Two Lambs and a Bear: party planning

To walk a mile in our shoes would add a good dose of hilarium and humility to any one's life. We have had a great week so to choose this week to begin your adventure would start you off on the right path even if it is the road less traveled for most families with the two lambs and bear in tow.

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

Say for instance you were Mary Ellie's navy blue Mary Jane. It began it's journey in the closet snoozing (probably quite happily) and hiding from the winter wonderland outside. A navy blue Sea Wee had taken it's place. It did not matter to Mary Ellie that it was around 20 degrees outside. She found Fenley's summer Sea Wee Sandal and decided that was what she was going to wear with her new skinny jeans (a gift!). I decided to let her be since she was not going anywhere. Navy Blue Mary Jane got the better deal getting to sleep in a bit longer as did the navy blue Saddle Oxfords because Fenley, in his two-year-old might, choose the navy blue Crocs. We had to keep walking on because life cannot stop for silly shoe choices. I can say that this week concluded where we all learned a little and walked away a bit wiser and more educated. Only the navy blue Mary Jane got a brief vacation and down time....

The twins' precious preschool is headed by a wonderful and intelligent woman, Ms. Hooper. She arranged to have a presentation by a psychologist to visit the school to give a lecture entitled "Raising Responsible Children in an Era of Indulgence and Entitlement". I needed to hear this and learn from this presentation. The psychologist, Dr. Goonan, touched on topics such as Developing Positive Self Concept, Protecting Self Esteem, Obstacles to Development, and Developing Potential. Dr. Goonan broke down these to the most basic level to understand everything perfectly (this sleepy shepherd was much obliged to the slow momma version). I took pages and pages of notes and the bottom line is I walked away a more educated parent and so thankful God placed my twins in this preschool with a caring Director of School that shares our values and presents opportunities to the children and parents to learn. Dr. Goonan also teaches Parenting with Love and Logic (which is on my nightstand "to-read" pile I showed in an earlier blog. I started and it is an easy-to-understand and approachable method to child rearing.) Taking the book one step further, I am arranging with Dr. Goonan and a group of friends, for him to teach us more about this book and how to apply it to your children and parenting methods. I think the lambs and bear need their momma to know this. Here is a helpful link:
http://www.loveandlogic.com/

Parenting with Love & Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay

The Mary Jane still warm and safe in the closet.

I also got serious about one of my New Year's resolutions and got back to bible study. Here is how the introduction to Daniel began which is all awesome food for thought, spiritual reflection, and spending time with God.
Remembering what we learned about knowing and doing God's will and that "if we don't know where we are going, we are sure to get there". Let's take some time to set up some personal goals and objectives for the New Year that line up with his purposes for our lives. Consider the Lord's command to each us in Luke 10:27 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy strength, with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thy self".
Let's use these God directed goals and set objectives for reaching the goal. Objectives need to be something you have control over and something that can be measured. Remember we are not vowing to do these things, but purposing in the Lord, looking to Him to help us accomplish these objectives.....
Goal I: To love the Lord with all thy heart and soul. Prayerfully consider, what are some strategies that will encourage you to love the Lord with all your hear and soul?
Goal II; To love the Lord with all my strength. What are your objectives to love the Lord with your body/strength?
Goal III: To love the Lord with all my mind. What are your objectives to love the Lord with all your mind? (Thank about books, movies, Bible studies, etc you want to pursue (or not) that will help you accomplish this)
Goal IV: To love thy neighbor as myself. What tangible ways do you want to show love for your neighbor this year? How will you do this? (Your neighbor may be your family, friends, or anyone you feel the Lord wants you to reach out to. Write out what you want to accomplish and how you plan to do this.
If you have small children, you may also want to work through these goals with them in mind, for example: to encourage my children to love the Lord with all their hear and soul, I will set aside a time to pray with them at bedtime, or I will read (name the specific) books out loud to them each week or atleast three times.
*This bible study small group questions is directly from Kathy Phillip's Prepare for Life study. Thanks to God for putting me exactly where I need to be for bible study too!
This was a much more God-centered and thought provoking approach to setting goals for the new year. I mentioned before some silly goals and not getting too personal about my New Year's resolutions so the blog does not take on a checklist of objectives quality, this was a wonderful way to begin bible study for me as I try to complete one resolution: get back in bible study!! These questions are a great way for anyone setting goals and objectives for the year because it sets a road (less traveled or heavily trodden) for your personal relationship with God and His purposes for you!

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Sea Wee out. Mary Jane in.

