A Golden Oldie

When I think back to my childhood, I have some great memories.  But one thing that always stands out to me is oldies music.  This is of course due to my mom's love for oldies.  Even to date, I can turn on a local oldies radio station and know at least half of the songs well enough to sing along.  Now by no means does oldies music fully embody my mom but it is just one of so many wonderful memories she has blessed me with.  I grew up with a mom that sacrificially gave of her love, strength and clean house so us kids could grow up to be adults that know how to love, how to stand up for ourselves and know how to make a mess and subsequently clean (now whether or not we choose to use that last skill, I will leave to your own judgement).  But my mom has definitely been a constant in my life forever so it seemed fitting that when her 65th birthday rolled around that us kids did something to celebrate her!  

We decided to host a party at home with BBQ and all the fixin's (one of her favorite meals) and invite friends and family alike to celebrate Bonnie with us!  Once we settled on the theme (pink and gold) and pinned about a million pins, we went to work!  We made the invitations....

Decided on decorations:  If you know me, you know I love a good fruggle find, so I got friends to save their cans weeks prior and then painted the cans in various shades of gold and pink, then we used three on each table--two to hold candles and one to hold a mixture of flowers including pink roses!

I had friends help me assemble and decorate a few days before.  For the favor, we used mini pink cupcake liners and Ferror Rocher Chocolates, simply pushing a kebob skewer through to create a flower and the "leaves" of the flower thanked people for coming to help us celebrate.  We lucked out with Christmas being so close, I was able to stock up on dollar store plastic gold Christmas tree balls, which I used in vases around to bring in the gold color.  

Just one of my many helpers!

Tables were all decorated with white tablecloths, pink napkins, gold cups and of course plates and utensils.

I think Mom enjoyed getting to mingle around and hang out with friends and family alike!

Tiffie, Josh and the kids came in town and everyone loved being able to hang with Corbin and the twins!

I used the color scheme to create a streamer backdrop for the "photo area," which included fun props!

Bons, the "pink lady" of the night!

We created tissue paper pom poms using gold and pink paper and used light pink lanterns for decorations as well.  Plus I used black and white photo copies of Bonnie and friends and family to create a "6-5"!  These decorations hung over the dessert table.

Yes you heard right, we had an entire table of desserts, because, why not?  Since we are a cupcake loving family, we opted against the traditional birthday cake and instead got chocolate and vanilla cupcakes so everyone could be happy!

Mom and Daughter Photo Op:

The twins are at the age now where they remind me of those cat photos where they try to fit into everything, if you regularly follow my blog, keep a look out--you will see them in bins, baskets, trucks, etc.  They follow the "if it fits, I ship" philosophy and why not?  Who would not want these cuties?

The birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candle....

cuties!

Andy and his friends:

Gaga & Holden

More pom poms made for another great photo background:

Finally someone took advantage of that prop table:

Though this post is about a month and a half late coming, I hope you had a fabulous birthday Mom, no one deserves it more than you!  Know all your kids love you and are so blessed by all you do for us!  XOXO

Life, of late...

This blog has always been a snippet of my life as a whole and the quietness recently is only reflective of my current life.  Those closest to me know all the inner workings of where my life is and has been lately, but in general it has been a crazy whirlwind of family drama that has forced me to slow down and rest in the quietness of Jesus.  So what does that mean for my blog?  Well obviously it means a severe lack of posts in the last month!  As things have fallen into a place a little and life has calmed down some, it seems fitting to get back into writing.  I have found a lot of comfort lately in this verse:

Well it seems that the Lord does and always has known what He is doing, but of course, I am a person that likes to know the plan, the strategy and how to work towards an endpoint.  When in reality we are not guaranteed perfectly tied up packaged with a beautiful bow on top (gosh how I love those beautiful bows). Reality is that life is messy, dirty, unorganized and real, so this should come as no surprise to me!  So when recent events transpired, my first instinct was to be mad at God for allowing pain and brokenness into my family, I know shocking!  But we are living in an entire world of brokenness and pain and I have been lucky to have avoided a vast majority of that my entire life.  Do I have food to eat?  YES!  Do I have a warm place to live?  YES!  Do I have clothes in my closet, money in the bank and friends and family that love and support me?  YES, YES and HECK YES!  I am blessed beyond measure and all I could think about was how "bad" my life is.  Well this past year has been one of trials and tribulations, but also one of immense love and support from those around me, so I am choosing to buck up, pray more, see the positive, and rejoice in blessings, because they are everywhere!

Don't get me wrong, I am sure there will be days when I am feeling sorry for myself and days when I complain, but this relationship that we call Christianity is not a perfect one, it is an ongoing dialogue between me and my maker and that gets messy sometimes, but I know the Lord has the perfect plan for me and my life and when He calls out to me, I don't want to be too hung up on myself and my problems to listen.  I have found so many AH-MAZING pins lately (seriously, what did we do before pinterest?), but these are just a few of the ones that are keeping me inspired lately!

Most journeys are not walked alone, and I am so thankful for the friends and family that have offered calls of support, been a car ride companion, sent sunshine packages up to me, mailed cards, sent text messages, offered hugs, love and support throughout the last few weeks!  You all know who you are and please know I am always ready to return the favor when the tables are turned (though I never wish that on anyone)!  

Well enough of the sappiness and self-exploration, we will get back to the regularly scheduled blog content, hopefully this week :)