Teepee Cupcakes

Yesterday, Seth's MDO class had a Thanksgiving party. I teach the class next to his at MDO so I couldn't leave my room to go to his party but Evan was able to be there (and I may or may not have peeked over the door a few times)! :)

I signed up to take cupcakes and I found the cutest teepee cupcakes on Pinterest! I thought they seemed very boyish! :)

They were a little trickier to make than I anticipated but I still thought they turned out to be pretty cute... flaws and all! haha

And Seth and his friends seemed to enjoy them... once they figured out how to eat them!

Haha Have a great weekend! :)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

A few nights ago, Seth and I made pumpkin cupcakes! I have been seeing this super easy two-ingredient recipe around the internet AND I found the most precious pumpkin shaped cupcake pan at Hobby Lobby... so we gave it a try! Honestly, the cupcakes weren't as delicious as I would have hoped but we had a TON of fun and Seth seemed to think that the cupcakes were delicious! :)

Warning: Please excuse the way I look and my messy kitchen! haha

Not long after this picture was taken, I let Seth beat the ingredients all by himself...

Which may or may not have been a bad idea...

The finished product!

The super easy two-ingredient recipe is as follows... Mix together 1 cake mix and 1 can of pumpkin. Fill each space in the cupcake pan 3/4 full and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

I used a butter cake mix but I think if I tried it again, I would use a spice cake mix. Also, we iced our cupcakes with Paula Deen's cream cheese icing... which is always delicious! I posted that recipe here when I used it to frost a carrot cake for Easter a few years ago! The recipe is toward the very bottom of the post... and I left out the nuts when I made it for the cupcakes!

Name That Tune

I realize that some of you probably think my family is crazy but we LOVE birthdays and we LOVE parties. No matter the age of the person, we go all out for the birthday. This is something that we have always done and something that I am excited to continue in the next generation! Sometimes we have a sophisticated party and sometimes we have a fun party... but we always have a party... it's just what we do and I love it! We really try to come up with a theme that reflects the person we are celebrating and after years and years of this tradition, it can get kind of tricky to come up with a new idea! So, I was very impressed with my mom's creativity this year when I walked into a "Name That Tune" birthday party for myself!

I love music and I love games... and I may or may not be extremely competitive (ha!)... and I have always LOVED "Name That Tune". We always played it in the car, on long trips, when I was growing up and now Evan and I love to play it together!

Because "Name That Tune" was actually a television game show in the 1950's, my mom also gave the party a 50's theme! SO fun!

These are real records hanging from the chandelier!

It's hard to see in this picture, but these candles said "Name That Tune" and there was confetti on the table that said "Rachel"!

I thought these sodas were so cute! She made the labels using the logo from the original game show and called the sodas "Rachel's Rhythm-Ade"...

These were Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes displayed on a real record player! (My mom used this recipe that I posted for Fresh Strawberry Cake and just made them into cupcakes!)

Hummus and Pita Chips (one of my favorite snacks!)

Sausage Balls

More records mixed in with the gifts...

And my sweet boy who helped me blow out my candles this year! :)

This picture makes me want to laugh and cry all at the same time because it reminds me of my birthday last year... I remember eating dinner with several of my friends and telling them that "25 felt so weird because my mom was 25 when I was born and I always thought (when I was a little girl) that I would become a mom when I was 25 but that just wasn't going to happen!" The funny thing is that Seth actually became available for adoption on my 25th birthday and we started trying to adopt him just a few days later... and then a year later, we became an official family on my last day of being 25! haha I guess you never know what's just around the corner and what a new year will hold! I am SO glad that I had no idea what I was talking about and that I became a mom when I was 25... God's plan is always better than mine... so I'm not making any plans for my 26th year of life! ha! :)

A Shower for Julee and Preslee

Due to a crazy (but wonderful) week, I'm a little behind on posting about this shower and most of you have probably seen it on someone else's blog by now... but here it is anyway! :)

After several years of infertility, my SIL, Julee and her husband, Matt, are expecting a sweet baby girl named Preslee, in December! We are all very excited to meet her! I helped host a shower for Julee and Preslee last Sunday and here are a few of the fun details...

These are the invitations. They were inspired by Preslee's nursery and designed by my friend, Leslie, who was also one of the shower hostesses!

Julee loves sleek and modern decor and Preslee's nursery is a reflection of that... so we tried to continue that theme in the shower decor!

