She turned 8!

If you know me, you know I like parties to have themes, especially birthday parties. It helps me decorate and plan. Well, I let the girl choose the theme and surprise! She chose a cat theme. I know, you're not surprised. She loves cats. I wanted her party to be pretty and super cute so we went on Pinterest and got some great ideas. We decided on a pink and gray cat theme. Purrrrrfect. Oh, and Cookie the cat decided that he should be invited too and well, he does match the decorations. We had pink and gray cat cupcakes and my favorite pink foofy punch. It's made with 7up, pink lemonade and pink sherbert. When you pour the 7up over the pink lemonade and sherbert it fizzes! Love it and it tastes so yummy. We made cat sleeves for the cups with gray and pink paper. Breanna made cat masks and I made cat ear headbands for her guests. So fun.

Of course all the food had to be cat themed as well. We came up with these cat face shaped sandwiches. Celery for the eyes and carrots for the nose. Sweet.

To add a little something to the table we made these little felt cat faces. One for each corner of the table. Felt is so fun.

The food table was fun to put together. Tuna fish sandwiches in the shape of fish, cheese and crackers with the cheese cut out like mice, rainbow fruit shishkabobs, goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jelly cat face shaped cookies. Graham crackers for the ears, chocolate chips for the eyes and nose. Again, yummy. The plates were super fun to make too. We just made cat ears and whiskers then glued them to the plates.

These cupcakes were created with homemade marshmallows for the ears (thanks, Kerri!), chocolate chips for the eyes and m&ms for the nose. Adorable.

My dad wanted her to have flowers for her party. So sweet.

Oh, Pinterest. You are so wonderful. These rainbow fruit shishkabobs were super easy to make and they really added color to the table.

Of course she wanted to play Pin the Tail on the Cat and so we did. She drew the cat and made all the tails with bows. Oh my heart.

My baby turned 8. She is more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. She's more than I could have dreamed of. I don't think she's even aware of how happy she makes me. Don't get me wrong, I don't find my happiness in my children, they just bring me joy. Each of my kids fills a very special place in my heart. Marcus is the fulfillment of my dream to become a mother and to have a son, Justin healed my heart after losing a pregnancy and he gave his brother the gift of being a brother, and Breanna, well it's pretty obvious what she does. She fills my days with pink and beauty and joy. None is more special than the other but each is special in only a way that they can be.

Gifts, that's what they are. I treasure each day with my children and I know it goes so fast. I live it. I see the calendar days flip by. Sometimes I have to take a second look at my children because they are growing so fast. I enjoy each day as it comes and at the end of the day I am so thankful for the time with them. In a few months, I'll have a 13 year old and a 16 year old. Yikes! I wonder what theme they'll want for their parties.............

Cookie Exchange

I've always wanted to do a cookie exchange with my friends at Christmas. The thought of having dozens of different types of cookies that I didn't bake sounds wonderful to me but when you ask your friends to bake 7 dozen cookies they get a very scared look on their face and rightly so. You mean you want me to bake 7 dozen cookies on top of everything else I need to do in this crazy month of December? Yes, I do. I bake a lot and I realized that a regular batch of cookies makes about 3 dozen. If you double the recipe you have 6 dozen and if you make your cookies a little smaller you can easily get 7 dozen. I made peanut butter chip cookies since it's easy and everyone seems to love them. My children would prefer that I stop at the dough part and just feed them dough. Not today kids.
Here is what 7 dozen baked cookies looks like. I know, you want to eat them, it's okay, so do I. They go great with tea or coffee.
My husband realized I was having a houseful of women with baked goods and realized that I should have my Christmas present from him a little early. Best Christmas present ever! I absolutely love it! So adorable and perfect for me. Meet my new best friend...

Readying the counter. One must have a hot beverage with their cookies on a cold December night. I heated up the spiced cranberry cider and the pear cinnamon cider. Love them both. Absolutely delicious.

Here is what 7 dozen cookies times 6 looks like. Fun, that's what it is.
Let's see, we had gingerspice cookies, mexican wedding cakes, snickerdoodles, peppermint meringue kisses, orange zest fudge and peanut butter chip cookies. Sugar high!

