birthday tradition.

this time, last year, i began a new birthday tradition for my girls.

i guess it really began with emma's 2nd birthday in 2008, when i ordered her a birthday shirt with a big, cute "2" on it. i did the same for her 3rd birthday, and then her 4th, and it was when i received that shirt that i realized i was completely capable of making one just as cute!

when rylie's 1st birthday came around 8 months later, i got to work on a super cute "1" shirt that tied in with the "pinwheels & sunshine" theme i had going for her party. i equipped myself with some fabric scraps from hobby lobby, a white t-shirt from target, an embroidery hoop, needles & embroidery floss and got to work... not sure exactly what would come of my endeavor.

i was extremely excited when several hours of cutting fabric and hand stitching turned into this:

rylie's "sunshine & pinwheels" 1st birthday shirt

emma was so tickled by the shirt, that she asked me to make her one for HER birthday (as if i wasn't already planning exactly that)! :)

so, when october rolled around, i stayed up 'til 4am on a school night so my sweet girl would have her very own birthday shirt to wear to school on the day she turned 5 years old. :) i came up with something to match the "alice in wonderland"/"mad-hatter" tea party theme.

emma's "mad-hatter tea party" 5th birthday shirt

my sweet girl on her 5th birthday
{can we pause on 5-years-old? please?}

i decided on that day, that i would make a birthday shirt for my girls every. single. year. {until they beg me to stop!} my hope is to one day combine each numbered birthday shirt to make a t-shirt quilt for each of my daughters... so they'll have a snuggly reminder of all the love and hard work i hand-stitched each year for their fun special-day memories. :)

and, of course, last week, i stayed up until 5am on the 2nd birthday of my youngest little. rylie is in love with elmo at the moment, so her party was all girly elmo fun... and her birthday shirt had to match! :)

rylie's "girlie elmo" 2nd birthday shirt
{in progress}

"all done!" ...as rylie would say :)
everything is handstitched... i guess the
small imperfections give it character, right? :)

rylie was super excited about her "mo-mo" shirt, and looked super cute in it all day long on her 2nd birthday. the best part? when we were leaving her nonna's house, after cake & presents, i told rylie to lift her arms so i could take off her shirt and get her jammies on. she very emphatically told me, "no, mama!! no! want mo-mo shirt!" 

she didn't want to take it off. :) and who am i to argue with the birthday girl?? 

so she slept in it. 

sweet "baby" girl... all birthday-ed out. :)

she has no idea how happy that made my heart. i absolutely love that my girls enjoy the things i make for them. hopefully one day they'll understand how much love went into the creativity and labor behind the making of those special things. :) until then, this mommy will continue to create and hand-stitch and craft and paint and bake and whatever-else lovely things that i think my littles will enjoy, just to show them how much i love them. :) 

but this tradition... i think it'll be one of my faves. i hope my girls will adore it as much as i do. :)

catching up :: june 2011 :: rylie's 1st birthday.

note: this entry was written in july 2012, in an effort to finally update this little blog on the missing year or two of our lives, while i was so busy starting my new teaching career. :)

time flies when you're having fun! :) we couldn't believe our sweet rylie was already one... we had a fun day celebrating our baby girl.

we woke up and had a fun day at home, and then went to chick-fil-a for dinner. our neighborhood chick-fil-a does super fun family nights throughout the summer. rylie's 1st birthday fell on a tuesday, so it happened to be free ice cream and face painting night! :) we took emma's bff haley with us, and the girls had lots of fun.

birthday cupcake bears from nonna & grampa

sweet birthday girl

"it's my party and i'll cry if i want to!"

face painting at chick-fil-a

yummy chick-fil-a for the birthday girl & daddy

beautiful butterfly princess

our friend haley, getting her face painted, too

i think she likes it. :)

emma & haley :: sweet friends

haley & emma :: silly friends 

haley & emma :: love these girls

loving some ice cream. :)

"ice dream" buddies

the birthday girl loves her french fries

what a great daddy! he got his face painted, too! :)

emma just thinks this is so great...

a princess & her superhero

just because they're so cute... trying to remember them this small. :)
{emma-4, rylie-1 :: june 2011}

rylie's birthday party was at our house last year. it was held on july 2nd so jason's parents could be back in town from their vacation and be there. we had SO many good friends and family show up, which was great, but our tiny house was packed full. it also happened to be probably the hottest day of the summer at that point, and although our air conditioner worked overtime to keep up, it just wasn't strong enough. so, needless to say, it was much less than comfortable in our living room (i think with about 30 adults in kids in one room, the temperature didn't get under 80 the entire time... maybe even as high as 88!!). even so, it was a fun day, and i had a blast with the fun little details. :) jason has more pics on his computer, so i'll have to post more later... these are more of the decorations and such. :)

sign on the table at ry's party

pinwheels & sunshine for rylie's first-day-of-summer birthday :)

pinwheels for rylie's party

pinwheels for rylie's party

working on rylie's 1st birthday shirt

pinwheels & lemon{ade}s :)

table decorations {framed party invitation}

table decorations

invitation to rylie's 1st birthday party
"sunshine & lemonade and twirly whirly fun...
come help celebrate, our rylie is turning ONE!"

