Sentimentality was Never My Strongpoint

...that being said, here is a meaningful item that I wanted to share:

This is a baby blanket my grandmother crocheted for me when I was born. It is dainty and of the most excellent quality! It used to have a pretty pink ribbon around the edge that has long since gone the way of the world.

My mom recently gave this blanket to me for us to use with our own soon-arriving fishstick. In the spirit of generational sentimentality, I threaded this gorgeous piece of handiwork with a brown ribbon of my own. It makes me happy to think that this may be a way for my grandma to share in our next stage of adventures.

Ghost Story

I recently listened to Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. It's heavy and intense, but really good. I think the best way to describe it is that it's a mix between Heart of Darkness (an all-time favorite!) and Oedipus Rex.

Some themes to consider while reading this piece are:

• ghost and phantoms solidifying and people fading into ghostliness
• various viewpoints on what makes a man or woman a gentleman or lady
• curses that are passed through generations, fatalism
• moments of insanity to remind us we are actually sane or moments of sanity to remind us we are actually insane
• bigamy, incest, sired offspring
• differences between men and women in dealing with grief, making do during rough situations, and what their aspirations are
• holding no grief or pity for oneself, but holding it for others.

Don't Mess with These Domestic Skillz

This may not look like 4 hours of work, but believe me, it is:

I'm pretty proud of the way this project turned out. We got these curtains for our little meatball's room, but they were hazardously long. So, with my mad skills, I unpicked the seams, and individually hemmed up all three layers of lining, then stitched it back together. You can't even tell that it's been tampered with, that's how profesh I am. What have you done lately that you're especially proud of? I'd love to hear!

My Way-cool Sister

Remember my way-cool sister who made a tutu for my birthday? She's on fire! Anna also fashioned this awesome car seat cover and coordinating baby wrap using the colors that I love:

I love that she took the time to make these by hand and that she knows me well enough that she would give such a perfect gift! Huge thanks to my way-cool sister for her generosity! What are some meaningful gifts you've given or received?

Happy 21!

Kendall hit the big two-one this last week, so naturally, we documented his official entrance into manhood:

 

Kendall's the fun one in our family. He keeps busy and has a hard time sitting still because there is always something to do. He's the least inhibited and the quickest to smile! I love that he's in our family!

Golden Birthday! (Part Two)

So, last time I told you how the fabulous Jeana, from u-createparties.blogspot.com and felicityjanestudios.blogspot.com, designed the seals used on the guessing jars and prizes for my golden birthday. Well, she did so much more than that! She is so easy to work with and her brain is brimming with creative ideas. If you ever need an expert designer, she is the one to go to!

Here's a closeup of the abundantly-used seal:

She designed these impressive invitations and coordinating thank-you cards:

Aren't they gorgeous? She also designed these party hats and icons that were super easy for me to assemble:

People loved wearing the hats once they realized they weren't just beautiful decorations! Jeana created all of the signs that we hung up around our house as well as all the other sign-up sheets for carious activities:

My favorite were the alphabets and icons she created that I used on hats and banners with my paper chains:

Huge thanks to Jeana for all of the work she put into making the party details so festive and fun! Check out her design blog at: felicityjanestudios.blogspot.com!

Golden Birthday! (Part One)

It was my golden birthday, so naturally, we threw a huge party to celebrate! It was quite the turnout, and we had a blast spending time with our family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came (some from out-of-state!) and made the party a fun one!

My sister made me a golden tutu to wear. I also wore a tiara that I purchased at a dollar store and spray-painted gold. Needless to say, the outfit was a big hit! (Thanks, Anna!)

As you may know, we have a pretty awesome chalkboard wall in our house, and it was covered with birthday wishes both from literate guests, and ankle-biters, who were more interested in eating the chalk than drawing with it. There are some pretty charming drawings on our wall now, let me tell you:

We had a bunch of guessing jars that were set up: whoever's guess was closest to the amount of candy in the jar won the whole thing! Anna actually won three, so she got to pick which one she wanted the most and the people with the next-closest guesses walked away with the other two jars. I purchased several different-shaped vases from a thrift store, cleaned them out, filled them with golden candy, and topped with fabric, ribbon, and a freakin' cool seal that my friend, Jeana, designed especially for my party. Check out her blog at u-createparties.blogspot.com to see how awesome she is!

We also had a mix and mingle game available to anyone who wanted to play for a golden prize. I punched out these seals that Jeana G. designed (see above!) and slapped them on these candy bars:

There was also a prize given to the person who showed up wearing the most gold and bling! Spencer took the title with his fancy vinyl trench coat and sexy leggings. What do you think: is it a winning combination?

Kirk and I set up a photo booth complete with wacky props, and it has been lots of fun going through all of the photos on our camera from the party:

We had a rockin' good time, and are still trying to recover. More decoration details and photos to come!

Farewell, Matt!

Kirk's brother, Matt, has just embarked on a two-year journey to Ukraine! Hooray! I'm really excited for him. Thank goodness for self-timing cameras. We took the chance to get one last family photo with everyone in it before he left:

He's going to do good things there, and we're all super proud of him!