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Camellias & Copper

A Southern Girl's Blog About Life

Eliza Jane’s 2nd Birthday

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Decorating/Remodeling, Party Ideas Leave a Comment

Today we celebrate our sweet Eliza Jane’s 2nd birthday!!  I literally can remember her birth like it was yesterday {read her birth story here!} and can barely believe this is her 2nd birthday.

Over the weekend we celebrated with friends and family by hosting a little “Oh Two-dles” Minnie party!

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I borrowed the yard signs from a friend who did the same themed party for her daughter earlier this summer {thanks Nicole!}.

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The wreath idea is a total Pinterest-find and was super easy to make!

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I downloaded the “Disney” font and used it for her invitations as well as all the print-outs for the party.  Ears and favors are Party-City finds.

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We have sweet friends who do vinyl, embroidery, etc. and they made this sign for me – just like one I found on Pinterest.  I got the fabric for the bow from Hobby Lobby and traced it out, and used Velcro pieces for attachment {see below photo of Eliza Jane pinning the bow!}.

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A sweet friend who makes cookies on the side let me borrow her mouse cookie cutter so I made the cookies Friday night and then had all kinds of fun sprinkles for the kids to be able to decorate {more pics below!}.

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My amazing friend Aimee made these delicious “Minnie” cupcakes for us.  We set several on a sweet little pink dessert plate I picked up from Anthropologie, stuck two candles in one and that was Eliza Jane’s cake for when we sang to her.
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This is the sign of a really successful cookie decorating party!!  Sprinkles everywhere!!!

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Sweet baby girl!!  We love you and hope you’ve had a fun birthday!
A special thanks to all those who celebrated with us on Saturday and today!

 

10 Keys To Hosting A Summer Backyard Party In The South

by Filed Under: Events, Life, Outside, Party Ideas 1 Comment

Y’all read the title of this and you immediately thought of 3 things:

  1. flies.
  2. mosquitoes.
  3. heat.

Well, we had all three last Friday evening with our annual ‘Welcome Summer’ party!  Although, having had our yard sprayed recently for mosquitoes {I desperately want them all to DIE!! especially since I am pregnant!}, we still had a few.  And the flies.  THE FLIES.  Pesky little varmints they are!

Addressing the three “issues” above, first, here are my 10 keys, tidbits, for hosting a great summer backyard party…in the south:

  1. Use those collapsible mesh food tents – like these from World Market that I have!  They also make useful fly swatters while people are actually fixing their plates! :)
  2. Buy bug repellent and tell people you have it.   Poor R ended up with three bites on his forehead of all stinking places!!!
  3. We purchased a mister fan, but it didn’t arrive in time, so Andrew put up a misting hose along one corner of our home.  Thankfully, that wild storm that blew through here Friday afternoon {and it was wild!} took care of most of the heat, and left us with mid-80’s temps instead of the sweltering 97 we were slated for.   I asked a few people if we needed to turn the mister on, and they all said it was fine…so we didn’t even have to use it!  We also had lots of shade under the massive oak tree in our backyard and had a couple of areas set up for people to sit under said tree.
  4.  KIDS.  We had 21 kids RSVP’d on our guest list…the adults were nearly outnumbered!   Kidding…we would never let that happen!  But to entertain all these kids, we had a bounce house {with a slide}, and a smaller one that we own set up next to it, for the littles.  We also had the two swings in full use {my heart was filled with joy to see kids swirling around on the one Andrew just put up for us!}, a hammock, and of course yard toys like R’s grill set.
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  5. We also had corn hole set up for the big people – and it was in constant use.  I think a bag or two may have been swiped a few times from a little person seeking attention, but all in all, the bigs had as much fun as the littles!
  6. For the adults, it was BYOB.  Bring Your Own Beverage of choosing…That way, we didn’t have to please every people group, AND as many of you have done before, we weren’t left with 15 bottles of red wine that no one drank! We provided ice, cups, fun umbrella straws {which only my friend Najla used…}, sodas, bottled water and CapriSun Roaring Waters for the youngins!20160617_182929
  7. FOOD: We served Little Pigs’ barbeque, hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, cantaloupe and a large bowl of mixed berries and grapes.  Along with more bread than anyone could ever eat {Andrew, I love you!} – so if you need a roll or a hot dog bun for the next 2 weeks, let me know…we have lots of bread/buns left over!!!
  8. For dessert I thought about tubs of ice cream or little single-serve sundaes, but opted for the Popsicles instead – fruit flavored and fudge!  Most of the adults chose fudge…silly kids.
  9. Everything was disposable, save some of my serving dishes, and we kept a trashcan outside so people could easily find it.  My father-in-law got tasked a few times to dump and reload {what a great guy!}.
  10. Lights!!!  For when it gets dark outside.  Our party was scheduled to end by 9:30 p.m. so that we could all get some rest…and it was dark by then anyway.  We had lights up from last year and then I bought some fun “paper” lanterns in pink and orange that I hung from a couple of trees {I sure wish someone had a photo of me tossing my ball of twine up in the air hoping to score a branch at 6 a.m. Friday morning!}, and another area, along with stringing these lovelies {see photo below-below} under the inside of the umbrella I just got from World Market!20160617_173138Summer Party 13453413_10209317567792132_1243926800_o