And here are the lovely ladies that were brave enough to take on my challenge. We missed those who could not attend but I realize during this extra busy season it's not always possible to do everything. I've scaled back school this year during the month of December so that I could make room for the things I really want to do but never have the time for. So glad I did.

Star Wars Baby Shower

Star Wars baby themed gifts? Y es, I can do that. Bryan's cousin, Nicole, had a Star Wars themed baby shower and since this family loves Star Wars we came up with some really fun gifts for the baby. OK, they're more for us but who cares. The baby will love them someday too. We'll make sure of it. Here is Jabba the Hut in baby body pillow form, a Chewbacca monkey (like a sock monkey but it's Chewbacca, and a yoda pillow. Chewy wanted to join us for our morning reading time. We had a book just for him. Imagine that.

This little number was so easy. I found the perfect color of fleece at Walmart, freehand cut it, sewed it inside out, turned it the right way and then closed it up. I used thread to embroider the face. I like him.

He wanted to stay for breakfast.

So did Chewy.

And Jabba made himself right at home.

The cake was amazing. A baby Darth Vader with his binky. Adorable.

Super cute onesie. I sew want to make one of these. Yes, that was meant to be a pun.

Love this t-shirt for Brandon. Perfect.

I think Brandon likes Chewy too.

And Nicole enjoyed the yoda pillow.

Had to crochet a yoda hat. Warm my head is...

And since I made Makena a blanket I had to make Greyson one too. The Star Wars lettering really looked better in person but hey, I did my best.

Seriously, this Jabba body pillow is sooo cozy. You want to hug him.

The cute Beach Family. We were happy to have Brandon home on leave since he's been in training for his tour in Afghanistan. Makena has the most beautiful hair and is super smart. We call her Baby Gate. (You know as in she should be in the gate program but for babies.) We love this family and we're so happy they're giving us another addition to it. Welcome Baby Greyson!

Thankful

Ok , Ok, so I'm doing my thankful post in December but better late than never. We had a whirlwind of a Thanksgiving since most of us traveled to Nevada to be with family for the holiday. Marcus stayed home with my dad because his play opened the Friday after Thanksgiving. I think they were secretly happy to stay home, watch football and eat hotdogs instead of the usual chaos that is our family whenever we all gather. This year we have Pinterest to thank for these adorable turkeys. Love!
Oh, and I love these girls too. Lizzie and Sami. So happy, so helpful, so beautiful. One was my Shirley Temple and one was my twin to my first born. They both hold a special place in my heart and when I think of them, I'm instantly happy.

This promised to be a really special trip because we got to meet Lauren's boyfriend, Mike. We're very protective in this family and we only want the best for our own. He was sweet, polite, funny, kind, thoughtful, helpful and fun to be around. I think she likes him...

He smiled willingly every time I wanted to take a picture, and that was often.

I think he likes her.....

They make a cute couple and we'll see where this leads...

Not to be outdone, this is a pretty cute couple too. Bill and Kathleen, without whom this whole family unit would probably not exist. They are the glue that holds our family together. We love them and miss them when they travel the world for months on end.

Oh, the Oliver girls.....Samantha, Elizabeth and Lauren....together again.

Cutest family ever...the Oliver Family. Aren't they adorable?

We thought the couch with the pool in the back was a nice touch. Vegas is very warm this time of year and absolutely beautiful once you get off the strip.

My amazing brother-in-law about to carve the turkey.

It was a jammed, packed weekend with Thanksgiving, a 90th birthday and a baby shower all wrapped into one. Bryan's grandfather, my kids' great grandfather, turned 90 this year and since we were all gathered for Thankgiving we decided to celebrate such a monumental occasion. He was beaming the entire day with pride in a family that loves him.

Here is a man who is reflective of what living 90 years can do. It makes you think.

And he actually blew out all of those candles and was happy to do it.

We thought this hat was hilarious-"Disfunctional Veteran, Leave Me Alone" Perfect. My dad has the same one.

A man and his daughters. A happy man.


Oh, wait, he just got happier....

A man and his loyal, beautiful wife....

After all the traveling, talking, preparing, eating, cleaning, celebrating, I think my father-in-law had the best idea, sit by the pool and enjoy the beauty of it all. I am so thankful and my heart overflows. Thankful for family, friends, health, abundance, love. I could go on for hours.