The mirror hanging over the cake table is actually from Preslee's nursery and Julee let us borrow it for the shower!

These are live spray roses attached to curly willow using floral wire and grapevine... a simple but painful task! haha

The cake (by Rick's Bakery, of course) and parfait cups filled with pink banana pudding!

A better view of the cake...

The favor table... Julee LOVES cotton candy!

The sign in table...

All of the hostesses with the guest(s) of honor! :)

Julee and me!

Can't wait to meet sweet Preslee and become an aunt for the first time in 9 weeks or less!! :)

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Whew! September has been quite the party month... and just when you thought I was through posting about September parties... I still need to show you the fun party that my mom planned for my birthday last week! haha! Hopefully we can all slow down a little in October! :)

Forever Day

On September 27, 2011, Seth officially became ours forever. We plan to celebrate this day every year and we have chosen to call it, "Forever Day". Here are the pictures from our very first "Forever Day"!

The day started out with a 1:30 pm court hearing... which actually became a 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm court hearing :) But the judge declared us a legally official family so it was worth the wait!

My parents and siblings, Evan's mom, Seth's foster parents and our Adoption specialist (caseworker) were all able to attend the court hearing so we all took pictures on the courthouse steps after the hearing!

All the family that was at the hearing!

The world's greatest foster mom!!

Our wonderful adoption specialist!

Finally an official family! :)

That night, we had a "Forever Day" party with both of our families and Seth's foster family!

Here's a close up of the cake... it had a tree on it... there was a heart "carved" in the trunk of the tree that said "Forever 9-27-11" and a daddy, mommy and baby bird sitting on one of the branches. I dreamed this cake up in my head and Rick's Bakery did a pretty great job of interpreting what I was trying to tell them! haha :)

A close up of the napkins!

Evan taught me how to use a wood burning tool and I burned these words into this birdhouse...

One of Seth's adoption announcements... which I'll share on here as soon as I send them out! :)

A little station for our guests to write letters to Seth.

The sign says, "Please leave Seth a note to read every year on his 'Forever Day!'"

I also used the wood burning tool to make this box for Seth to keep letters and pictures from "Forever Day" and I plan for us to look through (and maybe even add to) the box each year!

Everyone was so sweet and brought Seth gifts to celebrate the big day!

I would love to share all of the sweet and thoughtful gifts but this post is already way too long... so I'll just share this one... My sister and brother gave Seth a child's rocking chair and it was engraved and said, "We are forever yours! Love, Aunt Anna and Uncle Luke"

For some reason, this gift just made me cry! I am SO thankful for the way that our families have loved and embraced our son!

And finally, here is the link to a video that Evan and I made to celebrate the last year of our lives and our journey to Seth and with Seth. It has been a remarkable ride and I am SO thankful that God chose us to be Seth's parents. I truly believe that Seth was created for us and us for him. Adoption has changed my life and made me realize in a whole new way how much God loves us as his adopted children!

Seth's Forever Day

Mammaw's 80th Birthday - Shabby Chic Sewing Party

My Mammaw turned 80 on September 18. To celebrate this momentous occasion, my mom and I planned a shabby chic sewing themed luncheon. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go with the sewing theme because Mammaw has been a seamstress for over 60 years. Custom draperies are her specialty and she is SO talented!!

Here's a wide shot of the dining room (using my lovely photography skills! ha!)... We found the 1920's antique sewing machine, in the center of the table, on Craigslist for $30!

Each place setting was a little different...

And how cute are these mini cakes??? Once again, I am IN LOVE with Rick's Bakery! :) And I got the idea for the cakes from this post on Kara's Party Ideas.

The napkins...

We had this platter made at a pottery painting studio in Little Rock... and we each wrote a note on it! It says, "You hold our hands for a while and our hearts forever!"

The next two pictures were taken before we put flowers on the sewing machine...

And after we put flowers on the sewing machine... I know this is a lot of pictures of the same thing but you can see different things from each angle so I couldn't choose! :)

And here's what it really looked like after we brought the chairs back in the room!

Seth's sweet little place setting :)

Mammaw seeing her party for the first time!

Blowing out her candle!

The platter made her cry!

It was such a fun day celebrating such a special lady! I love my Mammaw and I was SO thankful to be able to celebrate the past 80 years of life that she has lived so full and so well!

Here's to many more! :)