A Little Change This Holiday...

Christmas is coming up in a couple weeks and I am soooo excited that we get to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home here in front of a fire place which I have always wanted. I was sitting here trying to plan out our menu, make sure I have gifts for everybody and figure out what I want to do for a table scape and then was halted in my tracks by the memory of a little girl who gained her angel wings a year ago yesterday and a conversation I had with my friend's mother the other day.

You see this little girl was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 when she was born and her mom was told she wouldn't live for very long.  Now finding out your child wouldn't live for a long period of time changes a person, and it did to this mom. As this incredible, adorable little girl continued to thrive in life for months, her mom became more responsible, stronger, more vocal on awareness of Trisomy and they were both inspiring people to see past the diagnosis. It is amazing to me the way one little beautiful girl could touch so many hearts and encourage so many people but she did. Seeing her life, reading her story and listening to her mom was joyful, loving and made me appreciate my children more. This little girl touched more people and made more of a difference in the lives of people in the nine months of her life than I have in the past 28 years of mine. I have thought of her many times over the past year, done research on Trisomy and even followed the story of another little awe-inspiring boy who had Trisomy 13 which I never would have done if it wasn't for this little girl. These little kids changed me, encouraged me and made me want to be better for my kids.

These are the adorable faces of Trisomy:

Last week, I was in Seal Beach watching the parade because my best friend's adorable children were walking in it so I couldn't miss it. Well while sitting with my friend's parents, we had the joyful experience of a woman rudely accusing us of taking her daughter's seat although we had been sitting there since an hour before the parade with no one around. Needless to say we definitely did not take her daughter's seat. This did however start a conversation with me and my friend's mom about today's society. With technology so readily available it is easier often times to text or email and never have a conversation with another human being. The ease and time assistance of this is nice but the lack of a connection makes me sad. People in general seem to feel entitled and selfish with a lack of compassion and kindness. It makes me sad for the world my kids are going to grow up in. I don't want this to be the case and feel like as a parent it is my job to set an example for my children. One in which every person matters and in which kindness and compassion are much more important than any other quality.

One of my proud parent moments was when my two year old son came into the kitchen, helped me with dinner (like pouring water into the pan before it is hot) and helped me do the dishes and didn't want a sticker or any other treat for it. He had simply wanted to spend time with his mom and help out. I love that he is kind and will give his sister a hug or kiss without me telling him to and that he loves to play with her and make her laugh. So I want to continue to encourage his tendencies to be kind and loving. As he grows and understands more I want to make the holidays all about giving. I would love to set up a page or something with ideas for random acts of kindness, sharing stories of these and encourage everybody to be kind for no other reason than it makes your heart feel good. Do it in the name of Sloane Elisabeth, the little girl I mentioned above, or Corbin McHenry the little boy with Trisomy 13 I also mentioned. Tell me all about it. I love acts of kindness and think that it should be shared so much more than it is. Make a donation to a charitable foundation such as Hope for Trisomy or Team Corbin Inc. If you want any more information for these organizations let me know. If you have an idea of a random act of kindness or want to help me set up a page or something along these lines let me know. Let's make a little change this holiday and return the world to a more compassionate, caring and kind place for all the future generations. I mean that is what the holiday season is really all about right.

Thanksgiving

It might not be a huge event, well depending on the size of your family, but when planning Thanksgiving you still have a lot of decisions to make that are similar to event planning decisions. This is the first Thanksgiving we are having in our own home so I figured I would share with you what we are planning to see if that inspires you at all.

With Thanksgiving the most important aspect of course is the menu! I tend to look through pinterest, allrecipes.com or food network to get inspiration for any meal that I am planning. So as I was doing that I found a recipe for a holiday brie that looked undeniably delicious so of course I am going to attempt it as an appetizer. This is the picture that made me hungry...I figured I would share hopefully to inspire you as well.

