It's a Ladybug Birthday

Landen is ONE! I cannot believe how the past year has flown by. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital meeting our beautiful little girl for the first time. Now she's walking, talking and getting into everything! 


This summer I took on preparing a proper ladybug themed first birthday party for my precious little girl. It all started when we bought a book for her around Christmas titled Ladybug Girl Dresses Up by David Soman and Jacky Davis. Ever since then we started calling her 'Ladybug Girl'. It just seemed natural to have a ladybug theme for her first birthday. 


Had I not been off all summer, I can't say that I would have gone to the same extent in my decorating; however, I had a lot of time to think about, prepare and shop for my decor. So here we go....

Here are some ladybug oreos along with black and red "milk chocolate gems" a.k.a. M&M's, mini oreos, and red licorice to accent the black and red theme. The ladybug bowls were found at Meijer this spring. I also picked up some roses for some extra red decor around the kitchen.

This is the beautiful cake I ordered from ele cake co. located in Beaverdam, OH. 

My mother-in-law found these little ceramic ladybug salt and pepper shakers which I used as decor on our kitchen shelves.

I found these ladybug napkins on ezpartyzone.com. I ordered them on Sunday and received them by Wednesday - quick shipping!

I also made six of these tissue paper puff balls for random decor around the house. Three were red, two were white with black dots and one was white with red dots. These were possibly my favorite part of the decorations.

I picked up a couple of bouquets of red, black and polka dotted balloons from Celebrations in town and anchored them with ladybug ceramic pots. I painted these pots red, glued black fuzzy dots, antlers and eyes to them. 

For this birthday sign, I painted letters on regular paper, glued them onto the red construction paper and strung them up on a thin wire. 

Here are Landen's gifts from mommy and daddy. I just had to keep the red, black and white theme in my wrapping! 

I decked out Landen's highchair with some tulle and wrapped her chair in part of a tablecloth so we wouldn't stain the material with cake and icing.

Landen didn't have much of an attention span for opening her gifts, but she got some great stuff from everyone. She's had a great time today trying out all of her new toys. Mommy's equally (if not more) excited for some new things to keep her busy for the rest of the summer!

After presents Landen was able to dig in to her cake. She's had some tastes of sweets here and there this summer, so we knew she was going to love all of that icing and cake. She actually didn't get too crazy smashing her cake, but she was trying to savor every sweet bit of that icing in her mouth. :) I think someone has a sweet tooth.

Later in the night after most had gone home, our little ladybug was still on her sugar high. She finally crashed around 9pm and didn't wake up until almost 8am. She was a worn out little girl!

I have to say that the day was an entirely enjoyable one. It wouldn't have been as great without all of the family and friends involved in celebrating our little one. She is blessed to have such wonderful people in her life. 

Summer Grammar Lesson: Who and Whom

I apologize for asking you to think during the summer, but I promise this one will be easy AND make you instantly sound smarter. Using the correct form of who and whom in language is something that I've always struggled with. I would always get the two confused, and I could never remember the tricks to getting it right. 


I recently purchased The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need, and it did a great job of setting me straight for good. I thought I'd pass on the enlightenment. First I'll explain the logic behind the rule, then I'll give you an easy trick to help you remember which to use when speaking/writing.


The Rule: 
Use who when what you're referring to is the subject of the clause you're working with. Example: Who is coming to dinner? Who is the subject and is coming is the verb.
Use whom when what you're referring to is an object (or an additional part of the sentence that helps it make sense). Example: Whom were you talking to last night? Here, you is the subject and were talking is the verb.


The Trick:
First, look at the sentence or clause that contains the who/whom in question. 


She was concerned with who would be her new boss.


Then, rearrange the clause to form a statement instead of a question (if necessary). 


No rearranging necessary here.


Next, replace the who/whom with he or him. 


He/Him would be her new boss.


If it makes sense to use he, the correct form is who. If it makes sense to use him, the correct form is whom. You can remember this because both hiM and whoM contain M's.


Hopefully this has helped you as much as it has helped me. Good luck!