That’s it!  Really…we go for the fun and relaxed sort of party/get-togethers and this one definitely was.  I heard several dads say that it was the most fun family party they’d been to – which made me really thankful and appreciative for the blessing of our home and the people we have in our lives!!

 

Party Prepping

by Filed Under: Events, Life, Party Ideas Leave a Comment

I have been a little MIA this week mainly due to the fact that Andrew and I have been party prepping.  We have been working really hard to get our yard and home ready for our annual ‘Welcome Summer Party’ that we are hosting tomorrow night.  Every year it seems like we have so much time until it gets here and then WHAM! it’s here.  And we’re looking at each other like, uh….

So the yard is ready, big thanks to our kids who spent several really warm evenings running around outside while we rearranged, cut grass, edged, and planted new flowers.  Tomorrow morning {when it’s not 98° outside!} I have a few lanterns to hang in various fun places and then minor things to put out tomorrow afternoon before the crowd gets here.

The house is nearly there also – I have been picking up toys and magnets {the death of me} for the last hour.  I’ve pulled out all the buckets, the plates, napkins, cups and other fun things like these umbrella straws I found at World Market this afternoon!  {in the middle of the picture below ↓}

Party Prepping

 

We are nearly there.

I’ll have a recap for y’all by Monday on all the fun.  Because there will be a lot of fun tomorrow night!

The key to a great party {in my very humble and inexperienced opinion} is don’t overdo it.  We catered food this year because last year was so great, so many people came, we literally ran out of food.  We also eat off of plastic plates, drink out of plastic cups {or whatever adult beverage container you bring} and use plastic flatware.  It’s casual here.  Kids run around like wild banshees all night long and it’s okay.  We rent a bounce house, we put out our corn hole game.  We set up the hammock and have casual areas for people to gather and fellowship.  It’s great.  Andrew and I wanted our home to be a fun place where people could come, fellowship with one another and not feel like things are fussed over.  {Just ignore me at 11 p.m. when I’m vacuuming and moping my floors…}

I’m thankful to have a place where we can open the doors and say, “Come on in, y’all!”

What’s your favorite annual party?

On Making Flower Arrangements : Bloom

by Filed Under: Decorating/Remodeling, Gardening, Party Ideas 2 Comments

I have always had a love of flowers.  From the time I was a littler girl following my NaMaw around her back yard watering Azaleas and learning about Touch-Me-Nots to seeing my Grandfather’s Camellia garden {where this blog gets part of it’s name} and massive Gladiolus growing every year.

So when the leader of our Moms Blog group messaged me a couple of weeks ago about making flower arrangements for our event, Bloom: An Event for New & Expecting Moms, I told her ‘Yes’!  I knew it wouldn’t be that hard…I just needed a vision.

So of course I took to Pinterest.  On the way to Shelton Vineyards {that lovely weekend getaway!}, I was pinning flower arrangements that I thought fit the profile of what we wanted.  I messaged a few to our leader for her approval.

