Thanksgiving

Ever since Brett and I got married almost 10 years ago (!) I have looked forward to hosting Thanksgiving. This was the big year! It was a LOT of work, but worth every moment. We were blessed to share our day with lots of family and friends.

Maren loved helping me in the kitchen the days before. She had the great idea to wear her goggles while we chopped onions. Smart kid. My friend, Jaime, spent Wednesday at our house helping me do most of the cooking. It was fun to share some of the work with someone I like so much. :)

We moved some furniture around to accomodate one huge long table. It worked out perfectly, and allowed us all to be in the same area.

Maren cut out and painted 24 of these corn place cards (all by herself!). I love working on things like this with her...she loves having people in our home just as much as Brett and I do, and it's fun to watch her work hard in preparation.

On Thanksgiving morning Brett rescued a couple of tiny mice from one of our window wells. Maren and Truett were very interested by their brief visit. Maren was certain they'd find their parents across the street in the horse pasture.

This turkey was delicious...I found a recipe for  Maple-Cider Brined Turkey with Bourbon-Cider Gravy. The gravy was the best I've ever had...and others said the same. Mmmmm.

Brett did the carving.

Serving the food buffet-style worked great with our big group. (And there's a peak at the finished white cabinets! We're hoping to get hardware soon, and then I'll post about the whole process!)

Pilgrim Abby, Maren and Hannah are such great friends...it was a delight to share Thanksgiving with them!

Feasting...

Truett's favorite? Mashed potatoes.

We had 2 brand new babies...my sweet nephew, Ian...

...and another sort-of nephew, Luke. Precious boys!

Me and Jaime. I love her.

Brett and me...we celebrate our 10th anniversary next month. I can't wait!

Our friends Kyle and Brooke with their daughter, Karis. Kyle and Brooke were dishwashers-extraordinaire! It was fun to have them spend the day with us...and not just because they helped in the kitchen. *wink*

Gigi brought some yummy pie...Maren chose pumpkin!

So thankful for my family. Truett had just woken up from a nap, so he's got sleepy-hair in this picture. We also found out the next day that he had an ear infection. Poor buddy. It's looking like he might be getting tubes pretty soon. Sad.

Truett loves his Papa...and he loves pie and ice-cream!

Mike and Ian.

Robin and Tiffany...we love our Colorado family!

Pastor Ben and Miss Jaime...they might as well be family.

Brett's parents introduced us to a fun new game called Mexican Train Dominoes. It was the perfect ending to a lovely day. Happy Thanksgiving!

...and now Christmas season begins! It's my favorite time of the year. Yay!

A Rainbow Party...the Celebration!

Maren turned 4 a couple of weeks ago, and we had a ball of a time celebrating with 9 of her best buddies.

Here's the guest of honor waiting for her friends to arrive...

Can you tell that she was a little excited?

My sweet family...I can't get enough of these 3!

The girls colored while they were waiting for dinner. It was so fun to see the various pictures all over the table.

Maren wanted each friend to help her open their gift to her. These two are sisters, and we call them 'cousins'. They gave her an art station...can you tell someone loves to draw?!

Maren invited our good friends, Ben and Jaime (or Pastor Ben and Miss Jaime as Maren calls them) to her party. They were gracious to come hang out with all the little kids, and were a huge help with keeping things under control!

Two of Maren's neighborhood friends working on their rainbow bracelets.

While some of the girls were making bracelets, others were getting rainbow pedicures. This was Maren's idea, and it was a huge hit!

Pretty ladies all lined up!

Showing off their bracelets!

It was such wonderful fun to have so many of Maren's friends all together in one place. Some family, some church friends, neighborhood friends, and one little girl from our childbirth class!

Make a wish!

Cookies and Cream ice-cream and rainbow cupcakes (per Maren's specific request!)

The girls got party hats and noise makers before we had cake.

Lest you think Mr. Long-Lashes missed out on the celebration, here he is enjoying his cupcake.

The little noise-maker-streamers (is there a name for those things?!) were a huge hit...I love Colette's face in this picture!

