Happy 75th Birthday Mom!

Last night, the family came together in honor of our mom's 75th birthday.

She looks fabulous! 

We are so blessed to still have her around. 

She told me that she doesn't feel 75, but much much younger. 

 She never in her wildest dreams ever thought that she would make it to 75, but so happy she did. 

We had our celebration at Chamblee's Restaurant.  They were great to work with, very attentive and made the night special.  I was so glad that most everyone got to attend, a total 25 people showed.

"Happy Birthday Mom"

I look a lot like my mom.  Don't I?

Opening up presents

Pretty African Violet and card Sandy and Wade gave mom.

Sandy, mom told that you hit the nail on the head.  She has been really wanting another violet. 

She absolutely loves it!  Thank you!

My mom's favorite flower/plant

The roses represent mom's children - 5 pink roses are her 5 baby girls; 1 white rose is dad and the other flowers are all of her grandbabies and great grandbabies. Look what she created = 5 girls, 5 boys (in-laws), 10 grandchildren and 8 great grandbabies.  

"You is Important" by Aibileen Clark

This is my new favorite quote.  I finally got to watch "The Help" last weekend.  It was an inspiring movie.  I laughed.  I cried.  I felt shame and disgust.  I think my most favorite part of the movie was Minny telling her "BIG" secret to Skeeter and Aibileen.  HAHA!!!  I love it!!!  Attention to all you Mrs. Hilly want-to-be's it's in chapter 12.  LOL!!

Seriously, in God's eyes we are all important.  No matter where we come from or what color we are.  We are no better than the person sitting right next to you.  We are all equal and have a purpose for His glory.  All you need to do to get started is one random act of kindness a day.  Before you know it, it spreads like wild fire. 

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes today. I had another wonderful birthday. It started off with my beautiful children wishing me a "happy birthday." I love my snuggle bugs. Poor Colton has been battling a cold.  Millard and Peggy brought me lunch from my favorite restaurant, "Sweet Peppers Deli."  Yum!  On top of that, they picked up my favorite plate - chicken salad on a croissant with a side salad.  Ahhhh!  Y'all it's soooo delish.  They also gave me a slice of one of my favorite desserts - chocolate eruption.  It's basically a chocolate cheesecake on a chocolate cake bottom.  Doug surprised me by leaving work early enough to pick up Katie from school.  He apparently likes my photography because he purchased a new lens for my camera.  It's different and I've had my other one for so long that it's just going to take time to adjust.  We did try it out tonight and I have to say that the pictures were brighter and have more clarity. 

I hope you have a very blessed week and remember "You is kind, you is smart and you is important." 

God Bless!

Happy 6th Birthday Baby Girl!

Happy 6th Birthday

Katie!

As you know, Katie hosted a slumber party last night as part of her birthday.  I have no clue as to what time the girls FINALLY went to sleep.  I heard the clock chime, announcing that it was officially 1:00 am.  Yes, in the morning!  I could still hear the girls laughing and talking and I didn't hear anymore clocks going off again after that, so I must have passed out soon after. 

This morning, Doug and I began stirring around 8:00 am.  After I got my shower, I couldn't believe my ears.  I heard the girls talking and giggling.  I just knew they would hang in there until 10:00 am.  I got the breakfast food out on the table, but the girls were not all that hungry until a little later.  Doug shamed me on the breakfast selection.  He expected me to scrabble eggs, cook some bacon, the whole nine yards.  He doesn't know girls too well.  Boys may eat this early in the morning, but not necessarily little silly giggly girls.  I set out cereal, two types of donuts, and strawberry pop tarts.  Doug made some bacon and set out on the table, but I don't think any of the girls touched it.  It wasn't long, the girls' mamas began showing up and heading home.  Out of all the stuff the little girls brought, we only lost "J's" hair bow.  We looked and looked, it's like it just disappeared in thin air.  I've still got my eyes open for it. 