Doesn't it look delicious. Anyways, lets move on. The other appetizer we are going to have is a cream cheese crescent roll that my husband requested. Since the whole point of Thanksgiving is dinner we don't want to spoil appetites with appetizers. Now for the main dish we are having honey baked ham. Don't get me wrong, I love turkey and would have happily made it but my husband prefers ham and we got a really good deal from a really good friend so we couldn't turn it down. To go with it we are having hawaiin rolls (the just make really good ham sandwiches), stuffing (my favorite thanksgiving side), potatoes au gratin, corn au gratin and green beans. We will probably have tons of leftovers but hey I always go for more rather than not enough food. For dessert we are having pumpkin pie and snickerdoodles. What are you making for thanksgiving dinner? What is your favorite dish?

Now that I have the menu, it's time to figure out the tablescape. I am thinking of a look similar to what I saw Entwined Design do at the Hilton Waterfront Resort. I love the use of food in clear vases to add color pops and the use of family style table is definitely a fad that I am currently in love with.

Since we have been making menus and placecards (which we will be adding to our etsy site soon) a tablescape wouldn't be complete without these. I love the use of leaves as placecards especially for the fall holiday of thanksgiving such as these.

I also like the leaf with fall colors such as this for the menu and it will match the leaves that were used as placecards.

Since I love candles and the ambiance it creates, I think I will put some of these around the house too :)

So what are you going to do for Thanksgiving? I would love to hear your menus, tablescapes and especially see photos. I hope all of you have a delicious and fun holiday filled with lots of love, laughter and memories made.

More Fall Wedding Ideas :)

Only because I found a few more fall wedding ideas that I just loved so I couldn't help but want to share them with you.

As I said before I am a total sucker for gorgeous archways. Now including pumpkins and leaves as decor can go overboard or look too fall to be elegant or more halloweeny than wedding but this leaf archway with pumpkins lining the walkway is just right. It is gorgeous and elegant and I would love to walk through it as a bride. It is a perfect background for gorgeous pictures and pretty enough to make guests think it is a picturesque fall wedding.

I am also a huge fan of big dramatic florals that make a statement. I love the piece at the top of this wooden canopy. The coloring is gorgeous fall colors, huge and perfect for ceremony. I can just picture a bride and groom underneath. I think that the wooden canopy also helps sell this because it makes a decor statement. This is a total must do.

Now favors at a wedding are a point where a bride and groom can be completely unique. I love to see all the cool ideas that they come up with. Edible favors are ones that never go out of style and guests typically really enjoy. When having a fall wedding you could include these favor ideas of caramel apples or individual s'more ingredients. They are both thoroughly delicious and still connect with the fall theme. I would love to see some of your fall wedding favors so if you have pictures you would like to share you can send them to me.

I saw this picture and absolutely fell in love with this reception. I love how there is a whole canopy of  twigs, leaves and flowers with tons of candles along farm style tables. It is gorgeous. My only qualm with it is the floral centerpieces along the middle of the table. I think it would have looked better with a whole bunch of small vases with florals rather than what looks like potted plants. I do love the tons of candles on the table as well as the ones hanging. This picture kind of shows the ambiance that candlelight can create in a space. Overall this is an excellent way to create an outdoor wedding.

I hope that you love these ideas as much as I do and that they help inspire you for any fall event you might be having. As always if you have any questions or just want to share you can facebook message me, comment, tweet me or email me. I would love to hear or see any of your fall ideas!

Fall Wedding Ideas

Fall is officially starting so I figured that I would share some fall wedding ideas that I am in love with. There are quite a few ideas from paper goods to decor to florals you can place a touch a fall in so many ways. Depending on the style, what concepts, your colors and your location, determining what fall touches to add to your big day is key, you don't want to over do it but you don't want to not add enough either. So let's talk fall.

One of the most liked ideas that I have had on my pinterest page is one of a tent with twinkle lights, varying levels of centerpieces and candles adding extra ambiance. Since weather is always questionable in the fall then having a tent is a nice way to have an outdoor wedding without worrying about problems that bad weather may cause. Adding material and twinkle lights to the top of the tent turned this into a more elegant affair. When deciding on your centerpieces you want to make sure you have a visual of the entire space and think about how your pictures will turn out. I love the way that varying heights in centerpieces looks but it isn't for every style or for every bride. When deciding on florals make sure that you get the most bang for your buck. One of the reasons I love Marci from Entwined Design is that she understands the whole picture and does her best to provide you with an overall look and concept. She goes above and beyond and provides all of her brides with incredible florals. She is honest and will tell you if something will look good or not. When picking a vendor make sure that you connect with them and you like what they are selling you.

