Woodland Theme Baptism Luncheon

We just threw this Woodland Theme Baptism Luncheon for Middle. The decorations were simple and easy to pull together. There was wood, pine cones, burlap, and lots of hunter green (my new favorite color for Fall and Winter).

The menu for the luncheon was full of yummy Fall inspired food.

The Menu:

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Spinach Apple Salad

Harvest Fruit Salad

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

Apple Cider

Apple Juice Boxes

One of my favorite decorations at the luncheon was this giant photo number eight.

I cut a number 8 out of foam board. Then I wrapped it in burlap strips. Then I hot-glued down square photos of Middle. I printed out these square photos at Walmart. Did you know they do that now? Well they do. The process was super easy and I had them in just over an hour. Woohoo.

The Woodland Theme Baptism Luncheon all came together perfectly because it all came together easily and that is always a good thing.

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Lunch Sack Envelopes

Invitations to special events don't need to be expensive or ordered online. There are ways you can make a homemade invite look special without spending tons of cash. One of those ways to to be creative with how you package the invite. I have used a lot of fun mediums. This Lunch Sack Envelope is one of my favorite envelopes.

They are so easy to make. SO easy.

Most of us have lunch sacks just laying around. You can get traditional brown or white. Heck, they make similar bags that are "gift bags" and you can get those in practically any color. I also grabbed a sharpie pen and some washi tape.

The invites themselves were also affordable. I simply made them myself on PicMonkey. Then I printed them out on white card stock.

To make the Lunch Sack Envelopes, I measured the size of the invite and then sewed across the bottom of the sack with a 3.5 stitch just above the bottom of the bag fold.

Next I cut off all the bottoms.

Right there I had an envelope. To fancy it up a bit, I simple tore off a piece of washi tape and smacked it right on the bag. Then using a sharpie I wrote the recipients name above the tape.

Now all I had to do was slip in the invitation. 

I delivered them just like this to our lives-by-us friends and family. I slipped the whole thing in a larger envelope for those friends and family who we mailed one to.

See, invites don't have to break the bank. I am pretty sure I only spent money on the postage to mail some of them out. Huzzah! That is what I like.

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Baptism Blanket

This last weekend Middle chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a very special event, and our family came together to celebrate. Our family has a couple of traditions on the day of a baptism. We of course have friends and family come. We hold a little luncheon. We give him his own set of scriptures.

I also make them a blanket to help remind them of the Holy Ghost. One of the roles of the Holy Ghost in our lives is to provide comfort. So when Oldest was baptized years ago, I decided that I would make them a "comforter" to remind them of the comfort they receive from the Holy Ghost.

I made a very simple blanket, I loosely call it a quilt.

I found a micro fleece in a print of his favorite football team. I got two coordinating colors of cotton for the front. I cut the cotton into 12" strips the width of the the fleece. I sewed them together and then I bound the striped cotton front to the fleece back with premade biased tape.

Since I made a very simple blanket, I added some hand embroidery to the front. First I added a "hand-written" note. I traced on the note, and then I embroidered over it.

I also added in some coordinating hand stitching on each blue stripe.

While it was a pretty simple blanket, hence why I really can't call it a quilt, it conveyed the message we hoped, made a memory for our baptized boy, and has been wrapped around him almost none stop since.

I love family traditions. I love making memories. This Baptism Blanket will definitely be a memory  for Middle of his special day.

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Oldest's Baptism

Remember a couple of weeks ago when we had our mono/strep saga? It all happened just days before we were to share a special day with our Oldest. We had been planning and preparing for his baptism day for our church.

We were worried that this illness was going to put things off. We had family coming/already there. Then of course there was the whole Bean was coming soon and when would we reschedule.

Luckily with a lot of prayer Oldest's recovered quickly from his illness and he was able to still participate in his special day on March 3rd. He was baptized by his dad. We were also able to have a lot of family members there to share in this day with him. Sadly Middle had to stay home with a family friend because he was just days behind Oldest in the sickness department.

