Noah's Compassion

Sometimes I'm amazed and in awe of my son's compassion. Despite all of Noah's issues he is one of the most tender hearted and compassionate people I know. I suppose one could assume that because he has experienced so many challenges in his short life and because doing some of the things able bodied people take for granted on day to day basis is a struggle for him, he has in turn become a very compassionate boy who cares for, loves on, and worries about people he hasn't even met in person yet.


Case in point, one day last week, Noah was making his nightly phone call to his Grandparents. Towards the end of the conversation my Mom told me that her friend Miss Lainey was having back surgery the next day and asked me to pray for her. Upon hearing this, Noah started trying to touch his own back which was his way of saying he had back surgery. He remembered the surgery, how painful recovery was, and immediately started worrying about Miss Lainey. He then started persistently signing blanket. Finally, my Mom said she'd take Miss Lainey one of the no sew fleece blankets she made recently. This made Noah happy. I think he associated blankets with his surgery because he got so many new blankets when he had his surgery and almost always had a blanket with him during recovery.


My Mom did go visit Miss Lainey in the hospital the next day and took her one of her blankets. Miss Lainey was very appreciative and in her thank you note to my Mom mentioned that the blanket was very special to her because Noah insisted that it be given to her and she would always remember that when she looked at it. 


And I'm left just being a proud Mom, proud of the compassion and kindness my boy can show to others. 

Strawberry Cheesecake

I made this yummy pie for Easter dinner desert. Funny side story about pies - Apparently, I only make them when we are having company over and usually that company is my parents so whenever I start to make a pie, Noah gets all excited. When he saw me put the pie crust into the buggy at the grocery he got super excited. 


Anyways, I found the original recipe for this cheesecake on one of my favorite light recipe blogs, Gina's Skinny Recipes. If you have been reading my blog for long, you know that I can't just leave a recipe as is. I'm always tweaking to make it my own and doing what tastes the yummiest to me. So as I was making this recipe, I made a few minor changes to it and it turned out yummy. You can find the original recipe here and below is my tweaked version. 


1 fat free graham cracker pie crust
8 oz package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 Tablespoons of sugar substitute like Splenda
6 oz fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt 
¼ cup liquid egg white
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of all purpose flour
1/4 cup strawberry jam (I used sugar free)


Heat oven to 350°.  


Gently beat cream cheese, sugar substitute and vanilla until smooth using an electric mixer. Gradually beat in fat free yogurt, liquid egg whites, lemon juice, and flour. Beat until combined. 


Stir jam until smooth. Drop by small spoonfuls over surface of filling. Using a knife,swirl jam gently through filling to create marble effect.


Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool to room temperature. Chill a few hours in the refrigerator.


Servings: 9  Size: 1 slice Calories: 132.9 • Fat: 5.6 g • Carb: 15.1 g • Fiber: 0.1 g • Protein: 5.8 g

Linking up to the linky parties listed in my sidebar

Mother's Day

Years ago, I don't think I ever realized that Mother's Day, while it brings happiness to many women, it also brings pain for a lot of women. It brings pain for those who are unable to have children of their own, those who have had a child and placed him or her for adoption, and for those who have lost a child or children. It brings pain to those that didn't have involved Mothers or those who's Mothers have passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with those of you who may be struggling with today. 

Luckily, I was blessed to have a great Mom who doesn't live too far away so on Mother's Day, I celebrate her and spend time with her.

Happy Mother's Day Momma! 

Pineapple Bliss Cupcakes I made for dessert today. 

Recipe Here and Free Printable Cupcake Toppers Here (Bookmark for next year!)

Friday Favorites # 4: The One with a Balloon Message

This week's Friday Favorites is going to be short as I am still trying to catch up on things that got put off while I was prepping and attending the retreat. There are still 400 posts to read in my Google Reader. Eeks! I'm so tempted to just hit "mark all as read" but fear I could miss something really good that way so I'll just take my time slowly reading through till I'm all caught up. 

Here are a few of my favorite posts that I have read over the past few days....

Message Balloon in a Pocket Card

This card over at Free Pretty Things for You is abso-freaking-lutely adorable! You write a message on the balloon, deflate it, and then the person has to blow it up to read it. There's cute free tags that say "Excuse me I need some air" to help the recipient "get" that they have to blow up the balloon. I'm not really digging it for Mother's Day but SO cute for a kid's birthday!

Owl Pillow Boxes

It was love at first sight when I saw these owls from Card a la Carte. Underneath all the feathers is a pillow box. It could hold a gift card, jewlry, small gift, candy, etc. 

Interchangeable Flip Flops

I love flip flops in the summer time and I love the idea of using velcro and being able to change the ribbon color/style or an element such as a flower or bow like you can with these flip flops as seen at Therapy 4 Roses. We actually saw some interchangeable flip flips (the flower was interchangeable) in a boutique in Charlotte but they were pricey. I could make my own version for a fraction of the cost and they'd probably end up cuter than the boutique version too.  

