April is a celebration!

 Now THAT was a busy month!

We're all spring chicks in the Maxwell house.  My birthday is first, followed by Graham's, and rounded out by Kevin's. 
My birthday was actually the day before Easter, so there was a lot bunny celebrations in tow :).  I unfortunately woke up early on my birthday with a pretty bad allergic reaction to a medication, but in between resting I was able to be in our neighborhood egg hunt with Kevin and Graham. 

We enjoyed Easter dinner together on Sunday, and I finally found my butter bunny to complete the table!

Next year, I hope to plan ahead well enough to have a butter lamb (a wooden mold that looks like this).  Each year I always think to order just a little too late for it to show up in time for Easter. 

Right before his big first birthday, Graham had his first haircut! 

He did amazing, a lot due to how wonderful the place we picked was with him.  I highly suggest Cookie Cutters in Rivergate (link to them here) for your little's haircuts.  They're patient, fast, and there's a Spiderman racecar.  Batman too if that's more your style.

Graham's birthday was the first celebration we were able to have with family and friends since the COVID-19 quarantine.  Seeing everyone come through our front door and gather together was the best feeling in the world.  The theme for his birthday was "Mr. ONEderful" and it fit him to the t :).  He wore his gingham bow tie and suspenders, played in a ball pit full of bubbles, and ate an ENITIRE smash cake.  

You can see the album of his birthday celebration here.

Rounding out the month on the 29th was Kevin's birthday.  It fell on a Thursday, so our celebrating was in the afternoon.  We ate vanilla pound cake (his requested cake now 2 years in a row), played downtown Belmont and had dinner. 

I'm so proud of Kevin and everything he accomplished this previous year.  He moved mountains, overcame tremendous odds, and returned back to our normal life better than ever.  I know this year is going to be the best one ever.  

In between all of these festivities, we've been tending our sweet little garden.  This is the first year I'm using a raised bed and all the plants look amazing.  There's better boy tomatoes, chili peppers, okra, and casper pumpkins.  I can't wait to see the first tomato and pumpkin of the year! 

Sweet Reminders Of Life Anew

 

Two years ago I planted anemones at the corner of the backyard.  I used anemones as a central flower and theme in our wedding, so I planted these with the intention of having a sweet reminder of our wedding celebration each year.  They're blooming early this year and I'm so excited! 

I'll make sure to post more pictures of my little anemone collection as they bloom out.  I'm amazed by how many color variations I have.  

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you're springing forward and not lagging too terribly bad today :)  

UI/UX, A Little Graphic Design, And A Big Birthday

I love to simplify, streamline, and make all things efficient.  

One of the most fun components of my work in front end development is the challenge of making the convoluted simple.  It's called UI/UX (user interface user experience) and I love it.  I started a personal project a couple of days ago and I thought it would be fun to share what I created as a template here.  Graham is turning one in April and I decided on custom making the invitations to start establishing a totally awesome theme: Mr. Onederful. 

I tried out Google Drawings for the first time-- an app extension to Google Drive.  It's basically a lite version of diagramming software and was surprisingly robust.  I was able to create all of the attributes that I needed in that cute little space.  

So, back to the theme.  It all started with a pair of suspenders and a casual, chic blue gingham bowtie that I bought-- just the right fit for Graham.  Initially I was really struck by the gingham pattern- it's the exact color and pattern theme I chose for the baby shower.  Unfortunately, my shower was planned at the very pinnacle of our current pandemic.  It had to be cancelled just 5 short days before the celebration date.  This was so so hard on me, but incorporating this little bit of the shower theme into his birthday would bring a lot of hope to me for the coming years.  

Obviously, this has to be his birthday outfit.  I started building the Mr. Onederful theme around this outfit because it really embodies the personality I see emerging from Graham.  I think that's one of the biggest celebration points for me in his upcoming birthday-- seeing him develop into this incredible and unique little human.  

The color scheme is shaping up to be different shades of blue, grays, and white.  I played around with the colors for a while and finished designing the invitation with these exact colors in mind.  The finished invitation looks like this:

I'm happy to share this template with you all via Google Draw.  If you're interested in checking it out, just click here and download your own copy.

I'm so excited about this little one's 1st birthday!  I'll be sure to share more details and projects coming up soon~

Graham's Christening

 May the road rise to meet you.  May the wind always be at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your field, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand. 

We celebrated Graham's Christening on Saturday.  We postponed his ceremony a couple of times during the time of Kevin's treatment at the Mayo Clinic (in total, we spent 42 days there).  There was a cold rain, but family traveled from Spartanburg and Raleigh to celebrate with us.  We were fortunate to have Father John, who married us, perform a private ceremony just for our family.  Ceremony was at our parish- St. Peter Catholic Church. 

So many people wanted to join us- from England to New York.  I decided to put together a live stream and created digital invites for the entire family.  I certainly have become more ingenuitive during this pandemic, but it's such a necessity to keep daily life going.  

The ceremony's live stream ended up being a huge success- there were over 200 views and I had the opportunity to read viewers conversations real time through Graham's baptism.  Being able to actually watch his baptism from the stream later on in the day was too entertaining- Graham's personality is bigger than I knew and his sound effects during the beginning prayers were down right hysterical 😅.

Afterwards, we hosted a small dinner party at home.  We enjoyed wine together and reflected on our aspirations for Graham through the upcoming year.  

Graham's day was absolutely perfect and I'm so happy we were able to share his celebration together.  

(If you'd like to see his Christening ceremony, you can view it here.)

During the ceremony, Father John blessed Graham's first Miraculous pendant 

Graham's Godfather, Matt Ostuni.  His wife, Kaitlyn, stood in as a proxy for Graham's Godmother Meaghan Swaysland

Recently

There has been a lot of thought going into creatively celebrating special occasions recently.  From spending long segments of my time at hospitals/physical therapy appointments for Kevin to 30-60 minute work blocks during Graham's naps; it's been difficult to put together birthday, anniversary, etc. gifts as I have traditionally done.  

Mom's 70th birthday is coming up on Sunday the 7th and I decided on creating a candy bouquet.  I originally got the idea of the basic structure of candy bouquets from the Cherub Cafe Holy Angels- a local restaurant managed by The Sisters of Mercy.  Check them out, they do amazing work and the food is fantastic!  I've commissioned them for everything from party gifts (Cotton Candy Factory) to catering for small parties.  I'm working with pretty specific dietary needs, so I needed to design and create the bouquet myself.  

All work in, I was able to complete this project in 40 minutes.  

The materials used here:
2' diameter glass vase
raffia (approx, 5 feet) for accent bow
one silk rose stem, cut to separate all blooms
one silk cat tail stem, cut to separate all greenery
floral picks
sugar free Russel Stover chocolates
pink tissue wrap
1' floral foam (which is wrapped in the pink tissue) 
2 pink pipe cleaners for accents/depth
2 green candy bags, cut to fit over a floral pick
gift cards
hot glue to keep it all together

To create these bouquets, I always start with my center stem, which is the highest, and I build the bouquet around that.  The chocolates were hot glued to the floral picks to create rose stems (both front and back of the floral picks were covered).  A polishing touch I tried out and actually love was to take green candy bags and create a 'leaf' to cover the base of the gift cards.  

I can't wait to deliver this to her in Spartanburg on Sunday!  A 70th birthday is a huge celebration and calls for something truly personalized.