My Little Girl Graduates! June, 2019!

What a wonderful day of celebration with a great group of people who came to celebrate the big day with us. Lots of love all around...

From a little kindergartener.....

                          To a lovely, talented young woman.... we are so very proud of her.....

It had rained the day of graduation so everyone had to squeeze inside a hot, un air conditioned gym in the South.... our makeup just ran off and our hair...well let's not even talk about that, lol. But the day I wouldn't have missed it for anything! So proud of Hayley and all she has been through and done to get so far!

So happy to have my dad there and I know my mom was watching from heaven... she was missed so deeply that day. My dad had an older video recording that they had sent to Hayley a few years ago to congratulate her for something else and he sent it to her that morning. We were all in tears..... Just hearing her voice again...

                                          Sam's club did a great job decorating her cake :-)

                              Our niece Neve came down with my sister and my brother in law. :-)

                                                    Gabby our other niece was here!!

Jerry's twin brother Garry brought crabs down from Maryland for Hayley's birthday/ graduation celebration. He gets them for her each year!

                                                        She was a very happy girl, lol. :-)

Garry and his wife Lori and stepdaughter Kate. We had to set up some extra tables to fit everyone so they kinda went over into our guest room :-)

            Hayley wanted to do a bounce house and water slide and had a blast with everyone!
   When she was little and had her parties growing up we used to get them for her all the time.

So happy to have some of our family come and share the day with us as we don't get to see them often. Many friends too but they weren't all in this one. Tons of pictures I will cherish always, but wanted to post a few of her special day and thank everyone who made time to come and be with her on her special day!!! Much love to you all!!

                                                                            Blessings,
                                                                                 Jill

Review of Paperless Post Website

We are living in a fast growing world of technology and it seems our younger generation is already all about the digital world. In fact, it seems like everyone is going to online invitations for parties, thank you notes, baby and wedding announcements and so much more!

When Hayley was younger paper invitations were still acceptable and now I've noticed with Kathleen growing up more and more is done online or by word of mouth. The benefits are the reduction of paper waste and able to save special moments in the digital archives for a long time.

I was asked to review the website Paperless Post and you can also visit their website by following this Paperless Post link to see all their great products. They offered me a credit towards products to try on their site in exchange for my honest review. All the following opinions are my own. :-)

While browsing their site I really liked how convenient it was to find just what I need, as it was easy to navigate.

For example they have some really nice father's day cards to choose from and all you need to do is choose one, personalize it and send it to your recipient.

(Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

There are free cards available on the site, but you can purchase digital coins for your account to get upgraded cards with more details. I love all the different styles they had to choose from and they include an envelope you can design too. Creating your own online account on their website is also free. This is an example of a party invitation.

                                                             (Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

They have all different styles to choose from and you can even add your own pictures to the front. It makes it so convenient to do everything in one place.

                                                                  (Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

                Invitations are so easy to send and there are many styles to fit everyone's tastes!

                                                      (Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

I love the personalized stationary section as well. I chose this example to share as I just love dragonflies! :-)

                                                         (Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

They also have flyers you can create and send out, along with options for RSVP's and also general messages back to the sender. You can even download their app on your phone and do everything from your phone on the go! This is especially helpful while you are on vacation or traveling with work and would like to send out something nice without running to the store and waiting for it to arrive. Email has it there in minutes as the card design is immediate.

                                                       (Photo credit: Paperless Post Website)

I also like that they have a feature that lets you know when your cards, etc. were sent out and received. It's a great way to keep track of things. I enjoyed taking some time to send a few cards out to different people and will be doing more soon. You can even pick out a virtual stamp for your cards too! It's really a neat concept and saves on postage :-)

I hope you will take some time to check out there website and share it with your friends. I enjoyed reviewing it and will definitely be using it myself! Enjoy the rest of your week!

                                                                       Blessings,
                                                                            Jill

Hayley's 18th Birthday!!

Our little girl Hayley is 18!!!

I pulled up this memory of when she started her jewelry making business and paid for a trip for us to go to American Girl in New York! We had the best mother daughter day :-)

Watching her grow up has been a pleasure and my heart is so full of love and pride.

Have a wonderful birthday Hayley, I love you more than I could ever put into words.

This past Saturday we celebrated with a pool party and a bunch of her friends. Everything turned out really nice. She absolutely loves the beach, so that was her theme. :-)

The UV filter has been amazing for keeping our pool clean, and even better don't have to use all the toxic chemicals!

                               The famous unicorn float was brought out again this year, lol.

                                                               Little decoration all over....

Kathleen was decorating all Hayley's cupcakes and also made her a special cake out of placing all the cupcakes together. :-) She is so thoughtful!

                      What a great group of kids... a beautiful day and a very special birthday girl!

Hayley's favorite place to be.... this was taken last year when we took a quick trip to the ocean for a weekend. She had the plan to do this for her senior announcements as one of the pictures. Less than 2 weeks and it will be graduation day! Time is flying by.....

                         Love you Hayley, hope your day was everything you wanted and more!

                                                                       Blessings,
                                                                        Hayley

Pretty Flowers, Anniversary and a New Channel Announcement :-)

Celebrating 25 years of marriage today with Jerry.... the years have just flown by! We don't have money to celebrate, but I feel so blessed to have him by my side and every day is a gift. :-)

It is hot, hot, hot here in NC...... Ugh.... 90's and above!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and were able to enjoy some time relaxing with family and friends.

                           My knock out roses up on our hillside are blooming so beautifully....

We were visiting my dad's house and I took some pictures of his sweet pea vine and also his beautiful lilies!

Our Yucca is blooming so nice this year, it is actually getting pretty top heavy from the growth and all the beautiful blooms!

                   Love lilies, as with all my favorite flowers I wish they would last longer.... ;-)

Many of you who have followed my blog from the beginning know I have always shared crafts, recipes and teaching activities, along with tea parties with my girls. It used to be quite frequently! As they are getting older the opportunities for that are becoming fewer and farther in between.... however the teacher in me would still like to share :-) After giving it some thought I decided to start a new YouTube channel that focuses on Preschool and Child Care Teaching. It will be beneficial to anyone with young children as I will be sharing tips and teaching ideas, crafts and more. I just created it today, so there's only one video so far.... but I'd love to have you visit me there and tell me what you think of it. If you enjoy it, please click like and consider subscribing :-) If you subscribe also hit the bell next to subscribe and that will notify you each time I upload a new video. Posting it here for easy access. :-) Thank you for the support as I'm trying to get it to grow and even just watching it helps my ranks in YouTube. :-)



                                                          Enjoy this short week!!!

                                                                   Blessings,
                                                                       Jill