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Posted on November 8, 2011
We had Hannah’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago. We are excited that grandma and grandpa made the trip to spend the weekend with us and celebrate Hannah. We also enjoyed the company of my aunt and uncle and some friends from church and our neighbors. Having 16 people in our house made us realize that this house was not made for entertaining large groups…but we made do and had a great time. We are so blessed by this sweet little girl that God placed in our family. We cannot wait to see what else God has in store for her life. Here are a few photos from Hannah’s party. I didn’t get as many photos as I would have liked but that’s what happens when you’re the hostess.
I did a time capsule for Hannah and went with a theme of pink, orange and green (just like her room) with polk-a-dots and butterflies. I got the time capsule idea from here and really a lot of the ideas I got from Jess. Others I’ve seen around the web or just came up with them on my own. I’ll try and list where things and ideas came from as much as I can.
I pretty much stole borrowed the invitation design directly from Jess…why try to re-invent the wheel right?
I just used a mat stack of scrapbook paper in the colors I wanted for the invitations. I ordered this washi tape that I used on the invitations and the #1.
The little paper that goes with the invitation says (again, this is straight from Jess…thanks Jess 
):
I used Hannah’s monthly calendar photos as the mantel decoration. I also sewed the pink, green and orange crepe paper streamers together to make them look a little better than crepe paper streamers! That idea came from here.
I used our china cabinet as the dessert station. I made the #1 out of a cheerios box after just looking at this. I used paint chip samples for the hanging circles in the background of the china cabinet. I bought a few pieces of scrapbook paper to go with the theme and used them throughout the party. I added some more photos from the calendar shots in the glass part of the china cabinet. The cupcake toppers were scalloped circles with 3-d butterflies. (I’m bummed that I didn’t get a good close up shot of the cupcake toppers).
I made a banana cake for Hannah with cream cheese frosting. I know how much she loves her bananas so I thought it was appropriate…and she loved it! It seems that everyone else seemed to like it also.
The tables were covered with plastic table cloths from walmart and then I cut a strip of wrapping paper to put down the middle of each table. I really like how it turned out. The tables were a little cramped but we managed okay and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
This next photo shows the “drink station”. I had pink and green plates, and pink cups and then mini waterbottles, covered with the same scrapbook paper and 3-d butterflies. Then I cut circles out of the scrapbook paper for the mason jars and just punched a hole in the paper for the straw to go through. The kids loved drinking their pink lemonade out of these little jars.
I made some kool-aid playdough the night before so that the bigger kids would have something to do. It proved very helpful, because they played nice together for a while but then it just got a little crazy. I also made little baggies of the playdough for the kids to take home and make on their own as the party favors.
Naomi wanted to dress up like a princess for Hannah’s party because she forgot to put on a princess dress for her birthday! We also were celebrating Naomi’s baptismal birthday which was on the day of the party! Love this two sweet girls so much!! Hannah was not too excited about the singing for some reason…silly girl.
One other thing that I didn’t get a good photo of was the other picture windows. You can see them in this photo a little bit behind Uncle Timm. I used more of the photos from her calendar sessions and just backed it with some of the wrapping paper that I used on the center of the tables.
The other thing that I didn’t get a photo of in action was the Happy Birthday banner that I made. You can see part of it in the top left of this next photo but I didn’t realize that I didn’t photograph it until I took it down so I took a few photos of it on the ground.
I also did not photograph Hannah’s time capsule. I will have to do that still. I just bought a paper mache’ box from Hobby Lobby and covered it in the same scrapbook paper that I used on the decorations. I covered the whole thing with mod podge and add some stickers that said “Happy Birthday Hannah”. Family and friends have written her some letters for the box that she’ll open when she’s 18 and I also added a few of the party decorations.
We did let Hannah open her presents before everyone left…the big kids wanted to do it all for her but we tried to let her do as much as she could or was interested in doing. We had a great time and are so thankful for our family and friends for coming to help us celebrate our sweet little Hannah Joy. So that’s Hannah’s party in a nutshell. Let me know if I can answer any questions about anything.
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Posted on November 6, 2011
{Jackson, TN Child Photography}
I love this photo of Hannah. She’s got such a sweet expression on her face.
This was one of the rare moments where she was sitting still.
I thought it would be a great entry for the i heart faces: black contest.
I can’t wait till Hannah can walk so I can get another batch of photos with Hannah wearing this.
Head over to i heart faces to see more great photos!
Posted on November 6, 2011
{Jackson, TN Family Photography, Lifestyle Photography}
I love my job. I get to photograph beautiful families, hang out with cute kids, act silly (to get the kids to look or smile) and spend time with friends.
It’s awesome when I get to meet new people and become friends with my clients but I also love when I can photograph my friends and their families.
Todd and Barb used to live two doors down from us. They moved to a different neighborhood shortly after we moved to Jackson. We are so glad that we had those two short months to establish a friendship with them. We loved walking down to their house and hanging out outside with all the kids playing and acting crazy together. We enjoyed trick-or-treating with them in their new neighborhood and I really enjoyed my afternoon with them during their photo session. This family is beautiful inside and out. They love to have a good time and play together and you can tell just how important family is to them.
Thank you so much Todd and Barbara for allowing me to capture this special time in your lives. I hope I was able to capture the carefree, playful spirit of your boys how you see them. I enjoyed my time with you all and can’t wait till we can hang out again. I hope you enjoy your photos!!!
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Posted on November 6, 2011
{Jackson, TN Family Photography, Lifestyle Photography}
This sweet, adorable, fun-loving, God-fearing family lives right next door.
Like twenty steps from our garage to theirs.
I’ve told you about them before, it’s a blessing to have next door neighbors who share many things and I’m not just talking about pantry items!
We are blessed to have them right next door.
I was very excited to learn that Dave and Marcia purchased the photo session that I donated to a Boy Scout Fundraiser.
They knew they wanted some family photos done in the fall and they knew they wanted to support the Boy Scouts.
Done and done.
We picked a gorgeous day for their session and we lucked out because the two days prior to our session the weather was subpar.
We went to the grounds of First Presbyterian Church where Sara Grace happens to go to Playschool.
So not only did we have great weather and a beautiful location but it was a meaningful location for them.
Bennett is normally the kid who says “cheese” for the camera and loves to cuddle in moms lap.
But he was in no mood for my camera or sitting down.
But I had fun chasing him around and we managed to get some good shots for them to remember this amazing time in their lives.
Dave and Marcia, thanks again for trusting me with these precious precious memories. Thanks for allowing me the honor of capturing
your beautiful family as it is today! Thanks also for being some of the best neighbors we’ve ever had!
I really LOVE these next two…I can’t quite pinpoint why but I just love them.
The emotion is so clearly displayed to me and it just represents their family so well.
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