2015

Well...it has been about 6 months since my last blog! Why you ask? 

Life...

OH and the fact that the hard drive on our iMac went out in March causing me to lose everything...even all my pictures!! AND since we are the worlds WORST procrastinators, we still haven't sent it off to get recovered. Someday it will happen. I'll make sure of it. BUT it's already been 6 months so I'm hopeful by the end of the year we will get that stuff back.

Anyway, 2015 has been quite the year so far! Here is the last 6 months in a nutshell =)

It started out with a happy occasion.

{Jac & Jacinda's wedding}

We got to spend a couple weeks in florida the end of January & it was wonderful!! Having another sister in law to share life with has been so fun & I'm not sure how I managed without her those 8 1/2 years before she came to Alabama =) We are so excited to be living close to each other & have enjoyed watching their house progress from plans, to digging & now on to building! I can't wait to see the finished product.

We stayed another week into February to be a part of the dedication for my mother in law at Friendship Hall. It was a very meaningful time for family & friends to come & see all the new & improved updates a long with a memorial for Lela. 

After that, we took a weekend to go to the Dixie Nationals in Jackson, MS and as always..had a great time with our fellow horsemen.

We came back a few weeks later in March to be with my family! We even got to see my Aunt & my 2 cousins who happened to be in Florida at the same time.

After all the traveling, we came back & had Jacinda's Bridal Shower at our church....and got to host some awesome new friends- Aaron & Danielle Wardlaw! We love little miss Amelia too =)

then we celebrated Matt's 32nd birthday =) 

April brought Miss Natalie's first birthday celebration & Easter festivities! We had an Easter egg hunt at our church, with stories, prizes & games! Easter Sunday is always a favorite time for us. The kids get to find their Easter baskets & of course, we dress in our Sunday best =)

 I turned 29 in May & a few days later my best friend's little girl Juliet Elise made her arrival! For my birthday weekend, we went to TN to Dollywood & ate at Paula Deen's. It was so much fun! We had a special Mother's Day but it wasn't without a little sadness.  We got new flowers for my MIL's grave & Jacinda & I had this arrangement made. We know Lela loved these bright colors & it turned out pretty =)

We finished off the month with a Hobe Sound Bible College Alumni BBQ in our barn! We had a great turn out...lots of activities, horse rides, games etc & a hayride! We had so many friends come & it was a great time of fellowship.

June found us traveling once again to PA & on to NY on my family's Black Lake fishing trip! I hadn't been since high school & it was a lot of fun to share this with Matt & the kids.

Matt flew back home for work & I ended up getting to stay a couple more weeks with my parents in PA. We did lots of fun things with the kids =) 

Since I was up north, we fit a LOT of events into this one month. My best friends got to be together for Jodi's baby shower & we all got to meet little Juliet!

Finally, it was time to go home. Nana & Papa came with us so they could spend a little bit of time at Camp Meeting in Alabama. We missed spending Father's Day with daddy so we gave him his gift when we got home...Matt got caught in a rain storm running up from the barn & was soaking wet! His gift was an AW root beer that said "You're an AWesome dad!" too cute!

It was sad to say good bye, but we had gotten to spend the entire month of JUNE together! 

July 4th was another fun Holiday at the Shirah's! We have made this a nice little tradition getting together with friends from camp as well.

Then we celebrated more birthday with friends! We got to celebrate Courtney's at Red Lobster & the kids got to touch one of the live ones =) Then our little friend Kylee turned 3! She had a "Frozen Paw Patrol" Party! It was so cute! The kids had so much fun playing & swimming. Gmama got to spend her day with multiple visits from family & friends. All of us went over after church for cake, ice cream & presents!

A few days later, the kids got to attend their first VBS at our church! We chose the theme "Following Jesus" 

The decorations went along with the story about Peter & the other disciples who went fishing, then Jesus told them to cast on the other side & their nets were full of fish! They left to follow Jesus. We had lots of fun with the fish theme!

And to tie up the month, our great friends Matt & Emily moved out of their town house into their first house!! It is SO nice & I couldn't wait to get over to help. We did quite a bit of work, but I was bummed we couldn't do more between our busy schedules. I can't wait to see how far they have come setting everything up =)  

August 1st started out with another fun celebration for Baby Ronan! He is supposed to make his appearance in another month & we can't wait to meet him. We had a great time at the baby shower =)

During the summer, we also have been traveling out of town for Horse shows. We went to GA & TN & Matt won first place 6 times out of both shows which put his horse into the superior status! 

We have had an extremely busy year so far & it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. We have more trips coming up...possibly back to Florida & 1 or 2 more trip to PA before the end of the year. 

