Golden Anniversary Celebration

We got to be a part of something really awesome recently. Our Sunday School was going to take a break for the summer and not meet, but then the church came and asked us to plan a party. Our answer, "Heck yes!"

We started planning in June for the September event. The party was for the couples in our church that had celebrated 50 years of marriage! There were over 50 couples in our church that have celebrated 50 years or more. Each week we discussed a different topic for the event. The event felt so far away, but I'm so glad we planned ahead, so there was no last minute panicking.

I really just want to share photos. It turned out better than we planned. We had about 26 couples attend our event. We started the evening with a Mocktail Hour.

We served two different punches in cocktail glasses.
 

During the cocktail hour, we played a Newlywed Game.

We thought it'd be fun to have a couple from our Sunday School class participate.

During our preparation for the event, we interviewed the couples. They came by our class and we asked some questions. The answers were to help us make this event tailored to them. We got to learn so much about these cute couples. The interviews were the best part. We printed the interviews on pretty paper and hung them on twine along with their wedding photos.

For dinner, we had it catered by a local small restaurant. It was delicious food. The dinner was served on the hosts' and volunteers' China! This was such a neat detail. Our class, with a couple other volunteers, served as waiters for the tables.

Each table also had a colored fabric that anchored the table decor. These colors were the colors mentioned of our guests' weddings.

We even had a red table with Christmas China on it, as we had several couples that married near Christmas, so they used the church's Christmas decor for their wedding decor.

We kept the flower arrangements simple white to not distract from all the other stuff that was going on.

The flowers were in gold vases. Those "vases" were wine, beer, condiment, and liquor bottles that we collected. I spread the word to all I knew to save their bottles. Each weekend we were painting those bottles gold. The 50th wedding anniversary is the Gold Anniversary!

The bottles had to be soaked to get the labels off. I used a mixture of baking soda and vinegar and it worked great.

Then it was on to painting them. I researched the best gold spray paint, and it truly was great.

A lady from our church volunteered to make a wedding cake for the celebration. It was a gold cake that was soooo good! We had to decorate the table to match up with its elegance.

On either side of the wedding cake, we had tables that had easels on them. Those easels were to display the wedding China of our guests. We asked them to bring in a dinner plate from their set. We displayed them and wrote their last name on a placecard. It was so fun to see the different patterns, but to also hear the guests comment about the plates. Many remembered seeing the other patterns as they shopped for theirs.

Another item we asked the guests to bring was their wedding gown. Some still had theirs, but others did not. Some ladies borrowed their dresses! We had several gowns that we hung up for display. Those REALLY made the decor special!

Our last little bit of decor that we had for the room was a "photobooth." We used trimmings from our yards to created the arch and we found furniture around the church along with a couple items from my home. I found a cute banner on Etsy and had to have it!

We had found an inspiration picture, but really didn't know if we could pull off the same quality.

It can't be compared apples to apples, but I LOVE how ours turned out. After dinner, we had several stand in line to get their pictures done. They had cute props they could play with and a chalkboard sign they could use to write down how many years of marriage they were celebrating.

Then a couple of us young folks got to participate. We wrote how many years away from celebrating 50 we were.

During the night we played hits from the time they were dating/married (50's 60's). We even had one of our classmates bring his Barbershop quartet to serenade the crowd.

After dinner, we also encouraged the couples to dance. Many did, and it was a VERY special moment.

Planning this event was fun, but it was way more fun to experience it. These couples are amazing! They gave such great advice on marriage. Many agreed that marriage is not easy, but keeping Christ at the center is a saving grace for keeping a marriage going. They couldn't emphasize enough how your mindset when entering into a marriage needs to be focusing on the commitment. Don't do it with a plan to back out if it doesn't work.

Photo credit to Brad for being our photographer for the photobooth and capturing all the details.

It is a night we will remember forever.

50 Years

Today would have been my parent's 50th wedding anniversary.

I think they are the cutest couple there ever was. They loved each other. I always said it was the perfect marriage.

My dad was a gentleman. I never saw my parents fight. I know they would stay up after the kids went to bed and talked things out, but they were a strong unit.

I have a hard time thinking about my mom's feelings today. I love Mr. JCrew so much and couldn't imagine life without him. Thinking about the day we married and how it was one of the happiest days to have found my soulmate and me united as one!

