Beautiful...

 

Thank you to my best friend Tracy for having this done for Hadley...I even have a jar of sand from where her name was written :)

So beautiful...just like my Hadley!!

~Melissa

Spring Break Day 1=Zoo Day!!

We decided to spend our first day of spring break with all the crazy people that go to the zoo during their busiest time of the year :)  We met our good friends, the Jackson's, super early, so we could hopefully beat some of the crowd.  It worked out perfect and we saw all the "main" animals everyone wants to see early on and left after lunchtime when the big crowds had arrived.  We love hanging out with the Jackson's!!  Beau, works with Daniel at the fire department, Amanda is also a teacher, and Braleigh is a few months younger than Briley and they are expecting a sweet baby in late September!!  Here is a collage of pictures from our day!!  PICTURE OVERLOAD of course :)

 

It is VERY hard to get two SASSY girls to smile at the same time ;)

Beautiful and fun start to our much needed spring break!!

Midweek Randoms...

I love summer.  Our week so far has been the perfect summer fun.

 This week we have...

Been on the lake riding the new family jet ski!!

Taken Briley to see her first movie, Winnie the Pooh!!  She did pretty good, only got up a few times and lucky for us we had the whole row to ourselves so we let her wander just a bit.  She keeps talking about Pooh and Tigger!!

(Don't you love her m&m chocolate face?? We had to get her favorite candy for her first movie experience!!)

We also had a fun swim playdate with great friends!

I also have accomplished two more "pins" this week.  This website can sure make a not so creative girl feel pretty crafty!!

Source: makeandtakes.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Even in this heat I am loving our summer!!

I have to share one more thing before I end this post.  A couple weeks ago I linked up with the blog, Still Life With Circles, to complete the Right Where I Am project.  You posted the numbers of days, months, years, etc. that you were from your loss and how you were handling your grief at that time.  You can read mine here.

Another blogger, Jack, who lost his second child in March, also linked up with the project.  He did something amazing from this.  He read every single entry in that link up (160) and created this beautiful piece of artwork from it...

You can click on it to make it bigger.  Here is an excerpt from his blog about the project...

"This piece is dedicated to the 160 babyloss parents who took part in Angie's epic Right Where I Am project (as of July 18) and to all of our babies that were lost. It is also dedicated to the thousands of faceless parents around the world that lose babies every year (some 30,000 in America alone). I originally joined the project because I wanted to soak up as much as I could from everyone who has gone before us. And as I feel Margot slipping away from me as the days without her trudge on, I felt like this was a way for me to be close to her and to honor her death. So, I read and read and read, all the way up to last night, when I read and filed away the 160th post in the project. "

I zoomed in on my excerpt in the below picture.  It's funny I only read through it once and was able to find mine immediately.  My writing is in the black box along with Hadley's name at the bottom.

 Isn't that amazing?  When I feel so incredibly alone in my grief I'm going to read this and remember I am definitely not alone.  Not only is GOD with me but other baby loss mom's and dad's are right there with me as well!!!

Hope your week is treating you well!!

In Christ's Love,

Weekend Recap

We have had such a fun and BUSY weekend.

Friday night, Daniel, Briley, and I enjoyed some family time just the three of us.  We ate dinner at Logans (one of our favorites), did a little shopping, and ended our night with yummy snowcones!!  Here is a picture I took from the night with my phone...L.O.V.E. them.

Our Saturday started out early and didn't end until about 11 p.m.!!  I woke up early to get ready and finish making a few last minute items for a bridal shower my Mom and I were hosting with some other family.  My Mom's cousin, Ashley, is getting married in August and we were excited to be able to help give her a shower.  Briley tagged along as well because other little cousins would be there and several family members had not seen her since she was a baby so of course I had to get her all dressed up!!

Here was the invite I did for the shower...it was a Parisian theme!!  

(I blurred out the address, so ignore that part!!)

 Here is the decor we used for the main table...my Mom ordered petit fours, the cake to match the invite, and cupcakes for the desserts.  The table turned out so pretty!!

We also set up a table for family and friends to write out a marriage blessing for Ashley and Jason and the invite in a frame for her to take home!!

The beautiful bride-to-be with her family!!

Briley loved playing with her "cousins"!!

After the shower we rushed over to celebrate Briley's best friend, Elliott's 2nd birthday party!!  Not before we got in a little cat nap though!!

 I have mentioned my best friend, Tracy many times in my posts and how uber talented and crafty she is...well she definitely out did herself with Elliott's monster themed party.  I don't even know what to say about the decor except for WOW!!!

First a picture of the birthday girl...isn't her dress too cute???

Of course, Tracy made Briley a shirt to match her best friends party!!!

 Checking out the monster on her shirt!!

The amazing decor...

Isn't she amazing??  She is my go-to party planner and I have pretty much learned everything I know from her!!  Can't wait to maybe throw the girls a joint birthday party one year since their b-days are so close...I know it will be fantastic with Tracy planning it!!

Besides all the awesome decor...there was an adorable photo area with monster props for guests to pose with.  The kids LOVED this!!  We got some really cute shots!!

Could that cake be ANY cuter???

For the party favor what else could it be besides your very own monster??  All the kiddos got to create their own monster with different eyes, mouths, arms, hair, etc.  Our kids are the perfect age for this and they loved picking out different ways to make their monster!! 

 

Showing Daddy her monster!!

 Isn't he cute?!?!

You would think after that busy of a Saturday morning and afternoon we would be done right??  Nope!!  We headed to Plano with Daniel's dad and sister to look at a special present Daniel's dad was thinking of buying for the family...

Woohoo!!!!  We are so excited because he bought it and we can't wait for fun family time on the lake.  He is also looking to buy another one so we can all ride together!!  Briley kept calling it her motorcycle and wanted to get on it!!  Can't wait to make some fun memories with Daniel, Briley, Papa, and Auntie on this!!

We got home super late and Briley was so exhausted from the day but it was all worth it!!  

As for Sunday...Briley and I are still in our PJ's and plan to stay in them all day :) We might do a little cleaning later if I'm lucky.

Hope your weekend is treating you well!!

In Christ's Love,