Well as things go, my daughter who was married back in 2019 in a beautiful field by our home, is going to have a baby. What an absolute thrill for us.

We received a little wrapped package in the mail. Inside was a note attached to a baby pacifier announcing the special news.

Serenity decided to have a gender reveal party. Now I never did find out what I was having. All 6 times it was a complete surprise and so far all my children have opted to be surprised too.

But my daughter and my son-in-law wanted to know. Serenity decided to go with a twinkle twinkle little star theme for her party and we had so much fun planning it.

I flew to Serenity’s earlier in the week so that we could prepare all the desserts. We had decided to just serve drinks and mini desserts.

Well, with Covid, it caused a wrinkle… some were concerned about it, others were in quarantine so…. we decided to just roll with it and we planned a drive by gender reveal party. It ended up being so much fun!

We had the party at their church fellowship hall. When family arrived at the church and turned into the driveway they were given a menu. They were to check off all the items they wanted.

When they flipped the card over, there were the drink selections.

After turning in and receiving their menu, they made their way to the Diaper Station Raffle. To enter the raffle you had to bring a package of diapers and you were entered into a drawing for a $40 Amazon gift card.

The Italian soda bar was something Serenity has been really wanting to do at a party so this was her opportunity.

After each car picked up their drinks, they drove to our station where they picked up their selection of desserts.

Serenity had printed off an Old Wives Tales poster.

We tried to make desserts that we could use the twinkle twinkle theme and also blue and pink colors.

Serenity and her mother-in-law made the cutest little chocolate Bibles. Printed on paper was the verse, “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

They were adorable.

So glad we could participate in this fun event.

Adjacent to the fellowship hall was a field where we gathered after everyone had had their fill of sweet treats.

We were ready to set those smoke bombs and confetti cannons off!

I was so busy trying to get my confetti canon to go off that it took me awhile to realize IT WAS PINK!

It was a fun day. I loved helping and making the mini desserts. When do we ever get the chance to operate a drive through? We did with this kind of shower and I had the best time doing it.

Looking forward to meeting Grandbaby #7! It will be such a special occasion. There is going to be some serious snuggling going on let me tell you!

It’s hunting season once again and Seth is the hunting guide, Wesley his wrangler and this time they’ll have their own cook….. Jessica! They’ll be riding in on horses for 3 days and once in, they won’t be coming out for 2 months. This will be an adventure for Jessica to cook over a camp fire if they’re unable to get a propane stove for her.

Anyways, back to the party. We had a hunting theme – thus all the bright orange.

I love themed parties. They make the planning so easy.

Notice how green the mountain is? That was all burnt over during the Goodwin Fire but with the rains, the grass has come back and is quite vibrant.

Targets were part of the centerpieces with branches from the tree in our front yard cut and placed into mason jars.

I was so excited about the cake’s decorations and the cake actually tasted really good. Purchased at Fry’s, we ordered the 1/2 sheet size with Cool Whip topping. I was so happy with it that I wouldn’t hesitate to order a cake from them again and we’re not even cake fans.

Happy 22nd Birthday to Wesley… people lover, passionate about life, fun loving, a natural leader, bookworm who will stay up all night reading, lover of Jesus Christ and His Word, hunter, top notch walleyball/volleyball player and a big fan of shopping thrift stores! If you are familiar with the DISC personality profiling, he’s a D to the core.

Sometimes I just want to smack him a good one but there’s no one like our Wesley. He’s loyal, loving and cares deeply and we’re so happy he’s one of ours.  xoxo

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Before I show you all the beautiful hand lettering, let me tell you a little more about the wedding.

(I’m really kind of embarrassed to share these pictures because they’re not that good. I always have my camera with me but not this time and so I was using the mother-of-the-bride’s camera to capture parts of the day for her. Let me tell you, it’s so worth investing in a good quality camera if you’re wanting decent looking pictures.)

