30 Days of Thankfulness {Day 17}

Today  I am thankful for
-conversations with a mom-friend at church that blessed and encouraged us both in this hard mothering job of pre-teens and teens.
- getting to surprise our girlies by fulfilling S/R's big birthday request of getting her ears pierced! What a memorable experience for all of us. They both did so well. S/R was 1st  and was quite surprised at how much it hurt to get it done. Thankfully, we had a great girl doing it and she saw the panic on S/R's face and was quick to finish the other ear. O. did amazing! She was surprisef at how little it hurt, compared to what she had anticipated. I'm so glad I was able to be right there to hold their hands and encourage them. My big girls!
I'm still so surprised at how much the earrings changed O. She looks so much older and grown up now. She came to me in the evening and said, "Mommy, I just walked past my mirror in my room and I didn't even recognize myself with my hair in a ponytail and my ears pierced! I look so much older!" And I totally agree. She does. She's such a gorgeous girl, it's beautiful and painful to see her look so grown-up!
It didn't change S/R at all though. She's still just her adorable cute self. I was so tickled by her. This day was the worst day by far of the canker sore in her mouth hurting her. She hadn't smiled or laughed all day and was very solemn faced. So much so that M. and I were starting to get pretty worried about her by the middle of the afternoon. She's such a smiley girl. We had gotten home from the whole ear piercing after church experience and M. and I were cooking lunch for the kids when we heard an ear-splitting scream come from the bathroom. We both stared at each other and M. asked "Is that a good scream or a bad scream? I can't tell." "I'm not sure either," I said. I headed to the bathroom, dreading what I was going to find, and I poked my head around the door and said, "S/R! Are you ok???" She looked up at me, completely solemn and non-smiling, "Oh yes momma. I'm just so excited that I got my ears pierced and you know I've got to just give a little scream of excitement every now and then to let it out." Apparently, it doesn't hurt as much to scream as it does to grin ear-to-ear. :)
- today is the 12th anniversary of M. asking me to marry him. I'm ever so thankful that he did!
- S/R's comment on the way home from AWANA. "Is God going to be there when we get to heaven? Well, I'm glad he is! Cause I'm going to run up and give him a great big hug and tell him how much I love him when I see him!"

Birthday Questions - Olivia turning 9

Birthday Questions - Olivia turning 9

{Olivia got a camera for her birthday this year. It takes video, so you guys may actually get to see an occasional video of us now! }

This is a video of our annual birthday questions for Olivia, inspired by my friend Chelle. I thought it would be fun to share. Especially for grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who are far away.

Hope you enjoy it.

Vintage Sewing Party - Olivia turns 9

For Olivia's birthday to celebrate turning 9, we decided on the theme of sewing and it quickly morphed into a vintage sewing party, since we both have strong affections for the vintage side of life. :) It was a lot of fun and truly, the details make all the difference. Buttons tied on with twine, lace doilies around, polka dotted straws, and button shaped lollipops. We kept it small, with just 6 friends to be dropped off at our house. That was a big deal, because Olivia has never had a drop-off party before, but it it seemed to be the best way and made all of the detail work possible
We decided to have the girls make an initial embroidery hoop with felt and then embellish it with felt flowers and buttons. They turned out amazingly well. A few of our girls had never seen an embroidery hoop or held a needle while others were more knowledgeable, so it was very fun to see where they all ended up. Even Sadie-Rose joined in and stitched her initial onto her own hoop. Pretty good for a 4 year old we thought.
After sewing our hoops (and rethreading needles about 85 times) we decided to take a break and play a couple games. We played several rounds of "Button, Button, where is the Button" and then played hoop toss with the spools of serger thread and embroidery hoops. Then it was time for cake and ice cream and lemonade. After the fun of all of the sugar (they also ate button shaped chocolate lollipops) we opened presents and cards. We then came back to the table and made elastic button bracelets. While we were finishing those up, our parents arrived and it was a quick pick-out-your-pincushion-and-drop-a-lolli-in-the-bag-grab-your-hoop-and-out-the-door-marathon of 5 little girls.

 The invitations, pinked along the edges, hand written, and buttons tied on with twine. Sewn up in waxed paper enveloped and {most} hand delivered.

 The table was set out with vintage milk glass, pyrex, mason jars, and threads.

Sorry several of these look blurry. Blogger has messed them up in the loading process somehow as they look fine in my photo editing program. :(

 My grandmother, who was here visiting, did all the flower arranging which turned out lovely.

Olivia picked out the flowers at the store. She said she was going for a "pink roses/vintage/ country flowers type feel." I think she accomplished her mission with our limited choices. :) 

 Threads and embellishments ready for creative minds and small hands.

 

Our hoops with their pre-cut initials.

