What a day!

After another tough night, the morning came and we had another wonderful Owl Baby Shower! There is just something about celebrating these little ones, that is the best feeling in the world. Every little baby should have someone that is exited for happy about their upcoming birth!

Look at this cute diaper cake that my friend made and she made sweet lanterns too!

Then our other friend made these too cute little birds in their nests! What talented ladies!

Then Amy and Angie came over for dinner, after that we went to the a World Wide Women's Conference at church. It was wonderful, here are some of my notes ...

"The 2 most important days of a women's life are the day she was born and the day she realizes why!" 

We are daughters of God. What will you do each day to live as a child of God?

Because you are His child, He knows you and who you will become. 

Phillipines 4:13

The trials and problems in life, have things to teach us. We need to trust in Him. And pray to Him for strength an understanding.

Remember the Holy Ghost will help you hear the message that is right for you. 

There is enough that doesn't go right in life that's sad, meloncholy, so we should focus on the bright, happy things in life and be cheerful. 

Faith leads to Hope. 

You need to realize you have a choice each day to be said and discouraged or to have faith and be hopeful.

Open your eyes to the happiness in each day.

Remember Eternity is made up of NOWS!
Everything leads to LOVE!
When we serve others wer are happy and feel the Pure love of Christ. 

Let Faith fortify our every day choices!

You can see what we watched HERE:

 Then we decided to go to Michaels for a bit! ( isn't there always something you need at Michaels?) :)

I was trying to tell our friend that I don't smile until you count to 3 .... you can tell by the top photo, she didn't count to 3! :)

Fun to have Angie come with us, the night would have been totally complete if my daughter Lauren and daughter in law Krystal was with us. At least we know they got to watch Women's Conference in Idaho and Texas at the same time...that was sorta like we were together.
Anyway it was a wonderful day and it was a blessing!
Good Night dear friends!

Creating!

Yesterday I got to spend the day with Amy helping her get ready for a Baby Shower at her house. I brought some soup I made for us to have for lunch, look what Amy found in hers...a little LOVE!


Then we finished up some of the things for the decorations!

It was fun, Amy really is talented. She transformed that room.

I am telling you, these kids of mine are so creative. Fun to see them 

share their talents with so many. 

Then today I got to visit a couple of dear friends that I haven't seen in a while. I was grateful this week that I was able to share some time with such dear friends and family!

It definitely was a creative week!

It's time to Party!

Finally after being sick, I was able to have 4 days of health. Just in time to switch my house from Easter ...to getting ready for a baby shower, for my girl friend's daughter.

I love changing my house for all the Seasons!

I still have a few more quilts that I need to make for the other Seasons!

This Mother-to-Be wanted to have an Elephant decorated Baby Shower for her little boy!

This is the gift I painted for her Nursery!

I got this book for everyone to sign for the Mother-to-be...to keep with the Elephant theme. I also got them one of my son Brad and Krystal's book. Since she and her husband are teachers, I thought they would like that...and they did!

We had a great turn out and you could tell by the gifts...that this baby is already so loved!

These are the gifts for the Baby Shower Games

Elephant garlands turned out cute!

It was a great day and I am grateful that the Mother-to-be had a great time. My friend is so excited to be a Grandmother for the first time. So glad that we got to do this today!

What a DAY!!!!

I came home so tired from the Baby Shower last night that I simply just had to go to bed. It was a full day, Jenny and I's last day together from her 2 day Sleep Over, and then the baby shower for a dear friend. It was fun... but I probably over did it a bit.
Tonight is Date Night...yeah and so I won't write tonight for sure. So I thought I would post today instead!
Good night dear friends! ( later that is! )

 "If I could give you one thing in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes only then would you realize how special you are to me.."

Love my Jenny girl! Never a dull moment, sorta feels like a redheaded mini Lauren! :)

Lunch at Panera Bread! 

Never go anywhere without a stuffed animal with you to share in all the fun!

 My dear friend, has 4 little girls and now she is finally getting a little boy. Thanks so much for Jenny and Amy for making the shower look adorable! And for all the ladies that came and helped out too. It was a great success and I think she felt loved! That was our goal!

