We had a HOOOT!

Just waiting for her guests to arrive

In addition to the door decor, Daddy wrapped our outdoor light pole in pink lights to welcome guests.

One of my favorite decorations was the mantle which took on you on a little walk down memory lane.  

This years cake

Meagan, who is Erin's big sister agreed to be my assistant.  Lily Grace adores her and having her here only made her party more special.  Thanks so much Meagan.  You were a trooper.

Good friend Erin was the first guest to arrive.

Bottle Cap necklaces in the making.

One silly girl having tons of fun

Signing pillowcases: This activity had Meagan and I looking at each other in disbelief.  You think telling 8 seven year olds to pass to the right and sign would be easy huh?  As soon as we said pass, all we saw were pillowcases flying and squeals followed. HA! HA!

Blowing out the candles and making it official

Opening her gifts and choosing a boxed owl

Finally unwrapping their owls: They were about to bust waiting for everyone to get a turn selecting a box and being told to open. 

Here they all are before they flew the nest

Here is Dress Up Owl made especially for the Birthday Girl

Adoption Cards: Susan at JPress did an amazing job on the invitations, adoption cards, water bottle labels, favor bag labels and character cards for the party.  Thank you so much Susan.  You always make everything so special and cute. 

The girls and their owls 

Dancing the night away!  However, with daylight savings time working against you, creating the dark takes a little imagination.  And trust me, they could have cared less. 

This year Lily Grace decided on a Night Owl theme for her 7th birthday party.  She was so excited about having friends over so late and partying until the wee hours of the night.  The party didn't end until 8:00 pm.  To my almost seven year old, that was LATE.  :-)
Lily Grace invited 8 girls over and everything we did revolved around owls.  
The party kicked off with everyone arriving in their PJ's and lugging a sleeping bag.  With owls so popular right now, Lily Grace and I happened upon some adorable owl fabric that we used to sew her pajama bottoms.  She looked so cute.
The girls quickly got busy making their own bottle cap necklaces, with an owl at the center of course. The girls also enjoyed signing their names to the back of owl pillowcases as a keepsake to remember the evening with friends.  And of course, pizza and cake were in abundance.  Lily Grace's favorite part of the party was the Owl Adoption.  I sewed owls for the girls.  Each owl was different.  Each came with a card telling what kind of owl it was.  We had owls like Wise, Dreamy, Crafty etc.  Knowing all the characters, Lily Grace had asked to be Dress Up Owl.  I agreed that she could choose hers, but that she couldn't see it before the party. She had to be surprised like all her friends.   Once I sewed all the owls, I wrapped each one in a box and included the character card.  As Lily Grace opened a gift from a friend, they got to choose a box.  Once Lily Grace had opened all her gifts and each girl had selected a box, they all opened their boxes to reveal their owl.  There were so excited!  Lily Grace was thrilled with Dress Up Owl.  The girls were then given Owl Adoption Cards where they named their owls.  The girls then got together for a picture with their owls. Matt printed the picture before the girls left and placed it in a frame that I had fabric wrapped for each girl.  
We ended the night with glow sticks and dancing in the dark.  Three hours later, 8 tired and still excited little girls called it a night.  (And two tired parents did too.)
According to Lily Grace, this was the best birthday ever.  Glad to hear that Gracie!  Daddy and I love sharing in these special and fun times with you.  We had a great time and look forward to celebrating her actual birthday in just two short weeks.  Until then, we are off to enjoy Spring Break!  (And I shall ponder what in the world I did before etsy and Pinterest. Ha!)
Thanks to everyone who came and helped Lily Grace celebrate.  

An "Egg"citing Easter Weekend

School Easter Egg Hunt

Day 1 of Building

Day 2 of Building: Blue fleece, pink sweatpants, pink cowgirl boots and a big pink flower in  her hair.  You will notice that Matt's work outfit never changes.  Talk about being upstaged.  HA!

Of course, add a doll to the mix while dad is working away.  On a side note, at one point a purple guitar came out. I know that must have really helped Matt.

Day 3 of Building: Another pair of pink velvet pants, another blue fleece but mixed up a bit with the addition of a bonnet and tool belt from Home Depot

Dressed in pink and wearing a smile

Out to dinner before the Easter Vigil 

Finally!! Great job daddy!  You are the best!!!

I hope this finds all of you rested and renewed from a wonderful Easter weekend!  The good news is, Christ has risen!  He has risen indeed!

We have had a busy but fun weekend around our house.  Things got started on Holy Thursday with a half day of school and Easter Egg Hunt along with a backyard project and evening mass.  

A few years ago, Matt took a few days off work and built Lily Grace a playset.  Little did he know, that he would do it again.  That's right, Matt and Lily Grace embarked on the building of a new playset after leaving the other one back in Tennessee.  This one is much like the other, but has a wood roof this time as well as monkey bars.  We thought Matt needed a challenge this time. HA!  Lily Grace has been very excited about helping out and even more excited about having swings again.  She was a great helper, or maybe I should say interesting helper.  Each day brought with it some new and "interesting" outfit choices.  I have no idea but again, every day I found myself looking forward to seeing what "helping out" would look like.  

