Pretty as a Princess!

Welcome!

If you had been at my party today, this would have greeted you upon your arrival...

My mommy made this by cutting the #3 out of floral foam and filling it in with roses and added the leaves to cover any foam that showed. She then hung it on our wreath hanger to greet my guests. She said it might become an annual tradition!

This was the invitation my friends got in the mail!

Mommy also got the matching garland to hang up for the party! I was so excited when I saw it that I had to run and put my princess outfit on!

This is what my cake looked like, or I should say, cupcakes because that is what I said I wanted. And, you know, a Princess has her own opinions!

And this is the table all decorated and ready for the other fair maidens to arrive...

Daddy agreed to let us dress him up like a Princess and we all took turns drawing the dress-up clothes out of a bag. It was a great game!

Mommy said he looked like a Deranged Tooth Fairy! I thought he just looked beautiful!

Eating my cupcake was my favorite part. Of course, I had to have a pink one!

Mommy made a video that played pictures of my life, from birth until now as a great big 3 year old!

Even princesses can be a little grumpy sometimes and not want to smile for their picture!

I was all tuckered out after the party and had to retire to my royal bed for my nap! I was glad their wasn't a pea under my mattress!

Thanks for letting me show you my Birthday Party!

Love, Princess Lauren

My Little Girl's Room

*If you are visiting from the Bragfest, this is one of my very firsts posts and I thought it would be fun to share it again!*

"A little Girl's room should look like a little girl's room!"

This is what Amy over at Playing Sublimely said when she featured her daughters' darling room. In my humble opinion, truer words were never spoken! You can visit her blog Playing Sublimely to view the pictures but please, come back over here when you are done. Her blog, with her absolutely gorgeous home and thoughtful insights into life and faith, will draw you in and I may never see you again!

When you do return I want to Welcome you to
 MY daughter's room...

When we first toured our home, my husband innocently asked, "Which child gets the room with the window seat"? I looked at him like he was crazy and said, "ummm...our GIRL of course!"

Doesn't every girl wish she had a window seat? I know I did when I was a little girl! I knew that it would be the place where I could get lost in the world of Anne of Green Gables and dream of Raspberry Cordial and boys named Gilbert Blythe. Wasn't he dreamy?

Here's a closer look...

I made all of the window treatments and almost all of the pillows using this beautiful Yellow Cameo Toile fabric.

$80 worth of fabric went a LONG way!

This is the window creation I showed you a couple of days ago. I am loving how sweet it looks and Lauren only took the shutters off the wall 1 time!

And this is probably one of my favorite discoveries...

Did you know that you could use a window valance as a dust ruffle? I didn't either until I found this one and realized that it would be a perfect fit! A little bit of velcro and another ruffle on top and we were good to go!

 

 This beautiful dresser belonged to my mom and was in her room when she was a little girl herself! It has survived a fire, storage, rough teenagers and then 2 babies when I used it as a changing table. My mom has the rest of the set which Lauren will get when she is a little older.

Here are some details...

I L-O-V-E Love old books and will stack them anywhere I can! These belonged to my grandmother who so graciously passed down many of her treasures to us.

This darling bird lamp was the first thing I purchased when I began decorating Lauren's room. It is so sweet and it was a great jumping off point for the color pallette.

 

The rug was another great TJ Maxx find and it ties everything in beautifully. I love the touch of brown anchoring the room.

 

Rustic $5 frames and leftover fabric provides that extra French Country touch to the room.

The picture is a scene from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and was a gift from my sister. The little shelf holds 2 baby bonnets that belonged to my grandmothers. Are you seeing a trend here folks? I love Heirlooms!

Here's a closer look...

The hooks of the shelf are actually keys.

 And that baby cup?

 Well, that belonged to my Great-Grandmother who was born in 1897! The thimbles are also from a family collection.

These darling little pictures hung in my nursery as a baby and I could not wait to have them in my own little girl's room!

These baby gowns belonged to my grandmothers. I think it adds another little Southern touch to the room, don't you? Here is a closer look at one of them...

The wall color is one we have used throughout most of the house and it is my favorite shade of soft, buttery yellow. Simply adding some ribbon can take frames up a notch in their cute factor!

And, last but not least, it simply wouldn't be a Southern Girl's room, without her very own Sterling Silver baby cup!

Thank you for coming on this little tour with me! I look forward to showing you more of my home in the weeks to come!

For These Children I Prayed!

So, as I sit down to write this post, I realize that it is much harder to reveal your heart to BlogWorld than it is to reveal your latest home projects! So, be kind...

As you may have guessed already, becoming a mother was no easy prospect for me. I believe that infertility is either going to make you or break you. And, gratefully, it didn't break us! In fact, it served to make us not only stronger in our faith, but also in our marriage in ways we never could have imagined. I won't go into too many details at this point, but just know this...I could never have dreamed up 2 more perfect children for our family! And I wouldn't trade all the pregnancies in the world, for the joy-filled, bittersweet experience of Adoption.

Since I am dedicating this week to my daughter, Lauren, I will share with you a snippet of the Christmas Letter we sent out the year that she was born...

