Winter ONEderland Party

Dear Reader,

As I mentioned in my last post, our daughter turned one a few days after Christmas.  We celebrated her birthday over the weekend between Christmas and New Years.  We are going to keep tweaking the best timing for her birthday party because it seemed quite busy (maybe a little too full!) to go right from Christmas to birthday party prep!

Given the timing of her first birthday, I decided to use a winter ONEderland theme for the party.  Here are a few of my favorite details:

coffee filter wreath using this tutorial

paper snowflakes

streamers on a hoop (which my dear husband put together)

bucket of funny glasses for a little photo booth

In the end, the best part of the celebration was watching our sweet girl take it all in!  Somehow she really seemed to grasp that it was all about her, and she loved every minute of it!

Sweet Moments

"Life isn't a matter of milestones, but of moments."

- Rose Kennedy

Dear Reader,

It has been a long time.  I hope this update finds you well and enjoying January and the start of 2012.

Since last I wrote, my husband and I welcomed a little girl into our lives.  I had been scheduled for a c-section right after Christmas because our baby girl was breech, and as an early Christmas gift to me she decided to turn allowing for us to wait until she was ready to arrive.  Labor and delivery went very smoothly.  And she has warmed our hearts from the moment of her arrival. 

Our dear son is now a big brother and handling the transition to this new role famously.  He loves his little sister and has been a gentle, kind presence in her life thus far.  I look forward to watching their relationship unfold.

I am taking in the sweet moments that come with having a newborn in our house once again and trying to savor each opportunity to cuddle and snuggle.  People say that time goes even faster with your second baby than with your first.  They are right. 

I hope to reestablish my blogging soon.  I miss making treasuries and look forward to sharing new collections.  And the shop will hopefully open for business again in February. 

Until then, know that all is well with us.  Exceptionally well actually.

Extended Christmas Break

Dear Reader,

With only a few more days until Christmas, I hope that your final preparations for the holiday are coming together well and that you are enjoying these last days of anticipating the celebration.  My son and I made a batch of Christmas cookies that we completed at about 7:30 in the evening, and then we both sampled one.  Not a wise move on my part to give my dear four year old a cookie so close to bedtime, but he thoroughly enjoyed it!

My husband, son, and I are certainly looking forward to Christmas.  We will be celebrating with my family on Christmas Eve and with my husband's family on Christmas Day.  We love that our small families and proximity to one another allow us to see everyone on holidays!  And after Christmas the anticipation continues.  We are looking towards the arrival of our second baby before the end of 2011!  We can't wait!

As you would imagine, I am hoping to savor this next period of time as fully as possible.  I will be writing here as time allows.  The shop will reopen sometime in the New Year.   And in the meantime, I hope and pray for healthy, happy moments with my growing family.

Merry Christmas!  Best to each of you as you begin 2012.  And thank you for reading.

Gingerbread Kit

Dear Reader,

I like the idea of savoring the month of December and trying to find ways each day of acknowledging that Christmas is coming.  With having a four year old, I so want to establish fun experiences, traditions, and memories for him of this season while still attempting to keep the focus on what the celebration is about.  Interestingly, my son now remembers some of the activities from last Christmastime, and together we have made a list of some things we hope to do before December 25.

Topping the list this year, my son hoped to make a gingerbread house.  My husband, son, and I have worked on one each year for the past two years, and we just used supplies that I had on hand (graham crackers, powdered sugar icing, sprinkles, etc.)  This year I thought a gingerbread kit would be a nice way to make a house.  Honesty, I also thought it would be easier.

My son and I together selected a kit from the store.  Of the available kits, he chose a gingerbread village.  I think he had it pictured as a Lego set where we would together construct the pieces and make an exact replica of the photo on the box.  While we put good effort into the kit one afternoon this past week, our end result wasn't quite the same.  I must not have a way with frosting because the buildings kept collapsing and I ran out before icing all of the roofs adequately to hold the candy embellishments.  It didn't keep my sweet boy from working very diligently on matching the candy patterns from the box's picture.

No disappointment on my son's part though.  He sampled his fair share of icing and candies in the building process, and he still has hopes of adding on more decorations.  And I have the memory of an afternoon spent with just the two of us together developing this village to enjoy in the weeks ahead.

I'm linking up with Life Made Lovely, and I hope that this is a lovely week for each of you!

Shop Restocked + Coupon Code

Dear Reader,

I hope you are having a lovely start to your week!  I think the next days will go by quite quickly in anticipation of Thanksgiving.  We have the pleasure of being hosted by my husband's parents at noon and my parents in the evening - definitely shaping up to be a lovely holiday!  I'm looking forward to time spent together with family and time to relax with my husband and son. 

You may have noticed that the shop is filling up a bit more than in the past months.  And along with a restocked shop, I have added a coupon code good for 15% off effective now through November 28: THANKS15

I am looking forward to this week and a time to pause and give thanks for the many gifts in my life.  Indeed this has been a year to remember.

Thirty + One

{Source: oh my! handmade goodness - and it's a printable!}

Dear Reader,

Today promises to be a wonderful day - hopefully a day for two lovely people in my world to shine as they celebrate significant birthdays.

My dear friend Jill turns thirty today!  She will be in my thoughts often (as we will celebrate this milestone over breakfast in a few days), and I am filled with gratitude for the gift of our friendship.  As friends who began as college roommates more than a decade ago, I have had the pleasure watching her life unfold in wonderful ways in our twenties, and I admire the path that she has chosen for this past decade.  Jill, this year ahead (and beyond) promises to be a very sweet time with your family life (how exciting!), and I look forward to the continued evolution of Cora Anne Designs and the many creative endeavors you pursue along the way.  Happy Birthday, and know that you are treasured!

This day also marks my niece's first birthday!  I can hardly believe she is already a year old.  This little girl has such a precious way about her.  It is easy to witness the joy that she brings to her mom and dad (and the rest of the family also), and she does an amazing job of enjoying all the boy stuff that comes with having an older brother.  Happy Birthday to my now one year old niece!

Happy Tuesday to all of you!

Back to School Care Package

Dear Reader,

I love buying school supplies.  I had fun with the experience as a child (shopping with my mom and the list provided by my school) and now enjoy thinking toward that experience with my son.  There is a wonderfully fresh feeling about starting the year off with new notebooks, ink pens that have a lot of writing-life in them, and pencils with completely unused erasers.

Over the last few years, I have tried to put together care packages for some family and friends who are starting a new year of school.  I find it a great opportunity to let them know that you're thinking of them, especially with extended family and friends to whom I don't send a birthday card or Christmas gift during the year.

I'm working on the finishing touches for a package headed out this week to a friend of ours, a young woman who is starting at a new school this year.  Here are a few of the standards that are making their way into the package:

{composition notebooks, highlighters, pens, dictionary, sticky notes, and a felt flower clothespin}

 And I also worked on a craft to send along - a pencil case.  I painted and then added decorative paper to the lid.  I sealed the box, hot glued a felt bottom to the box, and then added a mini chalkboard embellishment to the top.  The pencils are inside and ready to be sharpened!

I remember my back to school experiences always feeling somewhat bittersweet - excitement about a new academic year and what experiences to consider ahead, and yet also sad to let go of the carefree conditions of summer.  I imagine that words of encouragement, a thinking of you note, or small package may be a nice boost with school days and homework ahead.

I'm linking up with Heather today for Life Made Lovely Monday!

Zinnias

Dear Reader,

I hope your week is starting well!  Today has been a day of catch up around our house (laundry, bills, groceries, cleaning, etc.) after spending the last week in Chicago with my family.  We enjoyed the company of many of our relatives this weekend (and my mom is an amazing hostess!)  On Saturday evening there were 17 around the table with plenty of conversation to go around.

One of my favorite places to visit in Chicagoland is the Morton Arboretum.   The maze garden there is phenomenal (a favorite for my four year old), and the children's garden is exceptional!  I spotted a lovely patch of zinnias in the children's garden and snapped a few shots.

Zinnias remind me of my grandmother.  Zinnias and snapdragons seemed to be such a staple in her garden.  I realized in thinking about these flowers how many nice memories of my grandma extend from summer months.  She tended her gardens so nicely.  She grew raspberries in backyard, and my cousins and I would pick them (and then she would serve them on ice cream for us all.)  And she absolutely loved trips to the farmer's market during the summer months.  I often wish I could have shared that experience with her as an adult who appreciates farmer's market far more now than as a young child.

And so the trip to the arboretum was full of nice memories of the past and also of enjoying the present with my dear husband and son. 

I'm linking up this post with Heather (and all of the great posts of lovely moments in life.)

Getaway

Dear Reader,

These seem to be the golden days of summer.  Days often full of sunshine and warm temperatures.  Days where daylight seems to stretch just a little beyond expectations.  Days where the tasks at hand are mingled with moments of great relaxation.  My husband, son, and I enjoyed a weekend getaway which offered some lovely family time and time to just relax.

We spent time with my husband's parents at the lake cottage where they vacation each summer.  (This year marks 25 years of vacationing in this town, and I am so pleased for my in-laws to have this vacation experience.)  Fun full-circle moments occur as my husband remembers his childhood vacations up there and now shares these experiences with our four year old son.  And the water there is exceptional, a beautiful shade of greenish blue and clear to the sandy bottom.

We also took our son to a water park for an overnight (part of his fourth birthday celebration.)  He soaked up each moment of fun, and we delighted in his total enjoyment.

This week promises to move by quickly with many scheduled times, but hopefully we hold on to a bit of the calm and contentment of the weekend.

What moments are standing out in your summer?  I'd love to hear. (And perhaps there are more than could be mentioned, and that's all together wonderful as well.)

Linking up with Heather:

Party with Pinwheels

Dear Reader,

I loved the amount of relaxation that came with this weekend.  My husband, son, and I had a nice balance of time spent with both sides of our family as well as some memorable moments with just the three of us.  Along with celebrating the 4th over the weekend, we had my husband's family over for dinner to celebrate my son's 4th birthday AND my mother-in-law's birthday (which she didn't expect to celebrate this weekend - surprise!)  How delightful to have so many reasons to be merry!

I rather enjoy hosting parties, and I often aim to try a new craft for one of the decorations.  For this occasion I made pinwheels using Emily's tutorial from jones design company (her tutorials inspire me enough to attempt them!)   I made a few tweaks by using ribbon to wrap the pencils and two-sided scrapbook papers (which matched nicely with the party napkins.)  I am so pleased with how they turned out.  I filled some parfait glasses with sand, and these pinwheels acted as a fun and festive centerpiece for the party.

Although the details of a party are sometimes worth a mention, I truly hope that my mother-in-law and my son both felt fully celebrated by our family this weekend.  My mother-in-law is such a giving, kind woman, and our family is so blessed to have her in our lives.  My son is truly my husband's and my delight, and we are overwhelmed by the gift that he is to us!

I hope that today is a lovely day for you.  Thanks for reading.