As the event drew near I got a little nervous…wondering how I was going to pull this off I recruited a couple of gal-pals who are much more creative than I am to see if they would be willing to spend a Friday night helping me create these arrangements that I had so willingly committed to.

With Dana and Breanna “in” for Friday night I came up with a quick plan of action.  Wednesday I squeezed in some time to go to Carolina Pottery to purchase my mercury glass vases.  Friday afternoon I had planned on Andrew getting the kids so I could run my flower-picking-up errands without the wild banshees.  That didn’t happen.  They tagged along and were fantastic about it!  Their reward for helping mommy pick out flowers?  A cookie at Publix {thank you, Publix!!}.

We ordered take out salads and pizza and Breanna brought over some home-made Sangria.

We ate as three crazy families would on a Friday night – casually and loudly…  then we sent the men and children into the den so we could get to work!

We brought in our bounty to assess the situation.

Breanna said to me…”So…what was your vision?”

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I think she doubted the vision.  I doubted the vision myself, mainly because there were NO GOOD FLOWERS ANYWHERE!!!  I really wanted something pretty and pink.  Not like baby girl shower or bridal shower, but something really sweet to celebrate moms.  I purchased all of the bunches of Eucalyptus at Trader Joe’s, the Snapdragons and Hydrangeas came from Fresh Market.   Truth be told, I really wanted Peonies.  REALLY wanted them.  But they’re not quite in season.  The one bunch F-M had was like $15 and I just couldn’t do it.

So here we were with all these bunches of flowers, that on their own were ‘ok’…

I tried to explain my vision to Dana and Breanna…and they agreed by saying, “let’s just all make an arrangement and see what happens.” :)
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If nothing else, we had a great time!

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And at the end of the night…I think we came out looking pretty fantastic!

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They were really pretty.  Simple, elegant, classic.  Everything I had wanted.  They were lovely.

Transporting Saturday morning was fun.  I used a laundry basket, that would hold 6 vases at a time {carrying from the bottom, of course}, and I drove the slowest I’ve ever driven in my entire life during that 3 mile drive.

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The larger vase was a little trickier.  I looked at Andrew and explained to him that I was already planning to drive like a 90-year-old lady, so I would just hold the vase with one hand.  That didn’t fly with him.  He said, why don’t we just buckle it into one of the kids’ carseats?  Er, yeah, that’s what I was going to do…20160430_075045

They all made it safe and sound.  Even on the way back home after our event. :-DIMG_20160430_124324

While I’m no master centerpiece maker or floral arranger, I felt pretty great about what we were able to create for all of these new and expectant moms who were attending Bloom.  I hope they had as much fun attending the event as I did in helping with it!

The First Birthday DIY: Eliza Jane Turns 1 – Part 2

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Decorating/Remodeling, Party Ideas 2 Comments

Yesterday I posted part 1 of Eliza Jane’s 1st birthday party – the DIY decor.  Today is part 2 and sadly {!?} the last part.  But have no fear, like yesterday’s post, this one is chock full of fun things.

Today’s focus is on the mantle in our den, Eliza Jane’s birthday board and another sort of weird talent that I have {keep reading!}

First, the mantle.

mantle 2

 

Y’all know how excited I was to make those crazy birthday poms several weeks ago!  It was a most exciting day when I discovered how easy they were!    I will probably never buy them ever again!!!

So I hung the poms by a pink and white polka dotted ribbon, with the center one a bit more forward and lower than the two on the ends.  A twist on the disco ball if you will.

The garland…oh, the garland.  This is a fun story!

I posted a picture on Instagram whenever it was during the decor-making craze of me making Eliza Jane’s birthday tutu.  I went to work the following Monday and my sweet friend, Breanna, came over with this adorable wrapping of pink and white tulle.  And she said to me, laughingly, “I made this for my ‘Tutus for 22’ – my 22nd birthday party and I thought it would be great for Eliza Jane’s party!!!”  She’s pretty fabulous – I wish you all could meet her.  So after we laughed about her ‘Tutus for 22’ affair, I told her that the garland would be perfect and I came home that afternoon and strung it along the mantle.mantle

The seahorse is a mainstay, it has a little hidden meaning for Andrew and me.  The photo is from Eliza Jane’s newborn photo shoot {pictures from that can be found here}.

