Molly

How did it become January 23 already?

January 24, 2012 By 2sweetbirdies Leave a Comment

Seriously. Where do the days go? Beverly and I have had an awesome {and awesomely busy!} January with Sweet Birdie’s Nest and life in general. I celebrated a birthday earlier this month and Beverly’s older son, Jackson, turned nine a few days later. I’m definitely not old enough for J to be nine! {I still remember the day he was born and cannot believe how much I love that kid! All of Beverly’s kid, and my own at that, but still…}

Molly {my only kiddo} and Jackson {Beverly’s oldest} have both been sick, which means they’ve been home from school, and the semester has started back {I teach at a local college}, in addition to a record number of orders for Sweet Birdie’s Nest. We are constantly blown away by our clients and marvel over the repeat customers and referrals we receive regularly! We seriously cannot thank you enough.

A few fun things from this month include this fun invitation we created for Evie’s birthday party. You have to check out this indoor park! I wish we had something like this in Charlotte!

And take a look at this safari themed first birthday party. I am in love with the color scheme.

Our bow-tie collection has been really popular this month, and we have had several custom requests. I just packaged and sent one of the new collections and I think it’s too sweet not to give you a sneak peek:

See?! Total cuteness! Be on the lookout for the full collection in the shop soon!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Beverly, birthday, Jackson, kitten collection, Molly, park party, safari party

Double Trouble = Birdie + Sweet Peaches

December 2, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 3 Comments

On Thanksgiving, Beverly and I spent some time getting pictures for my Christmas card and for my parents’ card. The boys jetted off as soon as they saw the opportunity, but we convinced the girls to pose for a few more pictures in exchange for cookies or ice cream. Or both.

Corralling them to one spot…

“Hey, wait a minute! Where’d she go?”

Getting closer. At least they’re both in the frame this time.

“Ok, lay like this!”

“No, no, no, no…not ON your cousin. BESIDE her.”

“Ha, mom – aren’t you done with this photo session yet? ‘Cause I am!”

{She really kept saying, “done!”}

But then,

we might have gotten the best.picture.ever.

Wait for it….

wait for it…

SO sweet!

That picture is so freakin’ adorable that I am halfway tempted to use it on my Christmas cards. Except people might wonder where the other kid came from. Anyway, it’s definitely getting blown up and going in a frame. Now if only we could get a picture of all four cousins that’s this cute…am I pushing my luck?!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Addison, Birdie, cousins, family, fun, Molly, Peaches, pictures

26.2 miles – check! And a short story about a doll potty.

October 20, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies Leave a Comment

It feels like ages ago that I went to Chicago for the 2011 Chicago marathon. Jim and I traveled to the Windy City two weekends ago with our friends Meredith and John so that Meredith and I could run the marathon. I ran this same marathon in 2008 and even though I said I wouldn’t run another one, Meredith was able to convince me {with very little arm-twisiting!} to run it again. The months of training are tedious and exhausting sometimes, but the feeling of accomplishment after the race is incredible.

Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement on the blog, Facebook and Twitter! And a huge thanks to my friends and family who donated to my Girls on the Run fundraising. This organization is one the reasons I started running in the first place {I volunteered to be a coach when I was teaching elementary school, so figured I might as well run too} and I cannot wait for Molly to be involved in such a powerful program. I raised a total of $900, exceeding my fundraising goal two times!

John and Jim were great supporters, traveling the city by foot, bus and El to see us a total of five times along the course. We did some shopping on Saturday {H&M anyone?!} and had several delicious meals along the way. I think the highlight of the weekend for Jim, though, was when we visited American Girl Place to pick out an outfit and a potty {yes, a potty. for real} for Molly’s Bitty Baby.

And the story you’ve been waiting for: Molly and I were playing with her kitchen yesterday and she served me some felt lettuce and a cupcake in the bowl of the doll potty. Mmm, yum. When I cracked up and told her I didn’t want to eat out of the potty, she thought that was hilarious.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: American Girl Doll, bitty baby, chicago, fundraising, marathon, Meredith, Molly, running, thank you, travel

{Gift Ideas} Girls’ Dollhouses and other gifts

September 9, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 1 Comment

Did you have a dollhouse as a child? My little sister and I got beautiful Victorian doll houses for Christmas one year – blue for me and pink for Whitney – and I played with it for years, becoming somewhat obsessed with buying furniture for it and then rearranging the furniture for hours.

