Five on Friday

There are so many wonderful things about this Friday...here I go!

1. Good Friday

As a Christian, Good Friday is a monumental event in history. My Savior was crucified to pay the debt that my sin renders. He took the burdens of this world to the cross so that I may freely live and someday enter the Kingdom. I praise God for the sacrifice and yet mourn the tourcherous events that had to occur to make this possible. Without His sacrifice there would be no reason to hope.

Good Friday is arguably the saddest day in the life of Christ, but hold on, Sunday is coming! 

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2. Momma is coming to town...to stay!

For several years I have been certain that my mom was meant to move near us. The Lord has honored my requests and I'm thrilled to say that she will be here today! My hubby and his friend have been in GA since Wednesday getting her ready to go. By this time tonight, she'll be here to stay! No more 500 mile road trips. No more goodbyes with months in between them.

3. Easter

I love this time of year. It's filled with so many wonderful things. We celebrate oodles of birthdays and of course, Easter. We focus our energies primarily on recognizing the death and resurrection of our Savior, but we do enjoy other festivities. The kids will have an egg hunt and we'll have Easter lunch as a family. It will be N's first Easter...I hope it's warm enough to put him in his cute outfit.

4. Low Carb

I'm finishing up my third week of low carb eating. I'm not super strict but I've found a way to make it work for me. I can't wait to share my monthly update!

This is one of my favorite low carb meals to date!

5. SPRING BREAK!

Praise the Lord! The time has come for me to be able to enjoy my family, forget about grading papers, get rehydrated and use the bathroom whenever I want!

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Happy Friday everyone!

Linking up for Oh Hey Friday and Five on Friday 

Five on Friday: Things that Will Make You Smile

Hello! Hello! It's time for another Five on Friday! I'd love it if you'd join me and others for this week's five.

 

[one]

We had some family pictures taken a couple weeks ago, along with some adorable one year photos of G. Thanks to Shay White Photography, here are a few of my favorite...

[two]

In light of some frustrating and discouraging circumstances facing our school division right now (especially next week, keep us in prayer), this little video was sent out to our faculty and staff. I laughed out loud multiple times! Three cheers for educators!

[three]

Upon visiting one of my favorite little cupcake shops on Tuesday, I saw that they had new art work displayed. I instantly fell in love with this picture! It would go perfectly in our soon to be playroom.

The artist's name is Raven Smith. I hope you'll check out her work. It's adorable! 

[four]

We will be breaking ground on our garden in the next few days. We're trying to decide what we want to plant this year. We're scaling down on the size of the garden a bit...which is still better than not planting one at all. We had to opt out of one last year because I had just had the baby. With the late frosts this year we're already feeling behind. I did pin this handy planting guide to my Diggin' In The Dirt board on Pinterest. It will definitely help guide us in our plant choices this year.

[five]

As you could tell from G's pictures, her bangs have gotten quite long. The thought of cutting them just broke my heart...but alas, a mom does what she must. I did a quick trim this week so that the poor child could see without hair in her face. I won't say that I am considering this her "first official hair cut" but the trimmings did make their way into her baby book.

Hello One-derland! Part 2: Party Prep

As promised, here are some behind the scene things from G's first birthday party. I love that I can now share some of the treasures that I've been harboring on a secret Pinterest board. A lot of prep work went into her party even though I tried to keep it pretty simple. I went with a Spring theme so that I could incorporate a lot of fun festive colors without having to put Easter eggs everywhere (since her birthday was the day before Easter).

The Food:
I wanted to keep the food simple. We were having her party mid afternoon so a meal wasn't quite necessary, but we'd be cutting it close so I wanted people to have something to hold them over. With the help of my mom and sister, I put together a tray for the "Veggie Patch" and made turkey and ham tortilla wrap pinwheels. Super easy. Really good.

My mother-in-law brought a fruit tray that we displayed as the "Fruit Field" on the food table.

We also had "Peanut Bunny and Jelly" sandwiches for the kids (and adults). My sister spent some time making PB&J sandwiches and then used carrot and bunny shaped cookie cutters to make cute shapes with the sandwiches. They were a big hit!

One of my favorite components of the food table was what we served to drink. Besides bottled water, I mixed together this delicious "Carrot Juice" punch. Don't let the name fool you. No veggies were harmed in the making of this punch.

The Cake:

Of course I was going to make her cake. Although I haven't decorated a cake in over a year and a half and I may be a little rusty, I had to give it a go. At first I thought I'd just make cupcakes, but then I saw this adorable cake and had to try it.

It began with G deciding on the color of her cake. I knew I would do a basic vanilla but thought I'd add a touch of color. I presented G with several food coloring bottles and she chose the turquoise. Her cake then became a white/turquoise marble vanilla cake. The icing was my homemade butter cream. Now for the fun part...the decorating!

