Tag Archives: Anya Elizabeth

19Jan / 2011

Birthday Cakes…throughout the years…

We just had a “Tangled” party for Maggie and Lily…Anya made this cake… 

I thought I’d post a few of the different birthday cakes this family has had over the years…

From being a new mom with my one and only, Anya,  turning 1!!  The cake was amazing!!   What was I thinking, that kind of cake at 1?  I am sure every other year has been a bit of a let down…

Or Taylor’s Racetrack cake!  I am sure that it must be because of this cake that the T, LOVES cars, fast cars, knows all about cars, and basically is obsessed with, yes…cars!

To many of the white or chocolate 9″ round, chocolate Frosting cakes…

Hey at least the plate says, “You are special today”,

because this cake is well…BORING!!

The springs in this cake seem to have broken! 

Look at Maggie so patiently waiting.

But, what I lack in creativity, I make up for in taste!!  Yummy!  (If I do say so myself!)

Then there are the store bought cakes…  It was all about Thomas that year and several after…In fact here is my ginormous 2 year old son, Kieran, on a Thomas train he had for about 3 seconds.  He outgrew it within hours of the purchase!  Doesn’t he kind of remind you of the boy in the movie, “Honey, I blew up the kids!”  

And the Ice Cream Cakes…(Kieran loves these…) 

The wintry Igloo…(attempt) 

The 9 x 11 sheet cake, still in the pan of course…  But the teens don’t care!

The amazing cake by Pam Lewis for Anya’s 16… 

I love this “Construction Cake”  It was a MESSY Cake!  Made sure I had a cheap plastic table cloth and just let them dig, (get it?) Sorry…  dig in!!  Then just emptied out the truck and tied it all up and threw the mess away…easy clean up!

Plates don’t really match the cake theme here do they?  Haha!!

I love celebrating the kids birthdays…I can go overboard, renting ponies, bouncy things, going to bouncy thing places, Tea themes, beach themes, Tangled…untangled, overwhelmed, underpaid…

We have no family in town to celebrate our “big” day with, so I had decided with Anya, that I would try to make the birthday’s awesome and  fun and memorable…to try to make up for lack of family…in town.

I am asked to have my “extended families” parties at my house too!!

Lane!!

Diana is 39??? Again? (Look at Brett's face back there!!)

John's 50th! John and Rhonda with John Ford Coley...

After looking at all my pics throughout the years to find some of the cakes…I am so glad that I love cakes…Cakes mean parties..Parties mean friends, fun and amazing memories for all!!  It brings me great joy and many happy tears to look and see all the smiling faces.

My life is awesome!!

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22Dec / 2010

Christmas 2010…Bah Humbug or Very Merry?

I was getting ready to run my millionth errand today and thought to myself, this has been the worst Christmas season ever for me…It hasn’t even felt like Christmastime…

Then one of my besties, Teddy,  called me and asked me if she could pick me up to go run Christmas errands with her!

I was able to say yes!  Anya, offered to take the 4 younger kids to Pegram Park and met her bestie Skye there…                                                             

Check out their pics!

Taylor was with Tom at Leslie Shew’s…so…I could say yes!!

I had to go to the bank and deposit some moolah…then we did a little shopping…

I have done most of my Christmas Shopping, just a few items to pick up.  We hit Big Lots and I was able to get some travel games for our massive 1st annual Harden/Pemelton Florida Extravaganza trip!!!  (This will be my next blog post, details to come…)

Then we hit Costco, Best Buy, Ross 4 Less.  Teddy got most of her shopping done.  We laughed and made fun of people, and ourselves, and realized that shopping with your friend makes life so much better!!!

The amazing thing is that yesterday, I did the same thing with my bestie, Diana.  We met in Green Hills, ate some lunch, ran errands, did a little shopping.  She knows I HATE to shop, and she LOVES TO SHOP.  So she knew she would make life much easier for me!!  We had a blast then headed to Teddy’s house for one last girls night of 2010!

I could go on and on about all that I don’t have, or wish I had or want, or feel left out of…but I can’t!

I am blessed!!   I have AMAZING FRIENDS!!  I Love each and every one of them!  They carry me through all the really amazing and all the crappy times in my life!  I have not been blessed with family here, so I really depend on the “family of friends”  I have here.

I have already received my Christmas presents this year…TIME with the ones I love, this week,  our annual Christmas Eve dinner, with so many friends…after the 3:30 service at Crosspoint!!  Time with my family and friends during the Christmas week…on our 1st annual Harden/Pemelton Florida Extravaganza trip.  My parents and sister and Nana Deacon all live in Florida!

I am even blessed with my amazing friends that will stay at my house and take care of my ginormous dogs and crazy cats, when I am gone!!

So I have to say my Christmas is NOT a Bah Humbug, like I was thinking…

It is Very Merry!!      

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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02Sep / 2010

Anya’s coming of age party…2006

Anya… Anya Elizabeth at the age of 12

A little history into our journey into woman hood…

One of my close friends, Diana Pemelton, is a crazy, fellow “breeder”, as she calls us. I met her many years ago. I met her at church. She was doing a church women’s retreat. I needed friends! We met, over the next few years we became close friends.

