Throwing a Party in Style

Last summer I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my friends with two other ladies. Since the mom and dad are outdoorsy kind of people, we did this cute little woodsy animal theme. Here is the inside of the invite (my husband removed the "party details" with Photoshop).

I was seeing these cute little felted acorns all over etsy and I really thought I could make them myself so I did. I just love them.  They are so cute.  If you're a visual learner, there is a great how-to video available on youtube for this project.  The hardest part was finding acorn caps in the middle of summer (finally I gave up my forest search and just bought the caps on etsy!).  I made several dozen of these little babies during my lunch breaks.  They are super easy and super cute.

My husband was nice enough to cut up several dozen of these tree trunk pieces for me.  I was very particular on the trunk I wanted, it needed just the right amount of moss growing on it (I commend him for keeping his patience with me).  He made a slit on the top of them so we could use them to hold up place cards (saw a very similar picture online one day).

One of the ladies gathered the wildflowers from her backyard and placed them in a vase.

 

The decorations were simple and classy, just like the soon to be mommy!

You're Not Perfect, Your Kids Will Love You Anyway.

This post is dedicated to my mother.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  

My mother turned fifty just a few short weeks ago! There are once again two decades between our ages and I like it that way. I have a very young mother who is often mistaken as my sister; I am sure she just loves that…I of course hate it. While people are trying to pay my mother a compliment they in turn are offending me. Weird how that works isn’t it? It really is just fine with me, I’ve always been sensitive about my age, and I know that about myself. I’ll always be 29, until I am 39, until I am 49; I think you can catch on to the pattern here.

I was in charge of bringing the cake to my mother’s party. I struggled for days on what kind of cake to make for her. I struggled because I realized that I have absolutely no idea what kind of cake my mother would even like. I felt saddened by this. I have known my mother for 32 years now (yeah weird considering I am only 29) and I have not one clue as to what her favorite cake would be. I can’t even tell you if there is a flavor she hates much less one that she loves!

This got me thinking about all the other things that I do not know about my mother. I don’t know her fears, what song her and my father danced to at their wedding, what she dreamed about becoming when she was a little girl, what regrets she has, or what she is most proud of in her life. I don’t know what her favorite flower is, what she hopes to still accomplish in her life. I don’t even know her favorite color.

Today is Mother's Day. It is a good day to self reflect on my own parenting skills and the parallels between myself and my mother. I love my mom. I'm grateful for the strength and courage she had at just seventeen years old when she decided to bring me home rather than give me away. I felt ill prepared to be a mother at 29, I can't imagine the fear she must have felt at seventeen.

If your mom is still around, give her a hug today. Find out something about her that you don't know but wish you did, even if it seems silly. If you are a mom, congratulations, parenting isn't easy. Give yourself some slack, you're not perfect, your kids will love you anyway. 

As for my day, I had a great day.  My son reminds me daily just how lucky I am.  He is so sweet and loving.  For the past week he has been saying, "Mommy, you're my best friend".  Awe..... it just makes my heart melt.