Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Pretty in Pink...Saturday was Aunt Sarah's funeral services.  Lovely is the most appropriate word to describe it.  Mom and I made sure that everything reflected her.  Even the pall bearers wore pink in their ties in honor of her.  Just like Shelby in Steel Magnolias, pink was Aunt Sarah's signature color!  
Butterflies, pink roses, and tea...All of these things were included in the memory board I put together in honor of this wonderful, caring, and funny lady who has always been a part of my life.  Oh, how she will be missed!
After a beautiful day on Saturday (which fit right into Aunt Sarah's services), we really had a rainy, cold day on Sunday.  To beat the blues, we headed to the annual Home and Garden show at the Knox Convention Center.
Okay, I am totally smitten with these fairy gardens.  Tori and I will hopefully be putting one together soon!
The kids favorite garden is the one with the train set up.  I think they could have watched them all day!
Tori wanted to take this balloon tree home!
The "tablescapes" were a new addition.  I really liked this garden-themed one.
And this fairy/princess one was a little girl's dream!
On to Valentine's Day...Chris was able to attend Tori's party at preschool.  She had loads of fun, lots of sweet treats, and a huge bag of cards and treasures from the day.
The night before, we finished her treat bags to take to her friends.  This year we had to do Valentines...Toy Story/Disney Princess ones and treat bags with cute ballpoint pens, a snack sized Kit Kat and the flower lollies that we made on Saturday.  Thankfully, I had the non-edible stuff in stock from clearance sales last year.
The kids had a great Valentine's Day evening at home...We had a great dinner with chicken casserole, dumplings, veggies, and their favorite dinner rolls.  These name drawings came from a vendor on Shaman Island just down from the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou, China.  Yep, I forgot to have these framed for our Forever Family Day in January, so I kept them as a surprise for Valentine's Day.  They thought they were really cool!

Enjoying one more surprise gift...a mermaid Loopsy for Tori and NFL mechanical pencils for JJ (They were beyond thrilled.)                                             
We had a great time with our friends on the Saturday before Valentine's Day.  Tori and I created this banner with a copy of a Robert Barrett Browning love letter to Elizabeth Barrett Browning printed on pink paper with lace trim at the top and cut out metallic hearts.  Thanks, Heather for the inspiration!
Cupcakes!
While the youngest three prepared Valentines for their friends at school, the older three played video games and laughed at silly animal voice-overs on YouTube.
We had lots of broken crayons, so they were combined to make crayon hearts.  A tip...Soak the crayons in warm water to remove the paper wrapping.  Be sure to dry well before placing in mold.
These are two of the heart boxes I designed to give away as Valentines. 
I helped Tori make the heart flower lollies for her classmates.  This was a modified version of the one they feature on the familyfun.com site.
This is what happens when the kids are off playing well together and three crafty moms are left to play themselves.
Three amigos! 
 I don't think it has settled in that Aunt Sarah is gone.  The kids are handling it okay, but they have been asking lots of questions.  Really this is the first time they have dealt with someone dying with whom they are close.  I am trying to remember the good times that we had with her.  She would want us to continue to live, love, and certainly to laugh!  Please continue to keep our family, especially my mom in your prayers. 

I know that some of these pictures are a little dated, but I wanted to share them with you.  Also, this is my way of keeping my pictures in order along with a bit of journaling, so that when I finally get to scrap book, it won't be so daunting. 

Until next time,
Cindy

4 comments:

Musings from Kim K. said...

I've been thinking about you and wondering how the weekend went. Please know that I'm praying for your family. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the Home & Garden show. I definitely think you need to create your own fairy garden. Lovely Valentine pics. Your chocolate boxes were gorgeous.

Extra hugs!!

Heather said...

I am so sorry to hear about your Aunt Sarah. She sounds like she was one special lady.

GardenOfDaisies said...

I am so sorry for your loss. It looks like your family chose a very special way to remember her and honor the beautiful life she lived. As long as you remember her, she will live in your heart.

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

Cindy, the girls looked beautiful at the funeral, I loved Steel Magnolias and Shelby. Thinking about you and your mum and extended family during this difficult time and the difficult life lesson your children are learning now.

PS That fairy garden is darling, I am a huge fan of them as well as garden shows.