Surprise!

LOVE these helpers!

Wow, times have changed since college :)

My girls!

The partners in crime... this party wouldn't have happened without my sweet family!

I certainly wasn't expecting this one! For a girl that can sniff out a surprise quicker than a reporter on a scoop, I did not see this party coming. Mark REALLY got me good. I had absolutely no idea that he and his family had been plotting and planning for months. Thinking I was attending a welcome home party for a friend, Wyatt and Mark escorted me to our neighborhood clubhouse Friday evening where I was greeted by dozens of my favorite people, a sea of hot pink and multiple collages of super embarrassing photos courtesy of my mom. :) 

I was blown away by the amount of work my family  put into this celebration. From logistics,  invitations,  decorations, the cake, flowers and everything else... wow. It meant the world to me to celebrate with so many special people- some who traveled very long distances to be there. To simply say thank you would not be enough. I was beyond touched. What a GREAT way to ring in the big 3-0 :).

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

This girl is almost ONE- can you believe it?! The adorable wheel barrow from Uncle Kurt and Miss Kelley!

Celebrating our baby :)


We had a small family dinner to celebrate Wyatt's big day last week. As I have every year since he was born, I took the day off to spend with him. I absolutely love this tradition for the obvious reason of getting to spend one-on-one time with only child, but also because we do whatever he wants to do- and it is always relaxed, playful and incredibly special.

Last Wednesday he woke up and decided he wanted to go to the library and the pool. And he wanted pizza for dinner (the night before he wanted cheeseburgers, so my best laid plans for sliders went out the window). Pizza Hut it was, and he finally got to tear into his presents after a long day of hanging out with Mommy.

It was perfect. Mark and I have a lot of assembly work ahead of us this weekend, but when we are through, Wyatt will have a minature amusement park in the backyard. I kid, however, my one stipulation with regard to his birthday was that he was to get nothing that takes up valuable indoor real estate. We have one child and our small three-bedroom is already busting at the seams. Do I dare think about the massive amount of primary colored plastic that will be accumulating once we add another? Yikes.

Anyways, here are the pictures from his big day... the week long party is over, but we never stop celebrating our little man. We just love him so, so much.

Happy Birthday Wyatt! We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for you!

Pirate Palooza 2011

Ahoy Matey's!

Wyatt's Birthday was a success! It was such a relief to have rented the clubhouse in our neighborhood, because I didn't have to worry about cleaning , it stayed cool and was the perfect size!

Our little guy was so excited, (a bit overwhelmed at first, but he ended up having a great time with all of his friends :)

Here are some pictures:

Centerpieces

The dessert/candy table

Some of my family and friends are as obsessed with Southern Living as I am, so I borrowed several of their buckets that matched mine, and flipped them upside down to make cute

candy containers

For candy, we had neon glow worms, ring pops, blow pops and candy necklaces.

I used PeaceHeartCupcakes on Etsy for all of the table toppers and cupcake toppers, and used tin buckets and shred from the dollar store to hold them. I also ordered his napkin holders from there as well.

I didn't want to go with the traditional red/black, so I added a punch of color with the cupcakes.

Kurt's girlfriend made some adorable Pirate face cupcakes as well, but they weren't there yet when I took these pictures :)

The food table:

The food wasn't completely out when I took this picture, but we had fruit in waffle cups, Pirate's Booty Popcorn, Goldfish, chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, hot dogs wrapped in biscuits and Cannonballs (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate- a Stephanie signature :)

A huge thank you to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who did most of the food. I couldn't have pulled this party off without them- and it was SUPER yummy too :)

Here are the labels I had printed for the food (Etsy again)- I thought they turned out adorable!

The entryway/favor table:

My mom painted the sign (she is super talented! For some reason, I did not get the artistic gene :) For favors, I ordered wrapped cookies from Cookie Queen of Alabama and then added favor tags:

She also made crabs and octopus cookies, but I forgot to take pictures of those.