Beings today is the special birthday for Katie, Doug and I spent most of the day with our first born.  As Katie would call it . . . Today was "the day of Katie."  We headed to the FunZone, in hopes to drive Go Carts, but their double carts were out of commission.   Katie being her worried self, asked "what do we do now?"  We stopped by the movie theater to see what would be on today.  We got to see "Cars 2" in 3D and I think it was worth the money.  It was pretty funny and Katie really liked it.  She enjoyed doing a little shopping with us.  One of our locally owned shop, Monograms Plus, had a lot of Hello Kitty products in their clearance room.  Katie and I had fun looking through the stuff.  You would have thought she won the lottery, her hands digging inside the boxes of Hello Kitty stuff.  I ended up getting her for a couple of dollars each, HK necklace, HK ice popicle molds, HK impression rubber ice cube tray, HK bath softeners, and HK sports bottle.  As we were checking out, Katie picked out a Vera Bradley suitcase on wheels.  It was pretty and BIG.  She told her daddy that she really wanted it because it could carry all of her stuff.  LOL!  He asked me how much it would cost.  Well, knowing VB and I noticed the teflon tag on the baggage, I knew it was going to expensive.  I thinking maybe a couple hundred.  Nope.  Doug looked at the price tag and had Katie put it back.  HAHA!  I had to know and he told me $300.  LOL!  Baby girl's got taste.  Very. expensive. taste.  To end the day, we did a little furniture shopping.  Our magazine rack acts like it's about to fall apart.  It's so bad, Colton likes to sit on the top and rock it back and forth.  Guess what?  We got a new magazine/side table and Colton's not allowed to sit on the top of it.  PERIOD.  We needed a chest in Colton's room and I think we got a fairly good deal on one.  I was so excited that I ended up with two empty drawers.  YAY!

To end the night, Katie, Colton and I went through the things she got for her birthday.  I think Doug and I got most of the clothes for her.  The other two outfits, she tried on to make sure that they fit.  They looked so sweet on her.  She received two board games from my mom and dad.  You have to understand that Katie's not a good sport when it comes to playing games of any kind.  Doug blames me for letting her won most of the time, when we play games.  My intensions were that I had hoped that it would instill confidence in her.  I guess I was wrong.  Well, she wanted to play her new "Operation" and "Sorry" games tonight.  She got a little mad at me and wanted to cheat a little, but it wasn't too terrible.  We even did one of the crafts, she received, together.  Allison - she loved the sticky mosiac!  I will have to get her more of these.  I never knew they existed, FUN.  She's already got us making bracelets tomorrow.  HAHA! 

I would say that Katie had a superb birthday. 

Katie's Tangled Slumber Party

Eventhough Katie's birthday isn't until tomorrow, we celebrated it today with her little friends. After thinking and talking about it for the past few months, she really wanted some friends to spend the night. The only thing, she wanted to invite every single friend she has. Yeah, that's a lot of people and I don't know half their parents. So, we came to an agreement. She would invite four friends. I would take them to Air It Out at FunZone and they could have a slumber party.

I hate the fact that I forgot my camera when we went to Air It Out. If you're not familiar with AIO, it's a building filled with inflatables that they kids can play on in air conditioning. YAY! Thank goodness my friend, Allison, brought her camera and took a few pictures for me. THANK YOU ALLISON! Your my angel. I paid for the girls to play for an hour, so I was shocked when they were ready to go before time was up. They played so hard, I guess they were wiped out. 

I invited family members to meet us at the house for cake and ice cream. Katie was so happy to see almost everyone here, waiting on her. She was too excited to do the cake and ice cream, so we went straight to the gifts. YAY! I just had Katie sit in the floor, over to the side and the little ones sat around her. Can you say CHAOS?!? It was fun, but I have no clue as to who gave her what because she was going through everything so quick. The gifts were passed around from person to person and I never really got to check everything out. I guess that's what tomorrow is for. LOL!

The girls are absolutely loving the slumber party. We've had some role playing, dancing, singing, playing "Operation" and we are ending the night by watching "Tangled" and going through their goody bags. HAHA! We'll see how late they actually stay up. 

Happy 6th Birthday Katie!

Blowing out the candles

We put the inflatable mattress and Katie's twin bed mattress in the floor.  We wanted to make sure there was enough room for everyone.  The next challenge was "who's going to sleep next to Katie?" 

As you can see, Katie got in the middle and J sleeps on the good mattress. 

The girls jumping around and dancing to music

It's a Jam-ma Party!

Train Themed Birthday Party

Whell, I posted about the big birthday party yesterday, but noticed that the pictures were not showing. Apparently Blogger had some trouble, so we shall try this again. I just won't repost all the details.

A full view of the party decorations

I made a template as to how big I wanted the banner out of regular printer paper and began cutting scrapbook paper, using the template.  I glued two triangle shaped scrapbook paper together.  Designed circles with Colton's letters and printed them.  I cut them out and glued them onto the triangles.  Lastly, punch holes to fish the ribbon through the holes. 

Using the 2" scalloped punch.  On the computer, I created several different labels (2, Choo-Choo, picture of a train, Colton's 2, etc.).  Print the labels, cut and glued them onto the scalloped circles.  I took 2 circles and glued them together with a toothpick in between. 

