Month: April 2011
A Very Festive Baby Shower
I am so blessed. We have lived in Dallas for less than three years, and are already surrounded by an amazing community of friends. Six of our friends recently threw one seriously festive baby shower for Baby Bun and me. They are a creative bunch, and the shower had so many unique touches. They handmade name tag corsages from paper and felt for everyone to wear.
The party took place at the home of our friends the Ballards. They had only moved in one month before, and then were robbed right after buying the house. I was pretty impressed by how moved in they were. I have a tendency to live out of boxes for way too long. The girls used bright, fun colors to decorate, and served a buffet of breakfast burritos. Yum.
The tables were decorated with fresh greenery, nests of burlap and moss, and blown out brown eggs with “baby” written on them. It was so different from the typical baby shower pink or blue, and I LOVED it.
See those brightly colored beads in the vases? They keep plants moist without the mess of water, apparently. Very cool, and festive.
For dessert the girls served homemade pralines and mini cupcakes in lemon and chocolate. I tried to use restraint and failed miserably.
Each guest was asked to share a favorite family tradition to give us ideas of new traditions to start with our little family. The girls put them all together on a metal ring and sent me home with a massive stack of ideas.
There were three round tables set up outside, and we had a beautiful Texas morning. Each table was decorated with a straw wreath, moss, the burlap and eggs (like inside), and vases filled with individual flowers.
Inside there was a mimosa bar set up, with water and plain orange juice available as well.
I am so thankful that so many friends and family came and showered us with gifts. We are so truly blessed.
My sweet mama came into town for the shower, and Betsy (one of the hostesses) made her a special corsage with her grandma name (Dede). My sister in law came up with Dede as an easy name for my niece to call her, as her non-grandma names are Deborah and Debbie.
Here are four of the six hostesses: Morgan, Whitney, Allison, and Betsy (Asia and Ellen are not shown). I’m the rotund one in the middle, of course. I am so thankful to these girls for throwing an amazing shower for me and going to the trouble to get seriously creative. I felt really special. I showed you a bit of my Arkansas shower earlier, and I promise to show more of that one soon. Some amazing friends from work threw me a lunch shower as well, but I’ve got to get the photos from one of them. Once again, we feel so incredibly blessed.
Heavenly Day – Our 3rd Anniversary
Happy Easter!
Here we are, giant belly and uncooperative wiener dog included. We hope that you and yours had a wonderful day celebrating our risen Lord.
Nothing But Jesus
Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life
Thirty years ago today my love was born, and I am so thankful every day. He is everything I needed and nothing I expected and exactly who the Lord intended for me. He loves me so well, and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is a man of God, kind, loving, faithful, selfless, hard working, and so much more. I cannot wait to see him hold our baby in about a month. I know he will be an amazing father. I pray that we get to grow very old together and have a long and blessed marriage. Happy birthday my love. You are the very best man I know.
Green Day – Hanging Solar Powered Light Jars
In celebration of Earth Day this week, and as a part of my “Green Day” eco-friendly series, I’m sharing one of my favorite projects with y’all. Jed gets all the credit for this one. It was all him from beginning to end, with just a few opinions from me. He keeps asking when I’m going to share it on the blog, so here we go.
We found a great deal on solar powered outdoor lights at Lowe’s, but we don’t have a walkway or appropriate place to put them. You know the ones I’m talking about, those little ones that stick into the ground. Then we searched high and low for jars that would hold the solar cell and battery in the lid. We are partial to mason jars at our house, but couldn’t find any that fit. We found these at Big Lots, so they were super cheap.
Jed painted them on outside with frosted glass spray paint. He then took the stick lights apart and used silicone glue to attach the solar cell to the inside lid of each jar. He tried gorilla glue first, but it was a big fail. You can find the full tutorial at Lifehacker as trying to get Jed to explain the details of each step is not something I’m up for right now. You now how men are with explaining details.
He looped each jar with thick but bendable wire, and hung them from hooks along our front porch. I think they look super cute during the day and fit our front porch aesthetic (a work in progress) nicely.
Here’s the best part – they get enough sun each day to glow every night without ever needing new batteries or help from us. The sun provides everything they need to light up our porch.
The jars begin to glow at twilight, and look so lovely when we are doing a little front porch sitting. We have a rocking chair and a 2 person glider on our front porch, which are perfect for our spring evenings. Our neighbor’s honeysuckle makes it smell amazing, and we just sit and rock/glide away. We are hoping that our porch fan will keep the mosquitoes at bay and allow us to enjoy the porch into the summer.
Below you can see how the jars glow at night. So cool, right? I love that my husband is creative and is always building and doing fun projects around the house. He works so hard at his job, and then comes home and works hard here too. I can’t wait to show y’all his current project – cedar log side tables. They are incredible and should be done soon.
Verse of the Week – Luke 19:35-41
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
”Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it.
Luke 19: 35-41
Today is Palm Sunday, when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I’ve been doing a Lenten study for the past few weeks, and I have learned so much about the last weeks that Jesus walked on this earth. Before this study, I don’t think I’d ever noticed verse 41. Jesus rides in to the city on a donkey so that He could fulfill the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9. The crowd is celebrating Him, acknowledging that He is the Messiah. They wave palm branches, a national sign of freedom, and lay their cloaks under His feet. The Pharisees try to shut up the crowd, worried that the Roman soldiers will come and regulate on the crowd. All the while Jesus is riding on a young donkey, mourning on the inside for a city and a people that He loves. He alone knows that He is riding to His death. He alone knows that the cheers will quickly turn from praise to condemnation. Imagine His thoughts as He rode through the cheering crowd. The Son of God was so overcome with emotion that He shed tears for the lost. Thank you, Jesus, for taking my sin so that I could live in freedom.
A Ribbon Mobile for Baby’s Nursery
At first I cut the ribbon into strips, but they were way too long. I wanted to make sure the baby couldn’t grab it even when he/she is able to stand in the crib. I cut each piece in half and it was perfect. Check out the massive pile of ribbon.
I glued strips around the inside ring first. I folded each strip over and putt a dot of craft glue on it, then held it in place for a few seconds. This was effective but a bit messy. I think you could double the length and knot it in half for a glueless mobile. After the inside ring, I decided to skip the two middle rings and go straight to the outside ring. I glued the ribbon around that ring, and love the way it looks. Then I measured from the hook (centered above the crib) to see how far I wanted the mobile to hang. I divided that measurement in half and then added 2 inches for a little give and the knots. I tied each of those ribbons to the middle ring with a knot and then hung the mobile from the hook. I love how some of the ribbon is starting to curl.
I think it is simple, yet bright and fun. Below you’ll find a little sneak peek into the nursery. Jackson is mystified by all the goings on back there. As you can see we have rugs in place (that used to be in our bedroom) over the weird rent house carpet. There is only so much you can do in a rent house, but I hope to do all that I can to make it lovely. The fabric hanging over the crib is an eyelet crib skirt made for my bassinet (32 years ago) by my sweet grandmother. She died 6 years ago, so I love that I have a piece that she made in the nursery. Hopefully we will get it in place soon. One step at a time.