 

We used Olivia's great great grandmother's treadle sewing machine and table for our food display. Her great grandmother's china was used as well as a vintage cakestand we found a couple months ago. Hung on the wall and on the mannequin were vintage patterns that were her grandmother's and a few thrifted ones as well. (Again, blogger messed up the photo quality on these! Arg!)

Our 3 layer Neapolitan cake. All 3 layers made from scratch and it was sooooo yummy.  The cake flags were made from the leftover papers of her invitations and various sized skewers.

Sparkling raspberry lemonade to drink.

The party favors. Pincushions from vintage sheets and button shaped chocolate lollipops.

The front door was decorated with a paper banner and vintage sheets hearts on the door and my dress makers mannequin with vintage fabric and patterns.

It was a lovely day, everything went without a hitch, and Olivia was beyond thrilled with it which, in the end, is all that really matters. I am more than thankful that my grandmother was here visiting for O's birthday and was the most amazing help to me ever. There were one or two nights we were up until 11:30 or so, tying twine and cutting felt. I could never have done it without her. She washed all the dishes for each set of cakes (that would be 3 9" cake pans and 3 pans of cupcakes plus all the bowls and beaters and the frosting stuff too) which is a total labor of love and that's barely the tip of the iceberg.
I'm glad that we were able to have a celebration that reflected a lot of Olivia's personality and interests and celebrates the amazing young lady that she is. 9 years have sped by lightening quick and I'm sure the next 9 will as well. And though I never would have thought it possible to love her more than I did when she was born and laid in my arms for the 1st time, it is true. I love her more now and can't imagine life without her.

Olivia's baptism

Olivia decided back in October, after watching quite a number of her friends get baptized, that that was something she needed to do as well. We talked with her, explaining why and the what the Bible said about it, and making sure she understood her choice. And she did. She got it. And she was so excited to be baptized. She's been looking forward to it for months.
Reminding me every Sunday to tell Pastor Paul to please do another service so that she could be baptized too and as soon as it was announced,
reminding me to please sign her up.
She couldn't wait.
So this Sunday was the big. Family Service Sunday. Baby Dedication, Covenant Partnership, Communion, and of course, baptism.
She was ready.
What a blessing to see your child come to this choice and make a decision so early in life.
To be excited and eager to jump into a life full of and directed by Christ.
We are so proud of her.
I remember the Sunday we dedicated her, standing on stage, with our tiny 6 week old.
And now she's eight, almost nine, and standing in front of our church telling everyone that she loves Jesus and wants to follow him.
It goes by in a heartbeat.
And it takes your breath away.
God is so good.

Feb. photo a day - day 5

February photo a day
Day 5 "10am"

Our darling girl, so big, getting baptized.
Pastor Paul's words to her? "You are a courageous little girl."
Yes, yes she is.

On my kitchen window

Olivia picked these and brought them to me
while she was supposed to be getting the mail.

She said she liked the purple and yellow together.
She is the master of mini bouquets
and unique color combos. :)

Four little friends

We stopped at our local produce stand the other evening, ostentensibly to just pick up a jar of local honey. But, we got side tracked by the tables full of lovely pumpkins and beautiful (if unusual) gourds. (I left my camera at home, but we are going back this weekend so I will take a few pictures of our favorites then.) Olivia's favorites are the baby pumpkins and the miniture gourds. They always have been. Something to do with all the ginormouse pumpkins and then the itty bitty ones that fit in your hand. Just her size. So, her daddy told her to pick out a few.

She fell in love with two orange pumpkins (minis) and two identical gourds (minis again.) She held them all the way home and played "family" with them all evening. In the morning I was picking up the living room, but the pumpkins were no where to be found. I didn't think much of it, figuring that she had them tucked some place "safe" and sure enough, when I made her bed later that morning, this is what I found. :)

Four little friends, lined up on her window sill, right next to her pillow.

A new skirt for fall

Miss Olivia had a growth spurt last week that resulted in

none of her little skirts fitting any more.

So we made a quick trip to Walmart

(because our local Quilt shop has ONE bolt of corduroy and only in yellow)

and found several cute cord prints.

And Mommy set to work and 24 hours later

this is what was birthed from the machine.

She seems quite happy with it,

even though I had to bribe her with going to the park

to get modeling pictures. :)

I have a few more prints to work with

and since she seemed so happy with the results

I think I will make her another.

The directions (without my own tweaking)

can be found here.

just a little photo shoot

It's been a little while since I've felt the urge to pick up my camera and take a whole bunch of pictures, but yesterday Olivia just looked so cute, the lighting was perfect and the bed was made :) plus the camera was laying right beside me. Here is a sampling of the results of 30 some photos. Enjoy!