Today's Show is Brought to You by the Number TWO.

It happened. 

My girl turned two...in Africa. 

She turned two in an orphanage. 

And I cried. 

Several people asked me what it felt like to have my girl celebrate her birthday half way around the world without me.

Well, it felt just like it would if I was going to miss Libby or Hollyn's birthday...except worse....

because I can't just make up her birthday or celebrate it early like I could if I were going to have to miss one my girls' birthdays. 

It was hard. 

But it was also good. 

We celebrated her life with cookies and happy thoughts of when she's home. 

And we're getting ready to send our first package to her next month. 

This package will include her first pictures of our family. 

I'm nervous and anxious and excited all rolled into one. 

And in case you missed the big news, 

LIBBY MET HER GOAL!

She sold over 150 bracelets in five days and raised over $1000 to help bring her sister HOME!

Thank you again to everyone who supported her. 

To say you made her day is truly an understatement. 

And just a reminder, MONDAY is the LAST DAY EVER to order one of our adoption shirts. 

They'd make great Easter happies! 

Go here to place  your order. 

Here's hoping your weekend is filled with snow flurries, hot chocolate, warm jammers, and good books. 

Arrrggggg Matey

This year for her birthday, my girl only wanted one thing.....

.....a party fit for a pirate. 

So, a party fit for a pirate she did get. 

A few little details and a New Year's Eve spent stitching. 

I honestly think that I've officially mastered the idea of an easy handmade birthday party.......

.....and it only took me nine years and two kids. 

Happiest of happy birthdays, my little pirate. 

Here's hoping FOUR is your best year yet. 

And in case you're wondering, I am one over-the-top excited girl. 

In just a few hours, I'll be hitting the road and headed to Austin to spend the next four days with the world-changing women of Noonday Collection for our conference. 

It's basically all I've been able to think about, and I may or may not have packed last week. 

Here's hoping your weekend is anywhere close to as amazing as mine is sure to be. 

A Birthday Alternative

 Next week, my little Libby will be nine. 

Nine. 

No, I don't want to talk about it...or think about.

I want her to be little.

But, nine it is.

And this year, we are having an alternative birthday. 

Usually, we go all out-- big party, lots of people, lots of fun. 

Well, we're still planning on having lots of fun....just with no party and way fewer people.

Instead of a party this year, Libby and I are headed out of town this weekend for a girl weekend with our best friends. 

Libby cannot WAIT to see Lily. 

And I cannot tell you how good some Kara time sounds right now. 

Alternative birthday sounds all kinds of awesome. 

There will be late night giggling. 

There will be Sonic. 

There will be a kitchen dance party. 

And I am so stinkin' excited. 

Signing off 'til Monday. 

See you then, friends. 

A few weekend reminders: 

-The Noonday blog train is in full swing. Don't miss out on a chance to win some Noonday!

Thursday

Friday

Saturday 

Sunday

- Sunday is the LAST DAY to request a little house for Emily! If you'd still like to request one, it's not too late! Just e-mail me at littlehousesforemily@outlook.com, and I'll send one your way. 

-This week's Sevenly cause is going strong! I'm so hoping they break a record! And remember: when you enter their site through my link and place an order, a portion of your order goes to our adoption fund! LOVE the idea of helping others while funding our adoption! 

Keepin' It Simple: The Party Edition

So, it's no secret I love a good party. 

Seriously. 

I typically start planning birthday parties for my girls MONTHS in advance. It's neurotic, I know. 

I have just always loved the idea of a day that celebrates YOU-- your life and who you are becoming. 

So, I slave away and pull out all the stops. Need proof? 

Here you go: 

Libby's 8th birthday camping sleepover

Hollyn's pink piggie party

Libby's Owl Paint Party

Hollyn's Milk and Cookies Party

Libby's Cake Decorating Party

The trick to throwing a good party? 

Knowing your limits and using what you have!