My good friend’s daughter got married. We’ve been friends since we were 8 years old.

Oh, and she’s the same one that came to our rescue the night that things didn’t go as planned.

This saying totally fits us.

We’ve always been there for each other and stayed friends even when we would get under each others skin. Yeah, its happened.

She was in charge of the kitchen at my son’s wedding and I took care of the kitchen at her daughter’s wedding…. along with a host of others. It’s never just one person that does these things. It always takes others and I had plenty of wonderful help.

It was really special that they had this table set up in memory of my nephew who was taken from this life in a plane crash in 2014.

And now for the hand lettering I was telling you about. This girl has spent hours and hours working her craft and it shows…

Don’t you just love it?!

It was a beautiful day.

And after a beautiful wedding and reception, the happy couple was off!

…and we all went home and collapsed!

Just kidding! Kind of…

]]> https://treasuringthemoments.net/2016/03/09/hand-lettering-so-good-youll-be-amazed/feed/ 4 https://treasuringthemoments.net/2013/01/14/an-usual-place-for-an-engagement-party/ https://treasuringthemoments.net/2013/01/14/an-usual-place-for-an-engagement-party/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000 http://treasuringthemoments.net/?p=697670 Did you know it is possible to throw an engagement party in an airport?

My dear husband decided we should welcome back the happily engaged couple who had went, along with my son, to a youth retreat in Tennessee and then up to visit friends in Michigan, as well.

It was a red-eye flight, the airport was quietening down after a day of thousands bustling through its corridors.  Restaurants had closed but not before we had received permission to set up in one of them.

Justus and Audrey were so happy to see their brother Zachary.  Since he became engaged they have really latched on to him.

Pretty nice, Russell.  Pretty nice.  (I think he did a beautiful job, don’t you.)

Hey, we look pretty good for it being past midnight.

And we can’t forget Wesley.  We were glad to see him back, too!

 Our family of 8…

will soon be 9 on May 18, 2013.

Yes, we now have a wedding date!

I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about the wedding as we go along. I’ll be pretty involved myself since I will making the food for the reception… oh, and then there’s the rehearsal dinner.  Yikes!

She chose the theme Hello Kitty.  I found plenty of inspiration online for the party and then this great Hello Kitty birthday printables kit for FREE by Shery K Designs was perfect.  The printables are adorable and the variety of items to use are just great.

These little favor bags were made by printing off one of Shery’s designs and then cutting and folding it.  Aren’t they the cutest little things?

Strawberry Milk. This was my kid’s first time to have it.  Verdict… they liked it.

I took jelly jars, wrapped them with a bit of lace, secured it with a dab of hot glue and then tied pink yarn around the lace.  I cut circles the same size as the canning jar lid out of one of the free printable papers in the Hello Kitty kit and attached the circles to the top of the canning jar seal with some hot glue.  Russell then drilled a hole in the middle of the lid for the straws.

Cupcake toppers made from the Hello Kitty printables kit.

The food was intended to be just a little snack. Peanut Butter & Strawberry jelly sandwiches, Tuna fish on crackers (kitty’s like tuna ), carrot and celery sticks in cups with some dip in the bottom. I’ve wanted to do this relish idea for a very long time and I finally got to try it.

The back of the chairs where the kids sat to eat their snack.

I printed off the big Hello Kitty on the wall from Printmaster. We used it to play “Pin the Nose on the Kitty”.

Games

For the games we played:

•  Hidden Mice

I printed off about 25 mice and hid them in different areas of the house which the kids had to go and find.

• Untangle the Ball of Yarn

Each of the children had a different colored yarn they had to untangle from the other kids’.

At one point all the action centered on one spot.  I did have to spread the yarn at this point with my fingers because it was wanting to become one big knot. I would spread the yard and then they were able to figure out where to go with their cardboard skein.

