Guest Post – Haley from Just the Little Things

I can’t tell you all how excited I am to introduce Modern Mommyhood’s first guest post ever!  Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten to know Haley from Just the Little Things after falling in love with her photography skills and her adorable little daughter, Clara.  Her daughter recently turned 1, and I asked her if she’d be willing to write a guest post with all the details and photos.  I lucked out and she said yes!  And now, I’m going to step back and let you meet Haley (and Clara too!).

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Hi!  My name is Haley.. I could describe myself as many things, but most importantly I’m a wife and a momma.  My husband is in the Air Force (currently away at training for the summer… sad face), and we just moved back stateside from South Korea, where we lived for 2 years.  My daughter, Clara, was born in South Korea and we lived there for the first 10 months of her life.  So I was super excited to be able to have her very first birthday party at ‘home’ where most family and friends could celebrate with us.  Except her Daddy, the one who should be there.  But such is the life of an Air Force family!

A lot of planning went into this party.. no theme.. just girly and fun!  Every detail mattered to me.  Even though she won’t be able to remember this, when she’s older she’ll see photos of her little bash and know that she is a big deal.  She is important, loved, special… and deserves a little party to celebrate HER and all that she’s ‘accomplished’ in her first year of life.  Also, I had to make sure her daddy was as much a part of the party as  possible.  I borrowed a video camera from my older brother, I prepped my camera to take lots of photos, and let him in on the little details of the party.  For the ‘menu’ we decided to stick with easy things.. finger foods and sweet treats:

Pink Lemonade Punch
Bottled water & small bottles of Root Beer
Ham & Cheese and Chicken Salad sandwiches
Fruit Salad
Tomato Basil Squares
S’mores Pops
Chocolate Macarons
Oreo Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes with pink Vanilla frosting

Keep an eye out on my blog (http://hwescott.blogspot.com) for the recipes!

I went all ‘Martha Stewart’ and made some of these beautiful paper bag flowers (http://www.marthastewart.com/271365/paper-bag-flowers).  And aren’t the pinwheels just too cute?  I used them as centerpieces on the tables, as well as a few on the food table.  My mom has to get credit for those – she helped out a lot with making the decorations!

I made the ‘You are my Sunshine’ sign myself.  I grabbed myself a canvas, some pretty acrylic paints, made my own stencils.. and voila.  Once we move and get settled into our next base, I’m going to hang it in Clara’s room.  🙂  And if you were wondering, I used the font ‘cafe rojo’ to make the letters.

Goodie bags!  You can’t forget those!  Especially when you have lots of cute kiddos running around.  I like to keep things simple, so I just filled a paper bag with the goodies (bubbles, sidewalk chalk, goldfish crackers.. and for the wee babies, a pouch of organic baby food), wrote their name on a cute paper doily and tied it around with some colorful bakers twine.




And then while I was setting up and making everything beautiful before the guests arrived.. a VERY special guest arrived.  My husband flew in for the day (less than 24 hours, really) just for our baby girl’s party.  The only people who knew about it were my parents.. sneaky, sneaky!  I was shocked, and I’m sure my jaw dropped.  I cried.  This whole Clara-turning-one thing was a pretty big deal for us, and I’m so happy he didn’t have to miss it.  He was able to go wake Clara up from her nap, bathe her, and help get her ready for her big day.  During those 11 hours that he was with us he was able to see her attempt to take her first steps, shower us with lots of hugs and kisses, and see Clara smash cake all over her face.  😉  I think that little surprise gave us all the little ‘boost’ we needed to get through the summer while we’re apart.

Birthdays are so much fun.. and should be special, no matter what age you are.. to me, birthdays aren’t all about age, it’s about celebrating life!

One thought on “Guest Post – Haley from Just the Little Things

  1. Holli says:

    Adorable! Love the party ideas 🙂 so awesome that he flew in! No one realizes how hard it is to be a military wife and without your hubby unless youve been there!

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