Chick-fil-A Birthday Party

Emma Grace with her sister and cousins at her Chick-fil-A Birtday Party.

I have never met a child that loves chicken so much. And we (her parents) are so happy about that because she loves going to Chick-fil-A, one of our families favorite spots. We used to live right down the highway from one {Jenks, OK}. Then it was the next town over {10 min drive to Fort Smith, AR}. Now we drive 30 {to Owasso, OK}  mins to enjoy all this goodness packed into one store. 

So it was natural that when I asked this child of mine where she would like to have her birthday party, she shouted, "CHICK-FIL-A"!!! I was so happy that we were able to celebrate her 5th birthday when we were in Alabama this January. We have never had the opportunity to celebrate with our Sanford side of the family on Emma's birthday before due to us living 7 - 12 hours away. Here are a few {14 pics of the party. 

See the cute little pennant banner I made. Ha Ha I used what I had. Thank you cards cut up, staples to hold them together and toothpicks to stake it. Hey I think I did a pretty good job.

Here are the gift bags I did for the cousins. This was that thank you card I cut to look like tags {I think this is so cute! I was so proud of myself for this thought! I still am can you tell =) } and added so simple ribbon and stapled shut. Also I added the guests initial in the bottom right hand of the tag so I would know what we inside. I got goodies according to age and gender. No boy wants a pink princess ring! 

 

Here is our family posing with the birthday girl!  Happy Birthday baby, we love you! 

She had a great time. Can you tell? 

And here is Baby Ava! How can you not fall in love with that face! 

This birthday was everything I had hoped for. Lots of laughs and smiles, making memories with our family. 

I know birthday can get out of hand... what is your goal(s) behind throwing a birthday for your child? 

Baby Ava, Sweet Birthday Gift

It has totally been a while since my last post.
Many things have changed since this chapter has started.

That best birthday present ever that I mentioned... she is pretty great!
The Lord worked it out so that we got to drive to Alabama and see her the day after she came home from the hospital. The girls were in awe of her... and I can't lie, so was I!

... who wouldn't be after seeing this!

We also were able to have a birthday party for Emma Grace and one of our favorite places ever,

Chick-fil-a and had such a great time! All of the Bama family came! ( I'll have to post pics of that later.)

Ways to Scrap-lift

Ever see a layout and fall in love with it? Well I sure do.
Scrapbook etc. had a layout that I saw and thought it would be cute to scrap-lift.
What is scrap-lifting? It is simply using someone else's layout for inspiration.
It is hard with so many pictures and so many pages to come up with new ideas each and every time we create layouts. That is why you should consider scrap-lifting as a way of staying fresh in your designs.

Here is the layout I used for inspiration.

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I decided it was prefect for Emma Grace's 2nd birthday lunch trip to Chick-fil-A that her daddy & I took her to. {Funny we took her again to Chick-fil-A on her 5th Birthday}

And this is how that layout turned out. 

This is one of my all time favorite scrapbook pages that I have done.

I used glittered alpha stickers to spell out two since I had already used the number in the sheet of stickers.

 I had some cute cupcakes to line up just like the original layout from Scrapbook etc.'s page. 

 I am so proud! Even if I did get some help from Scrapbooks etc. along the way.

Here are some tips to scrap-lift a layout that you love:

- Find a few elements you love and mimic those.  {my glittered #, cupcakes in a row}
- Use the same overall direction of vision. {horizontal with cupcakes, vertical with scribble polka dot paper}
- Color inspiration. {the pastels I used}
- Pictures to take.

It doesn't need to be an exact replica of the original layout. This method this simply used for inspiration. So use it to your advantage, rather it be to journal, photos to take, papers/colors/patterns to use, etc. Have fun with it.

Do you see other layouts and like to use the inspiration in your own pages?

What is one of your most favorite layouts you have ever created? 

Crazy about the City, Silver Dollar City that is.

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So its that time of year again to purchase Silver Dollar City season passes! We already got ours in the mail and I'm so excited I just can't hold it in any longer. This past week I was at the sister and brother in laws and was encouraging my sis to purchase passes (which she did last night =) so excited) and my brother in law asked if I worked for Silver Dollar City or something because I am always talking about it and every year trying to get them to go haha.

But then I thought about why I was like that... because he was right I was, and I came to the conclusion that it is a tradition for me. Growing up we didn't go to many family vaca spots, but what was certain is that every year during the summer ... the HOT part of the summer, normally at the end of July we would take a family vacation to Branson and Silver Dollar City. Those memories were the few of the good ones I had growing up.

So when I met Mark and we had Emma and moved over to Arkansas, being so close to Branson, seemed like the was no other place to visit! We have been there with some of our favorite people!

- In Aug 2007 Emma's first vaca was there with Grammie and PawPaw.



- In April 2009 Mark & Myself went to SDC with our Youth Group in Fayetteville and a dear friend Becky that leads that group now!



- In May 2009 we took Emma and Olivia (her first time) to SDC with Mama Euva and Uncle JonJon



- In June 2009 we took the girls and Nana and Poppie along with Aunt LaLa and Uncle Josh and Jenna... and it was SO much fun!



We weren't able to SDC in 2010 however we were in Branson, it was sad cause we wanted to go!
This next year we will hopefully have plenty of times at the City!


Update:

- In May 2011 we went with Aunt Sissy and Uncle Lance for Brooklynn's 2nd Bday. We had a great time. We also checked out Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampdee. The South won y'all! And we got to Ride the Ducks. I was surprised at how much I learned on that ride.

Happy Birthday Brooklynn!

Mark and Emma, Quack Quack! Ride the Ducks.

Olivia and me on the DUCK. It was cold that day.

Holland and Emma enjoying a ride at Silver Dollar City.

Mark at dinner @ Dixie Stampdee, yum!

- In July 2011 we went again with Nana from Alabama and Poppie. Mark, I and the girls got there alittle early on tuesdays and stayed till sat. It was a fun week in Branson. This was our first time to go to White Water as well. We loved it!




So get your tickets today and make some memories that will last forever!