I found those little silver cans at Target a couple of weeks ago on clearance.  Here’s an upclose photo…and how they looked with the mini pink roses that were in them the day-of.roses roses 2

The little pink mini sidewalk sign was a random find at Michael’s a couple of weeks ago.  Seriously, this was the strangest find.  It’s a dry erase board on one side and a pink chalk board on the side you see here.  {What are the chances of finding this?!!?!?}  And since I have a few chalk boards around the house, I also have chalk!

Next is her birthday board.

Last year our friend Dana did Reynolds’ birthday board while I ran around the house like a crazy person the week before his first birthday.  This year, her hands are a little more full with her sweet little baby girl so I kind of had it in my head that I would be doing Eliza Jane’s board.  I have several pins on my “1st Birthday” board in Pinterest, so I took some ideas from those, and from Reynolds’ board to do Eliza Jane’s.

For both, I used a roll of contact-paper-like chalk paper and cut it out to fit the frame I would be using.
Eliza Jane bday board 2

I’ve told y’all before that I am not an artist so don’t make fun of my sad drawing skillz.

I had a major issue in that I didn’t have a white chalk marker with a small or medium tip.  No, the only white marker I had was that enormous jumbo marker you see in that pic above ↑ and it was a primary color being used in this art project!  I made due with what I had.


 Eliza Jane bday board 3

By the time I was done with my project that night, it was similar to R’s, but with a look of it’s own.

Eliza Jane bday board 4
The funny thing was, I was showing the board to my friend Sheri, at the party, and said, “Oh no!  We keep forgetting to measure how tall she is!” – literally, we kept forgetting.

See?  This is a pic taken at the party by our friend Dana…no height there in the bottom left corner.
boardWe would remind each other that we needed to do it, but neither of us actually DID it!  Sheri said to me “Oh, is that why Andrew came outside to the bounce house with a tape measure?”

“Did he?!?!” I exclaimed!

“Yes!” she replied.

About that very moment Andrew came in, while we were laughing about it and he said: “29. ISH!”

“ISH!!!” we laughed.

Her board says “I am 29ish inches”.  If you look closely, you can see it.

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{I just adore her!!}

Ok, so the last thing.  My strange, yet unique talent.

I can write backwards.  It’s something I used to do {practice?} when I was bored in school…and it’s what I do when we have parties at our home…mainly so people know they are “Welcome!!” and to “COME ON IN!”Door

I write it on the inside so that in case of rain or whatever on the outside, it doesn’t get messed up.

Friends said, “oh, good, you wrote it high enough this year that the kids faces won’t get in it…..”  Yep, last year I think Reynolds ate the part that said 1st Birthday! haha

So that’s it!  Happy 1st Birthday again to our sweet Eliza Jane!

I’ll be posting the official 1st birthday pics taken by our friend Jennifer, hopefully in the next week or so.  I absolutely cannot wait to see them all!

 

The First Birthday DIY: Eliza Jane Turns 1 – Part 1

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Decorating/Remodeling, Party Ideas 5 Comments

We had an AMAZING weekend with Eliza Jane’s first birthday party on Saturday; we had a slew of folks show up and love on her and it was so wonderful!

Today and tomorrow I am planning to share with y’all some of the decorations I did for her first birthday party – the DIY decor!  Disclaimer once again: I am not an artist, I am not a decorating professional, I am merely a momma trying to make our baby girl’s first birthday party a memorable one!

I’m going to start in the dining room.  I only decorated the one area where the cake and cupcakes would be on display.  I put up a little crepe paper curtain on either side of the mirror and added that enormous silver “1” balloon that some of y’all saw me blowing up Friday night on Instagram and FaceBook!

Dining room

The “E” came from Michael’s, it’s one of the Heidi Swapp Marquee Letter Kits you can purchase and I found it to be loads of fun to create, though I wasn’t super creative…

dining room 6 E

With the letters or symbols, you basically buy this white shell and create your own “look” with whatever you want.  Paint, tape, paper, whatever your fancy!! I bought the coordinating book of glitter papers for the inside of the E…unsure of whether or not I would use silver or pink.