After seizing the opportunity to learn and become a smidgen better parent via the school lecture and presentation, drawing closer to God, fellowship with friends, and evaluating my personal objectives, we did a lot of playing this week. Playing with friends at home inside because it was freezing!! Thanks to Reed and Reese our twin buddies to for coming over (big thanks to momma Kendell for getting them here and being my friend). Thanks to Will and Campbell for coming over, and momma Chelsea for entertaining me and teaching me more cool things. She told me about Habitually Chic. Hop on over to that for some eye candy fun.
http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/

As I am in crazy get-rid-of-the-cribs-because-the-twins-are-escaping mode, found this picture on Habitually Chic of a big-kid room really inspiring

This is in My Library right now because it has beautiful pictures of space for children:
Rooms for Children Stylish Spaces for Sleep and Play by Susanna Salk

Love this room! I really want to recreate some elements for our new big-kid room

Loving these linens too

AND Chelsea told me about NAPO. National Association of Professional Organizers
http://www.napo.net/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Check out this dream organizer she found!
http://www.squaredaway.com/

If anyone saw my scary hoarders room, you would know how much I need this person in my life. My sweet friend, Kate S., had told me she hired a professional organizer, and after this beautiful and inspiring link, I am SOLD {Or at least motivated}. I had no idea in my mania it was officially National Get Organized Month. Thanks, Chelsea, for all the fun new information.

Momma got to sneak away and play too. Joe came home and I went across the street to hang with Nesi and Christi. Believe it or not, three women got to hang out chat design, life, parties, and fun girly-things for 3 hours and not once did we really discuss our kids. What a break from the normal mommy chatter. These women are cool and have kids and are not your crazy-helicopter-hovering mommas, what a combo. Nesi is an interior decorator (designer? not sure the difference or term, sorry, N) that has her own company Chateau Chic. She is also way kind to email pictures of things she discovers that I may like. Awesome! Thank you, Nesi. And I will show everyone pictures when I get it all together. Christi has an incredible blog for party planning with stunning and inspiring ideas so hop over to her blog:
http://pisforparty.blogspot.com/
For more pictures of her own son's party go here:
http://katelandersevents.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-guest-party-feature.html
AND, she shared with me this fun blog:
http://hiphiphoorayblog.com/
Here are a few pictures from Christi's youngest son's party.

Thanks, girls, for the girl time and fun chat. Best of luck to Christi who hosted her other, son Nicklaus' birthday party today. Cannot wait to see those pictures because we all put together her party favors and looks adorable!

Mary Jane discovered but needed to be on the correct feet because they originally and most definitely were NOT.

Where was I.....guest lecturer {check}, bible study {check}, playdates and fabulous new blog info {check}, time for just us grown up girls {check}.....ah...TGIF. Friday Night around our house is usually a "can you believe we survived another week" where Joe comes home at a decent hour and we get take-out or whip up something quick and try to catch up on our DVR collection of shows from the week we never get around to watching in the chaos. Not this Friday! We were invited to the home of a man Joe works with for a nice old-school dinner party. We had a wonderful time, as Ned and Sue are a great couple, so smart and fun, and wonderful hosts!
You know in the movies where people have grown-up dinner parties with interesting guests?? For once, we shed our sneakers or work loafers in the hubby's case, and put on our going-out shoes. The crowd included no less than 5 attorneys (okay, probably does not sound hopping at this point but they are great men and woman!), 1 blogger (haha, me), 1 queen of the proper entertaining (that would be Sue), 3 marathoners, 1 doctoral student for Immunology focusing on viral infection and the link to aging (keep us updated, Emily!), 8 documentary lovers, 8 book fiends, and no less than 6 Food Network/Jeffrey Garten fans. It was so fun and a nice adult-outing for us sheperds with worn out shoe leather. We almost panicked when we looked at our watch and realized it was 11 pm and our babysitter was expecting us an hour ago! I learned so much about new documentaries to see and a few more good-reads that rounded off the week of learning to a nice closing point. I will keep you updated on that as we check those off. Thanks to Ned and Sue for the wonderful dinner party! {also, stay tuned because Katherine is sending me new foodie blogs and Sue ,her Tres Leche recipe}.

Okay, back to the Lambs and the Bear....

Saturday: Navy Mary Jane takes a much needed break and fancy Red Mary Jane comes out for Chick-Fil-A and the park day trip. The week is over and the weekend off to an awesome start. Kicking it off was a park trip because it finally warmed up and lunch at Chick-Fil-A. The twins are chick-a-holics. You can overhear them actually talking to themselves in their rooms "french fries...yum" and Mary Ellie chimed in to Fenley "and chickey nuggets, Fenny". It was the most hysterical conversation I have heard between two two year olds. Topped ONLY by the fact Fenley refused to leave the play scape today and Joe had to climb in to retrieve the rascal. Enjoy the pictures.