Paint Chip Bookmarks

I love this "green" idea from That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It.

Gallery Wall

I love this gallery wall from Homemakin and Decoratin. I like that she included things besides just photos. Creating a gallery wall similar to this is on my summer project list. 

That's it for this week! 

Group Craft: Quote Frames

We always do a group craft at our Birthmother's Day Retreat and I thought I'd share that here because I know some of you are occasionally looking for inexpensive craft ideas you can complete with a group. This would be great for a girl's craft night or a church function. 


I always find it challenging to come up with a craft that is inexpensive, easy to produce in a group setting, meets within our time constraints (we have about 45 minutes), and is easy enough that even the crafting challenged can complete it. I think I managed to do that with this craft. 


I call these "quote frames" because my purpose for them is to write meaningful quotes on them but you could use them for notes, lists, baby sitter notes, etc. 


What You Will Need:
Frame (one per a person) 
Dry Erase Marker (one per a person)
Variety of scrapbook paper
Glue Stick
Embellishments (such as flowers, ribbon, rhinestones, buttons, etc)
Strong glue like E-6000 or Super Glue
Velcro
Scissors


For a group craft, I like to have plenty of supplies and scatter them amongst the tables. The dollar store is a great place to pick up extra pairs of scissors and glue sticks. You don't really need a pair per a person as they can just share. 


Instructions:
1. Have each person choose their scrapbook paper for their frame. This can be a smidge tricky because you'll be writing on top of the frame so the paper can not be too busy or colorful because you won't be able to see the writing. If you are wanting to use a really busy paper, I suggest double layering. Put a busy pattern as a back layer and then cut a second piece of plain cardstock in a coordinating color to be the top layer. 
2. Once you have chosen your paper, you will simply glue it down using the glue stick to the backing that comes with the frame. Trim the paper so it fits.
3. Embellish the frame using flowers, buttons, ribbon, rhinestones - basically whatever you want and whatever you have on hand!
4. Use a little bit of scrapbook paper that matches and wrap that paper around your dry erase marker securing with glue or tape. Add one part of the velcro to the pen and the other part to your frame so your pen will attach to your frame. 


And that's it! Write on your frame, erase it and write again! This could take longer if you go crazy with the embellishing or be a shorter craft if you limit the embellishing. The embellishing really is the fun part and is what makes the frame pop. 


Here's a few pictures of different ones the gals made Saturday. 

Linking up to the craft linky parties listed in my sidebar

The Little Touches and the Silhouette

This was the 7th year we have done our Birthmother's Day Celebration but the first year I have ever had a Silhouette to help me create things for it. Let me just tell you, it was awesome for this! It allowed me to kick things up a notch without having to spend a lot of extra time on some of the extra "attention to detail" (as Sandra Lee would say) touches that I think make an event/party so much more personal. 

Let me just share some of the things the Silhouette helped me do..... 

Using the Silhouette, I was able to create these awesome stickers for the bags that were given to attendees staying at the hotel when they checked in. I created a scallop circle using a shape from the Silhouette store out of black and white damask paper. Then I layered a circle with the retreat logo (also cut with the Silhouette) on top of that. 

Remember when I posted awhile back about the drink mix packet holders I made to go on a bottle of water? Well, those were really created for this event. But I knew people who would be attending read this blog so I couldn't show these to you yet but they turned out great! I cut and scored the actual holder using a cut file I created out of black and white damask paper then I print and cut a smaller circle using our retreat logo and layered that on top of a slightly larger circle cut out of black cardstock. 

 

I also made something I call "mint books." They look like a little book of matches but when you open them up there is a mint or Lifesaver inside. I created the cut file for this myself so the Silhouette did all the work for me by scoring and cutting it so all I had to do was add a mint to the inside of each one and secure it with a staple. These would be great for wedding favors too! I'm willing to share the cut file if anyone wants it.)

   

The Silhouette also helped me create an applique for the goodie bags. I ironed on heat and bond to the backs of different black and white fabrics and then cut out a dress I purchased from the Silhouette store. Then I just ironed the dresses on the black bags. Easy peasy!

And I used it to create the name tags. This year we decided to use the plastic sleeve kind that you can get from office stores. I created an insert with each attendee's name for the inside and then cut them out with the Silhouette. We added thin ribbon to tie them on with. They turned out great too. ( Nope, I didn't change my name, just forgot to take a picture of it but my BFF had taken a pic of hers.)

Sometimes I seriously wonder, is there anything this machine can NOT do? ;)

And just so you know, I'm not getting paid by Silhouette to rave about their machine. All opinions are my own. I just big puffy heart love that machine!

Linking up to the linky parties listed in my sidebar
and

Breakfast at Tiffany's Decor

I am so excited to finally be able to share the decor that we used for this year's retreat theme: Breakfast at Tiffany's. While we used this for a women's retreat, it could easily be adapted to fit a bridal shower, baby shower, or Birthday party. 