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I sent both of these pics to a friend who has an eye for things like this and she urged me to go pink :)

So with my little template {included in your kit!}, I traced and cut out my E.

Eliza Jane's E

 

Then I used a hole punch {!!} to punch the holes out, this is where your lights come into play…and the hole punch made it so much easier!

The next step I did was to take a striped washi tape – I purchased a silver/gray diagonal striped tape, to go along the outside of the letter.  This was not very easy…the E has a few crevices that were difficult to maneuver with the tape…  I got frustrated a time or two and had to keep telling myself to be patient and slow down…  For those of you that know me, you may find humor in that. :-D  And then pressed in my pink glitter paper.

Eliza Jane's E 2

Probably the hardest part came next {and it really isn’t hard at all} – inserting the lights and the bulbs.  Note to you out there who purchase one of these letters, you have to insert the actual bulb caps first from the front side, then the lights through the back.

Finished productEliza Jane's E 3

Simply the cutest!  It comes with a little battery pack {takes 2 AAA batteries} that tucks into the back of the letter.  My mom thought this was adorable.

Making my way down the buffet, next we have the cupcakes with “1” pennant flags

dining room 6 E

I did NOT do the cupcakes or the smash cake.  I originally asked my sweet friend Aimée of Rosie Girl Bakery to make everything since she did for Reynolds’ first birthday and I really wanted to keep some things traditional, but she was in a wedding over the weekend in Nashville, and well, it just didn’t work out.  So, I went to the next best place, Silver Spoon Bake Shop, who made the beautiful cookies I used for my sweet friend, Dana’s baby shower back in February.

I emailed Silver Spoon a picture of the pink in the “E” and told them that was the color pink I wanted as the darker pink on her smash cake and the color for the cupcakes.  As you can see, I ordered regular sized cupcakes and then mini cupcakes…for those watching their figures {hehe} or for little hands.

Meanwhile, I was making the little pennant flags.  When I first sat down to make these about 2 weeks ago, I had in my mind what I was going to do and then I had one of those lightbulb moments where you go, “Wait just a second…I could do this {original plan} OR…I could do this!!”  And I told my husband about the plans.

The original plan was to use this paper, the same papers I had used for her smash cake pennant {hold your horses!, it’s coming!}…

pennant 1

But then I felt like this little roll of washi tape was mocking me from the end of the table…hmmm.

washi tape

Husband said, “Which one is easier?”, when I told him to two ideas I had.  Well, the tape, duh.  And I had all this tape.

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But I decided that I didn’t want to get too crazy, so I stuck with the one that had been mocking me…

I cut little strips of tape and wrapped it around the toothpicks, then cut a “v” to make it look like a pennant.

So here they are…pennant 2

And then I added the silver glittered “1” stickers I’d purchased.  OH!  And my mom, the genius that she is, recommended that I use the “I” when I ran out of 1s.

pennant 4

Recap of the cupcakes!dining room 5 cupcakes

Next is the smash cake and OMGGGGG, did it not turn out so adorable?!!?!?!?!

dining room 2

dining room 3 cake

I posted this pic to Instagram and FB with the caption of “In the words of #RachelZoe, ‘I die.'”  I mean, it’s the most.

So to the pennant banner.  I saved the one I made for Reynolds’ first birthday {16 months ago…}, here it is…smash cake pennant

I gently pulled off the O-N-E from his and re-glued them to the pink and white twine I’d purchased for making Eliza Jane’s banner.  I then cut out the two end pennants from that paper I originally was going to use as the cup cake pennants and added them to the twine.smash cake pennant 2

Last but certainly not least is Eliza Jane’s little birthday hat.  Which, for those that were at her party, saw that the hat almost got forgotten about!!! We were almost done singing the “Happy Birthday…” song when I looked to the top of the piano and saw it sitting there waiting to be put on her head!  Bless.

So I purchased this little hat back at the beginning of the year.  I was at a great little gift shop in downtown Columbia looking for a baby gift for a friend and saw it sitting there and I purchased it.  Originally thinking that Eliza Jane’s first birthday party would be pink and gold…it was perfect!hat 1

But then I changed the color…from gold to silver.  Ha!  Now what.