My mom wants to get Molly a dollhouse for Christmas this year and I had so much fun looking at them, trying to decide which one I wanted Molly to have. The Pottery Barn one is adorable and very cottage-y, and of course the furniture and dolls are so sweet, but I decided on a Plan Toys dollhouse instead.

Once I saw this one, it was pretty much a no-brainer. Although Plan Toys has several dollhouses to choose from, I wanted Molly to have The Green House. It has a wind turbine, solar panels, rain barrel and recycling bins! And, the best part is that Plan Toys have a minimal impact on the environment.

I can only hope that Molly is as excited about her dollhouse as I am! I know I will have to restrain from buying a ton of accessories for it right away – it comes furnished, and my mom got the nursery furniture too. There’s a super cute dog house and an outdoor vegetable garden that we might have to have though!

Does your daughter have a dollhouse? Beverly is still trying to decide which one to get Addison. Any suggestions?

Some of the other things that I’m thinking about for Molly this year {thanks to Beverly’s ideas!} are a sling or carrier for her baby dolls and maybe a mixer or blender for her kitchen.

*Just so you know, I was in no way compensated for this post. I am really just THAT excited about getting this dollhouse for Molly and I really, really love Plan Toys.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Addison, Beverly, dollhouse, gift ideas, Molly, play, sisters, toys

Introducing…my favorite new shape!

August 17, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 1 Comment

I’ve always been drawn to out-of-the ordinary shapes for regular items. For example, when we registered for our every day plates and bowls, I went with Pottery Barn’s Sausalito Square pottery {which they sadly don’t carry anymore!} instead of the more traditional round plate. My wedding invitations were a small square, as were Molly’s birth announcements. For Molly’s christening invitations, I chose a longer, thinner rectangle. And if you’ll recall, Molly’s second birthday invitations were a beautiful scallop die-cut.

As I’m sitting her typing this blog post, I realized that my new favorite shape isn’t really that new: I’ve had this picture frame on my desk for a while now!

{Also from Pottery Barn and also not available any more.}

Anyway, when Beverly found this punch, I knew I had to have it for Molly’s cupcake toppers and favor tags.

It made super cute tags, huh?

SO, I couldn’t wait to share it with our customers. Yesterday, I was assembling cupcake topper for a customer that ordered our yellow and purple carousel invitation and toppers, and Beverly and I thought the cupcake toppers would be *adorable* with the new punch! I contacted Rachel, our sweet customer, and she loved the idea. I snapped a picture of the cupcake toppers before I shipped them and I know she’s going to love them – they are so sweet!

I can’t wait to put these new cupcake toppers in the shop!

What do you think? Do you love the new shape too?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Beverly, cupcake toppers, frame, Molly, new product, party, Pottery Barn, purple and yellow carousel collection, square

{Great Ideas} Fabric Gift Bags

August 13, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies Leave a Comment

My friends Meredith and Andrea are very crafty and creative in many different ways {painting and interior design are Meredith’s talents and Andrea enjoys creating yummy meals} and their younger sister Stephanie follows in their footsteps. A while back, I noticed that Meredith and Andrea used the most nifty fabric gift bags, and so of course I had to know where they got them. I was so surprised when they told me that Stephanie had *made* them! I was excited when Meredith brought Molly a gift in a specially-made gift bag last week – black and white fabric with a hot pink ribbon.

They know me so well, right?! {For those of you not in the know, those are the colors of Molly’s nursery and were my wedding colors.}

My mom loved the bag so much, too, and I think we’re inspired to use some the fabric from Molly’s party to make some fabric gift bags of our own. They add such a personal touch to any gift and are eco-friendly, too!