Our ACTUAL wedding photo - no dress needed.

Hopefully, I can keep us busy today so that we don't hurt so much. I don't want to NOT think about Dad, because I think of him everyday. But if I can lessen the hurt that is felt, I'd like to.

Today, Little JCrew gets to take a special birthday snack to school. I packed rice krispie treats. The teacher begged for no cupcakes. I'm glad she said something, because that was the first idea I had.

This morning we are meeting with our builder. We finally received our spec sheets that tells us how much money everything will costs. We're over budget, but the builder has some solutions he wants to go over with us.Have you ever heard of a builder that came in under budget??

Mr. JCrew has an afternoon class at school (might I mention this is his last semester!!!) and then we are headed to see his family. Little JCrew's 3rd birthday is on Sunday and we're keeping it simple with the birthday celebration. Last year was big and I declared no birthday would ever be that big again. It was fun, but I enjoy the time with family. That's how I remember birthday's growing up. Little does the family know, they will be dressing up for this party!!

Today will be a packed day, and with all that is going on, I'm pretty sure that's why I am up early. Continue to think of us today; my mom especially.

A Little JCrew Update

Little JCrew has turned into a "Yes" Man. There is still a lot of "No's" spoken, but at least he's polite about it.

His "No" is drawn out as he shakes his head and the palms of his hands toward you. It's usually followed by, "I cannot." And there are a lot of times I am told, "Don't do that." If a parent wants to hear how they sound, all they have to do is listen to their child. I hear all kinds of phrases I didn't know I said.

A controlling personality has appeared now that he is potty-trained. There is new empowerment in this skill. Mr. JCrew and I do a lot wrong and Little JCrew is always correcting us. He's lucky we find it cute right now. However, we've already had to step in and tell him he can't boss his parents around.

Little JCrew discovered Buzz Lightyear and it's actually how we got him potty-trained. He played with it at a friend's house and we told him if he pooped on the potty, we would go get him a Buzz. One early morning he used the potty and we went straight to the store to fulfill our promise. Forty-five dollars later, we were the new owners of a Buzz Lightyear. The most expensive toy I have purchased, but worth it to have a potty-trained child. Little JCrew then taught Buzz how to use the potty.

I love the Spider-Man underwear!!

Little JCrew is still a picky eater. He has his favorites and Mac & Cheese is not one of them! He cannot be my child! I lived on Macaroni and Cheese. But when he does have a favorite, he goes into feast mode.

The kid LOVES soccer and is good at it. He loves being active. He runs when we go outside and appears to never tire. We started putting a ball in front of him, and he has feet skills. It was me that put a ball in front of him when Mr. JCrew was not around, so there was no influence by the soccer player in the family.

He plays baseball and loves to hit the ball and pitch it. He's also great at encouraging others. When his friends play ball, he tells them, "Great job" and claps for them. They don't even have to hit the ball to get that kind of encouragement. He even does this for Mr. Brigglesworth.

Mr. Brigglesworth may be the little brother, but it's Little JCrew that is the pesky one. Little JCrew will naturally take things from Mr. Brigglesworth and a fight will break out. Mr. Brigglesworth is mellow most of the time, but if he really wanted that something brother took away, he'll fight for it.

Little JCrew is the opposite of Mr. Brigglesworth when it comes to interaction with his Daddy. Little JCrew thrives on Mr. JCrew's silliness and is energized by the chaos. When you get him laughing, it only makes you laugh with him.

At church we are told that Little JCrew really gets into story-time and the singing of songs. This didn't surprise us as we see him sing and dance at home, until we realized... he has an audience! This kid hams it up when eyes are watching him. Might have to introduce him to some performing arts.

I cannot believe Little JCrew will be 3 in less than 5 weeks. I couldn't imagine life without him. He makes me feel special when it is just him and me (once Dad is home, I'm minced meat). He gives the sweetest kisses and says, "I love you." It's not often, so I soak it up.

He's an awesome big brother and comforts Mr. Brigglesworth when he cries. My favorite phrase is, "Don't worry. I promise." Melt my heart!

Meeting Cousin Kyleigh

This Fall he starts the 3-year old program at school. I am very excited to see him grow and learn new things. He just amazes me. I am so thankful God chose me to be his momma. I'm the lucky one.