Be Still.... Celebrating a Pregnancy

It's always such an honor to celebrate with a sister the blessing of another little one being added into the family.  I'm finding that I love honoring, encouraging, and celebrating new life with all of my sisters both near and far.  This time I was able to be the assisting planner as there is a lot going on in our neck of the woods these days.  What a blessing to have Celia, the same sister who helped Casie with my Celebration when I was pregnant with Saphira, step up to lend a hand and lead us through this one.  It turned out beautiful as always and was fit perfectly with this mom-to-be.  

We were honored to first plan a surprise wedding for this couple.  You can see that amazing post here.  Now, a few years laters, we are so excited to celebrate their pregnancy!  After tid bits of ideas, we had somewhat of an idea for the direction, but as time went on things changed here and there, were taken away and some things added.  I was set on having children's bible story books as decorations but couldn't quite figure out how to use them for decor and have it not look like a children's party.  Celia kept hearing the verse "Be still and know that I am Yah".  After thinking on all our ideas we came up with a Celebration that would encourage her in being still with the important things in her life even after baby comes and demands extra time from her.  So, we went the saying, "Be Still With Yah", "Be Still With Your Husband", Be Still With Yourself", and "Be Still With Your Children".  At the end of the celebration she shared how this was truly speaking to her heart as the Father has been speaking the concept of being still to her for awhile now.  Is always a blessing to hear how He has orchestrated every aspect of the Celebration.  This one was no different. 

For food we went with foods that tend to leave a feeling of stillness, rest and tranquillity.  We had bread with dipping oils, cheese, and grapes.  It was so simple but so delicious!  Loved this idea very much!

We decorated with lanterns to give the feeling of stillness.  For the tables we used a ribbon wrapped around Bible story books (Lovelyn reads a Bible story every night to her daughter) to go with "Be Still With Your Children".  We also included a small lantern, an oil jar used as a vase with berry and cedar flowers as the bouquet, and other papers that were used for the other areas of being still.  The small books were to be filled out with ideas for Lovelyn to Be Still With Her Husband.  Date ideas or just short moments together ideas were written in the books then hung on a piece of yarn.  The papers laying on the table were used to write down ideas for her to Be Still With Herself and ways to Be Still With Yah.  These were put in a vase and then in a book for her to look through later as an encouragement when she needs uplifted after a long day. 

We usually have a sharing time, so we provided Scriptures for anyone wanting to share one with her or to look up a verse to share on the paper of Be Still With Yah.

Lovelyn's sister-in-law, Vicky putting her papers in their designated places.

Another sister shared with us her gift of embroidery and made these super cute signs.  We made felt flowers to add to them and what a wonderful gift to send home with her to remind her of the special time with her sisters.

 Lovely plates full of food and lovely friends!

Mini Chocolate Lave Cakes and rose shaped ice cream were for dessert.  We decided to help the ladies have the feeling of being still also, so we asked a few of the young ladies to walk around and serve the sisters.  It was delightful to be served and a neat way for the younger ones to be a part of serving their sisters.  And I might add that these were the perfect amounts to top off some already amazingly delicious foods. 

 Thank you girls for serving!

 We enjoy taking time to share with our sister words of encouragement and edification.  While ladies did that, some washed her feet.  We don't always do gifts but there were some here, so while she opened those, I gave her a foot massage.  Several of the ladies went together to give her the diaper bag that she has been wanting.  Was a special gift to her and one that she will get good use out of. 

 Another special thing we do is ask the husband to write a little letter to her that is read by one of the ladies.  It's always a blessed time for the mom-to-be and fun for us to hear how the husband loves his wife.  The letters always bring out the personality of the husband and are always so neat. 

 Celia and I at our table of sisters!

 I had to post my little girlie with the older girlies. 

 Such a blessed time of being still and loving on our sister!

Thank you to Lovelyn for letting us bless you in this way, and to Celia for taking charge, and to all who participated and gave us a hand.  As you can see we had one lovely lady we were able to bless and CeLeBrate.  Looking forward to the little blessing soon to come!

Tigers!

While Casie plans lovely girlie parties, I set out to surprise Josiah with a tiger party that he thought for sure was going to happen for his birthday.  When his sisters came and told me that they were planning a surprise scavenger hunt for him, I thought while they were outside doing that, I should plan a very small tiger party for him.  Since we just had our 5th child 2 weeks ago, I wasn't really up  for anything too time consuming or extravagant.  So, here are our cheap and plan in 2 days ideas.

He started out his morning searching for pegs and clues, which his sisters put together by themselves.  Apparently his first clue was in a tree.  : )

After his search all over the yard was over with, I made just a few cake balls to make him think that that was his party.  Then they came inside to the real surprise.

 I wanted to count it as a school day, so I incorporated art, a word search about tigers, they made book marks with animal stickers and got some books at the library that were also educational about tigers.  And believe it or not, when I asked him what his favorite part of the whole party was, his response was, "the books"...even though they were borrowed library books.  My children do love good books to read!

 The girls went with Jonathon to a wedding on Saturday and on their way home they stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things for me.  Well they found this Tiger Webkinz and decided they should buy it for Josiah.  He loved it of course!  They also made him a "We Love Josiah Book" that they stamped in and decorated and then the rest of the family also wrote in.  It was a nice thing for them to do and a good gift to encourage him in right ways and what they appreciate about him.