Jenny's cute homemade cookies, Amy's calligraphy toppers were too cute!

 Jenny also sews and made this sweet table runner to match the banner than Amy sewed!

 Food, food and more food. If you couldn't guess, it was an Ice Cream Party!

 Thank you notes to match of course!

 These sweet little beanie babies have been so popular, thought I would give some to the 4 sisters and to the Hostess's little girls too. Yes, those are sleeping bags that I made. Don't all your little stuffed animals have sleeping bags? :)

Thank Heaven for little boy!

Baby Shower, with Hostess Missing!

Well, as many of your know I have been down...really down, with pneumonia for 3 weeks now. Before Christmas and before I got sick, I made plans with a dear friend (who is expecting her baby first part of February) to do a baby shower for her in our home. I thought that would be wonderful, because each year I tell myself that I would like to keep some of the greenery, lights, berries up and add lots of snowman and snowflake stuff so that January (which is usually pretty dreary ) would at least my house would look quite festive.
So the idea was planted, put on the calendar and I started collecting some things to decorate my house for January and to also go with our Baby Shower Theme which was...Baby it's cold outside! Perfect for a January baby shower right?
Well, everything was going as planned, the house was really coming along ...and then I got sick. As the date got closer, I was sad to think that we wouldn't be able to do it here for my friend. So we did the next best thing, we still had it here... but me ( the Hostess ) well I was suppose to be that, had to stay downstairs with Jeff and Miss Audrey and watch a movie. Amy, and a few other dear friends came to my aid, and became the Hostesses for the shower.
 It was hard to hear all the fun and laughter going on upstairs and not be a part of it. But I really know that I can't take a chance right now being around big crowds, until my immune system gets stronger. The good news is... the weather was great, I was hoping for snow ( to go with the theme, although that would have effected our numbers greatly) or sunny and clear, and that is exactly what we had. The friends came out in big numbers to celebrate. We had 27or so attended... I have only pictures to prove it! :)
Still when my friend left, I feel like she felt very loved and supported...so mission accomplished!!! How grateful I am for all the girls that helped make it a success. It is always amazing to me... how much can be accomplished when so many people help do part of the work....thank you again! Now we can't wait till this new little baby girl arrives! Congrats!

Couldn't believe I found this sign last month!

Loved all the berries and snow decorations!

We had a great variety of food !

Cute favors for everyone when they left!

We also had a Hot Cocoa Bar !

Decorated cookies by a really talented lady!

Lots and lots of friends to help celebrate! 

Happy Safe Delivery soon dear friend!

 

 

"My greatest blessings...call me MOM!"

 

"A baby brings a little bit of Heaven down to Earth!"

 

 

Baby Shower!

Tonight was Amy's Baby Shower. Her dear friend put it on at her house and what an incredible job she did. She and Amy have the same taste in decorating, sooo it was picture perfect!  Just wished all of our family could have been there, cousins and all.  Miss Audrey Jane got a lot of beautiful things tonight, how kind of all of our friends to come and support her.
This photo is of Amy a few months earlier...her cute belly is a bit bigger now!
We will have photos soon, just wanted to leave you with a Happy Thought tonight and then I am heading to bed. Looking forward to getting tomorrow  ( my cancer check up ) behind me!
 Wish me luck!
Good night dear friends!

"Let a series of happy thoughts run through your mind. They will show on your face!"
~ Norman Vincent Peale  
"The happiness of your life, depends on the quality of your thoughts."

I saw that going differently in my mind?