I will continue to encourage Stephanie to sell her bags and you’ll be the first to know if she decides to open up shop!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Andrea, black, crafty, creative, fabric gift bags, hot pink, Meredith, Molly, mom, Stephanie, talent, white

{Sweet Parties} Molly’s Pink and Orange Party: Invitations and Menu Monday

August 8, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 2 Comments

This past weekend we celebrated Molly’s 2nd birthday. We are so blessed and were so grateful to celebrate another happy and healthy year! Beverly and I had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas for the party, and my friend Jessica was full of great ideas and help. {Hopefully you’ll be reading more about her and her upcoming ‘project’ soon!}

Last year, I had a hard time deciding between a black and yellow bee theme and a pink and orange theme; I went with the bees and it was so cute, but when it came time to design Molly’s invitations for her second birthday, I knew right away I wanted to use pink and orange, and incorporate a ‘peach’ image since she’s our Sweet Peach.

The invitations turned out awesome – I love, love, love them. I think they’re whimsical and playful. I wanted to incorporate several patterns of pink and orange and carry that idea throughout the party, so we went with some paisley, polka dots and stripes on the front with some zebra fun on the back. Thanks, Beverly!

I’ve got lots of fun details to share with you, but I realized that this post would get quite long, so I’ll go with our Menu Monday theme for now. I had the hardest time deciding what to serve, only because I had so many ideas and couldn’t possibly serve everything I wanted to. For the kiddos {big and small}, I ordered a Chick-fil-a nugget tray and put out some applesauce squeezers. Jessica made the cutest paper cones that we served Goldfish in. {Totally random, but have to share how the mind of a party planner works: Jessica sent me a picture one day of a shoe box from one of our favorite places and wondered how we hadn’t noticed that the shoe boxes were pink and orange?! So she punched holes in the boxes and we used those to display the paper cones! Genuis!} The kids also had their own beverage tub with juice and milk boxes on ice.

My mom and Jim’s mom were a huge help in getting the food prepared. My mom made the BBQ and the cupcakes {three flavors – vanilla, chocolate and strawberry!}, and Jim’s mom made the M- and 2-shaped sugar cookies and assembled the fruit cups. I used pink and orange fruits to stay with the theme: watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries, strawberries and mandarin oranges. I rounded out the menu with some store bought cole slaw and chips and dip.

My washer and dryer are in my kitchen and instead of pretending like they’re not there, I realized they provided valuable “counter” space in the kitchen {if you don’t mind getting bumped with the side door every once in while} so I threw some pink and orange fabric over the top and set up a drink station. There was also a beverage tub outside with sodas, Izze drinks and adult beverages on ice. {ha, all the pink and orange looks just lovely against my red kitchen walls, huh?!}

Be sure to check back this week for more details about Molly’s Pink and Orange party and see some other parties we recently recreated invitations and other products for. Until then, here’s a shot of the birthday girl. Isn’t she lovely?! {She’s saying “twoooooo!}

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cupcakes, invitations, menu, Molly, monday, orange, party, peach, pink, second birthday, two

Menu Monday

August 2, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 1 Comment

We have a special party taking place at our house this weekend and I’ve been busy planning, making lists and organizing the details. I’m slightly obsessed when it comes to planning a party and I love to think about the table scape and menu weeks in advance. Depending on the theme of my parties, I like to incorporate the theme into the food and drinks.

One of the first things I did after learning about Pinterest {follow our boards by clicking on the ’P’ social button on the right!} was create a board for Molly’s birthday party, starting with pink and orange food ideas. Now, my only problem is not overdoing it; I want to keep the menu simple and kid friendly, but still festive.

With all of the great inspiration I found online, I’m thinking about Zaxby’s chicken sandwiches {not orange or pink , I know, but very yummy!}, fruit cups {strawberries/peaches/cantaloupe/watermelon/raspberries/mandarin oranges}, Goldfish for the kiddos, loaded potato salad, strawberry cupcakes and cookies with orange and pink icing. And I can’t wait to serve ice cold Izze in clementine and blackberry flavors. I love any excuse for fizzy flavored drinks.

What do you think? What else does my menu need?

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We want to welcome Stephanie from Beyond Words Designs as our first sponsor!

She creates canvas designs for all the special events in your life. I love the names and initials from her Fanciful collection:

But the 5×5 canvases from the Petite collection are definitely my favorite. I’d love to have a few of these to tuck around the house, especially in Molly’s room or the kitchen. Wouldn’t these be cute for the holidays? Just think of the places you could tuck these festive canvases!

