You are My Sunshine

This is the first of a two part blog about Stella’s first birthday party. There are just too many pictures to try and put in one post. So, I’ll start with all the fun party planning!

We celebrated a couple weeks early because when I started planning and ordering invitations I was unsure if we would have any offers or contracts on the house and I really wanted to have the party at home.

I’ve been thinking about this party for months and wanted to make it special {I guess mainly for myself since Stella will have no recollection that this party ever happened}! Before Stella was even born, I had seen another party that had a “You are My Sunshine” theme and thought the idea was too cute – so I took the idea and made it my own!

I searched and searched on Etsy for just the right “Sunshine” themed package and found one {from Kidfully Celebrations} that included invitations, cupcake toppers, favor tags, a welcome sign, a birthday banner, and a 3-piece centerpiece. I ended up having to order more invitations, favor tags, and cupcake toppers than what was included in the package. I could not have been happier with the results!

Then, I have a friend’s mom {Tried and True Designs on Etsy and FB} that designs diaper bags and bibs! I had seen that she had done some onesies around the holiday times and thought it would be perfect if she could make Stella a “Sunshine” themed onesie and bib for her birthday outfit. I contacted her and am SO happy I did because the onesie and bib turned out absolutely perfect!

My girlfriend at work made the tutu and bow {Slugbug No Hit Backs on Etsy and FB}, which completed Stella’s look! Again – I could not be happier with the way the whole outfit turned out!

For the sweets, I ordered the cupcakes, cake, and smash cake from Say it with Sugar in Wylie. My family has used them for years and we always love the creative design AND wonderful taste of their cakes! It was definitely a hit!

I also had some apothecary jars from my baby shower last year and used 3 of those and filled with coordinating color-themed candy! Candy is expensive, people! So, I opted to use my smallest jars.

I also bought lemon heads to fill the favor bags. I set the favor bags in a basket on a table in our foyer with a picture of Stella and some balloons on it.

I made the highchair banner from material and ribbon I bought at Hobby Lobby. I cut a triangle from paper as the pattern and literally cut piece after piece to make the banner. Then, a little hot glue and fabric glue and voila! {I was super proud of myself for making this because if you know me…I am the opposite of crafty!}

I was able to borrow some burlap from a girlfriend and used that for table cloths and used the extra material pieces from the banner to create a “runner” on the cake table and food table!

I also used little {orange and yellow} picture holders from Hobby Lobby to decorate the house with pictures from birth through her first year. I also bought cheap frames at WalMart and spray painted them yellow to match the theme and put Stella’s pictures in those, as well.

This past Christmas, as a gift for the grandparents {and myself}, I made a book on-line of Stella’s first 6-months and laid that and Stella’s baby book out on our coffee table…in case anyone is as obsessed with my kid as I am ;)

As far as the food, I actually enlisted the help of the grandparents and my sister. I knew I would stress out if I had to provide all the food, so they were all so nice to agree to bring something. I did some little smokies with bbq sauce in the crockpot and some Funfetti Chex mix. My mom made Hawaiian roll sandwiches, Blake’s mom made pasta salad and deviled eggs, Lori brought a veggie and fruit tray and my sister made corn dip with chips. It all was so yummy – and I ate on the left-overs for days!

Lastly, I set up a table for the birthday presents in our dining room. I used orange table cloths and a couple picture frames as well as the letter’s from Stella’s room that spell out her name.

Everything about the party was perfect! I’ll be sharing more pictures from the actual party in my next post!

My {First} Mother's Day

I celebrated my first Mother’s Day this year. I can’t say I didn’t love hearing people say “Happy Mother’s Day” – it made me feel just a little bit special that I am a mom to my beautiful little Stella. I snapped this picture first thing Sunday morning when I went into Stella’s room!

Here is a self-portrait {not my favorite} of Stella and I before we headed off to church.

After church, my sweet sister made us lunch so we went down to her house in Dallas. She had arranged for us to do the Mother’s Day Tour of Homes on Swiss Ave since she lives less than half a mile from there.

Blake took Stella for the afternoon and I got to spend some time with my mom and sis!