Bear watching is complete shock that Daddy had to climb in the playscape

Joe to the rescue

rascal retrieved

Thank goodness tonight is date night. Whew. What a week. Hope you find it all as information filled and fun as I did! Blog heaven. Thanks for walking a mile in our shoes {particularly our beloved navy Mary Jane}

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

PS Oh, and poor navy Mary Jane....by Friday night, tuckered our from her week of work, Fenley fed her a few chicken nuggets when he finished with his. I am sure NMJ (navy Mary Jane) is so glad it was Saturday and red Mary Jane was on duty.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend fellow travelers!

Our family just had a big birthday bash. Our twins are 367 days older than the baby so we combine all the birthdays into one big celebration. This year we did a our theme based on 1 Peter 5:2 "Take care of the flock God entrusted to you" and ran with it. The basic theme was sheep and an old fashioned farm ambiance (if that is even the right word to describe 2 two year olds and a one year old's birthday party). It was a labor of love. I have to thank so many people that made it even come together because basically the idea was in my head and the small details did not materialize until the week of the party.
It took a couple of months to illustrate and have the fabulous Robin draw the design, but once we got it hammered out, she was so timely and helpful! Then, thanks to Emily, who did a lot of small labels, stickers, and gift tags to pull the theme together. And a HUGE thanks to Shelley, my sweet friend that listened to my ramblings, made the birthday cake banners, and helped with the handmade cones for the veggie straws and hay. HUGE thanks! Also, I am pretty sure my family and husband would never ever help me again if I did not thank them for the assembly line and team effort during the party favor stuffing the night before the big event.
I did not take near enough pictures but I will try to describe in some detail some things that made the party come together nicely. The main thing was, besides the fact I had fun planning the whole event, it celebrated my sweet little children. Their arrivals into the world are still so vivid and feel-like-yesterday to me. My husband and I laughed at all the small things that happened the days of their births and enjoyed remembering their big days. I really cannot believe the twins turned two and my sweet little baby turned one. In a lot of ways, I am amazed we survived the year. We are still exhausted and in a bit of shell shock. Mary Ellie, Fenley, and Bear welcome to the world, and we are so glad you are here. We loved celebrating your birthdays and look forward to so many fun memories with you in the future. Happy Happy Birthday, babies! Children truly are a gift from God and there is not a day that goes by that we do not know it.
Back to the basic party details: We did burlap and not red check or any kind of checks to do "farm". We put burlap on the childrens' table and serving buffet tables. The invitations had sage scalloping so I pulled in lots of greenery such as green and cream ticking striped cloth tied with twine over baskets, green apple sauce in squeeze pouches, and green Crisps bags. I also tied regular sage napkins and utensils with twine for a burlap look as well. We also had orchard apples, animal crackers in tiny brown lunch bags with Animal Cracker stickers and little food labels such as "Eat Your Veggies" next to the cones with individualized servings. These were a big hit. There were also had "Farmer's Market Berries" and "An Apple a Day" little signs. To continue the farm theme, I put sunflowers in mason jars, galvanized buckets for drinks, and galvanized pails with faux hay(no need for real hay near the eating tables) for the centerpieces. The center pieces had various "Flock Here for Coloring and Playdough" or "Flock Here for a Pettting Zoo"or personalized little sheep on them and the childrens' names. They turned out cute!
Robin made the the adorable cupcake flags and Susan made the cute cute little lamb cookies (delicious!). The cupcakes stands, handpainted flags, and sweet lamb cookies made the dessert table so yummy and fabulous. Shelley made the adorable "Happy Birthday" banners for the cakes that I made for the children. Shelley tied these together with twine so they went with the theme and they turned out perfect.
There was plenty to do with a Coloring & Playdough station complete with farm pictures to color and galvanized pails holding the crayons, a ballon artist and face painter dressed as a cow, and the wonderful petting zoo. The children sent their friends home with favors to keep the fun going: a personalized coloring book, box of Crayolas, Homemade Playdough, a wooden rolling pin, and a cookie cutter. It was a perfect party at our home celebrating the children and their birthdays. Happy Happy Birthday, Mary Ellie, Fenley, and Bear!

"happy birthday flowers" as Mary Ellie would say to describe the sunflowers

dessert table

setting up

snack table

sign on the petting zoo gate

setting up the drink table with galvanized buckets

cones for feed and hay for the petting zoo

centerpieces

*A small footnote: I am in no way a party planner, claiming to be or really fabulous at party planning. When putting this together, we (my hubby, me and Shelley who I dragged into my craziness), we thought of what our children loved most (raisins, applesauce, animals, cookies, playdough, etc) and went with it. Everyone was so kind and sweet about the party, and really complimented our efforts to celebrate the children. I decided to add these picture and party details for all my friends who asked for them. Thanks for your encouragement. If you need more ideas or where to run and get stuff, contact me! It truly was a labor of love, like I said before. Enjoy the pictures!!

** Here are the pictures of the kiddies enjoying their party.