Train Instructions - CLICK HERE

A better view of the dot garland.  I used a 2" scallop and 1" circle punches that I purchased from Hobby Lobby for less than $10 each.  I glued two scalloped dots between a 8 lb fishing line.  Spacing the dots about 2" between each other, I alternated between the 1" circle and 2" scalloped, as shown.  You can make you garland as long as you want. 

A picture of momma and her baby boy.

Colton did not want to have his picture taken, instead he wanted to PLAY!

I love Katie's expression in this picture. 

My parents gave him the Lightning McQueen cap and he loves his new "Meme" movie aka "Mickey Mouse" that my niece Whitney and her husband gave him. 

. . . and the finale.  His very own John Deere tractor.  It comes with a trailer, but he has to learn to drive the tractor before riding around with the trailer. 

He seems to like his tractor, but . . .

he gets more tickled while watching his sissy drive his tractor around the yard.  All of us, began giggling at Colton laughing at Katie.  Too cute.

Birthday wishes were granted.  I think Colton had a very good birthday party.  :)

Happy Birthday Colton!

Two years from today a happy spirited little boy came into our life. He has made our life and family complete. It was around 6AM this morning that God blessed us with our 8lb. 15 oz. baby Colton.

We all came together in celebration of this great event yesterday. I've been busy at work on my spare time, making most all the birthday decorations. I even tried by hand at making a 3D Choo-Choo Train. LOL! I've seen these 3D creations made from rice crispy candy on the show "Challenge" from the Food Network, but never thought I would be making one myself. It's been lots of fun creating all of these paper decorations and confections for my sweet baby.

I think Colton had a very nice birthday and received lots of nice presents. Everyone's gift was a hit with him or this momma :). Here are a few pictures from the event. Enjoy!

A full view of the party decorations

Colton's 3D Choo-Choo Train

You can see the dot garland real well at this angle 

Momma and her big boy

Colton did not like the fact of taking pictures.  All he wanted to do was PLAY!

I love Katie's express in this picture - Colton was eating a donut

My parents gave him the Lightening McQueen cap and the "Meme" movie came from my niece Whitney and her husband.  He loves "Meme" aka "Mickey Mouse".

Here's the BIG gift of the day.  He seems to really like his John Deere tractor.  It comes with a trailer that hooks in the back, but he needs to learn to drive the tractor first.  LOL!  Katie loved the fact that she could drive it as well.  I think Colton got a bigger kick watching Katie drive the tractor.

Colton laughing at Katie driving his tractor.  Our guests were laughing at Colton getting so tickled at Katie. You had to be here to enjoy the humor. 

Colton did not want to blow out the candles - AT ALL!

Rice Crispy Treats Recipe

3 T Butter
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 C Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

Mix in Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

Spread the mixure using a buttered spatula or waxed paper evenly into a 13x9x2" pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2" squares when cool. Best if served the same day.

Tip on how to work with Rice Crispy Treats
* I find it best to keep your hands/fingers moist, while handling the candy. I keep a small bowl of water on my work center.
* The recipe suggest you put butter on your spatula, but I found that a little spread of Pam butter flavor cooking spray works just as well and not as messy.

Rice Crispy 3D Train
I made 2 batches of candy in order to make the train. Not having a template or instructions to go by, I did the following:

• Measure diameter of the cake stand or desired flat surface, the train will be displayed on.  I used a round cake board to transfer our train from table to table.  It was 9" in diameter.    
• You need to cut out a template from wax paper.  The body of the train will need to be the biggest piece.  Secondly, the engine piece (long part of the train).  Thirdly, the smoke stack. My train's body measured 5x5".  The engine piece measured 3x4" and smoke stack measured 1x2", making the total length of the train 9". 
• Place the templates on top of the candy and begin cutting the shapes.  Again, rice crispy candy can be rather messy, so I had a glass of water handy.  Cut 2 body (5x5") shapes, dipping the knife as you go along.  Cut 2 engine pieces (3x4") and 1 smoke stack (1x2"). 
• With icing I sandwiched the 2 body pieces together and the 2 engine pieces.  
• Stand the body up on it side onto the cake board. Note: make sure the edge of the body is right on the edge of the board or the train won't fit.  
• Meet the engine piece (up on it's side) with the body. 
• Place the smoke stack up on top of the engine. 
• It's time to for icing.  Normal Martha Stewart want-to-be's make their buttercream from scratch, but not this busy momma.  Betty Crocker helped me out in this area.  I was able to use just one container of buttercream flavor icing, with blue food coloring.  
• Now, it's time to decorate.  I used gum drops for the windows; M&Ms for the lights; wafers for the roof; graham cracker bunnies; coconut grass and candy sprinkles for flowers. 
• I created a puff of smoke with the word "Choo-Choo" on it; printed; cut and glued to a toothpick.  I thought it really added to the train.