• Drop the Clothespins into the Bottle

• Pop the Popcorn

Using a bunch of balloons, we put them all on a sheet and had the girls hold the corners and wherever else they wanted.  When we told them to “Turn on the Popper” they would shake the sheet and try to make the “popcorn” fly out.  We adults were trying to keep them in and as long as there was popcorn in the popper the kids had to keep shaking.

• Pin the nose on Hello Kitty

• Break the Pinata

• Moving cottonballs from one bowl to another using Vaseline on the tips of their noses

We only used 5 cottonballs but they easily did it in 1 minute. Also, it was better to put a nice big dab of Vaseline on the ends of their noses, otherwise it wore off too quickly.

• Finally, our little kitties had to drink milk from a saucer.

Then it was time for our snacks, candle blowing and the opening of presents.

Audrey had a fun time and has decided that she wants to have another one in the future.

Happy 7th Birthday to my little Audrey.

We decided to go with a mini-golf theme since Serenity wanted to go somewhere that had go-karts, etc.

I made these invitations using Printmaster for the letters the green and then I used skewers and foam for the flag and balls.

My mom and I laughed so hard watching the kids ride the bumper boats.  They were soaked!

After an afternoon at the Funtasticks Park, we went back to my sister’s house for a golf themed supper I had prepared.

Then the ultimate golf cake was presented by none other than Martha – our own cake decorator.  What’s with the name Martha and creativity?

The water and rocks were fantastic looking but the really fun thing about this cake is you can drop a BB at the top of the course and it rolls down the hill, goes through the tunnel in the mountain and drops out down at the tee at the bottom of the hill.

Both sides of the cake had a working “course” (not sure what else to call it) that the BB could roll down.  I wish I could post a video of it.  It was so ingenious. Thanks, Martha for all your hard work.  You did a fantastic job.

And that was how we celebrated Serenity’s 14th birthday.

Most of my ideas were from Kara’s Party Ideas.  I love her site.  Loads of ideas there.

With all the activity of family being around for Zachary’s graduation, I got too busy to be posting and then after the graduation dinner, we took off on a little get-away. More on our get-away in another post.

The weather was beautiful, the night of the dinner with no wind or rain and the temperature about 70°.

Of course there was lots of preplanning. Tables and chairs had to be brought up from the garage to the lawn, table coverings put on and chairs wiped down. You can see Russell in the background stringing up lights that he wired.

Russ also built a platform for those who spoke and a frame for the screen which we used for a slide show and a few other things.

Mint from the garden, placed into a pint Mason jar with a red checked ribbon tied around it made very cute table centerpieces.

It’s really quite sad but I have only a very few pictures of the evening.    Not many were taken when there was daylight and after it got dark, the quality of the pictures weren’t very good. 

The Drink Station

Do you see that little produce stand?  My sister and I thought that since Zachary likes to garden that this would be very fitting. Russell built it out of scraps we had around the homestead and all of us fell in l-o-v-e! This is one going to be one nice addition to future events.

The Menu:

• Mesquite Smoked Tri-Tip
• Grilled Chicken
• Santa Maria-Style Pinto Beans
• Twice Baked Potatoes (not placed in the skin)
• Mini Salad Bar
• Corn Bread w/ honey butter
• Baguettes w/ herb butter
• a variety of Cobblers w/ vanilla ice cream

Our “mini” salad bar…

It was so attractive. Rebekah (my big sis that masterminded the dinner) used this very large serving platter that she covered with plastic wrap.

The program that followed the supper was so enjoyable bringing tears at different times and lots of laughter, too.

We started with a song written and sang by my two nieces.  To give you a flavor for the kind of verses we had, I’ll post a few.

Zachary Dachary doc
Do your school and do not talk
There’s math still yet and spelling next
Zachary Dachary doc

Zachary Dachary doc
The noise will you please stop
Please concentrate or you’ll be spanked
Zachary Dachary doc

Then the tune changed and some of the verses were…

He has a vast vocabulary and mind to study theories,
A  con–vo–lu—ted  mystery,      a  SE—MAN—tic   com–plex–ity.
He’s hardly ever prosy or lu-gu-bri-ous or mosey.
But, a facetious, mach—i–na—tion.
Lo-qua-cious, high-strung boy

Do we have a dictionary?

