Put Your Party Pants On ! Guest Blog

*I have a special treat for everyone! I have the greatest daughters ever and today I get to share them a bit with you . Our family always has fun together and to tell the truth, my girls always have their Party Pants on ! Enjoy!!  
*Cheryl* 





 Hi everyone!! I'm so excited to be guest blogging for my mom today!! I'm normally chatting about interior design on my own blog- but I'm excited to branch out a bit today! 

As I get older and start thinking about the idea of having children, I am always taken back to my own childhood. Not to sound cocky- but my sister and I had the best childhood ever. Life as a child was full of smiles, barbie dolls, dress up clothes, glitter, and amazing parties :)

My mom has always had a gift of hospitality and a flare for entertaining (a quality I hope she passed down to me!) She has a knack for knowing exactly what to do to make a party a success... People- this is harder than it sounds! Here are a few of our favorite parties growing up! 

(Get excited- you're about to see some really embarrassing pictures.) 

1. Summer in January

I am one of those unfortunate January birthdays... who always wanted to have a pool party- but naturally, January is not the best timing for summer sun. So, one year, my parents actually rented an indoor pool at a hotel so I could finally have a summer birthday. Now that's love :) 

cute right... if there's hope for me- there's hope for us all. :)

2. The show MUST go on...

I love competition... be it the Bachelor, a football game, or an old fashioned talent show- I love it all! One year, we decided to host a talent show... and my mom decided that the perfect venue was a riverboat!! Seriously! It was amazing! We videotaped the party and all of the talents- hours of hilarious footage. :) 

This is my friend Valerie, and me (we had lots of joint parties together as kids.) You can see the boat in the background here!

I love my sister. Yall- she sang "Jesus- what a wonderful child" for this talent show--- and wore this vintage sequin top- as a dress :)  (I hope she doesn't kill me for this picture but it really takes me back!)

3. A day at the zoo.
From a young age, my sister had a love for animals! One year for her birthday, we had her party at the Zoo... it was so cute! The best part- She was allowed to choose one animal for the zookeeper to bring out during the party for the children to get a closer look at. Imagine all of the fun choices! What did she choose you ask? a FERRET. This is real life folks... :) 

no zoo party is complete without animal noses and zookeeper hats.

I. love. this. picture. This is how to delicately hold a ferret :) 

4. Paint me a picture
I have always loved to paint, draw, make a mess, etc. One year, my mom thought that the perfect party venue would be a painting party at an art studio! In addition, at the time- I was also obsessed with cabbage patch dolls. Yall- she actually incorporated the dolls into the party! 

Please note that there are MINI cabbage patch dolls on the cake... haha.

5. Just one more...
I'm not quite sure which birthday this came from- I just know that it's one of my favorite birthday memories. My sister loved dinosaurs at some point in childhood- so here she is with a dino cake. What you can't see is that right about the time she blew out the candles- her hair caught on FIRE. Ya know how tasty birthday cake smells? Well- try mixing that with the smell of burnt hair. I have never laughed so hard!!

So did we have it good or WHAT?! Between creative birthdays and endless fun as a child-life was definitely good! 

The world has changed so much since I was a kid. It seems like four year olds have cell phones and sixteen year olds have babies. The idea of attempting to raise a child in our shaky society scares me to death. My parents made it look effortless. I just pray that we have the same wisdom and confidence when we raise little ones (and that they are willing to help a whole lot!) 

Thanks for reading! 
Until next time, let your light shine!!

jessica