The homes were beautiful and I unashamedly love touring people’s homes. I love looking at people’s different decorating tastes and I love to see how people style their homes {which must be why I’m addicting to HGTV}. It was a perfect day.



{I'm hoping Stella will have a little play house like this one day!}



Here are the flowers that Blake and my sis got me!

Yay for May!

Here’s a little catch-up on our lives over the last week!

Last Monday, after I got home from work and we had dinner, we decided to go out and see the horses and the steers. Also, I wanted to see the last few loads of sand that had been delivered to the arena! This sand is beach-white! We’re so close to being done and about ready to start roping and riding!

On our way home, we stopped by the baseball fields to watch our pastor’s son play baseball. For only being 11, he really has great talent and awareness for the game. I LOVE baseball and always seize any excuse to go watch a game!

Every couple weeks or so my mom will keep Stella at my house during the week while I work from home. This way, I can take my conference calls and keep up with emails, but also get to see my baby! That morning, we were all sitting on the floor in the office playing around and my mom yelled, “Scorpion!” We scooped Stella up and smashed the thing to death. This is actually the third one that I’ve seen in the last few months, but definitely the biggest…and the closest to Stella!

Also, as I’ve mentioned before, Stella has always been very non-stop. Whether she was army-crawling/scooting around or now her new found lightning-speed crawling…she is everywhere! She’s never so much as glanced at the TV until recently. But, even at that, she maybe looks for 10-15 seconds and is onto the next thing. So, she actually went 5 minutes watching a show on the Baby channel and I was pretty excited! Don’t get me wrong, I do not want my child glued to the TV by any means, however, there are times where it would be nice to keep her occupied for a little while.

Thursday evening I had a girls night with a couple of my favorites – Lauren and Lauren! We met up at LaRue for the kick-off of the Ali Dee collection! We shopped a little and then talked to Ali Dee, who is seriously the sweetest person. So very down to earth! Not that I expected anything different, but it’s just nice that she was just as sweet as I thought she seemed on TV! Then, we went next door and ate some Mexican food and I was home before Stella went to sleep!

Friday evening I went and got a much needed hair trim from my sis! I can never style it quite as good as she does…I’m considering driving to her place every morning just so she can help me! I’m hair-styling impaired!

We went and had dinner with our good friends, Lauren and Cody, at Whiskey Cake on Saturday night! We hadn’t been able to get together in the last month, so it was really awesome catching up and having some good laughs with them! Blake and Cody grew up together and were pretty much as close as you can get without being blood! Lauren and I became instant friends when Blake and I went with them on a weekend trip to a ranch rodeo in Wichita Falls – it’s hard to believe that was nearly 5 years ago! Now, any excuse we can get to go hang out we take it! We’re actually taking a trip to Wyoming together in July to go to the “Daddy of ‘em All” {speaking in rodeo terms} – the Cheyenne Frontier Days! I can’t wait!!



{please note - Blake shaved his mustache when we got home that night...but since I had made such a big deal about hating it, of course he had to go a few days pretending like this was his new look!}

 

SUNDAY – what an awesome day! Blake’s testimony was shared in our three Sunday services at our church, Northplace in Sachse. Blake nor I had seen the finished product of the video, so watching on Sunday was so moving. I’m so thankful for God’s faithfulness and His plan. And I’m so thankful and proud of my husband. I pray that Blake’s testimony encouraged people. As soon as I’m able to get a copy of it, I will post it! My parents (who attend Northplace), my sister, Rachel and her husband, Paul, as well as Blake’s dad, Greg and his wife, Lori, all came to church with us and we went and had lunch together afterwards. We ended last night back at church to complete our last small group class for this “semester” and had a reception for our pastor who graduated this past weekend with his earned doctoral degree in ministry.

{Clearly she's seen someone on the phone before}

Here are a few more pics from the weekend!

 

{Playing with G-Mommy}



{Sharing her microphone}

 

{Eating Puffs}



{My future professional harmonica player}




{She could not stop giggling at this Elmo app - it was precious}



{Giving my sweet baby kisses}