First, I knew we needed to bring a modern twist to the theme so I chose to do that with black and white damask print. That was used in the invitations as well as in the decor a little bit. 

Of course you need Tiffany blue boxes with this theme! I bought those thick cardboard boxes at Hobby Lobby and bought one large one per a table and one small one per an attendee. Originally my idea was to paint the boxes Tiffany blue but the boxes were buckling under the paint so I opted to wrap them instead. I got my Tiffany blue wrapping paper at Party City. 

We started off with a black tablecloth and then used black and white damask fabric as an overlay. We put a giant box wrapped in Tiffany blue paper with a white bow in the middle of the fabric overlay. Then we scattered big and small diamonds around, laid some strung pearls around the overlay, and put a couple of candles, and a couple of frames with quotes in them on the overlay as well. 

The frames that were on each table were just silver frames that you can buy in the wedding section of most craft stores to use as place cards. My amazing assistant, Monika, found different quotes by Audrey Hepburn and I typed those up in a pretty font and put them in the frames. (We had more quotes than this but these are just the ones I got shots of.)

Originally, the candle holders were going to be silver. I bought a thing of plain candle holders in the wedding section and sprayed them silver. But I accidentally left the silver candle holders at home. My BFF was coming down a day later than me so I called her and she saved the day by picking up some more candleholders. She knew she wouldn't have time to spray them silver but also knew they needed dolling up a little so she bought some black and white ribbon and just glued that around each one. I love how they turned out and like them better than the silver ones!

At each attendee's spot we had a little box wrapped in Tiffany blue with a white bow. I actually watched a you tube video to learn how to tie the actual Tiffany bow for these boxes! We struggled with what to put in them but finally Lani or I (I don't remember which of us remembered first!) remembered a little poem that goes with an empty box about the box is filled with love so you should never open it. We googled and found several poems. I combined a few of the poems and came up with one I liked. I then used my Silhouette machine to cut out the little tags and tied them to each box. 

And that pretty much sums up the decor. It was simple but elegant and I was really pleased with the way turned out!


* Check out some of the "little touches" for the event that I created using the Silhouette machine in this post.
** Check out this post all about our group craft. 

Linking up to the craft linky parties listed in my sidebar

I'm Back!

I'm back. Did you miss me? The past week was insanely busy but mostly in a good way. Our retreat that I mentioned I had been so busy preparing for was awesome and amazing as always. All the hard work is definitely worth it when I see all the smiling ladies and see how much they are getting from it. 


When I got there on Thursday, I rested a little bit after checking into the hotel and then had a nice relaxing evening with Melanie and another friend C. We went and listened to an 80's band in Uptown Charlotte and had drinks and appetizers outside on the patio of one of the restaurants. 


The rest of the weekend was a mix of leisurely site seeing, amazing dinners, meeting many amazing women, getting ready for the Birthmother's Day Celebration on Saturday, attending the Celebration, dancing, taking random photos, etc.... Like last year, I got to meet some awesome women who I have been friends with online for awhile but never met in person. And I of course got to spend some much my BFF and we stayed up way too late talking as always! 


At the end of the weekend, J and Noah came to Charlotte to pick me and Lani up and some of the ladies got to meet Noah for a few minutes. That was nice. 


I will be sharing some of the decor from the retreat here on the blog in the next few days as well as the group craft so I link those up to some of the linky parties I usually link up to. 


And just a couple of pictures: 

Me and My Weight Loss Buddy Monika

She is down 33 lbs and I'm down 23. 

Me and my BFF

We take a photo in these "hand chairs" every year. 

Me taking a random photo - what I love to do!

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Morning

Noah wasn't really in the mood for pictures Easter morning but I took some anyways. 

Of course he is smiling in the pic with Granddad and Uncle Andy!

You'll notice that J isn't in any of these. He was having some problems with his shoulder and back and wasn't feeling well.

Linking to Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

and Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Moms

You Were Made for This Easter Style

 Click here to find out the story behind my mantra, "You were Made for This."

Click here to see more of my "You were Made for This" photo series. 

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to take a minute to wish all of you a 

Happy Easter!

Two Things to Share

I have been swamped lately with semi-last minute stuff for the upcoming BirthMom Buds retreat, dealing with Noah, and just life in general but I have two different things I want to share really quick. (If we are Facebook friends, you might want to just skip this post because you've already seen these things.) 


First up is a radio interview. On Monday, I spoke on an internet radio show called Adoption Journey to Motherhood about BirthMom Buds. If you care to listen to my interview, just head on over to this website. Look for the 4/18 show on the right. I am the second interview at about 30 minutes in. You can pull the slider to that mark if you don't want to listen to the first interview.


Second, is a video. I shot this video of Noah and my Dad at last night's Miracle League game. They LOVE to steal bases and last night they were the first batters so they were able to steal all the bases. Check out the video below.

Have a great Easter weekend!