   The other night I told you about the Baby Shower we had for a dear friend, right? What I didn't tell you, is what happened earlier in the day that changed some of the plans for the Shower. I love to work in the dirt and plant flowers and vegetables. I don't really even mind doing yard work, but all of that usually gets me in trouble with my back and I pay for it, for days. Jeff and the kids aren't that crazy about yard work and it shows around here. I mean Lee cuts the grass  ( I mean weeds  ) each week, because it is the only green thing out there.
   I knew the shower was coming up and we really hadn't cleaned up the back yard or planted any vegetables for the Spring. We did manage to get in flowers on the front porch and they do look great, if I do say so myself.
   So I thought the night before the Shower, that if I got some plants and soil and stuff for them, that I could get it all planted the day of the Shower. My thought was that we could actually even hold the Shower on the deck, the weather would be perfect for it. I just wanted my yard and poor little garden to look like someone cared.
   That day Jenny and Angie were over and they love planting and working in the garden with me, so I really wasn't alone. Even the kids pitched in at one point, (probably because they thought I was going to be in no shape by the Shower if they didn't help).
Well, with every one's help, we got it done. It looked great, and I could just see how fun and beautiful it was going to be for the Shower, except I forgot one thing!!!! ONE BIG THING! I had to put COMPOST which had fertilizer in it, and so the smell was awful! As soon as you walked out on the deck, you almost felt like you could lean over the railing and see the cows and chickens...at least that is what it smelt like. We laughed about it sooooooooooooo hard. How could I over look something that BIG? I really did see that going differently in my mind? I had the best intentions. Long story...short? We didn't go outside or even open in of the back windows or doors. The Shower went fine... but for the next few days, we didn't really enjoy how beautiful my flowers and plants looked on the deck on in the back yard, because we couldn't stand the smell! I love farms but...this was ridiculous!
   Good night dear friends!
 

"Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing 
that life is made up of little things."  - Frank A. Clark

 
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable 
but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."- George Bernard Shaw

I have two little hands!

 I love this photo, that Lauren did of a friend of ours that was expecting last year. We had a baby shower for her and we had so much fun. I was looking up the origin of baby showers and here is what I found...

 The origin of baby showers can’t be pointed out exactly, but many people believed this practice dates back to the ancient times. During the Victorian Era, the baby shower was simply a tea party, held in the afternoon. The guests were the closest female friends of the mother-to-be, and they gather together to talk, to wish the new mommy good luck and give small gifts for the child. It was a simple and quaint event
Today, baby showers are considered one of the most important celebrations for parents. Of course, how this party is planned and celebrate has changed over time. Although many old baby shower traditions are still widely seen, new ones have also emerged.

 Tonight we did another baby shower for a friend (haven't had time yet to download the photos). She is having another little boy and so she really didn't need anything, but everyone still wanted to come celebrate with her. Amy and I love to do themes for our parties. We kept trying to think of a fun and new theme for her. Finally, I realized that when she goes to church with  her little boy, she doesn't have a lot of quiet things for him to do and play with. You know a whole bag of tricks that will entertain him and keep him happy and more quiet (everyone should have one of these). Actually he is really good in church, but still they get restless and tired.
So the theme we had was I HAVE TWO LITTLE HANDS, it was actually part of a little song that they teach the kids in Primary. It went well, we just decorated with her favorite colors, red and blue. I sewed a diaper bag/ tote for her ...to put all  the quiet toys in, and then we had finger foods for the refreshments. It was  really nice and she told me more than once, how loved she felt. We were glad, that is exactly why you do showers, to help them feel love and accepted.  I will end with the words of that cute song..

1. I have two little hands, folded snugly and tight.
They are tiny and weak, yet they know what is right.
During all the long hours till daylight is through,
There is plenty indeed for my two hands to do.

2. Kind Father, I thank thee for two little hands
And ask thee to bless them till each understands
That children can only be happy all day
When two little hands have learned how to obey.

Improvise actions as suggested by the words.

Words: Bertha A. Kleinman, 1877–1971
Music: William Frederick Hanson, 1887–1969

Now I am going to take my TWO LITTLE HANDS and head to bed. Good night dear friends!

Friends, Baby, plus Neighbors = Fun!

