{Bohemian Baby Shower}

Don't you just love the bohemian look? Seems everywhere I turn the new decor for parties is the bohemian style. Our niece Becca is expecting her first baby is July so our family threw her a little baby shower. Bohemian style. 

My SIL Becky found a lady to make all the flowers, leaves and etc. and she simply placed it on bead board for a backdrop. I thought it turned out adorable. 

 This cute little mama to be enjoyed her shower very much. She's having a girl in case you can't tell by the decor. It is her motherinlove's, my SIL Becky's first grandchild. Needless to say there is excitement in the air! Oh I remember the birth of my first grandchild as though it was yesterday. Now she is 15 years old.

We had a dessert only shower and oh my! Too much good stuff to choose from. See that adorable cake in the center? My SIS Shirley makes the BEST hummingbird cake you will ever eat! It is probably her most requested dessert. 

 Butter cake pink gel tinted with buttercream icing.

Since desserts only was the menu I decided to do several different desserts. I have cookie cutters of all sizes so found my square ones and cut out mini cakes from a sheet cake.

 

 I had bought some new candy molds a while back and was waiting for just the perfect occasion to use them. The pink little chocolates are white chocolate with a dollop of buttercream frosting. The chocolate molds was regular chocolate with peanut butter filling. AND YES THOSE THINGS TASTED GOOD! Who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter? 

Since I was in a baking mood and on a roll that day I decided to make mini trifle's. But, I was smart you see. I had one small yellow green and pink tinted cake leftover from the granddaughter's Unicorn party and froze it! YES, it was perfect for mini trifles with vanilla pudding and cool whip. And why not just go ahead and make brownies with caramel icing! Lord have mercy! I gained 10 lbs just baking! 

We had every kind of dessert of you could imagine. 

My youngest daughter hosted the sweet shower in her home and it was a perfect day.

We even got to use my little teepee again for the gifts. I have certainly gotten my monies worth out of that and more. If you would say a little prayer for Alice Evie's arrival  it would be most appreciated. We are praying for a non complicated labor and delivery with a healthy mama and baby.

My SIL Becky gave each us a succulent to take home. Mine is already in a pot. 

We had a great time. My other niece, Tiffany, she is on the far right is due with her 2nd baby in July. She has a little girl and is now having a boy! Our family just keeps growing. God is so good to us!

And the dessert of the party was hands down the humming bird cake. Not sure if my SIL was able to carry any back home because everyone was slicing a piece to carry home. LOL! 

Needless to say my mixer got a work out that day!

This sweet girl will be celebrating her first birthday this Saturday so Nana went and ahead and baked her Smash cake and Birthday cake to freeze. I like baking ahead and freezing my cakes and I do so when opportunity arises. Sure saves me some time. Especially when one is slow as I seem to be these days. Girls, it takes me all day to do what it used to take me only a couple of hours to do. PLEASE tell me I am not alone?

Her smash cake will be two 6 inch cakes. 

 Her birthday cake will be three 12 inch cakes.

 I think it would be safe to say that I am NO LONGER in the baking mood. LOL!

I will be sharing more birthday pictures next week. Bet y'all are shocked! All my grandbabies celebrate their birthdays from March through May except for one and she celebrates in November. WHEW...We sure do have lots of cake for a few months. 

As always, I want to leave you with something to think about. This is something my cousin Genia shared on FB recently and maybe someone today needs to read this. 

 

 I pray you all have a wonderful week and remember, ENJOY life to the fullest.

Hugs and blessings, Cindy

 

{A Little Unicorn Magic and a Relaxing Mother's Day}

With six grandchildren birthday themes are always changing. Oh we have done every theme you can imagine. But, I've not seen a little girl yet that doesn't love unicorns. 

This sweet and sassy little thing will turn 8 on May 16 and we celebrated her with a Unicorn Birthday party.

She requested for Nana to make her a unicorn cake. So a three tier rainbow color cake was made and though not perfect it sure made my Kyleigh happy. 

We added Unicorn cupcakes to the party and everyone had a choice of dessert. 

A friend made the unicorn cookies and each child got to take one home. Aren't they adorable?

The kids had so much fun. Pulled pork sandwiches, chips, drinks, and desserts was the menu. The kids had a ball playing in the pool, jumping on the trampoline, and playing corn hole. 

