It’s a sunny day

My mom taught a song to the boys:

“It’s a sunny day, it’s a sunny day, it’s sunny outside so we can go out a play. All the little children say ‘hip-hip-hooray!’ It’s a sunny, sunny day {boom boom}”

Most days when it is unexpectedly sunny {quite frequently, I’m afraid}, we all break out in song. Today was one of those day.

GORGEOUS.

So we headed outdoors.

 

I realized that since having Audrey, I really haven’t photographed my first three loves. So I grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots of our beautiful day.

 

We met up with my mom and her wonderful husband for a lakeside lunch.

Then ventured to another park to meet up with cousins. {Note: it was only 68, which is really a nice spring day, but certainly not warm enough to be shirtless – unless you are 5 and your name is Grant}.

   

My silly six year old found posing for the camera quite entertaining. He had some awesome poses.

 

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We loved today.

Unfortunately, I think we’ll be singing the “It’s a rainy day” version of the song tomorrow.

a winner & a birthday boy

First of all, thank you to all the kind ladies who commented about my beautiful shower.  The invitations were created by my dear friend Rae … aren’t they the most perfect things you’ve ever seen? Keepsake for sure. And it was hosted at my best friend’s gorgeous home and all the food was made by my talented girls.

Now, for the winner of the fancy shoe stationery {I went with a very high-tech form of drawing, as you can see}.

A N D   T H E    W I N N E R    I S : Wendy from The Shabby Nest.  Send me an email and I’ll ship these to you shortly {emily@jonesdesigncompany.com}.

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Six years ago, right about now, I was laying in my bed starting to cry from the pain of contractions. It was my first time at this labor thing and I had already been sent home from the hospital early that morning, so there was no way I was going to go in only to be sent home again.  When you’ve never experienced labor pains, you really have no idea how bad they can get. I figured “it could be worse”, so I stayed in bed, curled up, fighting through the pain while my husband finished out his day at work.  Another hour or so passed and my mother-in-law {a former labor & delivery nurse} came by to see how we were doing.  I mentioned it felt a little like I needed to push and she FREAKED OUT. We raced to the hospital, where I was admitted and realized that I had dilated all the way to 8 cm.  Is this too much information?  I haven’t thought about this in a while!

Anyway, two hours later, my little bundle of everything was born.  My m-i-l jokes that the first thing I said when I saw him was, “He’s so cute. Not all gross like i thought!”.  And he really was. Still is. 

He was born just two hours before his daddy’s birthday, but his is a fun one to remember: 02.03.04.

Oh how this little boy has changed our lives. He is sensitive and silly and so completely smart. He is cautious and curious and creative beyond belief. Give him a pencil and paper and he’ll create a masterpiece. Give him a box of legos and he’ll build the most amazing helicopter. 

He has his share of quirks: he creates more crumbs than anyone I’ve known. He waits until the very last second to go to the bathroom.  He gets freaked out about minor injuries. He cries a little more than we’d prefer.

But he loves the Lord, loves his family, loves his terribly worn 'white blankie’.

And we all adore him.

Happy birthday to the most wonderful S.I.X. year old around.

super hero birthday party

yesterday was our big birthday party for #2. he turned four and loves dressing up as a super hero {as well as leaping from the couch in a single bound}, so, of course a super hero party was the only option.

one problem: i like to do things ‘non commercially’ if that makes sense. no batman napkins or iron man paper tablecloths for this girl. perhaps i’m a little too snobby or perhaps i haven’t figured out that using such items makes party prep SO much easier, but i just can’t go there quite yet.  

we went with a “create your own super HERO sandwich” meal. lots of toppings and yummy rolls = easy easy easy.

 

i was invisioning an awning striped table cloth and couldn’t find what i wanted, so i decided to make one. i used two $1.50 plastic tablecloths from the party store, cut the yellow one into strips, and double-stick taped onto the white one. then i scallopped the bottom to make it cute. 

above the table was a star garland made by cutting stars {with the help of #1 and his fabulous cutting skills} and taping to a ribbon.  my sister was helping decorate the night before and we laughed that it looked like a superhero circus party, but hey, it was colorful and fun.

 

i wanted polka dot cups and couldn’t find any, so i made these using red plastic cups and white sticker dots.

and, what’s a birthday in our family without grandma making a mini cake? i love how it turned out!

 

we did a piñata {which really is a twisted game, if you ask me. whack the character you like the most? strange.}

for party favors, i made superhero masks for all the kiddos.  i used the template found here.

it was a fun party and most of all, the birthday boy thought it was the “best party ever”.