The drink table (my mom painted the sign hanging above)

The activities:

Mark made a Walk-The-Plank out of two buckets and some 2x4's. We also had a pirate tent, a cannonball toss and a treasure dig (basically I dumped gold coins and jewels into a sandbox) the kids loved this- something about getting as dirty as you possibly can while wearing your cute

st party clothes is hugely appealing.

Also a big hit was the treasure chest pinata. Thank goodness we had a couple older kids there, or that thing would never have gotten busted! It was the sturdiest cardboard box I have ever seen- I think we would still be out there swinging if it hadn't been for Ryan and Lily :)

Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! It was a wonderful day, and one Wyatt will never forget :)

Wyatt the Pirate

We are full steam ahead on birthday preparations for the big number 3.

My son, who has an odd preoccupation with all things Pirate these days, has of course nixed all other theme ideas- including an ice cream party at a nearby location where they do all the work (to be honest, the easy part appealed to me more than the actual itinerary :).

So, this mom is researching Pirate English, googling menus and spending way too many hours on Etsy. I am not sure why I do this to myself-- you know, the whole tons-of-money tons-of-time on a two-hour party-- but it always pays off in the end. I do realize that my husband is right- Wyatt couldn't care less about tablescapes and fruit kabobs. But, since I am that neurotic mom- I want it to be perfect and adorable and I want my little Buccaneer to remember his day. He probably won't, ( I don't remember my 3rd birthday) but... there will be the pictures. And, let's be honest- no matter how you slice it, July birthday parties in Alabama are never going to be easy :) Thank goodness for blogging, because I have gotten some GREAT ideas!

In other news, Wyatt's surgery is Tuesday... so keep those prayers coming!

Relationship Rescue: Making Love Last

We have had a great weekend as a family! I am so happy that hunting season is over for many reasons, but the main one is getting to spend more time with Mark and for the three of us to have uninterrupted time together as well.

The weekend started off with a bang as we celebrated Hayden and Brady's 4th birthday at the bowling alley. This was Wyatt's first time to bowl- and he loved it, but loved the arcade games even more as he took off for the "light-up" room on several occasions. I am so happy that Wyatt has such wonderful friends to grow up with! Each and every time we go to a birthday party I feel incredibly grateful that we get to celebrate these special moments with such special children.

Last night, Mark and I attended a Valentine's Dinner at the church with several other of our couple friends. All of us in attendance had small children, and the thought of free childcare and exceptional Italian food was such a draw that they filled just about every seat in our fellowship hall :).

We had a great time catching up with friends and spending time together. This event was the big kickoff to the new sermon series on marriage that began today.

I am always thrilled when we can attend anything on this subject. Marriage, any marriage takes a lot of work. There are days when I love Mark so much I can barely stand it, and there are days that I can barely stand being in the same room with him because he is driving me nuts. The past 3 1/2 years have brought a lot of change in us both, and there have be

en a lot of happy times, but also a lot of hard times as we both adjust to these changes. The one constant is that Jesus is the center of our life. The more we look to Him, the more we grow closer. I am in complete awe of the man my husband has become - he is enthralled with God and everyone who knows him can see it. I am so very, very humbled by this man who trusts the Lord with everything-- including our family.

Mark is my special gift from God.

How blessed I am not to be wading around this world with no one to share my life with. I can't even imagine what life would be like without him. As I sat in the pew today, I was struck with how very, very important it is to pray for your spouse. I never had even thought of this before. I mean I pray for Mark's protection, I pray that God keep him safe- but how often do I pray to thank God for this gift of marriage? I am embarrassed to admit the answer.

Today Mark and I made the commitment to pray for each other each and every day. I pray God's blessings on him, I pray that God help me to be the best wife I can be to him. I pray that God work in our marriage, and that when I am 85, I can look back on my life and know that I spent it with my beloved. I hope you and your Valentine have a wonderful week!