I shaped the bunny bottom and feet out of Rice Krispy cereal. I then covered them in the fondant and used toothpicks to help hold the pieces together.


I filled in the top with chocolate candies and used KitKats to border the cake.

Her smash cake was also a treat to put together. While it may be years before she appreciates all the love put into these cakes, I must say that I enjoyed putting forth the effort.


The Decorations:
There were several things I wanted to do for her party, but time and budget dictated what I could muster. I put together this adorable carrot garland.

I also made up these cute carrot party favors. I found the bags on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics and with my coupon I got them for next to nothing. I filled them with animal shaped cheddar cheese crackers.

 

 

I made up this sign to put next to the party favors.

I fell in love with this book idea for her party. I found a book to commemorate her first year. The idea is that people will write special notes to her throughout the book and it will become a keepsake that she'll treasure for years to come. I made this sign to put next to the book. I placed these on the gift table so that people would be sure to sign it.

Another fun touch was added to the food table. I found the idea for these super cute napkin/utensil rolls. Who wouldn't love to put their paws on these?

The most taxing, both surprisingly in cost and time, were the topiaries I chose to make for the centerpieces. I'm still not sure what I did wrong, but the topiary ball would not stand up on the dowel rod...even though it was fully supported in the flower pot. So...to spare my sanity, I scaled them down a bit. Over 360 suckers later, here is my version (the original version can be found here).

 

 

Everything came together so nicely and I can't thank my mom, sister, husband and best friend for all of their help to make this come together. You can check out the events in my Hello One-derland! Part 1. I'll be posting little delights from her party soon!

Easter 2014

 

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Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the sights and sounds of Spring! Easter has always been filled with fun family gatherings and sweet treats. However, before any baskets are opened or eggs are gathered, we've always reflected on the Heart of Easter...the death and resurrection of my Jesus.

 

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While I celebrate my salvation all throughout the year as I live to serve my Savior, I do enjoy the festivities of the holiday. This year was G's first Easter. You can catch a glimpse of her first egg hunt here.

 

My family came in on Thursday but had to leave really early on Easter morning. My husband also had to go into work. I was blessed to have my best friend come in for G's birthday. She made plans to stay through Monday, which worked out really well. She celebrated G's first Easter with us and her extended stay allowed for some much needed catch up time. We typically go to the "Sonrise" service but with everything we had going on that morning, we opted to go to the main church service instead.

 

G with Aunt LaLa

We went to church and then enjoyed a nice lunch out afterwards. We came home and relaxed for the remainder of the day. It's nice to have someone you can sit in a room with and be okay with the silence. Love her!!!

 

Here are a few pictures from G's first Easter. While I know I'm biased, I must say she is one beautiful little girl. I am forever in awe of how lovely she is and just how much of a blessing she continues to be in our lives.

 



An Egg-stra Special Easter

Easter is always a very special holiday for us and this year will be no exception. This will be G's first Easter...you may be thinking, "but she'll be one and hasn't celebrated her first Easter?" Last year she was born after Easter and this year she will be turning one the day before. We have a full and fun weekend ahead. To get things started, I'm joining Darci from The Good Life and Sarah from Our Journey for their Easter Basket Blog Hop! Feel free to join in!



 

 

With everything we have going on this week in preparation for G's first birthday, I wanted to make sure that I had her basket complete. I've tried not to place too much pressure on myself. While this will be her first Easter and thus, her first Easter basket, I know that she will not likely remember it other than what she sees in pictures. I did however, enjoy putting it together. As she grows we want her to enjoy the holiday but we want the real focus to be on Christ's death and resurrection. Soon I'll be posting some of the traditions that we'll be incorporating into her childhood for Easter.

 

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I hope you enjoy taking a peek into her Easter basket.

 

I don't know what I love more...her initial tag that I purchased at Michael's or her Easter basket that I scored at the Dollar Tree.

Growing up, mom always made or bought us a new Easter dress. I plan to keep this tradition for G, but I also like the idea of getting her a new Spring outfit. My hubby actually picked this one out and I think he did a great job! So cute!

 



 

I try to instill the love of reading into our daughter any chance I get...so of course, that means a book for Easter! I love this little story and I can see it easily becoming a family favorite. I also have a weakness when it comes to hair bows. While G doesn't always want to keep them in her hair these days, I enjoy putting one in her hair every chance I get, thus a few made their way into her basket.

 





I found this funny chicken at a local card store. He was on clearance and his silly dancing and clucking made me laugh out loud in the store. I know G will love it! The egg is an egg shaker that I bought a few weeks ago when my friend and I visited a specialty toy store. I bought two, giving her one early just to see her response. I know she'll love it. While she may be a little young for crayons, we discovered that she enjoys making scribbles at one of our favorite restaurants the other day. They have the brown paper on the tables and upon putting a crayon in her hand and showing her what to do, she had a ball!

