One Year of Viola

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New Orleans here we come!!!

This past weekend was very exciting because we finally found out where we will be for Will's residency. We were so excited we started celebrating on Thursday.

I found this recipe in one of the Hannon's cookbooks.

Grapefruit and mint soda.

Friday morning we headed to the conference center and waited anxiously as they called the students up 3 by 3. I hadn't planned on going onstage, but decided I wanted to be there when he opened the envelope for the first time. We slipped behind the stage and Will handed me the envelope while he held Vivi. I opened it and it read Congratulation you matched at Ochsner. We both smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
 

Vivi and I walked onstage as Will read out where we were going.

 Afterwards we headed to Matt and Mimi's house to eat lunch and celebrate with family. His whole family came up from Troy to watch the ceremony. My mom was also able to be there.

Vivi spending some time with her granna.

Ms. Ann is teaching her a nursery rhyme.

A little mingling in the sun.

I woke up on Saturday and I wanted beignets, but the dough needed to chill for 24 hours so we went with doughnuts.

We had to get creative with our cutters.

Don't you just love a doughnut hole?

I know a lot of grease, but we were celebrating.

Nutella, sprinkles, powdered, and nutella with chocolate sprinkles.

Sadly Will is in Huntsville most of the month so he headed back Saturday afternoon. On Sunday Mom, Vivi, and I headed to Railroad Park.

We had a picnic.

We introduced Mimi to Steel City Pops.

 Later that afternoon I attended a baptism in our church's garden while mom watched Vivi for me. It was perfect weather and a very sweet ceremony.

I had to add this one.

This weekend was packed with lots of celebrating. I will give you a quick rundown. This past week Will turned 30. We saved his celebration until the weekend. I had a day full of his favorite activities planned followed by an evening of making one of his dreams come true (not that). Will and I have this funny saying "When our ship comes in." Whenever we have conversations about things that would be nice to have one day we tell the other one to put it on the ship. One of Will's dreams was to have a bar at home. For his birthday this year I had his friends bring him a bottle of liquor to make this dream a reality.

The day started off with a wonderful breakfast at the Ver Hoef's. They fixed homemade wheat waffles topped with whip cream and strawberries.

They were so yummy!

After breakfast we went and celebrated Mikey's birthday with a second breakfast. He and Will have the same birthday but Mikey is a few hours older. He doesn't often let Will forget that. After that we had a nap and did a little reading until the adventures continued.

Off next to Ruffner Mountain to meet Jaime and Clark Powell for a hike. Jaime's sister, Casey, was in town so she joined us too.

Our little hiker.

The whole gang

After our hike I dropped Will off to meet his next surprise guest. It was his friend Jonathan who was waiting at Good People brewery. Then after that we headed to dinner with the Hannon's at The Little Donkey.

Then over to Parkside where his friends were waiting  to celebrate. Everyone brought a bottle of liquor for the home bar and we spent the rest of the evening mingling and dodging the smoke from the fire pit. Thank you to everyone who was able to celebrate this exciting time as Will hit the big 3-0.

Lovely ladies.

What birthday would be complete without cupcakes? These are not just any cupcakes but Settlers of Catan cupcakes.

Tamales for brick, marshmallows for sheep, oreo's for ore, tootsie rolls for wood, and shredded wheat for wheat.

On Sunday it was upper 60's here and it was so nice to have the sun beaming on our faces. We went to the park along with most everyone else who was glad to see the warmer weather. 

On Monday Will had to be at the school to find out if he matched into a residency program. We went to check his email and there those words were : Congratulations! You have matched! We were beyond excited. Only a few more days and we will find out exactly where we will be.

I hope everyone had a great weekend wherever you were and whatever you did.

DIY Cupcake Stand

I vowed I was not going to make myself crazy putting on Viola's 1st birthday. I can say for the most part I kept my vow. I knew we would make cupcakes. I didn't have a cupcake stand and saw this idea a while ago on someone's blog. I went to our local thrift store and found some colorful plates and candle sticks. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I think these colors complimented the banner and other decorations nicely.

The glue gun didn't hold like I thought.

I had to bring out the big guns with the gorilla glue.

Finished Product

How to make a birthday hat

I found this great tutorial for a birthday hat here. I printed the pattern and got to work. I also had more of the material that I used to reupholster the chairs and the banner. I gathered my materials: Cheerios box, glue gun, scissors, pattern, and fabric. It was a quick and easy project.

Cut out the pattern.

Cut out the fabric.

Glue it on the cardboard.

Ta da.

I added the elastic and colorful fringe.

Blowing Kisses

Viola's 1st Birthday

This past Saturday we celebrated Viola's first birthday with our family. She had a book birthday. I asked everyone to bring their favorite childhood book to share. It was so great to see what everyone bought. She got Dr. Seuss, Olivia, and Pride and Prejudice a counting book. 

She also enjoyed her first cupcake. She was a little unsure at first, but when she realized everyone was looking at her she put on a show (See pictures below).

Thanks to our family who came to celebrate with us. Her first birthday was so special.