No More Babies at Our House

Nine years ago, today, this little blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty made her entrance into the world, and into the hearts of many. So in honor of her on her birthday...

...Some things you should know about Paige...

She {LOVES} to read...and has been able to read since her 2nd birthday (she's like her Momma that way)

Even more than reading, she {LOVES} to swim. She is on the EMS Swim Team and competes with other teams across the City...and she is GOOD!

She {LOVES} animals...all animals, but especially her two dogs, Bailey and Max

She is SMART...she is reading and doing math well above her grade level

She is KIND...she defends everyone (even our crappy neighbor) and she is very tenderhearted

She {LOVES} her family and looks up to her big sister and {LOVES} spending time with her Mimi

She is FUNNY and is just beginning to be witty

She {LOVES} school, even though she says she doesn't...she even plays school at home when she gets home from school

She is a germ-a-phobe...just like her Momma...and she {LOVES} antibacterial hand sanitizer and has been known to spend $10 of her own money on them at Bath & Body

She is a Daddy's Girl for sure...spoiled!

She {LOVES} to argue her point - I'm pretty sure she was born saying, "Buuuttt Mommmmmy"

Her nicknames are La Princessa, Paige-a-rella (her Daddy calls her that) and Sweet Pea

She has the absolutely cutest voice EVER on the phone...I have several voicemails from her that I saved just to hear her voice because it makes me smile

She is our "recessive" child - blonde hair, blue eyes, left handed and freckles (all recessive genes)

She {LOVES} Pop Pop's Italian Ice and asks her Daddy on a near-nightly basis if he will take her there

She is very electronically inclined and once downloaded $80.00 worth of music onto "her" cell phone and then told me it came on the phone...uh, not

Oh, and she {LOVES} Justin Bieber (JBeebs we call him at our house)...yes, there is Bieber fever going on over at our house

Truth be told, Paige is delightful and brings much {LOVE} to our lives

As I sat looking at her the other day, a lump formed in my throat and tears sprung into my eyes. Right before me sat a little young lady - the plump baby cheeks are gone, the fine tendrils of baby hair have been replaced with long, beautiful strands of golden blonde hair, and her chubby little elbows and knees, replaced by thinner, bonier models. She is growing up and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

It's funny, really, they grow up right before your very eyes - yet how many times do you really stop to notice? In 9 more years, she'll be heading off to college...guess I'd better start paying attention.

So, to my beautiful baby girl, who will ALWAYS be my baby...Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea, Momma loves you very much! Thank you for all the wonderful things you have brought to my life and the lessons you have taught me. I hope your 9th year brings you fun, happiness and lots of laughter!

~Momma



Where have I been?

Alas, I am alive! Sorry for not posting in so long for those few that check my blog for new posts.

It is summer, and summer means busy, busy, busy - not just at work, but we've taken a few camping trips here and there, had some family come to visit, been wrapped up with swim team and have been working on projects around the house.

My baby is turning 9, she is this adorable creature right here:

And for her birthday, she asked for a room makeover. Since our boys have moved out of the house, we decided that we would move her into the bigger bedroom and move the "guest" room into the front bedroom.

As many of you know, this turns out like that book,

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"...

one project leads to about a dozen others and, before I knew it, I now have

{three} bedrooms I am "making over." {sigh}

However, I have been scrambling to get La Princessa's room done in time for her party

1) because it's her birthday and

2) there will be people coming over and my house is currently a wreck!

So just a sneak peek - full pictures next week, I promise!

Thanks for stopping by!

{alicia}

Daddy's Girl

I wrote this poem back in 2004 for my husband, from my daughter - it hangs, framed, in his office.

Happy Father's Day, Handsome...we all love you dearly and you mean the world to us!

Daddy's Girl

Hold me in your arms, Daddy

and give me lots of love

For I've just left my heavenly home

From the skies way up above

Hold me by the hands, Daddy

and teach me how to walk

My little legs are wobbly;

I cannot yet begin to talk

Hold me on your shoulders, Daddy

up high where I can see

This great big scary world

that is so unknown to me

Hold me by the hand, Daddy

as I learn and start to grow

Skipping off to friends' and school

little by little, letting go

Hold me closer, Daddy

As I struggle to find my own way

My choices may not always be right

but love me anyway

Hold me by the arm, Daddy

as you walk me down the aisle

It's time for me to start a new life

'Tho I  hope I always make you smile

Hold me in your heart, Daddy

love me and let me go

For "Daddy's Girl" I'll always be

and I'll always love you so!

