I know with a title like that it sounds like I'm about to delve into some serious aspirations and how I plan to achieve them, but, I'm not. I'm talking inspiration for a 3rd brithday party here. Serious business I know :)
Before I share some of my favourite party stylers, I'd love to know how my girl has gone from this.......
to this.....
It hardly seems possible that it's been 3 years already. {sigh}
Anyway, as planning is underway for our little party to celebrate my girl, here's some of the MANY pictures I'm loving and feeling inspired by.....
{Jasmin keeps asking for a "lady bug cake please" so just think red and white for the colours}
I'm pretty sure this one is Martha but I couldn't find the original link for the picture.......
My friend Sally who is a 'Martha' in her own right put on this sweet party for her daughter a couple of years ago - she is amazingly talented (and I WANT that clock on her wall :) More pics from her party HERE
The food styling master Amy Atlas - oh how I love her clean, straight, white lines (you must check out her eye candy and blog if you haven't already seen them
I LOVE these pics fromAlannah Rose but there will be NO fake green grass or florals on our table ;) everything else is gorgeous!!
Ruki from INVITEDbyRUK Is also AMAZINGLY talented (and happens to be the daughter of the lovely Shamala Maddison if you happen to know her). Here's a taste of what she did for her son's birthday (amazing right!) you can check out more of her gorgeous projects and ideas HERE
I'm thinking we might take the party to the park again like we did LAST YEAR because it made it SO easy and enjoyable for everyone (read: pregnant.sick.tired. let's go to the park and decorate a table so the 'entertainment' is built in :)
I can't wait to help my girl celebrate her day!!!
POST EDIT - I've had a few people ask about the clock on my friends wall, I'm pretty sure it's from Freedom furniture and it's the Arles clock $129 click HERE to view it otherwise I found another one very similar to it HERE:)
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At the beginning of last year after making a list of things we could do to make Sundays more meaningful (and not just a day we go to church and don't watch TV) we started having family testimony meetings. I know we are encouraged tobear spontaneous testimony with our children, but as we looked over our list of things we could do, It felt right that something more 'consistent' should be a part of our day. A prompting and an answer to a prayer.
Since that time, on thefirst Sunday of every month we gather together as a family of 6 and share our thoughts and feelings with each other. Feelings about life, each other, all things spiritual and what we know is true.
It has become one of my most looked forward to moments in the month.
We spend about 20 minutes or so 'sharing' and sometimes we finish with Rylan playing a song on the piano while we sing along (something else I completely ADORE :).
Who would've guessed that something so simple would end up being one of my MOST favourite things we do together.
I love to hear the thoughts of our little ones and love to hear them express their love for our family and their simple love for our Savior. I love to hear them try and make sense of what they learn and articulate how they feel. (I especially love hearing the kids help Lily....it always includes how grateful she is for "milky" and how much she loves it....hahahahaha). I love that I get to share in words the things that mean more to me than anything else.
I love that it is an opportunity to look deeply into each others hearts and understand each other a little more. To see each other in a different light and be strengthened and uplifted by the things that are said.
I hope that as we share these sacred thoughts with each other it will deepen our relationships. Both spiritually and as a family.
"So many parents today have become better at organising their kids than at nurturing them. Organising is something we do with our brains. It's about finishing homework and getting to soccer or music lessons on time....."
"But with all our organising, have we done enough nurturing? Nurturing is something we do with our hearts as well as our heads. It's about adding the hug to the schedule, the praise to the push, the warmth to the light. It's about noticing who they already are as we help them toward what they can become."
"The worst parenting metaphor we've ever heard goes something like this: "The child is the lump of clay, and the parent is the sculptor."
"A vastly better analogy is that of a seedling. The tiny green shoots in the greenhouse nursery may all look alike, yet one is an oak, one a pine, one an apple tree. We don't mold them, we nurture them, discovering who they are, learning what they need, providing the individually appropriate amounts of water, sunshine, and fertiliser to help them grow into the best of what they already are."
While I've never considered myself a person with a green thumb (just ask the grass in our backyard that WAS lucious and green a few months ago ;), I am slowly working out what these little 'seeds' of mine need. Individually.
I hope as the seasons begin to change, I will continue to learn and know exactly how I can help them bloom where they are planted!
I have been asked the very question, "are you listening to me? Is the computer more important than me?" (please tell me it has happened to you too...... :)
My answer was "Of course not". But 'words are cheap and actions are priceless'.
After reading these words tonight, I vow to not let it happen again (OK - I will try my best to not let it happen again ;). Because the people in this picture (oh how I love their little faces :) are the 'things that matter most'!.
There are some moments in life that nothing can really prepare you for. Some phone calls that come so unexpectedly and can knock the wind out of you so fast, changing everything in your life in an instant.
A couple of weeks ago my sister and her husband received a call like this. My Brother in Laws mother, Kay, unexpectedly, without warning passed away. She was family to us and my heart is heavy for those that loved her and those that now miss her.
Silent tears flowed as I stood in my kitchen holding the phone looking at the 'thank you' chocolates I had for her that had not yet been delivered. Tears at the realisation that it was too late. Not forever I know. But too late for now. Tears for my brother in law and his siblings. Tears for her husband. Tears for my sister and her sons. Tears for all the unsaid things, and unsaid goodbyes.
When heartbreak like this happens, isn't it true that we resolve to ourselves we are going to make things 'different' from now on. Live life to the fullest, no regrets. Savor every moment. Not waste time on unimportant things because we just never know when this part of the journey could end. But then life keeps moving like a wheel in motion and we, I, slip back into the flow of it. I forget for a while that life is precious and can be taken away at any moment. Sometimes I let things that don't matter, matter.
This time, I'm hoping to hang on to this 'realisation of life' a bit longer and really make things count.
These words appropriately filled my car that afternoon as I drove home from seeing the 'children' who had just lost their mother..........
"It is but a small moment and this time on earth will pass and we will once again be reunited with those we love that have passed before us"
To my sister and her family. My family. We love you and we pray for you.
While sorting through some pictures of Lily the other day,
I came across this picture of myself in the reflection of the TV cabinet.
Yes. This is how most of my photos are taken. With pictured toddler climbing all over me :)....and the reason for {most} of my blurry pictures ;).
As I laughed at the sight of 'us' and the memory of all the cajoling that went on to keep Jasmin out of the photos, I thought about how sometimes it can be easy to feel frustrated if I try and do 'some things' with little ones around.
But as I've learned and learned and re-learned many times, sometimes it's just easier to put 'those things' aside until later (unless of course it's photographing your baby who is growing by the minute and you don't want to forget one second of it :)
Currently I feel like blogging is one of 'those things'. And while I have 'EXTREME-lack-of-posting-guilt' (oh how it eats me up....do you ever get blog guilt???) I realise that sometimes my retrospective photos thoughts will have to wait. I just hope I don't forget them all before they make it on here :)
{Luckily I take about 2000 photos a month, so If I do happen to forget somethings, hopefully my photos will be enough to jog my memory :}
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