Sweet Sixteen with The Bard

My middle daughter turned sixteen yesterday...

Where does the time go?  Really.  You hear people say that all of the time, but it's true.  Close your eyes and its gone...so sad.  But not to get teary eyed - cause as my girls are growing up they are becoming amazingly awesome!  I mean, how many 16 year olds want a Shakespeare themed birthday!?

That girl does, that's who.  So, being an obliging mother I threw her a Shakespearean family dinner party.  Like I have mentioned before, we just do family parties.  I figure, I gave them life, they can spend their birthday with me.

They doth not protest.

The trifold paper on the table is "how to use thou, thee, thy & thine" that I found here.  Well, actually I found it on Pinterest, that's just the link.

My husband had this Shakespeare bust on his desk.  And obviously her favorite color is purple...

Rose shaped lollipops...easy to find since her birthday is so close to Valentine's day!

She got some clothes.  A super cute navy dress with pink polka dots.  It looked like something that Clara would wear (Doctor Who)  so I stuck a note in that read, "a dress for the Impossible Girl".  I also got her a navy dress that had birds and feathers on it.  The note in that one read, "Mockingjay, dress like you are leading a rebellion".  I picked up some leopard print flats that were awesome, jeans, a long white shirt and a fabulous handbag.  Oh, and the DVD "Shakespeare Retold" that has 4 different plays put on with a modern spin.  The above is a handmade fangirl art project and I'm pretty sure it was the favorite of the gifts.  A montage of the characters she loves with the guys who play them.

Oh!  And we also did the Shakespearean Hokey Pokey.  (the girls won't allow me to post the video of them).  But it was great fun.  Another Pinterest find...Shakespearean Hokey Pokey

What a gorgeous child!  Happy Sweet Sixteen, pumpkin!

Valet Boxes and a Girl with a Wood Burning Tool

 

I have always wanted to try wood burning.  I have a childhood memory of my aunt making an owl that I thought was so cool.  I had the idea to make valet boxes for all of the guys in our family, but Procrastinator Kels ran out of time...

 

Not this year.  Though I did procrastinate...

 

These are the boxes that I made for the guys on my side:

 

For the football fan
*the blurred out section of the football is actually my brother-in-laws full name

 

For the Aggie
Complete with some Spirit of Aggieland lyrics

 



For the World War II buff
A US patch with a quote from the D Day prayer by F.D.R.

For the cowboy
Fitting words for my nephew by Chris Ledoux

 

For the newly graduated Firefirefighter
*after I stained it I really wished I would have off set the firefighter to the right and added his monogrammed initials to the left

I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish gifts, cook, bake, wrap...I let my kids wrap and had them take photos of everything as they did.  The pictures don't really do the boxes justice.  Everyone seemed to really like them.

Here's a photo of the WWII box that my sister took once they got it home:

I love the idea of a man's 'valet' box, especially in a day where we can use more gentlemen...

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!


Father's Day

This is a belated Father's Day post because I spent all day making this

and homemade Chicken Parmesan for dinner.  The German Chocolate cake is my husband's favorite, but the icing only turned out so-so for me.  He thought it was delicious so that is all that counts. 

Here's a bit of internet therapy for me, however.  I grew up without my father.  My parents divorced when I was just a year old.  I never really knew him.  He remarried and had two step children and one child with his new wife.  I saw my brother once when he was an infant.  Recently my father made an attempt to contact us.  I was so excited.  Funny, even when you are grown with children of your own you still crave a connection with where you came from.  Well, sad to report, I apparently came from a pretty jerky guy.  We emailed back and forth for a bit.  He told me some basic information from his past, things he enjoyed, that kind of stuff.  Then I asked about my half brother.  His response was rather rude and cold.  He basically said that I should never try to contact my half brother and maybe we should end our correspondence.  I was devastated.  I wrote him a prompt, but scathing, reply about how children don't get to chose their parents or what happens to them as children.  We are just left with the scars that they inflict.  I also informed him that he really missed out knowing me and my sisters.  We were great girls growing up and we are terrific women now.  I told him that this was the end of our correspondence and not to ever allow his guilty conscience to contact me again.  He made the mistakes, not me. 

I did have some pretty terrific male role models growing up.  My grandfather, uncles and my stepdad all showed me different attributes of men that would later guide me to choosing my husband.  I am so grateful for that. 

My husband is a great father, even if he doesn't think so.  He always feels like he doesn't do enough, but he always has their best interests at heart and wants so much for them.  He loves them more than himself.  That is the way it should be.  So here's to Dads, whether they are single dads, stepdads, grandfathers stepping in to take the place of dad - hats off to you guys.  Setting that positive male remodel for your daughters and sons is the greatest accomplishment of your lives!