{alicia}

{Cake Diva}

She hates the name "Cake Diva" but I don't know what else to call her...

Isn't she great?! I {LOVE} her!!!

Bella started taking cake decorating classes in January and took about 10 weeks worth of classes. I just wanted to share a few of her cakes to showcase her talent and skill...

This first cake she made for an Accessory Swap party that I hosted at my home back in April. I told her that the only requirement was that it was "Tiffany" blue and had leopard print on it.

Here is what she started with...

And here is the finished product - it was so pretty that we hated to cut it and eat it
{but we did!}

It was the {crowning glory} of the food table...and received many oooh's and aaah's

This cake is the first cake that Bella was paid to create - it was for a friend's parent's 55th wedding anniversary. Their colors were peach and aqua and Bella used a picture from their wedding cake to recreate the flowers.

And, two days later, she created 48 cupcakes for Easter...

Next up, she is in the process of making two cakes for her Mimi and Papa's 70th birthday party...one for each. I'll post pictures of those when they are done.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my little "Cake Diva"

{alicia}



Inspiration Wednesday

Thanks for stopping by!

{alicia}

Linking Up With Some of my Favorites

I'm linking up here:

Be Different...Act Normal



And here...



And here...

{alicia}

A Little Bit 'o Zebra in the Courtyard

I promised a tutorial on how I did my little table that sits in my front courtyard. Handsome bought me the table that matches the bench (that is up this weekend for a makeover) years ago for Mother's Day...it was literally about 7 or 8 years ago.

This little guy...sad and pathetic, isn't he?...is {WEATHERED} to say the least. It was so bad that just our normal polyurethane job would not do. So I whipped out some paint...I do love to paint!

First take the table apart (it is easier to paint and sand) and sand it down to strip off all the old varnish, mine was mostly peeling off - made my job easier. I then coated it with some bright yellow paint my friend gave me...a very pretty, sunny color, but too bright on it's own. After that dried, I painted on some white paint and then distressed it (poor table...it is already pretty distressed!) by sanding it some more - so the yellow shows through the white.

{Are you following me?}

hehehehe

Chevron designs are ALL the rage right now in Blogland...and in the designer world. Pottery Barn, West Elm, Crate and Barrell...they're all doing it. I am not a big chevron freak...too linear for my wavy kind of brain...but zebra stripes are like a chevron, only not so structured.

That's a chevron I can wrap my brain around!

I printed out a picture of zebra print from Google Images and enlarged it on the copier 350%

so that it would fit in the middle of the table.

Then came the sucky {fun} part...cutting a template. I cut out where I wanted the paint to go - on my copy there was "white" space and "black" space. It doesn't really matter which you cut out - you'll get the same affect and your eyes will start to cross and you'll forget whether you were cutting the white part or the black part...and you'll think you're losing your mind!

LOL

 Lay the template where you want it to be and tape it onto your table (or whatever you are painting).

And start painting (I mixed the bright yellow with some white to tone it down some)...

Take a break - have a Diet Dr. Pepper, check out your work...have your daughter come by and tell you it is going to be a project FAIL...laugh, while thinking..."what if she's right?"

Get back to work!

Once you have done a first coat, I recommend removing the paper quickly, otherwise some of it gets stuck...I learned this the hard way and had to use some tweezers to remove small pieces.

Freehand the second coat - there may be some empty space...freehand in some more "stripes" - that's what is great about a zebra...they are a freak of nature and they have stripes and spaces everywhere so you can't go wrong... case in point, the one hanging on my trophy room wall...

Point is...no one will be able to tell!

Anywho...here is the finished product...finish it up with some polyurethane so you don't have to repaint it again after the next rainfall...

Now, I'm off to refinish the bench...

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

{alicia}

I linked this up to The Stories of A to Z and House of Hepworths: