Love Journal

When my husband and his sisters took on the heartbreaking and arduous task of going through his mother's  belongs after she died, they found journals she had written about her children. There weren't that many entries, but I thought how beautiful that is. So I decided that I would do the same when I had kids. A year later when I was pregnant my husband bought me a journal. However, it wasn't until my first baby was born that I began to write in the journal. I just pour out my heart to my kids. I write how I see them and how much they mean to me. I feel overwhelmed by the love I have for them and I want them to always know how much they are loved.  Writing is a powerful thing, I show them everyday that I love them and I tell them often, but once something is written down the truth embedded in the message becomes solidified. I hope that when I pass they will find these journals a comfort to them as well. I don't write everyday, it is more a spontaneous action and I haven't decided when I will give them the journals. Maybe I will wait and give them one when they graduate or get married or have their own kids.  I guess I have some time to decide.

Journal topics
My love for them
My perspective on their personalities
Major milestones in their lives
Things they do that make me proud of them
Their birthdays

You are my sunshine birthday party

At first this was going to be a fun in the sun party. I began to search pinterest for a fun in the sun party and stumbled upon you are my sunshine. I fell in love. This theme epitomized what I felt about my baby girl. So I changed themes and My little one's first birthday theme became you are my sunshine. I really liked this theme. We used pink, orange and yellow for the color scheme and it came out better than I thought it would. We also used the the create a critter cartridge from cricut to create most of the decorations.

The Outfit

She wore a tulle skirt with a white onesie (for the photo shoot), a yellow shirt (for her birthday party) with a large flower attached to a head band.  So cute!

Dessert table

We combined the cake table and candy table.  Behind the cake table we hung a sign that had the lyrics to you are my sunshine.  One of the favorite treats of the table was the sunshine chocolate covered oreos.

The high hair and the cake

We used tulle around the tray and created a sign with her name on it.  She had a two-tiered cake with a fondant sun on the top.  We also served cupcakes to the kids.  The cupcakes were topped with sun pics.

The Mantle

We placed pictures of our little one from her first birthday photo shoot on the mantle a long with lyrics to you are my sunshine.  The sign on the mantle said Our sunshine the sign above the mantle said happy first birthday. We created a tulle wreath for above the mantle and for the door.

Fruit Tray

We created a sun out of pineapples and raspberries.  Next time I would and Mandarin oranges around the edge of the sun to make it more defined.

Plasticware

We wrapped the eating utensils in a paper napkin and created a napkin ring out of ribbon and a paper sun.

Outside Decorations

We created a tulle wreath and yard signs to greet guests as they arrived.  To create the tulle wreath bend a wired hanger in a circle and use a wire cutter to cut of the hook. Then cut the tule to the desired length and tie around the hanger. The yard signs were created from the pendant and create a critter cri-cut cardridge.

Balloon towers

I love how this birthday turned out.  You are my sunshine is a great theme for any little one.  They are only one once and so precious, it is such an honor to demonstrate how much we love our little ones.  Please share your ideas for a You are my Sunshine party.