 
One of the things I love is the use of lots and lots of candles. It provides extra lighting and creates a warm and inviting ambiance to the space. Not to mention everyone looks good in candlelight.

I saw this picture of these gorgeous red trees used for ceremony decor. I love the coloring and the way it screams fall.

I am sucker for gorgeous archways. I think the use of them is fabulous for ceremony. Here is an example of curly willow and twinkle lights which flatter the bride tremendously.

A trend I have noticed is the "Falling in Love" banners for fall weddings. It is awesome to include banners at weddings as well as leaves as decor as long as they are used wisely. Over the dessert area is a perfect place.

Using leaves as your place cards or using them on your paper goods are creative and excellent ways to incorporate fall into your design without going over the top.

Hope that I have helped inspire some creative new ideas for any of your fall related parties. If any of you have ideas, suggestions, questions or are looking for an event planner, feel free to comment, facebook message me, tweet me or email me at caringexpressionsgiftbaskets@gmail.com.

A Good Cause

As a mother, one of my biggest concerns and worries is that something horrible will happen to my children. Now I'm sure I am not the only mother with this concern and not the only one who started worrying the second I found out I was pregnant. Of course that only increased once I began reading the multitudes of information about pregnancies and all of the things that could go wrong. Then I was faced with the possibility of testing for abnormalities with my babies and the worrying increased yet again. My husband and I discussed the idea of what we would do if something was "wrong" with our child and we agreed that we would love this child and do everything possible to help them no matter what. Thankfully everything was fine and our children came out just like every other child, perfect to us, their parents.

Now a friend of mine was blessed with a child not too long after me. When her baby was born she was adorable, sweet and diagnosed with Trisomy 18. I had never heard of this and had no idea what it would mean for my friend or her beautiful little girl. I did some research but mostly I found read my friend's facebook posts and blog where she began to explain this journey she was going to be on. Doctors said that this beautiful little girl would not live very long. She had a problem where her esophagus did not reach her stomach, a heart condition and a few other complications due to her having an extra 18th chromosome. Unforseen by many doctors, this amazing, strong and courageous little girl thrived in life for 9 incredible months before she became an angel. My friend changed completely, appreciates life much more fully and appreciated the amazing small accomplishments her daughter made that we sometimes take for granted.

Recently, I found an amazing little boy on facebook who was diagnosed with Trisomy 13. These parents were told that he wouldn't live when he was born. That he wouldn't survive a day. 135 days of thriving incredible life later is when he passed to become an angel as well.

Now what these children have in common other than having Trisomy (a third chromosome) is that thousands of people fell in love with them without meeting them. They are miraculous little bundles of perfect innocence wrapped in love and shared with others. It is so rare to be reminded of the utter and complete perfection of a child and yet both of these children did remind me. Both of these children defied the odds, thrived, inspired, amazed and made me fall in love with them. Their stories made me appreciate all that I have been blessed to receive and inspired me to become more educated in understanding Trisomy. Parents of both children have dreamed of spreading awareness of Trisomy and as a parent and someone who loved these children I would like to spread that awareness as well. If you are ever looking for a good cause to donate to or would like to help please consider these non profit organizations:

Hope for Trisomy 13 & 18
P.O. Box 921
Springtown, TX 76082

SOFT (Support Organization for Trisomy)
2982 South Union Street
Rochester, NY 14624

If you would like to learn some more about Corbin McHenry you can find info on the facebook page made for him at https://www.facebook.com/prayersforcorbinmchenry?ref=br_tf 

Exciting News...

So in my last blog post I mentioned that we were working on new business ventures and now I am happy to share. For the past several months I have been working on obtaining my certification in event planning and have successfully completed  (with a 99/100 patting myself on the back right now :) ). Although I am not creating my own business with this but rather working with an incredible and talented team that I am super excited to be a part of. My husband and I are also working on an etsy shop in which we provide paper goods (invitations, menus, banners etc.) for various events and parties. We did provide our own paper goods for the tea time baby shower for my daughter and which is currently on our etsy shop which you can check out at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CaringExpressions?ref=shop_sugg and I have included pictures of the paper goods we made below.