When he enters into a room, all fragilities are certainly doomed
Simply walking down a hall, pictures fall from off the wall

In the woods he’s better fit
On the ranch or in the sticks
Keeping bees and getting milk
Gardening and hunting elk…

It was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Great job, Chloe!!  (Sadly, we do not have a picture of them singing.)

We had speeches, another poem about Zachary’s ways, a hilarious series of mini-skits that my brother-in-law put together since he was unable to come, a slide show and another song “I Want Your Perfect Will in My Life.”

Zachary was in true form – being quite humorous.  He had me come on stage when he gave his speech and proceeded to give me 2 dozen red roses but only one at a time.  He’d state something he was thankful for and hand me a rose, then state another something he was thankful for and give me another rose and so on, until he’d given me about a dozen.  Then he just handed me the other dozen.  It was a special moment for me.

A really unexpected moment for Zachary was when he received his diploma.  We had him stand to the side of the stage as we read his diploma (and displayed it on the screen so everyone could see it)… Then as he came forward to receive his diploma we played the “Hallelujah Chorus” by Handel.

After everyone had heard about Zachary’s crazy ways that evening, they could totally relate to the “Hallelujah!, Hallelujah!”

Zachary loved it. 

Take a box of chocolate covered nuts and raisins as you leave, please.

“Thank you family and friends for your love, support and friendship through the years.  We are delighted that you could share this special evening with our family.”

The tea party is for older girls but if the siblings have younger sisters, we welcome them, too.  The theme was a “Ladies Book Society Tea Party”.  What a fun theme that was!

Audrey decided to go as Pigling Bland, the character Beatrix Potter writes about in The Tale of Piglind Bland.

A few weeks prior to the tea party, Audrey wanted to play Pigling Bland with Justus so she got a stick and put a plastic grocery bag on the end.  For the tea party, we dressed her up just a bit…

Each of the girls could dress as their favorite character, or not, it was their choice.  They were then to read a portion of their favorite book aloud to the other girls.

Serenity isn’t much of a bookworm unfortunately, but she does like this series of books – The Young Underground by Robert Elmer.

This young lady loves the Mandie series.

The setting for our luncheon was perfect.  I loved it!

We had the normal tea party fare, which was quite tasty, but then there were these fun little desserts!

Don’t you just love these little “bookworms”?

Dirt cake anyone?

Up close…

Who Wrote the Book…?

Another activity was guessing who wrote certain classics.  The titles were written on a piece of paper beforehand and then placed in a hat.  Each child would reach in a take a slip of paper and try to guess the author of the book.  If they couldn’t answer it, they would then ask the group of girls.  Whoever answered the most won a small prize in the end.

So long for now…

Here are a few ideas I’ve found for Thanksgiving.

Martha Stewart has this Mayflower centerpiece.  Unless you enlarge it, the template is not big enough for a centerpiece.  It also is much too time consuming and complicated. Have you ever heard of veneer for a craft project? I wouldn’t even know where to find it.

For my Mayflower I used construction paper (after my first failed attempt using Martha’s directions) and hot glued it together.  Very easy.  I also used a thin bamboo skewer for the mast hot gluing it in, too.  I filled the hull with a few almonds to give it more stability.

Oops, I forgot the drinking glass in my miniature tablescape.

Another idea for a place card is to take a napkin and make an envelope fold, then seal it with a name.  Here is a video that shows you step by step directions.

Here is a shot of both types of name cards. If you did use the envelope fold with a name card, you could still use the Mayflower for added decoration at each place setting. You could write on both masts something besides a name. How about the following? …for this bounty we are thankful.