A Princess Tea Party

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE birthdays. I love planning parties around a theme, and frequently forced my friends to dress up - well into our teenage years - for my birthday parties. I would still do it, if they wouldn't boycott it altogether. 

Guess what, friends-who-poo-pooed-my-theme-parties? I have a kid now. 

HA HA HA, jokes on you, you thought I was going to outgrow the elaborate dress-up parties but noooo....it has only gotten worse!

So without further ado - Molly's 3rd Birthday: A Princess Tea Party!
A HUGE thank you to Amanda for photographing everything for me!

The Tablescape: Paper Flower Arrangement from Party City, Plastic Teacups with Straws and Lids from Amazon

Food: Cutout PB&J Sandwiches, Fairy Fruit Wands, Macarons*

Cupcake Decorating - Cupcake Crowns from Hobby Lobby

Cake by Katelyn - Topper from Hobby Lobby!

Molly got a little overzealous with the pink sprinkles.

Our Little Family

* Macarons: Katelyn and I have tried a few macaron recipes, but they are all either confusing or they did NOT turn out right. I found THIS RECIPE and it worked amazingly well! We still had to play around with it a little bit, but once we got in the swing of things, they came out so cute (and yummy)!

P.s. We did have guests at this party - it was actually a "friend party" for Molly - but out of respect for, you know, not putting other people's children's photographs on the Internet...I haven't included any pictures of them. :-) 

P.p.s. My sisters are Disney Princesses fo' REAL. 

Happy Birthday, Ashley!

I recently clicked "view friendship", which I've done maybe twice ever since it has been an option on Facebook. I feel like it's a little weird to be able to "view" your friendship, and it got me to thinking.

Friendship shouldn't be totally viewable. Sure, you can post funny or sweet messages publicly to each other, pictures of fun things that you do etc., but ultimately, the strongest friendships are the ones where you privately share struggles, build each other up, and giggle over silly things. 

The vast majority of the time that Ashley and I have been friends (6 years this fall!!), we have lived at least 2 hours apart - man, I wish for the days when she was just a short road trip away! 

We have packed many trials and joys into those six years and I am so thankful that even though there are over 3,000 miles and an ocean between us, we still talk daily and are very involved in 'life stuff'.

Today is Ashley's birthday. Her very first birthday outside of the country! Even though I know that she will have a wonderful day, and I'm sure that her husband and friends in the UK will give her 'special birthday treatment', it's still hard to not be able to be there to celebrate and do those things with her.

Skype, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram make the distance seem less, but sometimes ya just need to hug your best friend on her birthday!! I love you, Ash!!!!