Well, remember that book of papers I’d purchased for the marquee “E”?  Funny how things can be used in different/unintended ways!

I pulled out the sheet of silver paper and after a few nights of contemplating how to cut out a cone {I mean!!!  geometry was NOT my strong suit!}, I cut out the cone.  Then with my hot glue gun…turned that little bit of gold to silver!hat 2

The original plan of the hat was to also include a “1” but the husband thought it was too much, so we left the little hat as she was.

Here it is on the little birthday girl…with her frilly cake!

birthday girl

I feel like that was a lot of DIY in one post, but I promise nothing took very long at all to do.  Let me know if you have any specific questions.  From one craft-challenged mom to any others, “You can do it!”

 

One last thing, I’ve joined up with some fantastic ladies for a great give away this week – a pair of prints by Jenny Highsmith:Jenny-Highsmith-Lettering-Print-Giveaway (1)Just follow the instructions in the rafflecopter below!  The last day to enter is 9/4/15:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Birthday Banner: Eliza Jane Turns 1

by Filed Under: Being a Mom, Decorating/Remodeling, Party Ideas 2 Comments

Y’all know that hosting a birthday party takes serious time and planning.  I started putting stuff together for Eliza Jane’s big ONE party over a month ago.

Mid-July I made my big purchase at Michael’s {using a 20% off entire purchase coupon!} and came home with all this “loot”!

Birthday party

I had planned out everything I wanted to do, somewhat based on pins I’d added to my “1st Birthday” board on Pinterest.

First thing was first, the Birthday Banner!

I had purchased these banner paper pads from the Recollections, um, collection at Michael’s.

birthday pads

After sorting through the various designs, I figured out the banner design and pattern.  I laid everything out, counting my number of pennants for the “Happy” and “Birthday”.  I had to play with it a few times to figure out which patterns I liked best, where.

birthday banner

Then I got out my silver glitter letters.  I just realized I’ve not told y’all the “theme”!  Well, there’s no real theme…just pink and silver/silver glitter with white.  So here are my glitter letters.  I mean, after all, every little girl needs glitter on her first birthday, right?!  Right!

Silver Letters

And I placed the letters accordingly.  Y’all know it was harder than it looks.  There’s all this placement consideration, especially where stripes are concerned…

Happy

 

So then I stacked both banners, in order of pennant, and stuck them in the birthday decor drawer in the dining room and it sat there until about two weekends ago.

I’ve decided over the last couple of years that any party or event we have at our home, where lots of decor things are needed, I dedicate a drawer in the buffet in our dining room to said decor.  It’s made my life MUCH easier in being able to find everything for that event in one spot.  I’ve done that for birthdays, Dana’s baby shower and our Welcome Summer party.

Here’s the drawer as it looks tonight!

drawer

 

Anyway, now that I’ve shown you some of the birthday decor secrets {shhh!!!}, back to the Birthday Banner!

So two weekends ago we had lunch at Bonefish for my father-in-law’s birthday…Reynolds was so excited about everything he refused to take a nap once we got home.  Side note, who knows what it’s like to have a toddler who refuses a nap?!!?!?!?!?!? “Momma, I no take a nap” he kept saying, looking at the monitor on the wall.  “Sister crying, Momma!!” Even though sister was passed.out. in her crib!

So finally I thought, he could help me, I’ll go get the little man.

He did help.  He LOVES to climb on the stool.  So I let him climb the stool, while I used a chair to hang the banner.

reynolds

Please excuse the state of our home that day…Mr. Monkey had had a rough afternoon {laying at the foot of the stairs}.  Ooop!  There’s even a sneak peek at the mantle! ha!

The banner fell about 4 times – washi tape doesn’t hold anything really…and as much as I didn’t want to use push pins to hold it up, I had to.

So this is what you see upon coming up the steps to our home, and entering the foyer.

Birthday banner II Birthday banner III

I can’t wait to show y’all the rest…stay tuned for tomorrow and the big day on Saturday!

 

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