Five Minute Friday: Home

GO.

Home is something we take for granted. A home is different from a "house." The word "home" has a sense of emotion, belonging, more than just a roof over our heads. When we moved into this house a year and a half ago, we knew it would be a place we'd stay for awhile (at least 3 years or we'd have to pay the homeowners credit back! ;). But how do you make a "house" a "home"?

By being there. If your home is just a place to sleep at night, it's just a house. You need to hang out there, play games, run in the yard, invite people over.

By keeping it clean. Most people feel uncomfortable when walking into a messy house. Granted, it does feel "lived in", but if there are dirty dishes all over the counter and dust bunnies in every corner, it makes both you and your guests feel a little tense.

I could spend more than 5 minutes on this topic, but I'll stop there for today.

STOP.

I wrote another post recently about point #2 above.

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1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you!

Party 'till the cows come home!

It was 2 weeks ago, but I had so much fun decorating and preparing for Abby's first birthday party that I just have to post some pictures for the blogging world to see!

[Plus, have I mentioned how much I love hosting parties and just enjoy having people over? That's a post for another day...]

So Abby has this stuffed cow... it's one that you press it's hand (hoof?) and the mouth moves and the foot taps and it sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy." For weeks she was fascinated by the thing. She wouldn't go down for a nap unless she could watch it while snuggling with me. So that's where the inspiration for a theme came from...

We had the party at Rocky's dad's house, on a lake. We were hoping for a nice day to get out and play in the water, but it was kinda rainy and cloudy most of the day.

To go with the cow theme, I found super-cute cupcake liners at cowdepot.com. I made dark chocolate cupcakes and topped them with vanilla frosting, and vanilla cupcakes topped with dark chocolate frosting.

I made a marble cake for Abby's smash cake from some of the cupcake batter. I baked it in a small Pyrex container, and it was the perfect size! I spent $4 on a cake decorating bag and tips, and I'm so glad I did. I love how the frosting turned out.

From cafepress.com -- her shirt says "Holy cow, I'm ONE already?"

And after all that time I put into her cake? She only picked at the frosting. Very delicately. No smashing was involved. No cakes were harmed in the filming of this day.

After a full day, we all took a pontoon boat ride around the lake. What a great end to a great day!

Will we put in this much effort for a second birthday party? We'll have to wait and see...