 Benaiah and Saphira even signed it with their handprints and pictures that Benaiah picked for me to draw.

Our lunch was mostly orange and he got the special tiger plate from Grandma Deborah's house.  With meals coming from our church family this week, one of the couple's brought us paper plates so we wouldn't have to do dishes.  The plates happened to be orange, so they fit perfectly in our party. 

So, that was our fun and delightful little party we had for Josiah's 7th birthday.  It's fun CeLeBrating with our children even if it can't be a well thought out, planned to a T party.  He was obviously very happy with the outcome of his little surprise, and I think it made him feel special.  We are blessed with all of our children! 

Rainbow Theme Party

Every year the Bovee Family puts on a program to end their school year.  Friends and family are invited to join in the fun, and it's always a fun and stretching time for the children.  They work really hard to put something special together to share, and this year was a real test for them.  It proved to be a year of growth and steps forward for them.  We are so proud of their accomplishments!

An outside celebration is so difficult with not knowing what the weather will be until it happens.  With this party though, it wouldn't have been so bad if it had rained (a little).  Thankfully, it stayed dry, the sun shined and the wind wasn't too overpowering.  Would have liked it to have been still at times, so signs didn't blow over and stage curtains didn't blow so much, but we worked with it and it all turned out just fine. So, here are the details of the lovely day we had yesterday! 

This was our invitation for this year.  We dressed colorfully and went to a park, then had these pictures printed on cards.  The program information was printed on other paper and glued inside the card once we figured out when we would be done with school and when the party could be.  It's also a nice keepsake for guests to have pictures of our family.

 Since this was a school program, art projects from the second half of school were used in the party decor.  This canvas was done with help using canvas, paper, a photograph, and crayons.  It turned out to be a memorable piece that will some day hang on the wall.

 Christi's parents always like to do something special for the children at every program.  This year they made the rainbow balloon arch by the umbrella table and brought their large rainbow kite with balloons hanging from it.  The kite floated with the wind under its flaps during the day and made for a great welcome tool to the party!  I guess we did need that wind to keep it flying, so without the wind we wouldn't have had this wonderful addition. 

Painted clay pots with lollipops can work at a garden party, rainbow party, or be creative and add them to a bug party with plastic bugs amongst the flowers.  It's an inexpensive way to add decoration and fun.

 A tutorial on how to make this amazing rainbow cake pop stand can be found here.  The children helped with this by painting it and spraying it with glitter.  Adding the colors to the cake pops made the rainbow pop right out.  It was our favorite addition to the food table!

 These are dipped oreos, decorated with mini M&Ms and tiny pieces of marshmallows.  These oreos were the birthday cake edition so they were different colors inside adding to the rainbow fun.

 Clouds in the sky punch.  I was hoping to have every food labeled with weather names, but we ran out of time for that.  I thought this punch looked like a lovely display of clouds in a blue sky.  It sure is fun to have so many colors be a part of a food table. 

 The rainbow banner hanging from the top is made from a sweater that was found at Goodwill.  I cut the strips of colors from the sweater then laced them together with ribbon and thread.  The clouds are made from batting and simply tied and glued together.  Was a simple addition to the background and brought out the theme nicely. 

 I really wanted to make the inside rainbowish, but with using natural juices to give the color.  I tried and didn't succeed like I would have liked to, so I did add a little bit of food coloring to each layer to give it a little color but not too much. 

 On to the program!  The children each memorized a chapter in Genesis to retell the story of Noah.  They did a fabulous job.  We included some rain from Josiah spraying the hose and even had an emergency broadcast system announcing a flood warning for the whole world.  The children enjoyed adding the extra touches.  We ended with a big rainbow the children had painted, that they held up while Jonathon read the final account of the sign of the rainbow.  Before passing out party favors, they sang the song that we all put together about Noah and the rainbow.  It was added with entertainment by the little brother going in and out of the curtain.  Every family needs a little brother who steals the show.  He has much to learn about school programs.  : )

   

 Do you see the spray coming from the left?  Good thing everybody got their umbrellas up in time. 

The children tie dyed their own shirts.  Don't they look great?!  You can see a tutorial of how they did them at the Bovee's Family Blog.

 The party favor goodies complete with cookies and a chime, sun catcher that the children made.

 A little croquet fun for the children.

 Rainbow lollipops and fun with friends!

Big thanks to Casie for her help with the oreos and letting me borrow a few things.  Is always fun to work together and enjoy our celebrations together with our families.

 Another big thanks to Grandpa Dan and Grandma Deborah for bringing the fun, balloon extras and us borrow many items for food and drinks.  Borrowing from friends and family definitely helps keep costs low for wonderful celebrations!

 And a super big, huge thank you to my children who did a fabulous job working their brains at memorizing the Scripture, doing lovely art projects to add to the fun, giving us their ideas for the song and getting another school year over with so we can enjoy the spring and summer that's ahead.  CeLeBrating another year down is bittersweet.  Benaiah will be having big parts in the program one of these days, and I'll wish for these years back.  But they are also getting more fun as the children can do more and offer their own ideas for decorations and program material.  They have already asked about what next year's will be about.  Hmmmm, that's a good question.  : )