Butterfly Birthday Details

So tomorrow L turns 5.  It is kind of amazing that our baby girl is now a beautiful, sweet, over-accessorized 5 year old smarty pants.  It was her first real friend party.  Last year she had 2 friends over for a playdate.  This one wasn't much bigger, 4 friends, but it was a 'real party'.  The theme was butterflies, and the colour scheme was... magenta or pink (Fancy Nancy says magenta is a fancy way of saying pink).  Some time was spent on pinterest, and equal time spent in multiple dollar stores.  So here it is!

Sparkly butterfly invitation

Inside the goodie bags...

 Goodie bags with butterfly headbands and pony colouring books.
I made the tiny pennant banner from an idea off pinterest from string and pink duct tape.

I bought her two dozen roses with, you guessed it, more sparkly butterflies!

Streamers, ribbons, and more butterflies for our pink table. 

Butterfly wall decals flying up from the front door came from Nana and Grandad.

The cake was pink inside and out, yummy.  As always made by Uncle G!

The blackboard got a makeover for the occasion.

Fruit caterpillar kabobs

(fruiterpillars?)

Craft time, this girl party was so quiet and they sat for a long time.  

Quietly played a few games- catch the butterflies

TP chrysalis

Present time

Snack time

The party ended with quiet play time in her room.  

They all got along, they played nice, nothing got broken.  

I really could get used to this girl party thing.

 Then we moved on to a little family party.  Starting with a BIG sparkly Barbie castle!

K read her the birthday cards to her, extra cute!

 The rest of the evening was spent playing, visiting and enjoying dessert for the second time!

She is the cutest little 5 year old in this house for sure!

Pink Closet Sneak Peek

I still have to take some good pictures of the finished product, but here is a sneak peek.

Daddy picked up a can of pink (it was a deal), and my little princess is pleased with the pink and I am pleased it's not the whole room!  What a good little helper she was.  CUTE!

the big girl room

My almost 5 year old is getting big.  She had a toddler bed that was just fine but we had a twin mattress  and it was not going to fit in that little bed.  And so began a great reshuffling of (what feels like) every room in the house.  You see a small room like this won't fit a twin bed and a long dresser, you know if you want to open the drawers um... ever!  The second problem was a very large closet (I know that is not a problem) with relatively small doors.  This made lots of the closet space less than useable.  

The solution?  I started a pinterest board and A started drawing plans on sketch up and here is what happened!

two little dressers and a captains bed

built in adjustable shelves!

so much storage

a happy BIG girl

 See those crystal knobs on the dresser? 

She calls them her jewels.

 And one more shot of the built in shelves courtesy of daddy.  Can you believe all that was space inside the closet?  It was so difficult to access before that it was pretty empty on each side.  Now there is a ton of useful shelf space and it is just so darn pretty!  There are still lots of things to do: sew curtains, hang things on the walls, get a real lamp (or two?).  But it is coming together nicely.

If I am organized I will give you a peek inside her closet next time. Spoiler alert: it's pink!

 I haven't really written because I haven't been sure where to start.  I guess I'll just jump back into it and not think too much.  Decor is as good a place to start as any! So here are our Halloween decorations so far. 

Pumpkins:

 A little chalkboard art:

 Garbage bag spider webs:

And a few knick knacks here and there:

Happy Halloween!

Goodbye

I have been a nurse for 12 years, I guess that is why I am fine with being blunt.  

Sometimes things just are, no point in mincing words. 

A few weeks ago my Dad died.

No one was surprised, many people explained how it was for the best as he was so ill and not himself for several years.

I guess they are right, but he is still gone. 

We had a good funeral service and this is what I said:

Psalm 30 tells us sorrow may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Our night of sorrow has lasted many years but there will still be a morning of joy. 

I saw an older man the other day at the gas station carefully lifting the hose to drain every last drop of gas that he had paid for into his tank.  I realized then that my dad will be with me in so many different circumstances, in big and small ways every day, and that is my joy.

When someone can’t read my handwriting…

he is with me. 

When I can’t read my handwriting…

            he is with me.

When I hear country music…

he is with me. 

When I see a water colour painting…

he is with me.

When I watch my kids running around with red cheeks, kicking a soccer ball…

he is with me. 

When I see R’s love of reading…

he is with me. 

When K’s sweaty hair curl out from under  a baseball cap…

he is with me. 

When L runs up to her dad after her bath with her wet hair and a brush…

he is with me. 

When I fill out a crossword puzzle in block letters with the words mostly misspelled…

he is with me. 

When I hear a volkswagen bug with no muffler…

he is with me. 

When I drive the long way through all the back roads and call it a short cut…

he is with me. 

When I have a fascinating conversation with a preschooler…

he is with me. 

When I quietly hope the underdog will win..

he is with me. 

And almost every day, he will be with me when someone says to me or my children

“Are your eyes really that blue?”

And I will answer “Yep, they are just like my dad’s.”

Pinspiration- Succulents

 A while ago I saw some cute succulents on pinterest.  It reminded me of something they did on the blog YoungHouseLove as well.  L and I had a bit of an adventure at Value Village one day and came home with three white containers.  I tried to buy the succulents at IKEA, as they did on YoungHouseLove, but there were only a few left by that time and they were sad, sad specimens.  Instead we dropped in Home Depot and bought them there.

the summer mantel

Hopefully these are plants I can't kill.  But they are looking a bit sad... I hear that fake succulents are nice too...

New Old Buffet

This buffet has been in my parents house as long as I can remember.  My mom also acquired another beautiful wooden buffet with carved handles, it is so lovely.  Anyway, this buffet had to go to make room for a new skinny and tall buffet with a hutch.  And we all know what happens to nice wooden furniture when my mom is done with it... it comes to live with me.  See my living room bench and coffee table for previous examples.

Buffet in its previous home,  my mom's dining room

But this is so beautiful I couldn't paint it like the antique coffee table.  Although if you are wondering I stand by that decision 100%.  No, I kinda wanted this to stay wood but I needed to give it a twist.  

A. and I agreed that painting the inside turquoise would be an acceptable compromise.  Turns out we still couldn't get over painting even the inside (wusses) so A. cut some particle board he had lying around (a great use for old destroyed IKEA drawers) and I painted that.  No one could object to painted particleboard, I mean no one.

I used a bunch of other inherited things to fill and decorate the top and inside of my newly revived buffet.  Finally, a place for my clock collection!

 And here it is!

 It needs something on the wall like a mirror or picture and the lamps aren't great, I know but I am thinking that over.  Maybe pinterest will have an idea for my on that front.

But for now, thanks to my mom for the silver, some of the clocks and of course the buffet. Thanks to A's grandparents for the chairs and his other grandma that left us the clocks and crystal.  And thanks to our wedding guests from 12 years ago for giving us everything blue you see in there!