While I am that mom who will stay up all night cutting my baby's little first year faces into circles and making sure the sprinkles look just right, I am NOT that mom who blows my budget on a party. 

If you look closely through these posts, you'll notice that I recycle. I reuse. I am the Dollar Tree's biggest fan. I make everything that I possibly can. I see it as a personal victory when I can get by with paying $50 total for a whole afternoon of memory making for my little one and her kiddos. 

I think so many people are intimidated by birthday parties because they think they have to fork over their child's college tuition in exchange for some favors and a fancy cake. 

If you look at my posts again, you'll see we don't do cakes-- we do cupcakes. They're cheaper, easier, quicker, and usually less messy. Also, I am more comfortable making cupcakes than real cakes.

 Again, using my gifts. 

And the trick to good favors? 

Incorporate them into your activity!

Libby's cake party? Take home cake they decorated with cake box. 

Hollyn's cookie party? A bag of homemade cookies. 

Libby's paint party? The owl they painted at the party. 

Libby's camping party? Thanks again, Dollar Tree. 

So, for Hollyn's third birthday party last week, I stuck to what I know and kept it simple. 

My girl wanted pink. Easy enough. 

Simple cupcakes dressed up a bit with a little quick and easy Pinterest project. 

Some cake batter dip (dyed pink for the occassion), some brownies, and some cupcakes-- Hollyn's three favorite food groups--- all made an appearance. 

Some balloon decorations and one cute three year old, and we were set. 

Simple as pie...the premade, add some water to this box of mix and pre-made shell kind. 

Need some party inspiration? 

I have a Pinterest board for that. 

So the lesson for today: 

Keep it simple. Keep it easy. Don't blow your budget.It's supposed to be a party, not a stress fest. 

Here's hoping your Wednesday is the bee's knees. 

And the Noonday Blog Train is still rolling. 

Check out yesterday's, today's, and tomorrow's posts (which will be up tomorrow...obviously). 

Libby's Camp In: Turning Eight Is Oh So Great

She did it; she is officially eight. 

And that, my friends, it worth celebrating. 

And eight-year-olds like slumber parties....at least mine does. 

And eight-year-olds like camping...the kind without tents and with air-conditioning. 

So, let's take a little peek at the grand adventure I like to call Libby's Camp In. 

First, the invites: 

The party table, complete with favors, yummy snacks, and cake decorating supplies: 

I kept the treats simple since we were also having pizza. 

Three treats were all she wrote: s'mores, cake balls, and dirt cake in mason jars. 

Super easy and glad I didn't make more...we'll be eating cake pops all week. 

Since I didn't want the girls playing with fire, I premade s'mores with marshmallow cream and melted chocolate and then added some sprinkles for fun. Everything is better with sprinkles, don't you know? 

And then the cake balls got a little extra attention as well. I always try to incorporate the birthday girl's age into her party decor somehow. 

You may recall that two years ago, Libby had a cake decorating party.  It was the party to top all parties. And since we live in a new town now, Libby wanted her new friends to decorate cakes too. Fine by me.

 But to stick with the theme I picked treats that kept with the camping vibe:

-Swedish fish

-gummy worms

-green sprinkles (grass)

-colored sprinkles (flowers)

-animal crackers

-pretzels (trees or logs)

The girls LOVED it! I highly recommend this for your daughter's next birthday. It's easy and fun and can be done by virtually any age and made to match pretty much any theme. 

The dirt cake was the highlight of the party. AND Libby made it all by herself. We'll call it her contribution. She simply layered crushed Oreo's and chocolate pudding and them stuck some gummy worms in for fun. The girls LOVED it.....especially the whole eating worms part. 

For favors, I turned to my Silhouette and did a little vinyl cutting. I found these adorable pink flashlights at... are you ready for it? THE DOLLAR TREE! The girls LOVED them, and the water bottles made it easy to tell which drink belonged to which girl all night. 

I then whipped up this little number, also with vinyl. 

