getting ready.

Since Gracie's birthday was about flowers and butterflies and Strawberry Shortcake and princesses we incorporated flowers into the decorating and sat around making tissue paper flowers for the entire week before her party.  I attempted a Strawberry Shortcake cake decoration job.  And it's definitely not superb or even very good or mediocre...but Gracie thought it was the best ever.  And that's enough for me.

We had so much fun getting ready for this party.  The girls and I sat around the table talking and making flowers and then we baked Gracie's cake and laughed until everyone was just too tired to do any more...and then I stayed up until 4am finishing everything up...yes, I'm insane.

I can't help it.  I love a good party.

fun. LIFE.

*tell a friend*

love it.

My husband and my kids always give me such a wonderful Mother's Day.  Each year they ask me what I want and the honest to goodness truth of the matter is this...

I love to go to a quiet place in the woods, preferrably by cool, running water, and have a picnic.  Lounge around for the afternoon taking walks, laying on blankets and pillows reading and talking with gorgeousness (is that a word?) everywhere.

I woke up to a delish breakfast of french toast, fresh strawberries (that Gracie was eating), hashbrowns and an all-around-wonderful-gain-5-pounds-in-a-morning-and-love-every-bite-of-it-dining.

That afternoon after church we headed to King's Mountain and hung out together until it was almost dark.

Thank you, my wonderful little family...(actually most people don't think I have a little family...but that's a topic for another day...)

sweet. LIFE.

*tell a friend*

strawberry shortcake princess flowers and butterflies party.

Grace has been looking forward to this party since...hmmm...her last birthday.  She's been making serious plans since Christmas and asked everyday when we would make invitations for her party.

The thing is that we don't have big birthday parties every year.  We have fun family parties every year for each person's birthday but the big parties with friends and hoopla only happen on your 5th birthday, 10th birthday, and 15th (or 16th) birthday...so they are highly anticipated!

This was Miss G's 5th birthday.

We looked through books and got some ideas and then came up with this design together...we made a great inside and then got so excited about packaging them up in their little boxes that we forgot to take a picture of it.

(more pictures to come...)

party. LIFE.

*tell a friend*

miriam loves horses.

Last year for Christmas Miriam asked for horse lessons.

It’s really the only thing she wanted.

Just before we left Utah, she finally got horse lessons.

Miriam had six horse lessons with Soldier the horse. I got to go to her last one and I have to say that I was really impressed with how well Miriam handled and rode this huge horse. She knew all kinds of cool stuff about horse anatomy and all of the equipment that goes with taking care of a horse. She had also learned to groom him and was so sweet with him. You could tell she was totally in love.

At one of her lessons she was thrown off Soldier. She got back on. (…I think I just heard a bunch of moms gasp at that sentence.) When Miriam came home and told me that she had been thrown from Soldier I was shocked and extremely happy that she was standing in front of me.

Amber, her horse riding teacher, said that Miriam getting thrown from a horse and getting back on makes her a true cowgirl. Miriam loves that!

My little cowgirl.

happy. LIFE.

wishes.

Birthdays around here start at breakfast.  You wake up and you get a present at each meal. 

The girls had been busting with excitement for a couple of days.   (Everyone has been earning their own money, saving some, putting some into tithing, and some into spending.  They all decided to put their spending toward a gift for Emmett.)

They could not WAIT for Emmett to open the things that they bought.  I love that my kids are so excited and enthusiastic about birthdays...it doesn't matter whose it is...they are totally thrilled about it.  So with every present there were all kinds of oohhs!  and aahhs!

There were homemade gifts, too.  Miriam made Emmett a little box out of paper and then wrote him sweet notes about his birthday and put them inside it.

The biggest oohhs!  and ahhs! came when Emmett unwrapped his BB gun.  Yes, folks, you read that right.  Emmett now owns a BB gun...followed by a fretful mom laying down the safety rules...a few times.  I can't believe it....

I am so happy that Emmett is in our family.  There is no one like him in the world. 

He is...

a kind older brother...even if he does know exactly how to push his sisters' buttons.

a voracious learner.

thoughtful of others feelings.

aware of what people need.

a loyal and true friend.

a thinker.

a planner.

an inventor.

someone who doesn't let obstacles get in his way.

independent.

sensitive to spiritual things.

a good listener.

someone with a great smile and a happy laugh.

great at excelling.

competitive.

a hard worker.

a blessing to his mom.

and a gift to his family.

He wished for a BB gun...and got it.

I wished for him to slow down the growing up...to wait for me while I get ready for him to grow up...to wait while I try to get used to him not being the baby that I held 12 years ago... and hoped that this day wouldn't come before I was ready...I didn't get my wish...

I did wish that he would grow up to be a sensitive, kind, and thoughtful person...that's a wish I'm getting.

older. LIFE.

**Tell a friend about this post**