Tonight as a neighborhood… we had a Baby Shower.  It was for one of our new neighbors who moved here 7 months ago. They don’t have friends or family that lives near, soooooooooooo we decided that we should have a Neighborhood Baby Shower, to make sure they feel comfortable and welcome here. It is always amazing to me how much PEOPLE WHO CARE can do. We had 16 out of 19  ladies there, that was a wonderful turnout!  It was nice for her, but also for all of us. Some of us are old timers in the neighborhood, but we have quite a few new and young families that have just moved in. I love all the diversity we have and yet, we had so much fun together tonight. Everyone wanted to make sure that our new neighbors knew us, and would feel comfortable calling us if ever they were in need. 

I have always said, “it is good to get to know your neighbors, for one thing if there is a disaster…that is who you are going to be spending your time with. Plus, it just makes life more enjoyable to have so many wonderful neighbors  around that you can call friends”.

So for this new little girl that will be coming soon, … she can rest assured, that there will be a lot of us waiting… just for her to arrive in the neighborhood!

Tonight, I am going to leave you with things you should know, from one of the greatest neighbors anyone could have…Mr. Rogers!

It was a very interesting article, and one that all of us could benefit from, if we were that type of a neighbor….http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943

Motivational?

I have to admit, for the past couple of days, I have worked hard to find something motivational to write in my blog, because I have felt anything OTHER THAN motivational.  Weds. I realized that I was beginning to catch a cold, by evening...I had bad body aches, chills, and just wanted to lay down and get warm. I went to bed early hoping that I could catch it, before it caught me. Woke up this morning feeling about the same...yuck. By this afternoon I realized that I wouldn't even be able to attend a Baby Shower for a dear friend of mine, I was so upset. But what even made it worse, was that the shower was at my house!  Yes, I stayed in my room, in bed the whole time. I slept some and cried some (feeling very sorry for myself) and also sorry, that I missed seeing the excitement on my dear friend's face as she opened all her gifts and had so many people around her that loved her. I pray that she at least felt at home and loved!

Lucky for me, my daughter Amy can host any type of a party. She came early and decorated, and Jeff and Lee cleaned the house for me. I didn't really do anything but feel sorry for myself tonight. I pray that this cold won't go any deeper. I want to go back to my healthy life again! Why do I get so sick, so easily?  You don't really have to answer that... I am just sad tonight. Hope I can sleep after sleeping this evening?

For all of you dear friends that came to the Baby Shower, I am sorry I didn't get to see you. I hope you had a great time, thanks for coming and supporting a dear friend. And I hope you know I would have participated, if I could have!
Good night dear friends!

P.S. Thought this was a good story for me to remember that even though I am sick, there are many reasons and people that I have ...to make it the best time of my life, and for that I am grateful!

 

The Best Time Of My Life 

It was June 15, and in two days I would be turning thirty. I was insecure about entering a new decade of my life and feared that my best years were now behind me.
My daily routine included going to the gym for a workout before going to work. Every morning I would see my friend Nicholas at the gym. He was seventy-nine years old and in terrific shape. As I greeted Nicholas on this particular day, he noticed I wasn't full of my usual vitality and asked if there was anything wrong. I told him I was feeling anxious about turning thirty. I wondered how I would look back on my life once I reached Nicholas's age, so I asked him, "What was the best time of your life?"
Without hesitation, Nicholas replied, "Well, Joe, this is my philosophical answer to your philosophical question:
"When I was a child in Austria and everything was taken care of for me and I was nurtured by my parents, that was the best time of my life.
"When I was going to school and learning the things I know today, that was the best time of my life.
"When I got my first job and had responsibilities and got paid for my efforts, that was the best time of my life.
"When I met my wife and fell in love, that was the best time of my life.
"The Second World War came, and my wife and I had to flee Austria to save our lives. When we were together and safe on a ship bound for North America, that was the best time of my life.
"When we came to Canada and started a family, that was the best time of my life.
"When I was a young father, watching my children grow up, that was the best time of my life.
"And now, Joe, I am seventy-nine years old. I have my health, I feel good and I am in love with my wife just as I was when we first met. This is the best time of my life."

Author Unknown
But Greatly Appreciated!

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=63

"When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears."  ~ Anthony Robbins

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."  ~ Brian Tracy