So with these new business ventures I have decided to expand my blog, facebook page, twitter and pinterest...how you want to know? I am going to share my party planning knowledge with you. I will give theme ideas, food you can include, decorations, invitations...pretty much anything you ever thought about when planning an event I will give ideas. So here is my request of you, let me know via comment, facebook message, tweet or email what questions you have. If there is a specific theme you need help with let me know and I will be happy to help give ideas, advice or you can always request my event planning services. I will still gladly give gift ideas which people always need but I will also give so much more. Let me know what you want to know. Looking forward to sharing this new adventure with you as well as all the things I learn along the way.

New...

I know, I know, I know...I have been completely MIA after my post about trying to get back in the swing of things after having my daughter. I am completely horrible, I didn't do a mother's day or father's day post this year. I am very very very sorry. I have been working on some awesome new things.

I have been trying to plan my son's second birthday party, we have a theme and colors (orange and lime green) picked out. Can you guess what the theme might be? We have been working on some new business ventures and once these start to pan out I will be happy to share them all with you. We are working very hard to share some new and exciting things with you.

Another new thing that happened since my last post is that my husband and I just purchased our very first home which we are utterly thrilled about. So with this news fresh in my mind, why don't we talk about possible housewarming gifts...

Housewarming gifts should be practical and thoughtful. They can be something fun like a kitchen towel cake, so a pack of kitchen towels rolled around a a bottle of champagne with some other fun kitchen utensils or an apron. You could do the same thing with bathroom towels and include wash clothes and hand towels as well. You could do an oven mitt filled with kitchen utensils. You could give a bucket filled with cleaning supplies. A man could give a friend necessary maintenance tools like a hammer, picture nails, surge protector, you know all those more manly things. Think about who you are buying for and what they need. Or you could think about what you would want to get and go with that. I am attaching several pictures of possible housewarming presents. Hopefully they give you ideas and inspiration.

Oh and if you feel the desire I would gladly accept any of these as housewarming presents :) Just kidding...well sort of ;)

MIA But With a Good Excuse...

Sorry to have been missing in action lately but I have been trying to adjust to being a proud mommy of two adorable children. My daughter was born in February and her big brother is being incredibly good to her making the adjustment a lot easier than I expected. Although it is easier than I expected doesn't make it easy, taking care of a toddler and a newborn at the same time (especially when the newborn wakes up three times a night) is probably the hardest and most tiring job that I have ever had but also the most rewarding. Seeing my son give his new sister a kiss or my little girl start to smile at us and hearing a laugh or getting a snuggle is well worth the lack of sleep and constant running around. I am posting a picture of my kids to share with you. I was able to catch a wonderful moment when my son was holding his sister and gave her a kiss. It melts my heart to witness moments like this :)

Well Sunday is Easter and when you have children it completely changes the way you view this holiday. You think about family and getting together for dinner and what you should get your kids. Since my daughter is a newborn her Easter basket is filled with things she needs like diapers, a new jacket and of course headbands (I mean what little girl outfit is complete without a matching headband :)). For my son it is a slightly different story because he loves to play and so he gets a few new toys but something small because our house is only so big. We also include some of his favorite snacks like the graham cracker sticks, cereal bars, gold fish crackers or the squeezable apple sauces. I try to avoid candy because I feel that he doesn't need the sugar plus I know the grandparents will want to give him some so that he likes them better and it is a grandparents job to spoil them. If you are giving an Easter basket I would suggest asking the parents if there is anything that their kids might need and then adding in a little something special.

These are a few pictures of Easter baskets I have made for some kids...

Now if you are giving a basket to an adult then give them candy galore. Everybody needs a little splurge and after a long week chocolate can be a person's best friend. I might even suggest a favorite beverage (even an alcoholic beverage might make somebody's day).

Here are a couple baskets I made for some adults...

I hope that you all have a fantastic Easter and as always if you need some help with creating a basket just let me know by emailing me at CaringExpressionsGiftBaskets@gmail.com.