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Friday, December 21, 2012

Little Monkey is 2!

Sweet Jenna Beth turned 2!! She is the most energetic, fun loving MESS that you have ever seen!! It was only fitting she have a monkey themed birthday party! :)  We used hot pink, yellow, and lime green as our theme. Fun fabrics, bright gerbers, and a few monkeys were all we needed - it turned out super cute!
Of course no party is complete without a super cute wreath!
And, some polka dot balloons for the birthday monkey's chair :)
Jenna Beth's day was complete when she opened her very own Bitty Baby!  She has been looking at the American Girl catalog from cover to cover for weeks (totally not exaggerating!), and Mama J made sure she got her own baby.  Welcome Baby Katie to the fam! :)
I still can't believe this precious gift from the Lord is 2 years old!  She has been an absolute blessing to our family, and we can't imagine life without her.  She brings so much joy and laughter in to the world!
Happy Birthday, Jenna Beth!  We love you!!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Life Is Sweeter With Jesus

That was our theme for our Fall Fest this year, and everything was decorated with one of kids' most favorite things - CANDY! :)
 We made lollipops and candy corn for decorations at all the games...
 ...and, made candy themed games, like "Candy Corn Bowling"
and, "Lollipop Splash"!  

 Of course, the kids had a BLAST on the inflatables as well!
 But, probably the most favorite part for all was the encore show from last year from The Chin People!
 STARRING...
"Plain Jane" who is...plain, and "Beatrice Aldwinkle" who hails from Liverpool...

Math Team Nerds:  "Charlotte Webster" who's dad wrote the Dictionary, and "Bertha Jerkins" who's dad invented nasal spray...

"Kandy" the cheerleader, and "Joe" the interpreter...

AND, "Aquafina"...who was convinced she was a dolphin.  

The girls worked so hard to develop their characters, wrote the script around the Fall Fest theme, and did a FANTASTIC job!!  

What a fun night!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Hey y'all!

I've been gone so long from the blog, I feel like we need to make formal introductions.

Hi, my name is Hayley. I USED to blog. Now, I just procrastinate about blogging.

There's really no super great excuse of my absence except to say LIFE has just gotten in the way. I've kept up with everyone; just hadn't let y'all keep up with me!

So, just wanted to check in and say "hi", and thanks to so many of you that have sent messages checking up on me! It's nice to know you're missed :)

Be checking in this week for news updates and pictures of what's been happening with the Powell's!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Birthday Luau

I can't believe my sweet Carolyne turned EIGHT just a few weeks ago!  She wanted to celebrate with her friends by having a pool party at Robby's parents' pool, and we thought a luau theme was perfect!  Valerie did an awesome job with everything, as always!  
You just about can't beat a pool party - especially for birthdays in the south!  It's fun AND you don't sweat - 2 of my all time top priorities! ;)
Val and I scoured the dollar store luau section and got all of these bright colored sand buckets, leis, and straw hats!  Valerie did a candy table for the kids to make their own treat buckets.  All the candies were labeled with pool type phrases, such as "pool noodles" for the chocolate covered pretzels, "life preservers" for the gummy life savers, and "beach balls" for gum balls.  The kids got to fill up their mini sand buckets (dollar section at Target) with their favorite goodies.  Super cute AND easy!!
I didn't get a full picture of the food table, but the set up was just adorable!  The tables were dressed in straw like skirts, and the food was in sand buckets.  We used brown sugar as "sand" with a few shells around the buckets, and used the actual shovels for spoons.
 Val even made Carolyne's cupcake "fish" cake!  Didn't she do GREAT?!  She is so very talented!
 The kids had a ball doing limbo, a tacky tourist relay, and sand art!
 On Carolyne's actual birthday, my family celebrated with dinner and games.
This is such a FUN game to play...have any of you ever played??
 
 You don't know what the picture is on your head, and everyone gives you guesses for you to figure out what the picture is of.  Such a cute family game.
 Lots and lots of laughs were had!!
My sweet, sweet Carolyne is growing so very fast!  So thankful I get to be a part of her life, and watch her become the person God wants her to be!
 Happy Birthday, Carolyne!  Aunt Hayley loves you!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

In the WILD!

...well, not really.  I suppose when there's a 15 foot fence between you and the animals - it's just the zoo! ;)  Back in the summer, Valerie, my mom, me, and 3 of the Favorites loaded up and headed to the Birmingham Zoo.  We had a GREAT day of fun!!!
It was of course HOT AS BLUE BLAZES, but the kids had a ball getting to see so many different animals up close and personal!

 
The one of the group who loved it MOST was Miss Jenna Beth...she could not get ENOUGH!  The zoo itself was fun, but watching Jenna Beth's delight in seeing the animals was by far the best part of the day!  
 Her absolute MOST FAVORITE animals were the MONKEYS :)
Seeing all the animals up close and personal was just a reminder of how amazing God is to create such amazing animals!!!!

 My favorite at the zoo were the FLAMINGOS - aren't they just beautiful??!!
It was such a super duper fun day!  We can't wait to visit again!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Tiffany+Lance

In June, I had the pleasure of being a part of a GORGEOUS wedding for Tiffany and Lance.  Tiffany loves color and flowers, which always makes me excited when planning floral designs!!  Her color scheme was coral, with shades of oranges and pinks...and, oh was it beautiful!  This is one of my favorite color combos because orange and pink compliments each other so well and makes each other just POP.  And, the star of the show were these A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. coral peonies...oh my!!!
The wedding took place at a super cool venue - an old log cabin gymnasium on the bluff of the mountain...the ceremony was outside, and the reception inside.  Tiffany's vision was a very vintage feel, and I worked hard to make the flowers look very natural and fresh picked out of the garden.  I loved how the outside set up turned out!
Front door arrangements...
I couldn't get a wide angle photo with my phone, but there were 2 arrangements on each side of the steps...
Inside, Tiffany had some ADORABLE details.  She and her mother made homemade strawberry jam (her grandmother's recipe), and this was the guests' favors!  Love the "spread the love" sign :)
Tiffany also made ribbon wands for guests to wave in the air as they left in place of bubbles, rice, petals, etc.  Cute!
The tables were dressed in white and burlap, with the arrangements in Ball jars...
I almost didn't put this picture, because it does not even give justice to the beauty of the flowers - not my design, but the pure beauty of the flowers...the peonies were just out of this world BEAUTIFUL!  This was on the food table...
The handsome groom...
...and, the stunning bride!
And, these little guys have nothing in the world to do with flowers, but I just thought they were all cute as pie in their suspenders and bow ties!  Love it!!
It was such a FUN wedding to be a part of - I absolutely LOVE to work with brides that love flowers and color as much as I do!!
Congrats Tiffany and Lance!