A Purple Owl Birthday Party

A couple of weeks ago, I promised an entry devoted to Micah's very first birthday party, and it's about time that I got around to posting it, don't you think?? One of Micah's favorite toys is a tiny stuffed owl that came with her bouncy seat, so when it came time to design a birthday party collection for my little girl, I chose to use a sweet little owl as the image for Micah's party.

The little owl on her invitation became the icon of her party, and I used it over and over again in the decorations, from the yard signs, to the banner, to the cupcake toppers, to Micah's smash cake topper.

I love the owl - especially her little flower hairbow. It was no coincidence that Micah's hairbow matched her owl's :) A dear friend made Micah's purple owl dress, and I think it turned out really cute. Not too matchy, matchy. But very sweet.

Of course, we had to remove the cute dress when it came time for Micah to dig into her cake. I didn't want icing all over that little dress! So we took it off, sang "happy birthday" and waited for Micah to dig in. Then we waited some more. Finally, I gave her a taste and broke off some pieces for her, and she enjoyed those, but she wasn't really interested in smashing the cake.

I decorated our newly finished deck (thanks, Dennis!) with the tissue paper pom-pom balls I told you about earlier. The pomanders couldn't have been any more colorful or lively, and I think they set a pretty fun tone for the whole event.

Overall, Micah's party was a sweet and cute event. I loved celebrating our little girl's big day with so many wonderful friends and family, and great fun was had by all. Especially by Micah. She's still having fun with all those pom-poms I made. They make good toys, you know!

All of the owl party items above are available in the Senojal Designs etsy shop. Be sure to stop on by and check them out if you're planning an owl party for your little one!

Until next time, grace and peace.

Happy Anniversary, Honey

No wonder we have a blue-eyed baby!

Five years ago today, I was getting ready to walk down the aisle and marry my best friend. Now, five years later, I cannot imagine life without Dennis. We live a blessed and happy life, and I'm so grateful that God brought the two of us together. Dennis is truly my best friend. He is the one that I want to talk to at the end of a long day. He's also the one that I want to sit with on the front porch after Micah goes to sleep.

He's an engineer through and through, and I most definitely am not. He's a planner. I'm a dreamer. He's a country boy. I'm a girl from the suburbs. He wears Wranglers. I prefer Gap jeans. As different as we are, we're enough alike that we complete each other's sentences and think the same things at the same time. Somehow it all works, and I wouldn't trade the life we have together for anything else in the world.

I love you, Dennis. And I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

Happy anniversary, honey!

Until next time, grace and peace.

A Year Ago Today

I'm a fairly sentimental person, I suppose. I like looking through old journals and reading entries from the same day a couple of years ago. I frequently wonder what I was doing four years ago at this time, and I'll go digging through old journals or blog entries until I find the answer. I don't have to wonder what I was doing a year ago at this time. I know exactly where I was. I was in a labor and delivery room at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital, thinking that the contractions really weren't all that bad. My story soon changed, and I sprang for the epidural late in the afternoon. Micah arrived about five hours later, at 8:17 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and she was a tiny 19 1/4 inches long. She was a sweet baby, even then, and I'll never forget the wonder of holding her in my arms for the first time.

Today she celebrates her first birthday, and she has no idea why I keep singing to her, but she likes to dance along. She sparkles with life and energy, offering slobbery, open-mouthed kisses to me when I ask and patting me on the back when I put her on my shoulder. Watching her teeter and totter around the house as she's become a more confident walker has been fun, and it's equally as fun to see how delighted she is with herself. She loves to clap and will sometimes wave "hey" and "bye-bye," but she's a strong-willed child who does practically nothing on demand. When I go into her room to get her in the mornings or after a nap, she plays peek-a-boo with me through the rails of the crib, and her giggle is contagious.

She is truly a sweet little girl, and I'm blessed to be her mommy. Last week, she started cutting three more teeth, so now she has four on top and two on the bottom. Even though she's still tiny, she's grown a lot in the past few months. When I weighed her Monday, she came in at 18 pounds, 3.5 ounces, which is nearly three pounds more than she weighed when they discharged her from the hospital a month ago. She loves to talk, although few of her words are recognizable, and when we sit down to read a book, she scrambles to turn the pages. She is precious.

This morning when I prayed for her, I prayed that God would guard her and protect her throughout her life - that he would call her by name and whisper stories of his love in her ears - that she would grow into a strong young woman whose heart is stayed on him - that her heart would be big enough to love both the loved and the unloved - that she would be gracious, kind and merciful, showing the world what her God is like. I pray that as the Lord shapes and molds her into a beautiful young lady that he will shape and mold me into the kind of mother who honors and glorifies him - one who is patient, kind and gracious with her children. I know that we cannot do this without him, so I pray that God would enable us to nurture and protect this tiny little girl that he saw fit to bless us with.

She is a precious little girl, and I love her more than I ever imagined.

Happy birthday, Micah!

Until next time, grace and peace.