Mother's Day Weekend Part I

First, a little behind the scenes...

Last week I shared with you a tiny sneak peek of a custom birthday hat I made for Heather's little one. Miss Emily will be turning 7 in July and will be having a really fun party centered around the colors on the hat. Now that they've received their package, I can share with you what I made for Miss Emily: I wasn't too sure about how to add the black and still have it look "little girl" but I think it turned out really cute! Both Heather and Emily liked it and that makes me super happy :)

Last Thursday when I picked up Grace from school, she was beaming with pride as she handed me THE sweetest bookmark and flower she had grown herself at school to give me as a gift for Mother's Day. The bookmark had a sweet poem about motherhood and polka dots made out of fingerprints. We got in the car and I was reading the poem and noticed all of a sudden Grace had a frown on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she was "mad" at Mrs. Maria and Mrs. Patti for putting "that silly piece of paper" in the middle and covering up her "finger dots". HA HA HA KIDS are the best, aren't they?! And then on Friday, I had all these wonderful plans to create fun art for the kiddos to give Mimi & Noonie for Mother's Day. And then this: But you know what they say...you can't cry over spilled milk and so we quickly regrouped and LUCKILY the little guy actually NAPPED for longer than 20 minutes (swing + baby Einstein = magic!) and we were able to create two canvas masterpieces for the grandmas. The little pumpkin had a blast not finger painting but "finger swirling" as she quickly corrected me :) And the masterpieces (Grace picked the colors for each one):

One for Noonie... ...and one for Mimi! After Hudson woke up from his nap, we tried to add his little handprint to the canvas but no luck. He squished the paint back and forth in his chubby little hand and put his touch on everything but the painting. He is one cute little wiggle worm! Here's proof: Saturday, Mimi came over and Grace gave her the painting, a sweet homemade card, and a "very important note" (Grace's words) she wrote for Mimi. I love this picture of the two of them! We finished off our Saturday by going to Mass and out to eat, but not before trying to take an official Mother's Day Photo. Here's what we got:

Take I Take II Yea, not much luck.

But these are my littles and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!!

tickled pink & red

Wow! I'm really feeling the love! I was wondering what prompted all the sweet comments I've been receiving on Grace's Vintage Strawberry Shortcake Party these past two days and then I received the sweetest email from the incredibly talented Kate of Kate Landers Events telling me she had featured Grace's birthday as the debut post inviting readers to check out her new blog Stylish Children's Parties!!! So exciting!


I've admired Kate's work ever since I stumbled upon her blog some time ago (check out her Madeline birthday party and her Sailboat birthday party - GORGEOUS!!) and I am thrilled and beyond honored that she chose to feature Grace's party! THANK YOU KATE and THANK YOU ALL for your sweet comments!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day
to my beautiful mom, grandma, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, Lance's grandma, mimsy, friends, and all the amazing mamas out there! And to all of you hoping and praying

to become mothers, may God grant you the desires of your heart.

To all of you who are missing your moms today, I pray for God's peace to fill your heart and comfort your soul.

I have a soft spot in my heart for adoption and so I pray that if you are waiting to hold that child in your arms that you already hold in your heart, may the journey be speedy and may God's mercies be new each and every step of the way.

And lastly, to all mothers who have experienced the most painful loss of all - that of losing a child - may you feel God's love wrapped tightly around you.

God bless you today & always!

need your {CREATIVE} help

I'm so excited about a local creative venture launching this Fall! The groundwork is in place and now, let the creative work begin!
Lulu & Co. will soon be back in business and that just makes my heart happy. Photo Credit: Country Living

But first, I need your help coming up with a great name. The aspect we're trying to capture in the name needs to tie in to pumpkins and all things Fall, as in Pumpkins & ____________ or any other catchy phrase that can be used for a seasonal sale of sorts.

What kind of sale, you ask? A small-scale, old-fashioned market sale with a fun combination of vintage finds, new items, and handmade goods to be held at a local barn/market stand.

I read your blogs - I know you guys are creative. Now, I'd love to hear your ideas!!!
Help me out!

catch-up

Ever feel like you're running so far behind you just want to run and hide? I've got a million "have to's" and "want to's" before our TRIP next week. Even if I stayed up every night until we board that plane I don't think I would get it all done so I'm having to let go of some of my projects, or at least postpone them a bit, and for my type A personality that's hard to do!

One project I did manage to finish is a sweet birthday hat for a friend. It's FINALLY on its way Heather!!!!! And since I made you wait so long, here's a little sneak peak :) I hope it matches your decor and I hope Miss Emily likes it!