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Finally, are you a business owner or know someone who is?

Are you interested in advertising on our blog? We’d love to talk with you!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: advertising, birthday, food, menu, Molly, monday, orange, party, pink, sponsor

{Parties} July 4th

July 13, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 4 Comments

I host a 4th of July party every year because we are within walking distance of a great place to watch the fireworks, and well, mostly because I just like to throw parties. Beverly and her family and my parents always come, and then any friends who are in town are always welcome.

We’d been having nightly thunderstorms, so I was hesitant to set everything up outside, but we have a spacious backyard and are almost finished with our deck, so I had to at least try! Jim and I got everything set up in time for people to start coming over, and then 10 minutes later, it started thundering and the sky turned black. So, everyone grabbed food, table cloths, and wine glasses and we quickly set up in the kitchen and dining room. I went back outside to make sure we’d gotten everything we needed and my brother-in-law and my dad were standing in what seemed like disbelief. Then I noticed this:

Apparently, it missed my dad by inches. Jim, Ben and my dad got to work cutting it up and carrying the pieces to the curb, and Jim got the lights hung back up in record time. {We should have more people over when tree branches fall!}

It continued to rain, but we have so much tree cover that in certain places outside you couldn’t really tell it was raining. Mostly. so the guys started a cornhole game and the kiddos played in the wagons and in the little house and on the cornhole boards. Jessica snapped this picture of Graham, Addison, Molly and Wyn towards the end of the night {Molly was already in her pj’s because her dress was soaked, and then she managed to get the pj’s dirty, too!}:

Then we loaded the kids up in the wagons and strollers and walked to our firework-watching spot! It was a super fun night, in spite of the thunderstorm and half of a tree that made an appearance.

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You know I don’t do much cooking, but I saw these yummy and patriotic treats on Pinterest, so I gave them a try. For the record, when the directions for melting chocolate state that you should use vegetable shortening when melting the chocolate, I’m sure there’s a good reason. I decided it wasn’t that important and my chocolate ended up getting clumpy and hard to use. Go figure. Anyway, that still looked festive and tasted delicious, so that’s all that matters, right?!

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Beverly tried to get a picture of Molly and Addison together, but the girls had other ideas. So we have these instead.

Addi-bird

Sweet Peaches

Beverly and I hope you had a safe, fun 4th of July. And we’ll pretend like I wrote this post *last* week, ok?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 4th of July, Addison, backyard, cookout, deck, family, fireworks, friends, holidays, Molly, tree

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

May 3, 2011 By 2sweetbirdies 2 Comments

I caught Molly shopping for my Mother’s Day gift yesterday afternoon {or as a friend pointed out, maybe her birthday gift?!}…

Which got me inspired to think about what I’d like for Mother’s Day. Or what I might get my own Mom or Mother-in-law. With so many options, it was hard to narrow it down!

Since Molly was *already* perusing the Tiffany & Co. catalog, this is what I’d pick out:

Bow Ring in gold or silver, Tiffany & Co.

But these Jack Roger’s sandals have been calling my name…they’re classic Jackie O. and are made in the USA.

Jack Rogers Hamptons Navajo in Platinum

But I would love to work on the landscaping in the backyard and I’ve always wanted a peony bush. Peonies are beautiful and smell divine, but I don’t have the greenest thumb…

image via Apartment Therapy

But one can never go wrong with pampering products for Mom. Bubble bath or luxurious shower gel plus a Barnes and Noble giftcard so I can download a new book on my Nook = heaven. However, then I would need *time* to enjoy that gift, and I’m not sure where to purchase that..

Sephora

Obviously, my list could go on and on…my friend Becky asked for a bike so she could ride with the kids on the weekends. That sounds like such a fun idea and is the gift that will keep on giving, right?

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No matter what gift you choose for your mom, it will be extra special because it’s from YOU. Moms are cool that way. Molly could bring me a pile of poo and I’d still think she was awesome. I’m looking forward to spending Mother’s Day weekend with my sweet family and my favorite moms, Beverly and my mother.

How are you planning to celebrate Mother’s Day? What do you hope your children or husband bestow upon you? Or what do you plan to give your own mom? Do share!