Hannah's birthday party

On Saturday, we celebrated Hannah's first birthday with a party. Her birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we wanted to be able to have friends over to celebrate in style! We had a Princess Themed birthday party. People kept asking if it was because of the newly released Princess and Frog movie, or one of the other Disney Princesses: Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella...but it wasn't based on any of those Princesses...it was Princess Hannah! Surprise, Surprise...she is our princess!

Here are some pictures of the decorations...


We borrowed a bouncy house from our friends Kyle and Holly to entertain the older kids...
BUT I should have known that we already had entertainment for the older boys...Dan's video games! When it came time to tell the boys it was time for presents and cake...how did we steal them away from the video games? We sent Katryna and told her to get creative...she stole the controllers! Such a smart girl!
Present table...
Opening of the presents...

books from Jonathan, Trista, and JED

monkey from Aunt B and Uncle D

new shoes

tutu for the princess made by her Dearie

swing from the parents

The cakes were done by my friend Karalyn, who is so VERY talented! She made a big pound cake with raspberries for everyone and a smaller pound cake for Hannah. I made strawberry cupcakes and chocolate oatmeal cookies. We didn't get to enjoy the chocolate oatmeal cookies because Atticus was very hungry and couldn't wait for the party! He decided to climb up on the kitchen island and attack the cookies...sigh.

All-in-all, great birthday party! My friends are extremely awesome to help decorate, lend items, bake cakes, and take pictures so Dan and I could enjoy the party more...we are so lucky!

Float and Trees

The night of the Collierville Christmas Parade (December 4th) was EXTREMELY cold!!! The high was 39 degrees with a low of 29 degrees. Everyone kept telling me that the coldest night of the year in Memphis was the night of the Collierville Parade, but I thought it was a joke. Guess I was wrong!

Either way, the float was AWESOME and I had a BLAST and the people who helped (before, during, after) were AMAZING!

Two stages of the float...

trailer--where the puppets "sat" in trees

truck bed--with banner explaining concept

Thankfully, Hannah had a good idea and stayed inside, with Dearie playing in the nursery at church.

Performers waving hello

Taylor, Betsy, and I trying to stay warm before the parade starts

Annabeth and Katrina having fun, even in the cold!

Dan, warm inside the truck

Mitchell and Paige walked in front of Dan's truck with the banner

The gingerbread people that sat around the gingerbread church and threw candy to the crowd.

Cooper, one of our construction workers, being all smiles on the bulldozer...

The next day, Mom and I went shopping for ribbon to decorate the outside of the house. We also found a cute Christmas tree for Hannah's bedroom.

December 3, 2009

December 3rd fell on a Thursday this year...which normally means Puppet Practice at the church for an hour. This particular Thursday was a little bit different since it was the night before the parade. We invited the Puppeteers, their parents, and any church member to Karalyn's house to assemble all the pieces for the float to the trailer and Dan's truck. It was a LOT of work, but we managed to squeeze in some fun and laughter during it all!

making sure the trees line up

Greg helping secure the bulldozer down

Katrina having fun!

William and Katie dancing in front of the trees.

The side of the church was my main job, with the help of my mother and Susan

Karalyn being Miss-Fix-It

I think my favorite part of the float was the church and how it turned out with the stainglass.

William and Jonathan asking if it was real candy...sorry guys!

Karalyn putting the final touches on the trees

Now, we just have the float night...

December 2, 2009

Last week (December 1-4), we worked on the Gospel Street Puppets Float for the Collierville Christmas Parade. It was exhausting! BUT definitely worth every minute! We had two planning sessions for church members to help in the assembling process. One was the week before Thanksgiving, when I forgot my camera. The other was December 2nd. Here are pictures of the different pieces coming together.