One reason I've felt so tired is this little guy has decided 5:30, 5:45, 6:00 a.m. are perfectly acceptable wake up times. Did I mention I'm a night owl? We've tried everything and I mean everything including this and nothing works. JUST KIDDING!!! It was too funny a picture not to share ;)

In between all this catch-up, I did manage to win a fun little giveaway from Mary Janes & Galoshes!!! Yipee! I won this fun little stash of Erin McMorris fabric and vintage trims. Thank you Taylor!!

The fabric is GORGEOUS. It has a fun retro vibe to it and matches perfectly with a little tee I had in my project stash. Can't wait to show you what I'm making! It's all pinned and cut and if my little chunky monkey ever lifts his boycott on naps I'd be able to get it sewn without having to resort to this just to squeeze in 15 minutes to cut the pieces in between loads of laundry. For the record, he LOVES that piano! Want to know what else he loves? Not having to fight his big sister for playing time!

Somehow we've managed to squeeze in some craft time and some Mother's Day projects. And I should hopefully have a couple of fun tutorials to share with you after my trip, including an easy peasy, super fun one I'm taking on the plane to keep the little pumpkin busy for say....at least 30 minutes?? ;)

I'm off to catch some zzzz's. 5:30 comes mighty early. Why is it that nighttime hours fly by so much quicker than daytime hours? Hmmm...

Show & Tell...vintage style

Heidi & I had THE best time in Canton!!! Amazing what a day of girl talk, hunting for treasures, and no schedules can do to rejuvenate you!

Here we are in "the fields" with our shopping buggies - the standard in Canton. People really have their buggies all decked out, custom liners, drink carriers and all sort of attachments. My buggy - not so cute.

If you ever go to Canton Trade Days, the fields is where you can really find the good bargains. Canton has a lot of buildings, like The Arbors, full of vendors with treasures that have been polished a bit. In the fields, most everything is still in its original condition which means you can find great stuff for dirt cheap, you just have to be willing to clean & polish things yourself.

Canton also has a lot of what I consider County Fair food, you know funnel cakes, cotton candy, corn dogs, nachos - junk food. Even turkey legs. For some reason turkey legs gross me out. I can't stand to see folks walking around chomping on a HUGE turkey leg - ewwww. But this little food trailer was too cute not to take a picture! The ladies that ran it were super nice and made a mean steak & cheese and a wonderful sweet tea. Proof of all the junk food. People made a big stink out of the fried candy bars and since we'd never tried one we decided to split a fried snickers. Yes, a heart attack on a stick. Verdict: a little too sweet for my taste...and I do have a sweet tooth :)

Oh my goodness, we had so many laughs in Canton. Canton is very pet friendly. You see people with their pets all over the place. You even see people carrying their dogs feeding them ice cream cones :O

The funniest thing we saw was this big & tall guy carrying his teeny tiny dog in a baby bjorn!!! HA HA HA HA HA So wish I would have taken a picture :( The poor dog had his two front legs sticking out the top where a baby's arms would be and his two back legs dangling out of the leg holes. I won't tell you what else was sticking out - ahem, you can use your own imagination. Poor dog looked so miserable.

And the best part - all of our loot! Some of my favorites...

A rocking horse!!! Yay! I really wanted to find one and I DID...for $20 buckaroos! And Heidi got that sweet outfit for Ella Kate, her youngest daughter. Too cute!

Quite possibly my favorite find from the whole day...a perfectly sweet vintage baby buggy...aqua blue at that!!! I see a photo session in my near future :) Sweet linens and a chenille blanket. I also found some fun oilcloth that will soon be turned into a fun little project for Hudson's birthday. Can't wait to show you!! And even a fun choo choo! Another $20 deal. I heart Canton. I found the choo choo before I found the horse and the buggy. Heidi convinced me to get it and I'm so glad I did. Both the little pumpkin and Hudson LOVE the choo choo!

Some of Heidi's goodies... We went back for those boots 3 times!! I'm so glad she got them - they are so fun! And she got them for a great deal too!

And a fun little ride-on horsey too! Between the two of us we had so many ride-on toys that we got asked over and over if we were photographers. Nope, but we sure have a lot of fun props now!

And while us mamas were having fun in Canton, our kiddos were having fun with their daddies and grandmas. Thank you Lance and Brian for watching the kids so we could go exploring!

We can't wait to do it again in the Fall!!!

girls day out!!!

By the time this posts, Heidi and I will be well on our way to shopping the Canton Trade Days madness, armed with our funny-looking buggies and that cute bag in the picture. A belated birthday getaway. Woo Hoo!