Dearest Family and Friends,

It is with the greatest joy and gratitude that we write this letter this year. As of this summer, we were certain that by Christmas there would be no new news to report on our family and yet God had a great surprise in store for us! One day in mid-July, Ian informed Vanessa that he wanted to have a lemonade-stand and make a little spending money. As they walked in the door from a lemonade buying trip to Wal-Mart, the phone was ringing. It was the phone call that changed our lives forever! A baby girl was going to be born in two weeks time and would we be interested in adopting her. Would we! As Vanessa sat with Ian in the driveway while he welcomed his customers, she marveled at the fact that on an ordinary summer day, coming home from Wal-Mart, God could answer our prayers and reveal His sovereign plan for our family through one simple phone call.

A little over two weeks later, Lauren Elizabeth came into this world and into our hearts! She is a wonderfully happy baby and laughs more at her big brother than anyone else. And her big brown eyes are a delightful bonus!

When you are literally "gifted" your children, you realize just how very true the words "Children are a gift from God" are!

Tomorrow I will feature more of Lauren's room as well as the little girl's room of one of my favorite Bloggers!

No Window? No Problem!

Just Make One!

This is the painting I showed you yesterday. It hangs on the wall behind my daughter's bed.

My very talented father-in-law painted this as a gift to Lauren when she was born. He also built the rocking chair from yesterday's post for her 1st Birthday!

 I consider him a true Renaissance Man!

It obviously needed more so we began with molding and used this handy-dandy tool...

$12 at Lowes can buy your hubby a lifetime of projects!

So, we framed it out and it looked like this...

Better, and similar to what we did in our son's room. But being that this is a little girl's room, I thought it needed something more!

Then, I found this...

 Tucked into a back corner at "Aunt Bee's", it was the perfect thing to bring in some character! One long shutter that we promptly cut into 2 and it only cost me $15! Next I attached a large picture hanging bracket.

I hung one shutter on either side of the molding and suddenly, we had ourselves another window!

I think the view out this window is even better than the real one in her room! Here's another look...

The panels I made with fabric I purchased on Ebay. It was 10 yards of fabulous decorator fabric for only $80! I used it throughout her room and I'll show you some close-ups later on in the week as we continue the tour of Lauren's room! Here is one more look for good measure...

P.S. Yes, that is a crib you are looking at. And, yes, she is turning 3 this week so we are working on the transition to "big girl bed" but after one attempt, it came down to leaving her in the crib for awhile or giving up naps and having her not fall asleep until 10pm every night! You can guess what won out! Mama needs nap-time just as much as her girl does!

*If you are coming over from Courtney's party, this is one of my very first posts and I thought it would be fun to link it up this week!*

Little Girls

Thank Heaven for little girls

For little girls get bigger every day!

Thank Heaven for little girls

They grow up in the most delightful way.

One of the things I love most about the Southern way of life, is the great value that is placed on little girls being encouraged to be, well...little girls! Femininity is celebrated right alongside spunk and strength. That perfect blend of lady-like manners and the ability to bait a hook with the best of them! It seems to me that we lose something when we take away what is inherently "girly" about little girls.

My own little girl loves bows and dress-up and is having her first Princess Party this weekend. But she is not afraid to get dirty and you better look out when you wrestle her because she has some moves that rival the WWF!

So, in honor of her 3rd Birthday on Friday (sniff, wipe tear, sniff), I am dedicating this week to celebrating Little Girls and will be showcasing Lauren's room as well as revealing my latest project. It has something to do with this...

To tide you over 'till then, here is a snippet of things to come...

And, get the Kleenex box ready because I will be sharing a little bit of my journey to motherhood and how Miss Lauren came to be apart of our family!

"Deck"orating - Finale!

*Linking with Outdoor Wednesday at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ *
You've Come A Long Way, Baby!

Let me just tell you, that when we bought our house 2 years ago, there was a tree growing through the deck! A tree! Well, ok, maybe it wasn't exactly a tree, but it was the biggest weed I have ever seen in my life, growing right up through the middle of the deck. The nice word to describe our backyard was "neglected". So, you can imagine my delight that now our deck looks more like this...

And this...

The umbrella was my Mother's Day gift from Yankee Boy and the Rascals (is it just me or does that sound like it could be the name of a Band!).

There was still a blank spot though...

We used to have a fountain there but it finally gave out after years of faithful service. So, I went on the hunt! Do you know how EXPENSIVE fountains are these days? Oh my! But look what I found...

This was on the wall at Lowes and I fell in love! I thought, well, I guess I could splurge just a little. I couldn't locate any in boxes so I asked the sales clerk if they had some in stock. He said 'no' so I offered to buy the floor sample which he then sold to me for 50% Off! It pays to ask folks!

Here's a closer look...

With the windows open I can hear it even when I'm inside!

What's that? What does that little pot in the front say?

Rascal #1 gave this to us as a present at his Kindergarten Graduation. He was very proud to see it receive such a prominent position by the fountain.

I can now say that I finally love my deck!

Wish you could come join me for dinner!

And, here is a little more of our backyard for good measure.

This is the garden area before...

We are not ashamed to put our children to work!

Here is the after...

My first attempt at growing my favorite flower is finally paying off!

I can't tell you how much I adore Sweet Peas! They are nostalgia personified!

Kim at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ asked to see more of my yard, so this is for you Kim!

This is a little courtyard area in the front of the house. It is very shady and nothing would ever grow very well. So, we put down pavers with ground cover in between and it adds so much more character to the curb appeal!

A bigger view...

Next week my baby girl turns 3! So, in honor of her Birthday, we will have a week of all things "Girly"! And, I'll share a little bit of my road to motherhood and why my children's birthdays are so significant. Have a great weekend!