Getting ready...

...to leave tomorrow for NC Special Olympics in Raleigh! I'm volunteering through Teaching Fellows and I'm so pumped! I'll be gone until Sunday - please pray for cooler weather and no rain!

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I had an awesome lunch with Carrie and some fellow cheerleading vets - Jana, Anna, and Kimberly - at Moe's Southwest Grill of course :) We had a great time catching up...

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And then I went to hang out with Rebecca (my cousin) at the hospital while Paul (her husband) visited their TRIPLETS in the NICU! YAY!!!!!!

Welcome to the world Miss Caroline Avery (3 lbs 8 oz, 15 1/2" long), Miss Carrington Riley (3 lbs 13 oz, 17 1/4" long), and Mr. Caden Stancill (3 lbs 11 oz, 15" long)! Babies and Mommy are doing well! Thanks for your prayers!

"See" you Sunday/Monday!

DIY Invitations

For Candice's wedding shower, I am making invitations. We decided to do the shower in her wedding colors (pink & green) and so I chose pink and green cardstock for the invitations. Are they seriously not the cutest invitations ever? Yes, I am totally bragging haha - I LOVE these invitations!

So, cause Candice said I should do a blog post on them... here it is: A Step-by step guide to DIY invitations!

First, pick out some cardstock and paper. I like to do pattern paper too because it adds a little sumthin' sumthin'. I also added a ribbon because it spices it up a bit. Here are my materials:

I typed up the info on the invitation and made her name and the date stand out in a different font and color.

Then, cut the cardstock to the size you want. I used a paper cutter because it's quicker.

Then, I cut the patterned paper to half the size of the back cardstock so not to overwhelm the invitation.

Then, I used double-sided tape to put it together...

Then, after taping the green paper down, its time to add the ribbon! Punch the holes (I just eyeballed it, but you can measure it out if you want).

Then, add the ribbon! The way I did it doesn't have to be the way you do it - you can tie a bow or knot or whatever tickles your fancy! I poked the ribbon through from front to back like so...

Then cross over the end pieces and poke them back through the opposite holes. Taa-daa...

A couple tips:

I like to do each step all at once, ie. cut all the pink pieces, cut all the pattern pieces, cut all the green pieces, cut all the white pieces, put the pattern pieces on the pink, put the green on that, punch all the holes, then do all the ribbons, and put the white pieces on. Here are the invitations before I put on the white pieces.

Also, fit your cardstock to your envelope, not vice versa. You don't want to put together these cute invitations and then have to search for an envelope that it will fit in!

And for an added touch, address the envelopes in colors that match the invitations.

There you have it! The cutest invitation, ever!

A special thanks to Ms. Lydia and Candice herself for helping me do these this weekend (I know, it must be breaking all kinds of Emily Post laws for a bride to help make her shower invitations... but she really wanted to!)

*Note: I blurred Ms. Stalling's address and my phone number for privacy purposes, just in case you know?

Just popping in...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it's not that I don't have tons of things I could blog about, it's because I've been spending my [little bit of] free time reading... You know my list of things I want to do this summer? Well...

I've been reading Pride & Prejudice (I'm actually almost done!) and it is so good - everything I expected! It is definitely not a let down! I even heard AFR (American Family Radio) recommend it for summer reading today! So if you've always wanted to read it and never have - you definitely should!

Anyhoo... in other news today... Weston passed all 3 of his EOGs (woot woot!) despite missing a month of school! Praise God! We are very proud of him!

Also, can I just say that Kris won on American Idol? A Christian that is open about his faith. Hmm... God at work? Definitely!

And because I forgot to post about it on Monday, I have an "Abi-ism" (Cute thing that Abi said/did) from this past weekend. We were walking to the elevator before going to a cookout, and Abi says,

"Are we going to ride the alligator?"

Us: "Are we going to ride the what?"

Abi: "Are we going to ride the alligator?"

Us: "The elevator?"

Abi: "The elligator!"

We're going to the river for the weekend after work tomorrow, so I'll "see" you Sunday/Monday!