Oldest was a trooper even though he was still a bit tired. We were so proud of him for being baptized. We know, like us, he will always remember this day.

Gramps and Oldest

Gramps, Nana, and Oldest

Aunt Kenzie and Oldest

Papa, Gram, and Oldest

The Family minus Middle

Those who came but were not photographed:

Aunt Natalie

Aunt Melissa and Uncle Scott

Uncle Kirk

Richelle

In a Nutshell: Mono Scare and Baptism

Remember how I said we have been a bunch of germ infested sickies around here?

Well Thursday it all got super fun...did you catch the sarcasm?

Thursday Oldest woke up looking like a hot mess. He was shaky. He was feverish. He was super weak. Truth be told he just looked awful. I decided he needed to go to the drs because he has had pneumonia before and figured that is what it could be.

Long story short, a blood test, a strep test, and a chest x-ray later I got a call at home that the verdict was in. Oldest had Mono.

Say what? Mono??? Really? I am pretty sure my 8 year-old hasn't been macking on the school yard elementary aged ladies. Then as the nurse started listing all the to-do's of containment and contagion concerning Mono, I started freaking out more. Who knew how long it would last? It is very contagious with close contact. They couldn't tell me just how long it would be contagious. He couldn't do any contact activities...um hello he is an 8 year-old boy. 

Then it really set in as I reflected on the fact that I had some house guests already here and some within hours to a day of leaving to come...all coming to town for OLDEST and his upcoming baptism for our church. 

This is when my insides screamed and I was tempted to curl into the fetal position...oh wait I can't do that because I have a ginormous baby in my belly that would get in the way of said fetal position.

Then I freaked out again...oh yeah I am 37 weeks preggars. How is Mono going to effect all that??!?

UGH.

Planning started on how to contain, manage, and go about our Mono diagnosis.

Fast forward to Friday morning. Middle wakes up with the SAME symptoms. SUPER.

Fast forward again....Take him to doctors. Find out that Oldest's strep test from the day before actually was positive. Dr informs me Oldest's mono diagnosis was probably a false positive. She doesn't test Middle for Mono just strep. Orders antibiotics for both boys. Pharmacy workers at The Mart know me by name...literally, I am not making that up. Dr said if I got three doses of antibiotics into Oldest and he felt up for it he could still be baptized.

Our family still all came, lovingly waiting to see if Oldest would be better.

Saturday came and besides being grumpy he couldn't stay in bed to read Calvin and Hobbes, Oldest was healthy enough.

All said and done, it was a wonderful day. I was so happy to be there as a family and to have all the people who love Oldest be there to support him (besides Jack who stayed home with a super neighbor).

I have more photos and things to share about his special day, but for now I just want to share some photos. After we all rest up and recover from our adventures in illness I will share the rest of the day.

Have a great Sunday!!!

My First Quilt-In Process

Over a year ago...take or give a couple of months, I decided that I wanted to make a quilt for Oldest when it came time for his baptism. It seemed so far away. So, so far away.

Then before I knew it we were only a couple of months away. BUT, I still was like, "Self, you still have time to whip out a totally intimidating never before done project."

Then before I knew it months passed and I still had not even started said quilt.

With everything going on, I pretty much decided not to attempt it.

Then in a moment of sheer insanity and complete delusion...I get those a lot...I decided to go ahead and just make one.

I chose a pretty simple pattern...which helped for sure.

I have now whipped out the front (above).

I have whipped out the back.

I have even stitched a little personalized  message to Oldest.

Alas, I am at the hardest and probably most likely part to cause mistakes and tears...

I have to stitch the quilt together and then AHHHH...bind it.

I have got a little over a week. I can do it...I can do it...right????

In between sewing breaks I am also working on a couple other little projects for his big day.

Including a polaroid-type photo wall. Here are just three of the pictures I have chosen.

I will let you know I pretty much teared up while going through past pictures. I think a Momma forgets how quickly and how much their little ones grow up until she goes through all the past pictures.

Where does the time go?

I am also working on the Harry Potter post as well as some Harry Potter Party tutorials. Hopefully you will see them next week!