Lainey's 3rd Birthday!

It was my niece Lainey's 3rd birthday a few weeks ago! She's the sweetest and funniest 3-year-old! From talking about Uncle Caleb's "to-tat" {tattoo} to singing her favorite Taylor Swift songs, she is such a joy to be around! We absolutely adore spending time with her!

I took this picture of Lainey in front of an old quilt that her great-great grandmother made!

So my sister threw Lainey a "Lorax" birthday party.  Of course she came up with creative ways to incorporate the theme into her decor.

Lorax ballon party favors for the other kids!

Delicious cake with the truffula trees!

Orange Julius for everyone!

Marshmellow treats

Lainey wasn't too sure about the candles on her birthday cake. :) Possible due to a Christmas experience that ended with a doll's foot catching on fire... anyway, its her party and she can do what she wants right?!

But every 3-year-old is up for presents and cake!

Levi enjoying cake!

Enjoying her cake!

Laura & Leanne

Maddie, Leanne & Lainey

Caleb enjoying the festivities!

The kids also enjoyed the perfect weather for some water gun play time!

Cousins

Lainey & Grandma Carol

Me & Leanne - isn't this a cute pic?!? Well the one below is what we are really like in real life :)

My husband took it upon himself to take this pic of us being ourselves - pre camera-ready.

And don't worry, my sister posts awkward pictures of me too on the world wide web... 

you can see them here.

Happy birthday Lainey!!!

more succulents

So I found myself at the river market this past weekend and I of course stopped by the booth where a man sells succulents for dirt cheap.  I recently purchased an antique colander and needed to do something with it, so I decided it would serve well as container for more succulents - drain holes included.  So today I got around to putting it all together.  {I did a smaller and similar use of an old container on a previous post here}

My antique zinc colander

I wasn't sure what I would use to line the colander since the dirt would obviously come out through the holes, but I finally decided to try to find the hanging pot liners {found out they are called coco or coconut liners}.

I had to cut back the coco liner quite a bit because the smallest one I could find was for a 16" hanging pot and my colander is only about 8 inches.  I also cut a slit halfway through to make it fit better.

I went ahead and added a coffee filter {actually two of them} because I figured with time the dirt may find it's way through the coco liner {especially where I cut it} and the filters may slow it down a bit.

My succulents

The arrangement

Here is the final product {along with the top picture on the page}.  Here you can see it next to my somewhat overgrown last succulent project and sitting nicely above my kitchen sink.  The dirty grout is just a bonus for everyone to enjoy!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Here is a pic of the hubs and I after we got home from church!

Enjoying the hammock!