One thing is for sure. We have been blessed more than we could ever imagine! I love living this life with my amazing husband who does more for me & works harder than anyone I know...for my 2 little loves who are full of life. They keep me on my toes & I look forward to each day of new surprises, sometimes challenges, but most of all...LOVE from each one of my family members. This has been a full year with it's ups & downs...but knowing God makes it all worth it.

Rilynn's Nursery

{Rilynn's Nursery}

I am way behind on catching up on the blog. Too much traveling & exciting things going on in our family. BUT I realized I never shared Rilynn's Nursery / AKA our current bedroom here. I did post pictures on Facebook, but thats about as far as I get with updates. 

Some of the photos were taken at night & others during the day so the lighting isn't always the greatest! I had fun doing this room. I wanted it to be something Rilynn would grow up with but not too baby like so Matt & I could enjoy sleeping in there as well. 

We took a "shabby-french inspired- chic" approach so I could reuse some paris/french decor I used to have in my old kitchen. I wanted light gray walls with a stenciled accent wall, pops of light pink & neutrals. 

This sweet picture of Mimi meeting Rilynn for the first time sits on her dresser. As you can see...her hair bow collection has grown quite significantly from the last photo. 

Pretty much everything in the room was recycled...all the baby furniture, chair & most of the decor were things I already had on hand. My aunt makes lots of crafts & decor in this theme so I bought some little trinkets & items from her to place around the room. 

My friend Emily, that does all the appliqued shirts for me, made this burlap subway art of Rilynn's stats. Its a favorite in that room for sure! The little nest & decor on the candle along with the "fleurs" sign, abc deco pot & glass candle holder are some of the little decorations my aunt made. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the accent wall turned out! We had painters do it since I was EXTREMELY pregnant at the time & Matt was traveling so much he couldn't do it himself. We had them paint the walls light gray & then stenciled over the existing cream paint that was a perfect match to the cream furniture we already had.

Gray is funny in different light...the color we chose was called "Grayish" & is super light toned...in some light it looks darker pulling tan tones & in others looks light lavender. I would have gone a touch darker if I had it to do over...but that's not happening! =)

The door on the left goes into a small bathroom...I don't know why I dont' have a picture of it, but there is a large eiffel tower that hangs on the wall. The other is a nice sized walk in closet as you can see.

Rilynn's monthly pictures were taken with her name on this cute chalkboard. I had these glass curtain rods but couldn't really use them over her window so I used it on this blank wall.

A chandelier would have looked super cute in this room, but I refused to give up my ceiling fan...especially since Matt & I are using this room as well. We use fans a lot...even with central air conditioning, we just need some air circulation in the summer so I tried to come up with another way to have a pretty, chandelier like hanging item & ended up making this mobile. 

I did a post about how I made it here...& I love the way it turned out. It definitely added something more to the room & Rilynn still loves looking at it when she is falling asleep or rocking in the chair.

We had the crib but needed a queen sized bed for Matt & I to sleep in. Rilynn & Greyson's rooms are SO far from the Master bedroom upstairs so to be closer to the kids, we moved in the nursery. I found this headboard at kirklands & since it looked like that burlap feel I was going with, we snatched it up. We had a little trouble in the purchasing process though. Not going to lie...the most rude, non helpful staff ever. During the purchase I was reassured it would be wrapped & ready to go when my husband came back to pick it up. Upon arrival...it was just sitting there like it was in the store. Nothing had been wrapped or covered & fabric in the back of a dirty work truck just wasn't going to cut it. It led to one employee telling my husband to go dumpster diving if HE wanted to find something to cover it with. I made a few phone calls...it was pretty annoying & I'm not one to complain but we were told one thing, & pretty much the opposite happened with some uncalled for actions. I didn't even ask for compensation but they did give us a discount...which led to me also finding the lamp shades at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. The lamps were a wedding gift that I spray painted white so everything tied in together. 

The bed spread is from Crane & Canopy-- packaging from them is SO super cute! & I felt like it would go nicely on her "big girl bed" once we have officially moved back upstairs. Everything else was previous decor I had, gifts or hand me downs. Sometimes I feel like the room is a little cluttered & then other times I want to hang more stuff on the walls...but for now I think it's a happy medium. If Pinterest would just quit giving me more ideas I think I would be fine. =)

We are really enjoying this room....but am looking forward to the time when we can move back upstairs to the master. Until then... =) So this is Rilynn's room. Someday we might move Mimi's furniture that was hers when she was little into here. It has a dresser with a mirror & a desk that turns into a vanity. I also have a small iron twin & a half bed that I think would look amazing in here as well, so we have a few furniture options for when she gets bigger. The queen bed might make its way upstairs for our guests...I'm sure they would appreciate it more than the double! 