When you put it all together...what do you have? An adorable Easter basket for our precious little girl.

Isn't that little bunny face to die for?!





We Bought a Zoo

Well, not really but we did buy tickets. For G's upcoming birthday, we decided to share our love of animals with her and took a family trip to the North Carolina Zoo*. We had a blast! The road trip went off without any glitches and the weather could not have been better. We arrived about an hour after opening, but thanks to our weekday visit, the crowds were light.

Our little Gator Girl!

With each animal exhibit, we enjoyed watching G point out the things she saw, and although we can't yet understand any words other than "buh" for bug (and "nana" for all things food, Momma and Dada) we adored the way she eagerly sought out the animals we pointed to. We loved seeing her discover the animals, get bouncy when something got her excited, and her attempts to touch the animals through the glass made our hearts smile.

They had a special giant bug exhibit. They were so cool!

G had her first carousel ride!

I have always loved zoos and aquariums. It continues to be a delight and a true privilege to be able to share these places with my daughter. These trips offer multiple opportunities to talk about God's creation. I love being able to show her God's unique designs, talk to her about the amazing abilities/adaptations of the animals, and to help develop her appreciation for what the Lord has made.

...and of course she had to have a souvenir. She picked the elephant.

After a fun filled day at the zoo, G passed out 5 minutes after getting strapped into her car seat. We traveled the 10 minutes to our hotel to freshen up. We attempted to get G back to sleep for an afternoon nap but that was a no go. Instead, we headed out to an early dinner. We took a chance and ventured to a restaurant that came highly recommended by Trip Advisor. We went to Time Square Pizzeria*. From the outside it doesn't look like much but we were not disappointed. The food was great!!! Their customer service was excellent and the atmosphere was very family friendly. Several people heard we were from out of town as we spoke with the guy behind the counter and they sang the restaurant's praises.

We had the BBQ Chicken Wings and the Parmesan Chicken Pizza. G enjoyed the spaghetti. Everything looked amazing!

We came back to the hotel and enjoyed a bit of family time in the pool. G was not a huge fan but tolerated the water. Our hope that she would consider it a giant bathtub (because she loves bath time) was a bust.

After showers we began our night time routine. Surely she would sleep like a rock considering she had not had very much nap time and had such a big day...but alas, our little darling, who normally sleeps all night, was up every two hours. Finally, at 4am I moved her to the bed with us and just allowed her to lay there as I prayed for sleep. She ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. Wish I could say the same. I've never been one to have her sleep with me and I just could not fall asleep while she lay there...

We awoke early and enjoyed a tasty continental breakfast. We headed out to do a couple more things before heading home. We killed some time at Walmart, where I almost took out an old lady (more to come on that later) and then headed to an antique store my husband had been eyeing. After browsing through the antiques, we dropped by Main Street Sweets*, a local cupcake shop for some goodies for the road. We've only tried two of them, but they were tasty! (Side note: Any time we travel, if there is a zoo, aquarium or cupcake shop, we MUST visit.)

Beginning at top left: Salted Caramel, Almond Joy, Snickers, Strawberry Cheesecake, Oreo, and Chocolate Peanut butter.

She slept almost the entire ride home.

While we love to travel and have adjusted to doing so with a baby, there is just something about coming home. Over the next couple of days we'll be getting the house ready for incoming family, Easter, and my daughter's first birthday. Happy Spring!

*I was not compensated in anyway for sharing information or singing the praises of the any of the mentioned places in this post.

 

 
 

 

 

Five on Friday: All Good Things

I hope you'll join me and some other very lovely ladies for this week's Five on Friday.

 

 

[one]

This Friday marks the beginning of Spring Break!!!

 

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[two]

I celebrated my last birthday in my 20s. You can see the recap here. I can't thank everyone enough for the outpouring of love on my special day. (Major props go to my hubby. He always does an amazing job.)

The ice cream cake!!! I look forward to this every year!

Just a few of the sweet gifts I was given...

[three]
We took some family pictures on Sunday. We also had G's one year pictures taken. Shay always does an amazing job. If you are close to the Richmond area, look her up! (more pics coming soon!)

 

 

 

[four]

This past week I also managed to complete my first 5k in ages. I had such a good time finishing with one of my dearest friends. You can find the highlights here.

 

 

[five]

We're coming down to crunch time. G's first birthday is right around the corner. We have family coming in this week to celebrate (I can't wait!). I'm busy making decorations, planning food, checking my list and anxiously awaiting the day. Where did the time go?

 

36 week ultrasound

Admitted...6cm and going strong at 37 1/2 weeks

Our gorgeous miracle

Our precious family...finally home