A Birth Mother & Mother's Day Message

Although not officially on the calendar as a holiday, did you know that the Saturday before Mother's day is celebrated in the adoption community as "Birth-Mother's Day?" If I could share message with Josie's birth mother, this is what I would say.

Your daughter is beautiful.

Please know that her medical conditions have been taken care of and she is now healthy and full of endless energy.

She’s smart, funny and brings incredible joy to our family.

She has many friends, and will be going to Kindergarten next fall!

She loves to eat...especially CHOCOLATE.

Playing outside makes her extremely happy.

She has a big sister that is a wonderful role model.

Her big sister loves her very much and Josie loves her back unconditionally.

When I see our two daughters together, we know our family is now complete.

Thank you for choosing life for this precious little girl.

You have shared with our family a priceless gift.
We are forever grateful.

Happy Mother's day to all the special ladies in my life.
I hope you have a marvelous weekend!
I love you Emma and Josie.

I love you MOM!

XOXO
♥

Bieber Fever Tree

Just a week or so ago, my sunroom tree was all decked out in Easter finery.

The sunroom tree is a permanent fixture in our house and a family tradition has been to decorate it for approaching holidays (and some made-up holidays) as well as, birthday parties. To honor Emma's request for a Justin Bieber (rock-n-roll theme), I had to put on my thinking cap.

Drum roll...

Not too bad, considering I had no idea what I was going to do when Emma requested this birthday theme. The purple electric guitar is on loan from Josie and those 45 records that you see on the tree are from my personal stash.

Yes. I saved everything growing up.
You never know when it might come in handy again!

PS. I'm going to attempt to make a few of these for chips, pretzels...etc.
Could be fun...or a disastrous mess.

XOXO
♥

Gearing up!!!

It's getting really exciting around here.

The bead board is going up later this week in the treehouse!

The stair railing and spindles are finished now too.


Yep. Our treehouse is becoming the Taj Mahal!!

PS. Did you notice we're finally getting some leaves again?
Come on warm weather and sunshine!!
XOXO

♥

$1 Target Purse Makeover

Last week, I suggested that you might want to grab these little pocket books from the $1 Target bin.

We're going to give them a quick makeover.

Supplies:

Purse
Hot glue
Needle & thread
Ric Rak
Buttons
Silk blossoms
Clip-on earrings (optional)
Scissors

1. Remove bow with scissors. They were attached by a few stitches of thread.

2. Replace bow with silk flower. I found these silk flowers at Michael's and they have a pin/clip already attached to the back of the flower.

I also used a few millinery flowers that I had been saving from a previous project. I hot-glued clip-on earrings to the center of the flowers (after removing the earring clip with pliers), but you could also use buttons too.

Step 2. Add ric rak to the ribbon handle with hotglue or needle & thread.

They are the perfect size for those quick errands when you only need a cell phone, some lipstick, license and cash. We're going to use a few of these purses as party favors at Emma's birthday.

Happy crafting!

Happy soon-to-be Mother's day!
Linking up with these great parties:
Blackberry Vine: Tuesday to-do Party
Sugar Bee Crafts: Take-a-Look Tuesday
Very Merry Vintage Style Love-the-Link Party #12
Yesterday on Tuesday Crafty Soiree #36
Thrifty Decorating: Thrifty Thursdays

Upcoming Celebrations!

So May is officially here and it's time for blog make-over!

I'm starting to plan the girls' upcoming birthdays.

I’m noticing that my life, crafting projects (and BLOG TOPICS) are organized around holidays & parties…guess that’s not all bad. Who doesn't love to decorate and throw a fun get-together? The “girls” (me included) all celebrate birthdays within nearly month of each other…starting with Emma’s on May 17th, mine on May 24th and Josie's on June 10th. While we're talking about celebrations, we also have our 19th wedding anniversary at the end of this month and Mother's day next Sunday. Yep. It's an expensive month for Chris.

For her 13th birthday, Emma has requested a Justin Bieber party. Perhaps, we'll be playing pin-the-hair on Justin Bieber!!

And Josie has requested a super hero party for her 5th birthday (I'm sure that's not a real surprise based on last Halloween's costume and her recent visit with a real bat mobile)

Chris is thinking the treehouse might end up become a temporary batcave during her birthday party.

If you'd like to see pictures and decorating ideas from Emma's Paris-themed birthday party last year, here's a photo album filled with some of my favorite party decor pictures.

Emma's Paris Party

Josie had a rainbow-themed birthday last year. Photos and decorating ideas can be found in this album.

Josie's Rainbow Party

You can bet my sunroom tree will be getting a Justin Bieber makeover.

Stay tuned and party ON!
Happy May!

XOXO

♥