Rilynn's 1st Birthday Party

{Rilynn's Winter ONEderland}

1st Birthday Party

12 months...12 months since Rilynn was born. I can't even put into words how quickly this year went! We had so many ups & downs, but all came together to celebrate the life of this sweet little girl. She has brought SO much joy to this family...she will never know how much.

Her actual birthday was spent at church, December 10th & she got to wear a little birthday shirt but we had her party closer to Christmas so that more family & friends could be included. Nana & Papa got to come down from PA to be with us for Christmas so we had the party on the 22nd. 

Before Rilynn was even born, I was in Hobby Lobby looking at all the Christmas decorations. I saw lots of neat snowflakes, trees & fun winter looking decorations. I decided that if Rilynn came in December I wanted to have a Winter Onederland birthday party! 

It was so fun putting it together...I wanted something pretty, sweet & pink! All things that represented the little princess we have on our hands. I used the colors of her room as my pallet; neutrals, light gray & light pink. Snowflakes, trees & snow along with some of my Christmas decor made up the decorations & the party food completed the rest of my vision. 

Our menu included two different kinds of soup, bread/cornbread, a big green salad with lots of toppings, seasoned oyster crackers & two kinds of cheese ball's with crackers. It was pretty simple but comforting for a winter party. 

The sweets made up the rest of the food on the dessert table. 

Rilynn's little cake was light pink with a snowflake on it! Once again the cake was made by my  talented friend Courtney--she always does such a great job with our cake visions not to mention they taste SO GOOD! Rilynn got to eat that one herself & the rest of us had white & chocolate cupcakes along with "frosted" rice krispy treats, chocolate covered oreos & oreo truffles (which were called oreo iceburgs), assorted donuts (snowballs), & chocolate dipped pretzel sticks (icicles). 

In the south, we also LOVE drinking out of mason jars so I tied little snowflakes to them & added paper straws that I got from a sweet lady on Esty! She customized my colors just for the occasion & it was super cheap!! There was bottled water (melted snowflakes) & pink lemonade punch with raspberry sherbet to drink & hot chocolate with pink peppermint marshmallows to sip while watching the festivities. 

Throughout the year, I had fun taking Rilynn's "Watch me grow" photos each month. 

From newborn to a year, I strung her pictures up so everyone could see just how much she had changed in such a short time. The mantel was decorated with all kinds of trees..some were sparkly, white, silver, short & tall. I loved it!

Here's the Birthday girl in her adorable outfit once again made by my talented & amazing friend, Emily! We went over ideas for the shirt, but it was still a complete surprise & I absolutely LOVED it! I couldn't be happier with the end result...exactly what I was hoping for! Emily even made her another little shirt with her colors in pink & gray that has an "r" on it. She will get lots of wear out of these for sure.

Our sweet little girl had so much fun seeing everyone! I failed to get pictures of everyone who attended...we had about 23 people come over & were still missing special people that were in our hearts as we celebrated! She did have a few little friends come & they all played & played. 

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Rilynn clapped for herself, then dug right into her cake. She didn't get that messy but sure loved the icing! She is definitely a sweets girl & loves her chocolate & anything with sugar =)

After cake it was time for presents. She did very well checking out each item & loved all over her gifts. She was so blessed with so many nice things & each item has brought hours of entertainment already. She takes everything pretty serious...as you can see =)

Special birthday kisses from daddy...she has him wrapped around her little finger! They definitely have a special bond...just something about daddy's & their little girls...

It was such a fun party & Rilynn made sure to tell everyone bye-bye as they were leaving!

Of course I had lots of help from friends & family who did everything from letting me borrow decorations, helped with the preparations for the party, made food, cooked & cleaned up & just took care of so many details for me. We are blessed with great friends here!

Of course the day didn't go by without a little sadness. These special moments & milestones are always the hardest when we are missing loved ones. I know Mimi would have loved this party & would have noticed every detail. 

She would have showered the birthday girl with kisses, love & presents! It is amazing to me how much Mimi is still "giving" in her absence. She had so many cute outfits for Rilynn for her birthday & Christmas. I was able to feel like she still got something from Mimi for her birthday & it is very special knowing that she had a part in it. 

Rilynn, keep shining & giving us these special moments! We are soooo happy to have you in our family & in our lives. We hope you will do great things & most importantly live for Jesus! 

We love you!!! Happy 1st Birthday!