My baby sister, Richelle, left us earlier this week to embark on her World Race journey for 11 months. I shared her mission here, and she officially took off this past Sunday. The week’s leading up to it, anytime we were together I would just start crying uncontrollably. Straight up ugly crying and I couldn’t stop. She’s one of my best friends and she was going to be faraway, it makes me sad because she will be missed, but happy because she’s serving others and following what’s in her heart.

Since she wouldn’t be here for her birthday in October, we threw her a very early surprise birthday party before she left! She came over to my house, not knowing we had something up our sleeve, and she was utterly confused when she came to the backyard and saw the happy birthday sign and everyone joyfully yelling at her. She said, “What?! It’s not my birthday!” We told her we were celebrating it early and she just started laughing.

It was a pretty small party with just our family and some of her close friends and we all spent the evening eating, chatting, and having fun together. We showered her with birthday gifts (things she needed for her upcoming trip) and she kept saying how silly we all were that evening.

Ben and I put together one long table for everyone to sit at, I cut some bougainvillea branches placed them all along the center, and made a “Happy Birthday” sign from card stock and added dowel stems to it. To get them upright, we drilled a hole for each letter stem into a piece of wood, and inserted the dowels. We are going to miss RJ once October 1st comes around, but I’m glad we were able to celebrate her birthday before she left.

Actually, since she won’t be here for Christmas either, we celebrated that early too and we did that at my mom’s house about a month ago. I’m surprised my mom didn’t find time to sneak in an early Thanksgiving dinner in!

My friend Owen and I threw our friend Nina a baby “sprinkle.” She didn’t need a baby shower, since she already has one boy (and is having another), so we called it a “sprinkle.” Guests came bearing gifts of diapers and wipes. We held the “shower” at the Oh, Hello Friend shop (before opening hours) and it was a light brunch. We also asked guests to bring a bouquet of flowers, and we had all the supplies needed so that guests could make flower crowns. Mine turned out crazy, but some of the other girls were pretty serious about this crown making business, and made really good ones. There was a plethora of breakfast desserts, mimosas, and girly chatting; it was a fun couple hours of celebrating our friend and her new baby.

It was also the day Soul and I had a special date, so that’s why you don’t see any of my others girls in the pictures. They stayed home with Ben that day.

We’re on cloud nine about the Spurs winning their fifth championship. It’s been an exciting week here; we’ve watched all the replays, interviews, and even the parade and rally. We’re really far from San Antonio, but we are celebrating with the city from our little spot here in Southern California. I love Texas and keep trying to convince Ben we need to move, but his job is too good to leave, though he did look at the job opportunities in Texas, but it looks like they don’t really realize they need registered dietitians just yet.

We started off the day wearing black, silver, and white in excitement for the game, and despite Ben feeling achy and sick, we still enjoyed watching the game and celebrating together after they won. The kids were loving the excuse to scream from the top of their lungs with excitement. This year’s win was just so sweet, and like Tim Duncan said, “It makes last year sort of OK.”

#gospursgo

Oh gosh, this post is so late, so my True’s been 8 for a couple months now. She’s the best biggest sister ever, much better than I ever was. Her heart is so sweet and forgiving, and she has a much more nurturing spirt than I ever had (read: not as bossy as I was). Her requests were simple (kind of)… a My Little Pony party at a hotel with home sewn pony costumes. Thankfully, we had Spike and Pinkie Pie from previous Halloweens (here and here), so I had to make Rainbow Dash (Brave’s favorite) and Fluttershy (True’s favorite). It’s no surprise True identifies most with Fluttershy because True is the shyest of the bunch.

Since Fluttershy is her fave, I used that character as inspiration for her party. Fluttershy’s cutie mark are butterflies, so I cut out a bunch of butterflies from card stock and used that for her party background. She requested a bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cake like Brave had at her party, so that made my cake decision easy. I really wanted to bake her a yellow and pink cake, but I was running out of time, and it wasn’t what she asked for, so it was easy to scrap that idea. I picked up some pretty disposables from Target and used some things I already had too. True made her own pony version of pin the tail on the donkey, and we had all the makings for a splendid party.

Ben and True went out to go pick up dinner from Veggie Grill, while the other girls and I set everything up. When she came back, the girls were in costume and we surprised her with her special party set up. We ate, played party games, opened presents, sang Happy Birthday, watched an episode of My Little Pony, and just showered the birthday girl with lots of love and attention.

She had several gift requests, but we told her (as we tell all the girls for any celebration) just because she wants it, doesn’t mean she will get all of it. She got two of the many requests, and one was her slip-on checkered vans and the other a planner. At the end of the day, her favorite thing was getting the planner. Guess I’ve got a type-A personality on my hands. My favorite gifts she received were all the homemade ones Brave and Soul made for her (see more in her other birthday post). The binoculars she made is pretty sweet!

I love when the girls request a hotel birthday because I find it much easier than throwing a birthday party at the house with family and friends. If they had asked for a party with friends, we would have been happy to go that route too. We always make a vacation out of our hotel birthdays and enjoy staying a few days in another city. For True’s, we went down south near San Diego. See other past hotel parties here and here. Brave’s 7th birthday is in a little over a month and she’s asking for a Transformer party at a hotel. We will see if she changes her mind, but for now, that’s what I’m planning for.

HOLLA! It’s finally May 20th! Oh, I’ve been only waiting for this day for, like, two years! The book process is long (I’ll share more about it tomorrow Thursday, sorry we got busy celebrating by relaxing), but I’m finally excited to announce that Let’s Sew Together is officially out! If you’ve pre-ordered it, you should get it within the next couple of days (or maybe today!), and hopefully it will start popping up in your local bookstores too.

I’m so thankful for my talented friends who made this video possible. The song is “Let’s Make Magic” by Hope Leigh (Me & Mr. Cassidy) and made especially for the book trailer (it’s just so perfect!) and you can purchase the song here. The video is done by my friend Lou Casas (Cakeflix Films) and he did a wonderful job capturing the “magic” I wanted to share. It’s so much fun to create with your kids and that’s what I want to encourage others to do. The outcome doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s all about spending time together and having fun.

If you’re in Southern California and are free on Saturday, May 31st between 5-7pm, we are having a book release party at the Oh, Hello Friend shop in Fullerton. I would love to be able to celebrate with you in person if you can make it!

ONE MORE WEEK! I can’t believe how fast May 20th is approaching, but on May 31st, we are having a par-tay to celebrate! It will be at the Oh, Hello Friend shop in Fullerton… there will treats, gifts for (but we only have a limited amount, so don’t be late and have your book!), and sweet tunes by Me & Mr. Cassidy. Of course, there will be books to purchase, but if you bring a previously purchased copy, that’s cool too, so don’t forget to show us your book to snag a gift bag.

I’m so thankful for all of you and I hope you’re able to come out and celebrate. I would love to meet you, give you a hug, and say thank you so much in person. You guys spend time here, share about this space, and so opportunities like this are made possible because of you. You are all part of this too and I’m truly so grateful.

So if you’re free on May 31st, from 5-7pm, stop by the Oh, Hello Friend shop! To be as prepared as possible, you can grab a ticket to the event here (there’s no cost), but we want to try and get an approximate head count. Bring your friends and family, the more the merrier!

Don’t forget if you pre-order, you can get a special pre-order pack, so if you haven’t, pre-order your copy here today!!!

xoxo,
Ruby