I might stencil the word "Inspire" toward the center top...

these are special to me because they are all photographs I've taken of things around our garden and yard that I love

There is one more project involving a poster and a cherished verse, but I have to wait until I get another coupon before I get it printed.  =)

We're installing some board and batten in the hallway, so I've got to get painting...and the timer just rang, so it's time to get the cakes out of the oven...there are four loads of laundry waiting to be put away...and I've got to finish decorating for the party! 

 Here's a little something we've finished already!

Isabelle was concentrating so hard on sorting the colored beads for tomorrow!

In her Rapunzel dress.

With bunny ears.

Oh I love this girl!

I'm going to mingle with the folks over at The Picket Fence today!

Sewing Up Some Happy

Of course Isabelle is sitting beside me right this very minute having a colossal fit over something yet to be determined, so I'm kind of chuckling at the name I first gave this post. But anyway.

I'd stared down a basic navy shirt of hers for far too long, always passing it up in lieu of pinks and purples and yellows- you get the idea. Basic navy wasn't scoring any points here, so...what did I have to lose by experimenting a little?

I love how it turned out! I had tons of idea prattling around my noggin, thanks to so many crafty blogs- and everybody and their cousin's newfound BFF, Pinterest- so I got to work and have fallen in love with these giant fabric flowers.

Weak in the knees love, I tell ya. They're fairly easy to do- you should try it!

Our Sunday in Pictures

You know how some days just feel so great, even when you're not really doing anything?

Some of us weren't feeling that well so we decided to stick around home and avoid spreading germs at church. I don't like missing church, but at the same time, a nice, quiet, leisurely morning seemed like such a wonderful gift, and we all felt better at the end of the day.

Bill and I took Ryder out for an early walk, and boy, was it freezing!!! I was a little fearful of being "stuck inside" with everyone, but it was just perfect.

Jonah serenaded us.

love.

Daddy made homemade blueberry waffles while everyone kept busy, and content.

Caleb looking for water from the new dishwasher my Dad and Bill installed. There was none. Phew.

I had ribs going in the crockpot, which smelled sooo good, and the temp had risen to double digits, yippee! So we decided to trek down to the sliding hill at the cemetery near our home- we had a blast!

The sunshine felt so wonderful! But not nearly as good as hearing my kids laugh and squeal down hills and over jumps!

Lunch was practically ready to go when we got back home, and we spent the rest of the day playing more games, cleaning up a little, and I even made a cute dress for Isabelle while they were all watching football {yawn}...I may be getting some grief for that comment later, ha!

Then we went to Bill's parents and made pizzas, some people watched MORE football, but most of us enjoyed one of those Something Buddies movies, the ones with the cute dogs. I was reading a magazine squished in between Isabelle and Caleb, who were giggling up a storm. It was so much fun- the perfect way to end a perfect day!