3 years.

emma kate turned 3 years old today... three. years. old.

i can't believe it. 3 sounds so - old! well, not old, i guess... but it definitely does not sound like a sweet baby girl. i don't think we can say that we're the parents of a toddler. doesn't 3 qualify a kid as a "preschooler?"

we love the little girl that our emma is becoming. she is such a joy. and when i think back on the last 3 years, its hard to believe that the tiny baby we held on october 5, 2006 is the same child that we kissed goodnight, tonight, in 2009.

here is a little timeline of emma's life in pictures:

our sweet baby girl, right after she was born:
thursday, october 5, 2006
6:34 pm
7 pounds, 12 ounces
21.75 inches

emma kate, after we brought her home from the hospital. so tiny & sweet! (i wonder what she's dreaming about...)




















6 months old
april 2007


















9 months old
july 2007
(look at those little toothies!)


















our princess on her 1st birthday!
october 5, 2007


















18 months old
april 2008
(changing so much, already!)




















at her 2nd birthday party!
october 5, 2008




















our fairy princess at her 3rd birthday party!
october 2009... three years later.














she is our biggest joy in life. we love her more than we can ever say. it actually physically hurts when i think about how much i love her... i just can't put it into words.

it has been so amazing to get to see glimpses of God's love for me as my Heavenly Father, through my love for emma as her mother. i love how He has used my role as a parent to reveal Himself to me over and over again.


i thank my God for blessing me with my beautiful daughter.

what did we do 3 years ago, before emma was here? it's crazy to think about...

i cannot imagine my life without her.

happy birthday, mom.

my mom's birthday was yesterday, november 6th. i meant to post this then, but i didn't get it done in time. :-(

so, in honor of the woman who birthed and raised... ME... here is a little collage of things that remind me of her:


mom by sara.rains from polyvore.com

my mom, denise, loves:
kitchen aids, fancy flip-flops, things from brighton, gerbera daisies, reading good books, crabtree & evelyn products - especially almond scented, her cat zoomer, (cooking) thanksgiving dinner, artichokes & other good foods, baking (the pink cupcake liners remind me of the cakes she would bake me when i was a little girl... they always had to be pink!), a mini cooper - her dream car, fresh cut lilies, quality cookware, a good glass of wine, and christmas!

of course, she also loves her family, but i felt like that was a given.

happy birthday, mom.

i hope you enjoyed your day. love you!

birthday fun

well, i have to say that emma's 2nd birthday party was more fun than i could have ever imagined! we had so many sweet friends and family to celebrate, with us, our sweet little emma kate. we had a bounce house, bubble machines, a cotton candy machine, and lots of little tykes-type plastic slides and playthings. it was almost like we had a carnival in our backyard!

emma had a BLAST! it was such a blessing to see her so happy and just enjoying her special day.

most of these pictures are of emma... but i only picked a few from the hundreds that we have! :-)

emma's birthday cake was amazing!

(cake & cupcakes by megan with sweet temptations bakery)

butterfly "cup-capes," as emma calls them

...again... amazing!

i can't believe this thing was in our backyard!

(thanks to "uncle cory" - my brother - for getting us this treat for emma's party!)

she would NOT leave the bounce house -

jumping is her FAVORITE thing in the world!

aunt lulu (jason's sister), our sweet friend becca mercer, my sweet friend missy's daughter brynn & emma kate -

all gettin' their jump on!

cute "i'm the birthday girl" shirt

...from the back... "just turned two!"

part of emma's entourage - aaron & ella

dylan - one of emma's favorite people

& apparent "betrothed"

mommy & daddy had friends at the party, too!

jason with becca & drew mercer

of course, my child was putting on someone else's shoes

(i think she may have an obsession...)

what's better than a big, fat ball of cotton candy?

her first bite... right before she spit it out!

i think she wasn't sure about it melting in her mouth.

crazy girl - she doesn't know what she's missing!

singing to our girl

"MY cup-cape, mommy."

(isn't this a priceless picture?)

note the pinky sticking up... so dainty!

favors for emma's friends & guests

the sea of tissue paper & bags was insane!

the best part: she was content with each individual gift.

we had to force her to open more!

(this scooter was by far her fave, though)

how do i make it go?

and... i'm done.

she was SO exhausted!

what a blessing this weekend was. thank you to all our friends & family who helped make emma's day so special for our family. we love you all!

hope you guys had as much fun as we did!