The Best Year of my Life

Happy Birthday to my Princess Olivia who is 1 yr old today!!!!

A Letter to my beautiful daughter~~~

To my dearest Princess Olivia--

Words cannot even describe my love for you. From the moment I knew I was going to have a baby, I loved you more than anything or anyone in the world.

Over the past year, I have watched you grow from a cuddly little baby to a walking independent toddler with a mind of her own. It is amazing to watch you explore the world, whether it be at a park, the grocery store or in our very home.

I feel so privileged to have been able to stay at home with you for the last year and watch you take your first belly roll, first words, and first steps. I will never forget those memories for the rest of my life, nor will I forget the countless hours spent cuddling with you in bed, on the couch, or in the bath.

While I am very sad today that a whole year has passed already, and I feel that it has passed way to fast, I am also very proud, and happy to watch you grow up happy, and healthy. Your smile is contagious, as is your laugh also. I can't help but to crack a smile, or even let a little giggle slip when you are being mischievous and throwing your banana on the floor in protest, or when you pull EVERY single book off of the bookshelf just to see how I will react.

I look forward to every year that I get to stay on this earth and be "Olivia's Mommy". While I must admit that I can wait to see what the future holds for you, I also am excited to see where you will go on life, because I know that you will go far, and be happy, successful, and always very very, very loved.

Love forever,

Your Mommy

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Birthday to do list among other things on my mind

My darling Olivia (who is not so darling at the moment due to a persistant tooth trying to poke through) is going to be 1 yr old on Aug. 11th. I am trying my best to make it an awesome birthday party on limited funds so, I have gone searching in blogland and here is what I have found:



great idea! My hubby has a ton of butcher paper since he runs a meat dept!


How darling is this???



Love these invitations, so beautifully homemade and organic looking




what great decor is this!

All of these fantastic party ideas came from the wonderful, talented Cottage Mama

I am doing a sesame street theme while still keeping the party cute and girly. I am doing fabric invites that are all going to be different from very cute $0.99 fat quarters from Joann's and I am hanging a sign that is going to say

This birthday party was brought to you by the number 1 and the letter's O-L-I-V-I-A

Just like on sesame street!

I am going to order a cupcake tray with one small cake on top for the bday girl, and I am in the process of making her a birthday dress.

I also love these ideas for birthdays:



I love this, and I knew those empty formula can would come in handy.

These ones are made by Sumo over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff but it originated at Fireflies and Jellybeans.



How awesome are these bday favors, pretty cheap too with a dollar store trip and a little DIY.

For more bday awesomeness, check out The Girl Creative's link up

Now, I must say that I am feeling inspired and ready to work!!!

But alas, I have some family news that I am quite excited about and just have to share. After a recent family vacay back home, the Hubba Wubba and I have decided that we HAVE to move closer to our families. I am so homesick, and I want nothing more than to be able to raise our daughter close to her 3 sets of grandparents!

So instead of living a whopping 10 hours away from our family we will soon be uprooting our family about 2 hours away from our parents. I must say that I am quite excited about this which is making all the more homesick and ready to just pack up and go. I can't wait to be able to have weekend visits with our family, and holidays together, and no more teary good byes because we can see them whenever we have a few spare hours in the day :)

Don't get me wrong, I love where we live but family is truly the most important thing to us and what's the point of living that far away from the thing that means the most to you if you don't have too??

Wish us luck, because we are about to write a whole new chapter in our lives!!!

by the way, I am open to birthday party ideas, and links if you know of any good ones.

Thanks!!

Awards, parties, and laundry

I hate to be so quick about everything but I have a LARGE pile of laundry that awaits me to fold and put away. For some reason it is always so easy to put in washer and dryer but I absolutely despise folding and putting away!

Anyways, I would really like to thank Susie B. Homemaker for giving me the 'A Blog With Substance' award.

I feel so blessed to be so new to blogland and have 70 something readers and now 2 awards under my belt. I was sure that my mom was the only one who actually read my blog so thank you again Susie B. Homemaker.


The Rules:
•Thank the blogger who awarded it to you.

•Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words.

•Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance.

My Five Words----

FaMiLy--WhirlWind--InSpiRinG--MotherHood--EveryDay Life--

okay so I cheated on the last word but I couldn't think of just one word to say it with! ;)


Now, if it's okay with everyone else I will post the 10 blogs that I think have real substance later.


Fridays are always so fun with the gazillion blogging parties that take place so I will be linking up with