A Weekend Story

Once upon a weekend, a family of 10 (2 parents, 3 sons & their girls, and 2 grandkids), went to the beach. The weather was beautiful and they had a wonderful time! They soaked up the sun, they played in the water...
they surfed and boogey-boarded...

They played in the sand...

They had the most fantastic weekend hanging out together! Then, it was time to get ready for one of the sons, Parker's graduation. See, he had already finished college the previous December, but his college had graduation ceremonies in May. So the girls painted their toe nails (well, Laura painted Abi's) and dressed in pretty outfits and the boys dressed in shirts, slacks, and ties. Parker's girlfriend, Laura dressed in a pretty, new white skirt and pink shirt. She was so excited about her outfit! Parker and Laura woke up very early Sunday morning to drive from the beach to Wilson for Barton College's special worship service that morning. Then, the family met them for the graduation! Everyone was so excited!

Parker's family, Laura's family, aunts and uncles from all over came to see him walk across stage. AND since he was the Senior Class President, he had a special speech to give. But, something terrible happened. It rained. And then it POURED. And then it POURED cats and dogs (well, not really, but it might as well have).... And Laura's white skirt was soaking wet. (Sorry, no picture haha). After the pouring rain stopped, they were a few people still at the graduation. It continued to drizzle.

Then Parker walked across stage and got his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management (with a Minor in Biology)!!! Finally, the time came for his special speech! He did so wonderful! It had rained so hard that his cap was bent.

His name was even in the program, though it was dripping wet.

...and the pages were stuck together...

But all was well and the handsome boy graduated. He took a picture with Laura and Jacob.

And to top off the story, on the way to a yummy restaurant called Parker's BBQ (no relation to the hero of the story), the handsome boy and his love got in a wreck. They did not get hurt, but the truck sure did... (Side note: this was in the parking lot after the wreck... the other vehicle was not damaged so the police were not called... thank goodness for that!)

And that is the happy ending to this wonderful short story about a handsome boy and his graduation weekend!

*It actually was a happy weekend though it was full of a few unhappy events :) haha

Not Me... Monday A while back ago

Ok, so you know "Not me!" Monday from Mckmama... well I am definitely not posting on a Tuesday about something I did not do weeks ago. I did not do this and I certainly did not take a picture of it, intending to use it for a "Not me!" Monday post. And since I did none of this... I definitely am not just now posting about it.

On to what I did not do....

I did not decide to make tea in my awesome Mr. Coffee Teamaker (you should so get one!) the last week in my apartment. I did not measure the water and pour it into the white steamer and measure out the sugar to find that we did not have any tea bags (because someone... I'm not naming any names... KATHERINE!) packed them up and took them home already. So... to get the water out of the white steamer, I did not make hot water in our tea pitcher. And I did not take a picture of it after Amanda and I laughed our heads off.

Reunited and it feels so good!

Look who's home! Amber & I drove 3 hours to Hurdle Mills yesterday to see Erin & the girls at her Welcome Home party! We had a great time and I'm so glad she's home!


Also, welcome my friend Charlotte to the blogging world! Yay - one more convert! hahaha

And, last but not least - Happy Birthday Dad! :)

Surprise!

The surprise that I was so excited about was a 50th birthday party for my dad! We had a cookout (Parker cooked hamburgers & hotdogs) at the park and invited family, long-time friends, baseball buddies, and some of dad's long-time coworkers. He had a hunch of what was going on [he saw an email I had sent to his boss during a meeting - I didn't know until last night] but he didn't know when, where, what... It rained/thundered while we set up, but it cleared up by the time the party got started.

The kids and dads played wiffleball (see my dad playing 1st base)

We ate and had cake (its ugly because they did it in 15 minutes... It was SAMS CLUB! and I was supposed to pick it up at 3:30 and at 3:35 they started icing it...)

But at least it tasted good... as you can tell by Walker's face. HAHA He turned 2 yesterday (I can hardly believe it!) so he got to eat cake at his birthday party and my dad's! I bet he didn't sleep a wink last night!

The surprise party was a success and tons of fun! He had a good time and that's what I was hoping for! His birthday is actually tomorrow, and yes... he will be 50. Can you believe it? He does not look like a 50 year old to me!