She has a study that she does called “And God Made Woman”. It is an amazing 16-week study on women.  Quite the bonding experience with the other women in the group!   I have made some amazing friendships through this.
About 6 or so years ago, she and I were in her basement talking. We were discussing raising daughters. She has 2 and I have 3.

Her 3 oldest are boys.

I am the 1st to raise a daughter.

She is writing a study for girls/teens called “Daughter’s of the King”.   We were discussing men and women and how our American culture lacks ceremonies guiding them through the pivotal ages in their lives.  I was telling her that I want to have a ceremony for Anya, when she “becomes a woman”.   Tom had read, “Raising a modern day Knight”, and She and Bret have already implemented several of the ceremonies with their sons.   Tom had his first ceremony with Taylor, another story…

When Anya started her period, I went to her and told her that I wanted to have a celebration for her, for this next journey into adulthood/womanhood. I was going to have a slumber party for her. She was so excited; she couldn’t wait to invite her friends. There was a catch. It wasn’t for her friends; it was women that I chose. Mentors. Women that I trusted, that would be there for her. Women that she could talk to, if she couldn’t talk to me.  Like minded women. I didn’t need to be privy to their conversations, unless she was threatening harm. Those were the rules.
It took me a few months, as I had to fly some of them in from out of town. We planned our weekend. I booked a hotel, got a few rooms, with an indoor pool. We brought food, junk food, soda, she did make-overs on some of us, it was her night.

I didn’t tell Anya of my ceremonial idea. I had each woman buy a charm that represented HER, not Anya, but them. They then presented their charm to her and told her what it was and what it meant to them, and why they chose it.   
It was the coolest!
I bought her a bracelet for her to put them on. When she wears it, or sees it, she is reminded of this circle of women in her life that love her, are praying for her, are there for her in any way she may need them.

It was one of the most moving ceremonies of our lives.

I don’t know if Anya grasped the whole concept at such a young age, but those of us there giving the charms sure did. It was amazing to be a part of the power of these women, the power and oneness when we were together.
It was all about Anya.  

We had this celebration so she would not look at this new season of her life as a curse, but as a blessing, welcoming her, in a beautiful loving way, into womanhood.  It was a beautiful night.  

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02Sep / 2010

Mentoring Mom…the journey begins…serious subject, goofy pics!

I have started a new category on my blog called, Mentoring Mom.  I completely stole this idea from my good friend, Jeff Graves, Not the mom part, just the mentoring part.  We both have kids that will be leaving for school, or doing something in their life outside our home in 2 years.  (His first born, Nathan Graves, just left for college last week.)  He told me of his plan to mentor his 2nd child, Josh, over the next 2 years.

I loved his idea of spending the next 2 years of Josh’s life, while he is still at home, and really, intentionally pouring into his life.  I know we are supposed to be doing that from birth, but do we?  I believe that we try.  Life somehow has a way of getting in the way.  We do the school thing, and watch their games, or plays, or soccer or whatever it is your child does, we take them to church, we feed and clothe them, beds to sleep in, roof over head, yada, yada, yada… We hope and pray for them.

We also have their siblings lives to contend with, we have jobs, financial stress, spouses, family, extended family, holidays, birthdays, mid life crisis’s, I could go on and on.

So when Jeff told me he was going to be intentional about this for the next 2 years, a light went off in my head.

I totally got this!  I love this.  I hate this.  I am scared to death of this! 

I thought, what does this mean for Anya and I?  Lord, what do you want me to really teach her, before she leaves?  She is an amazing young woman already!  This will mean I have to look in to the ugliness of me as well, as help to mold and instill those nuggets of knowledge and grace that you want me to impart to her!  UGH!  I don’t want to do that, but I do want to do that!

I am excited for this new journey that we are officially on… 

I see already things that I want to grow in her.  She is book smart…very intelligent!  She gets that from her father!  I on the other hand am more street smart.  I am kind of a natural “Life Coach”.  I can see and help guide others toward the life they want to live.  I have considered getting certified for this.  Maybe this will be the catalyst for that.

I am excited, already I am making a plan.

Grace, joy, freedom, boundaries…these are a few that I will begin with.

These are life lessons that I can’t wait to discuss with her.  She is an easy 1st candidate.  She is a intelligent, beautiful, creative, funny, person.  She already has a grasp of who the Creator is to her.  That relationship is her own.  She loves people and loves to help.

Do we have places to go with this?  Oh, yes!

I will be blogging of our mentoring time…

I am blessed to have this amazing young woman.  I love this girl!  AND,  I really like this person!  She is one of my favorite people to be with.  We get along great!  (For a mother and a daughter mind you, I am NOT her best friend, don’t want to be either!)         I seriously adore her! 

I can’t believe that I really am in that countdown.  I have been mentally preparing for it since she was in about 6th grade.  Two years…It will fly.  I ask you to join me in this and pray with me as we, Tom and I, finish this part of our  journey with her , and watch her fly.

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