Good Friday brought with it more building in the backyard as well as evening mass.  This is one of my favorite masses.  Seems odd huh?  You see, I admit that I find that I become complacent sometimes with the cross.  I mean, we see it everywhere and it seems to have become some sort of fashion accessory.  I often times think we can forget what it really represents and honestly, I can't even comprehend it's true impact and what Jesus went through on that cross.  In the Catholic faith, we have a tradition at Good Friday mass, the veneration of the cross.  The cross, a large piece of wood is covered and carried from the back to the front of the church and is slowly uncovered as it reaches the alter.  Once there, we walk up to the front and kneel to kiss the cross.  It's a very humbling and real experience.  You don't just return to your seat after that, at least I don't.  You will see some red faces as some people seem a little embarrassed or unsure and you will see much emotion in others. You will even see strong athletes lean over to give a gentle kiss to this cross. The cross, a reminder and symbol of a great love given through sacrifice.  It is moving I tell you and easily stirs emotion in me that reminds me that what happened to Christ was for me, undeserving not as grateful as I should be sometimes me.  There is a Third Day song, You are so Good to Me, that really sums it up through the lyrics, "You poured out all your blood.  You died upon the cross.  You are my Jesus who loves me."  It really is a beautiful service that helps to connect with those words as well as relate to what Jesus did for us, even though we can never truly grasp what He did and how very much our Heavenly Father loves us.  

Saturday we woke to one of the prettiest days we've had since Spring sprung.  It was sunny and a whopping 55 degrees.  It was the perfect setting for another day of building.  The sun even brought out a bonnet.  Yes, that is a bonnet from a Pilgrim costume but apparently according to Lily Grace, it's also a terrific sun visor.  Too funny!  

Building was cut short as we dressed for dinner and this year attended the Easter Vigil.  It's a long, yet beautiful service.  Lily Grace was so excited about attending this year.  We've always feared she would fall asleep but no, not this year.  She worked her Bible following along and taking it all in.  God thank you so much for filling her little heart with a love for you.  I pray that Matt and I do a good job in raising her to continue that love and excitement for you and your word.  

Sunday brought with it a day of celebration for our risen Lord as well as a basket of goodies and a project complete.  It brought smiles, laughter, relief and pride for one daddy as well as a swing together that meant the world to both of them.

Thanks be to God for all the blessings that we share in and for a love that never ends.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day starts and ends with tons of love!!

Love never fails... 1 Corinthians 13

Music to my Ears

Mrs. Jones is a wonderful music teacher and we are so thankful to her for creating such a special evening. 

Play Video and Enjoy!

This was her final song, Song of the Wind.  I love her cute bow circles. The smile that comes across her face as she nears the end knowing that she has done a good job is just priceless!!!

Lily Grace started the violin around the beginning of December so she's only been playing just a little over 2 months.  She practices most every day for 30 minutes and for the most part, does so without complaint and by her own initiative.  
Beginning mid December, she had only been taking lessons for 2 weeks when the music school held Winter Recital.  Her music teacher Mrs. Jones felt that it was too soon to throw her in to that.  Instead, Mrs. Jones held a mini recital last night for Lily Grace and one of her other students.  It was so sweet.
Lily Grace performed three songs, A Twinkle Variation, Lightly Row and Song of the Wind.   She did a beautiful job. When it was all over she kept telling us how proud she was of herself and simply beaming with pride.  Her constant smile said it all.  Later in the evening, she confided in us that she was really scared at home but "just did it." Lily Grace, daddy and I would have never known that you were scared beforehand.  You handled it like a pro and you should be proud because you did do it and not only that, you did it very well!!!
We love you Lily Grace!  Thank you for performing for us. We are so, so proud of you!

A BLIZZARD...Not Your Milkshake Variety

This is what we woke to Saturday morning and the garage was the only way out with the doors blocked with snow

Casualty to the weather- the tree and the new fence

So funny- as we opened the garage door Saturday morning, the deer were going by and looked just as amazed as we were.

Getting started on a cold and daunting task 

Making progress with the first pass oh! and a helper of course

Bundled up cuteness filled with excitement- She loves the snow!

That's how I feel about it Molly

Not the delivery we were hoping for

Matt with his pride and nemesis on Sunday afternoon- each time the plow truck goes by, it piles snow at the end of our drive and Matt is constantly having to go out there and keep the end shoveled off

Have mercy!  Apparently, New England is determined to turn this southern family into Northerners.  We have just weathered our first blizzard.  Actually that is an ongoing statement with at least a foot of snow still on the ground as I type 6 days after the snow started and Lily Grace just returning to school after a week home.  
I must say, it was a most unbelievable sight.  (let me just interject here how sick I am at looking at snow)  We managed quite well and Matt, while he has had to plow the drive before, got quite the workout with this one.  It took almost 3 hours to plow through the 24+ inches of snow.  We woke to our doors blocked and in some places, tall drifts had come up to the window seals.  
Lily Grace was beyond excited and couldn't wait to get outside.  With the blistering wind and whipping snow it was short lived as it was just too overwhelming to stay out very long.  She ventured out on numerous trips to help Matt keep up with the drive and make a few snowballs. 
Molly is still a bit confused by the whole scene.  Let me just say, being a dog owner is brutal during a snow storm.  Thank God we have a breezeway, but still it's a chore.  Thank goodness that about 12 inches down we had a sheet of ice from the sleet so Molly could actually stand up to go outside. Matt did his best to clear her some paths but really, all that snow has to go somewhere and there's already mounds everywhere.  
To be honest. this southern family managed quite well.  We were among the first to get our drive cleared as many were still digging out Sunday afternoon and still some yesterday.  
We did have half of a large old tree succumb to the heavy snow and high winds Friday night and fall across the backyard, luckily missing the house.  Looks like the whole tree will have to go and hey- with any luck, so will this snow!!!
Here's wishing us all warmer weather!

Family Day: 6 Years

Blessed!