They enjoyed roasting marshmallows for S'mores.

We sure had a fun time celebrating my favorite 8 year old. She truly has the "sweetest heart". She loves everyone! 

Recently she spent the night with me so the next morning I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she wanted a scrambled egg with syrup. YEP, she likes syrup on her eggs. So, when I poured the syrup to the side of the egg all of a sudden she says, "Nana, do you see the heart"? My Kyleigh always looks for the sweetness in life and I love looking at life through her eyes. 

I had a wonderful Mother's day. Our family gathered for lunch at my oldest daughter's home and we enjoyed a relaxing day after church. All three of my daughter's are wonderful mothers. Marty and I could not ask for anything more than to see our children raise their children under the Word of God and instill godly values into their lives. What better gift could I ever desire? 

Speaking of gifts....I racked up! YEP...love having three daughter's that knows what their mama likes! Beach time is here and that is my Happy Place. Our family beach trip is coming up in July but shhhhhh.....mama and daddy are sneaking off to the beach in a few weeks. 

And a gift card was included that I am so happy about! I gave a gift card to the Salon and Spa to my oldest daughter recently so now my girls purchased me one as well and I can be pampered too! 

And on the home front I've harvested the last of our potatoes...YUMMY!

And, I have truly been enjoying my beautiful lily's. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and here is what I am wishing for you....

Hugs and blessings, Cindy

{Let's Celebrate a Birthday} And guess what???

First, I want to thank you for your participation on the blog last week with that ONE WORD we don't like...DIET! I appreciate everyone that shared about what worked for them or helped. If you missed that post and would like to read some of the ideas from other ladies then hop over to https://creationsbycindyphotography.blogspot.com/2019/04/gardening-and-girl-talk.html  

We celebrated another birthday. My oldest daughter celebrated her 40th birthday on Friday. I know...CRAZY! 

I celebrated her special day on her birthday along with her sisters and grands at my home with a luncheon. The menu was anything but the word DIET! LOL! Well, maybe the pita chips and hummus.

You can look up the recipe for these. The great thing is that if there's leftover sandwich filling you can add some diced ham or bacon and it makes a great topping for crackers. And just so you know...those SIN HAM SLIDERS...well, yes, sinful!

I decided to enjoy my pretty dishes a little longer that I had displayed for Easter except I replaced the Easter basket centerpiece with fresh flowers to match the lovely dishes and I put all my bunnies away.

I added some branches from my gardenia bush along with some of my favorite fern to decorate with, Asparagus fern.

  Put a candle at each end of the table. I miss my cute bunnies though. 

Found a cute little gray and white box and put a few sprigs of asparagus fern in it for decor.

The box served two purposes. One, for decor and the other, well, I had a gift card in the bottom of the box for Kristy for her birthday to go to

My husband's cousin and his lovely wife own this beautiful Salon and Spa and Debbie specializes in different types of facial. Kristy will be pampered for sure.

 Yep, I snitched a picture off of their FB page...
 AND...Kristy got to keep the cute little box! 

She had a lovely birthday.  She said turning 40 was GREAT! 

 Happy birthday to my first born child. 

And, my granddaughter Raygen, Kristy's daughter, made her this cake! WOW! She done an awesome job on that beautiful cake.  

 I am so honored to say that my GUESS WHAT IS...... my Teepee was featured on.........

https://www.chasingquaintness.com/

https://www.chasingquaintness.com/2019/04/celebrate-your-story-178.html 

Thank you Benita for showcasing my cute little Teepee. 

 

I was truly honored and humbled to be honest and so surprised.  Who would have ever thought my cheap frugal way of a picture prop would be featured. 

I sure hope that you all have a wonderful week and remember, take a little time to do something special for someone this week.  And, can I just add something to this? Well, sure I can, it's my blog right? You don't have to have that personality of "giving" to make someone smile. So many have the mindset of "I'm just not good at giving to others". "I'm just not your "send a card" kind of person or buy them a gift".  Sometimes, just your TIME can make all the difference in the world. A friend of mine said once; "We all struggle with TIME. We are all so busy that we feel that we do not have the TIME to do this, or that, or the other. But, one day, you will take the TIME to die". WHOA!  TIME..it always cost but our TIME is limited on this earth.Use it wisely for what truly matters.

I love the words of Rick Warren:

“Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. 

Hugs and blessings, Cindy