Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
3 Jun
Memorial Day at the Lake
We spent the long weekend at Mom and Dave’s house on the Harlan County Lake, enjoying the abundant sunshine, time with family, homemade sangria, games of golf and fishing trips, and days of pure relaxation. It would have been the perfect weekend trip if it had only lasted a few days longer.
6 May
The Santa photo
Here’s the photo my mom referenced below. I would venture to say, though, the question is not, “Does Olivia look like her grandma?,” but instead, “What was Gramma Great thinking when she handed her baby to this character?!”
6 May
Mother’s Day
Those of you on Facebook have likely seen the trend of posting your mom’s photo as your profile picture. For those of you who aren’t on Facebook (ahem, Mom and Gramma…), I thought you might like a peek at my post.
This is my mom’s senior photo, and one of my favorite shots of her. (My second favorite photo is one in which she’s holding my 18-month-old self and mimicking my very aggressive nose-picking, but that’s for another day.)
I know that I look like my mother, but I was shocked at the comparison of her photo next to mine. In part, it’s the hairstyle and nude lip, but I think the other similarities are remarkable.
When I mentioned this to to Mom, she said, “Remind me to show you the photo of me with Santa when I was a year old. You would swear it was Olivia.”
And, as luck would have it, my friend Molly just commented on my Facebook post: “Olivia is her grandmother’s granddaughter. The resemblance is uncanny. ”
Indeed!
2 May
Aunt Katie
Aunt Katie (or “Aunt Kettie” as Olivia calls her) spent a few days at our house late last month. We were delighted to have her, even though she said things like, “Wow, Bec, you really are a TERRIBLE driver,” and “Honestly, NO ONE needs THREE PAIRS of red heels.” Despite her lack of filter, I adore her. As do her nieces…
12 Apr
More from Iowa City
Someone asked me when we were last in Iowa City, and I said, “Oh, it must have been a year ago!” In reality, we’ve been there about four times in the last 18 months. Clearly, this isn’t enough in my mind, and it’s no wonder—Josh and Laura are truly gracious hosts. Their city is charming, their home is beautiful, and I simply can’t get enough of their sweet little daughters. I think the only question is, “When can we go back?”
28 Mar
Parting shots
A few shots of our party participants, which is what makes any event worth remembering…
Many, many thanks to our sweet families who drove down for the weekend–we appreciate it!
23 Mar
I love the details that go in to an event. I don’t get to focus on these much at work anymore, and so they’ve become even more important to me when I have the luxury of planning something at home. Given the myriad of ideas available online (even for the seemingly small niche of woodland fairy birthday parties), I had a huge supply of inspiration for this gathering.
We started with very simple invitations with three-dimensional butterfly stickers.
I wanted to create the “woodland” feel with the party decorations, allowing the little girls to serve as the fairies. I started with the centerpiece for the main table, which I created by covering Styrofoam blocks in sheets of moss. I intended to use native grass cuttings from our yard, but opted for greener silk flowers instead. The letters spelling Ava’s name are borrowed from her bedroom wall.
I think this photo that Doug shot illustrates the main table the best:
The flag garland over the table was almost an afterthought—I had so much fabric left over from the mushrooms, I decided to make use of it. I stacked it up, made three quick cuts with my rotary cutter, then secured the flags to ribbon with a bit of hot glue. In all, they probably only took 20 minutes.
Ava and I painted small birdhouses (for the fairies, of course) and created fabric colored mushrooms to add to the centerpiece.
Despite starting our planning efforts nearly a month ago, there were several tasks I didn’t complete. My mom disappeared for a bit on Saturday morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to see her return with flats of pansies for the pots in the entryway.
My favorite part of the planning and preparations was making the tutus for the little fairy guests. In all, Gramma Great and I made ten tutus by looping tulle around a ribbon.
Here’s the smallest tutu, made especially for Sylvia, our littlest fairy.
We hung the tutus and wings near the front door and secured them with flowery hair clips.
I had blue dragonfly wings for the boys, but they were remarkably unpopular…
We served chicken salad sandwiches, crudites, chocolate-covered strawberries (called fairy berries, of course), fresh fruit and cheese, and plenty of sweets. Laura, a calligraphy artist, created the gorgeous labels.
One of the best ideas I found online was for a make-your-own-trail mix bar, complete with chocolate nests for bowls. To make the nests, I mixed crushed shredded wheat with melted chocolate, and molded it into the inside of a dish. After a few minutes in the freezer, the “nest” popped right out. Dave made the wooden chargers we sat underneath.
I made flower-shaped cupcakes for Ava and her guests, and in keeping with tradition, I ruined the first batch and had to make a second to serve.
My mom made an angel food cake, which I nearly—and accidentally!–destroyed. Mom was thankfully able to save it, and we placed it on a cake stand that Dave built for the party.
Karyl and Ava decorated the number six sugar cookies, and then sprinkled them with a bit of “fairy dust” to make them glimmer.
We put the pinata in place, and waited for the fairies to arrive.
Up next, the party participants!
22 Mar
Catching up
We were delighted to host our parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews—not to mention a few good friends—at our house this weekend for Ava’s sixth birthday party. Everything went off without a hitch—not suprising, given the fabulous team we had ready and willing to help with all of the details.
We’re slowing putting the house back together and catching up on the things that took a back seat to fun last week (like sleep, and email). I will post photos of the festivities and the participants over the next few days. Doug’s album is already up—you can see his gorgeous photos here.
And, in the meantime, here’s one quick pic of the birthday girl herself.
More soon!
5 Mar
Here’s to you, Rex.
You were a good man, Rex. We were fortunate to know you, and though we’re not in Minnesota with our family and yours, we’re lifting a pint in your memory today.
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