The birthday girl loved everything about her first slumber party. 

And this may possibly be my favorite picture EVER of Libby....it fits her personality to a tee. 

The girls were so creative with their cakes!

They used icing and sprinkles and pretzels to make trees. 

And I cut a vinyl letter for each girl and sent their cakes home in cake boxes. 

There was pizza. 

There were sprinkles.

There was lots of glitter, and screaming, and Taylor Swift.

About the only thing missing from this party was sleep....there wasn't much of that. 

If you need me, I'll be scrubbing glitter off my floors 'til the end of time. 

Happy Monday to you. 

Oh, and congrats to KRISTEN MILLICAN! 

You won my Noonday giveaway. 

Linking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. 

That's a heck of a lot of linking, if you know what I mean.

Oink, Oink Pink Piggies Say: Hollyn's 2nd Birthday

It's no secret I love a good party.

I believe in the power of a birthday and that the lives of my little ones are worth celebrating.

 This year was no exception, but I did focus on my word for the year:

 simplify.

 I did less for this party than any other party I've thrown for my kiddos.

Also, we kept this one to just family, also something new for us.

The results: perfect.

 It was simple, and peaceful, and Hollyn loved every minute.

Here's the lowdown:

-There were super cute handmade piggy invites.

-There were little piggies and yummy yum cake balls.

-There were individual banana puddings in mason jars.

-There were precious piggies that held balloons.

-There were treats for our guests and lots of simplicity.

-There were two candles on the birthday girl's cupcake, plus one to grow on....

-There was an adorable two-year-old girl who could not have been more excited.

-There were lots of times we saw Hollyn her ever famous OOOOOOHHHHH face that we all love.

-There was singing and lots of sugar.

-And there was a slight sugar induced stare to tie it all up.

This party was nothing short of a t-total, simple success.

Now if I can only figure out how's it's possible that my baby is already two......

Today I'm linking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here,  and here. That, my friends, is a whole lotta linking.

Turning Seven: Libby's Owl Paint Party

This weekend we celebrated...big time.

It's no secret I love a good birthday party, and this year was no exception.

After receiving their invites, Lib's friends found their way to a local pottery studio.....

....here's what awaited their arrival:

In the bucket are her goodie bags, filled with gummy worms.

 Lib thought this was really funny seeing as how owls love to munch on worms.

I kept the food simple this year:

In case you're wondering, that's Funfetti cake dip. I'll be back later this week to post the recipe. But for now, I'll just say it was yummy in my tummy.

As a matter of fact, yes, those are owl cupcakes you see there.

Lib's little guests could not get enough of them!

In case you missed it, yesterday I posted about how I made Lib's owl shirt.

The studio was the perfect place with the perfect background.

 Check out this cuteness:

Once all of the guests arrived, each girl chose the owl she liked best:

And then the fun began.

I must say, I was a little hesitant (and sad) about not having the party at home this year,
but once I realized I wouldn't have to assemble the paints, brushes, etc., etc., etc.,

I was more than okay to party elsewhere this year.

Each girl got to select the colors of her liking, and everyone loved letting their artistic side show.

Here's the Libster's masterpiece:

Apparently Lib's owl was very happy....must have been the dip.

Love how these turned out:

The studio will fire and glaze them, and they'll be ready for pick-up on Wednesday.

But painting's not all we did.

We also sang and sent birthday wishes to this little girl:

And thanked each of our guests for coming:

Overall, the party was nothing short of a t-total success.

In fact, I think it's safe to safe that the only thing missing was Lib's front tooth.

Coming up this week:

*Funfetti recipe

*Saying Thanks: Owl Style

*How Hollyn spent Lib's party

*Africa: More Ways to Help

*I Am That Mom: One Year Later

Here's hoping your Monday is off to a great start.

Any party questions?

Leave a comment, and I'll get right on that.

Happy Monday to you and you and you.

Linking to here, here, here, here, here, and here and here..