Over the course of the last six weeks, there has been an inordinate amount of celebrating going on around here. What with my mom's big birthday milestone, a dear friend's baby shower, and celebrating the birthdays of my 5-days-apart-but-might-as-well-be-the-same-day-because-they'll-never-get-their-own-party boys.
My mother's party (no, I'm not going to tell you which milestone year it was for her...that would be so rude)..(...But she may or may not have been born very close to the time that Eisenhower got the interstate system going...) was a splendid success.
A trip to Trader Joe's for flora, a trip to our neighbor's yard to scrounge some gingko leaves, a trip down the street to find some branches, a trip to the hardware store for gold spray paint, and many trips to my m-in-law's for various table setting necessities, and voila! was born a golden wonderland, entirely Pinterest-worthy (because that's all we care about these days....?)
I'll admit, I was utterly surprised, and completely thrilled with how beautifully things turned out.
I especially loved the paper pompoms. We don't have a light fixture above the table, so the icicle lights and pompoms did a wonderful job creating a cozy, warm, magical effect. Believe it or not, they are simply made out of brown paper bags from the dollar store!
I was thankful for sisters to help with dessert, create a lovely burlap birthday banner, arrange flowers and lights just-so...
This special celebration meal was complete with everyone dressed to the nines
and our own personal gourmet chef (who also happens to be a good family friend).
He prepared a lovely 5-course grecian-style menu with creativity and ease...too bad we all ate way more saganaki and bread than we should have...
OPA!!
The guest of honor, our beloved mother, thought that she was coming over to babysit her grandchildren. I think she bought that lie, hook, line and sinker...
We had a lovely evening, an intimate and special time of celebrating our mother together as a family
We love you Mom and we are so blessed to have you. Thanks for being all you are to us. Comforter, provider, babysitter, friend, confidant, cook, shoulder to cry on...the list is endless. We love you!!
Now we fast forward two weeks...at this point, the festivities resumed with the celebration of the boys' birthdays. Nope, this one was definitely not pinterest worthy. Just some primary colored balloons and streamers (thanks again to my sisters for their decorating assistance ;)
But I did love this bunting that my crafty friend made (I do think THAT part was worthy of being pinned :)
And I thought these nifty, quick and cheap construction paper decorations turned out very cute.
It was fun seeing the look on this little guy's face the first time he saw the decorations.
The boys each got to pick out their own birthday cupcakes at Mariano's (Ok, yes, Will did pick out Lincoln's for him...and being a second child, there are no pictures of Lincoln eating or smashing his cupcake, because in fact it was consumed by his parents the next day).
Happy Birthday to my sweet 1 year old and my sweet-but-often-naughty-and-always-a-handful 3 year old.
Ok, long blog post, bear with me here as we fast forward yet again two additional weeks, to perhaps the most exciting celebration of all...I was able to attend the baby shower of a dear college friend...after four years of waiting and praying and waiting and praying some more, she is about to blessed with a sweet little baby boy of her own.
This wonderful woman is blessed with many wonderful (and wonderfully excited) family members who are all eagerly awaiting this new addition to their clan. They threw her a lovely shower, with themes of children's literature gracing the tables, the favors, and even the food (meatballs, caterpillar snacks, green eggs and ham...seeing the theme here?)
Since this adorable future mama is an elementary school teacher, the theme was perfect. And the shower served its purpose - She was gifted with tons of classic children's books, all the basic necessities, and of course adorable baby boy clothes (who doesn't need a newborn-sized puffer vest or a hand-knit cable sweater for their first little baby?)
I am so very excited for this sweet friend. I can't wait for the day when those loving, long, perfect-for-hugging arms are filled with that little bundle of (pooping, vomiting, fussing...and cuddling) newborn joy. What an answer to long-prayed prayers, and what a blessing indeed!
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