The party wrapped up with some backyard play time. I laugh out loud every time I look at this picture...all of the little girls just busily operating in the background, and a happy wave from Truett, stuck right in the middle of all the activity!

Maren's Gigi and Papa were a huge help with the party. They stayed after all the little guests had gone home to open a few more presents.

Maren was ecstatic all throughout her party...it made the effort and planning worth every minute! Tomorrow I'll share how we spent the rest of her special day!

Rainbow Party Details

 Long ago Maren determined that her 4th birthday should be celebrated with a rainbow themed party. I was happy to oblige. I have found that my collection of paper lanterns is quite versatile. In this instance, the lanterns were transformed into a rainbow.

Maren helped me sort through her box of crayons so we could arrange them in rainbow fashion for the centerpieces. I rolled out ikea art paper on the table and the girls were able to color while waiting for dinner. This served to be a brilliant idea, as containing 10 hungry, excited girls could have potentially started the party off on a crazy note. Instead, they all giggled and colored away. I found the colored cups and napkins at Ikea a while ago, and knew they'd be perfect for the party.

 I sewed little circle garlands for the light and just draped them around. Love how this turned out, and I'll definitely keep the garlands for future use.

Maren and I sorted out rainbow beads so each girl would have the right amount to make bracelets.

Rainbow pudding cups...just vanilla pudding with food coloring.

Rainbow fruit skewers...

I made cupcake toppers out of toothpicks and cardstock...

Simple cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles and flags...

...and look what the inside of the cupcakes looked like! These were a huge hit for the girls.

It was fun this year to have Maren's help in planning and preparing for the party. One of the neighbor girls came over to help us make the cupcakes. Thankfully, the actual party turned out to be fabulous. I'll share those pictures tomorrow!

Here's where I found some ideas (via my Party Pinterest page):

Pudding
Cupcakes
Crayon Centerpieces

Truett's First Birthday Party

In early June our little man turned ONE! We had a splash party to celebrate. Maybe later I'll share more of the creative details. For now, here's the day in pictures! We were blessed with a hot Saturday afternoon...perfect weather for the kids to enjoy some water games.

I made Truett a banner using my handy-dandy Cricut. We've used the one I made for Maren for each of her parties, and I'm sure this one will make an appearance at future parties for Truett. I hung paper lanterns from the light using yarn. That was it for decorations...simple and fun. We ate outside under tents, which was perfect. The kids ate, got wet, ate some more, got their parents wet, ate some more. It was great fun.

When the kids arrived, they each received a little water gun and a water ball...the guns were a huge hit!

I love our happy boy...he's such a delight, and it was special to have a day to celebrate HIM!

My mom wasn't originally going to be in town for the party, but since she flew out early to help after my miscarriage, she was able to join us for the festivities. Truett is so lucky to have such great grandmas...Grams and Gigi!

We started the party with a round of Duck, Duck, Splash! The kids had a soaked sponge that they squeezed onto the 'gooses' head. This game was probably the favorite of the night!

Truett loved splashing in the buckets of water...this was during a relay race where the boys and girls took turns transferring water from one bucket to another using sponge balls. I'll definitely have to post about those some other time. The kids loved them! (And they were a perfect alternative to water balloons...I didn't want tiny balloon pieces all over the yard...especially not for the party of my one-year-old-who-puts-anything-and-everything-into-his-mouth!)

Since the party occurred one week post-miscarriage, I took a few short-cuts. Enter the grocery store cake. It was really tasty! And really cute. And the kids LOVED the surfing Micky and sun-bathing Minnie.

Maren was a great helper while Truett was opening his gifts. Actually, Maren and the other kids opened the gifts...

...this was how Truett felt by the time the 3rd or 4th gift was being opened. Notice the many little helpers surrounding, or suffocating, him.

To say Truett enjoyed his first taste of cake would be a major understatement. So many of my friends commented on how they'd never seen such exuberance from a one-year-old enjoying the first cake. He would've gladly eaten every last bite if I'd have let him.

We sure love you, happy boy!