Nora's Blessing.

On Sunday Sep 25th we blessed Nora. What a great day it was. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. We could not be happier to have Nora here. I still look at her and can't beleave she is here. She is such a miracle to us. Through all of the crazyness of my pregnancy I would dream about this day and what I would do to make it stand out and be special.
The day was amazing. Kris did such an amazing job with the blessing.
Some of the things that were said in her blessing:

We are so grateful that she is here and part of our family.
She was told that she was given 2 gifts. A body that she should protect. Do no harm to your body. Don't take any harmful substances. The second gift is Agency. "You'll use it for good."
She will respect, love, and have a close bond with her mother. She is a child of our Heavenly Father. Treat others with respect because they are also children of our Heavenly Father. She is a product of Fasting and Prayers of loved ones. She would have a testimony of Fasting and Prayer and grow close to her Heavenly Father. That when she falls short she can come to her parents for help and rely on her Savior Jesus Christ to repent and in times of grief or sorrow.
You'll be married in the temple for all time and eternity
Your sisters can't wait to show you the ropes.
The blessing was amazing and oveoulsy was the highlight of the day but all of the little details are so much fun as well. Here are the details of the blessing.
Her dress was given to her by Grandma. She got it in Japan and it was so fun to have a little something to represent Grandpa and Grandma who were not able to be there.
Once we got home we changed her into her onesie. This was a tradition that was started with Molly. Cydne's husband Brayden was on his mission when Molly was born and had his sister send a gift for her. It was a onesie with her name on it and a little mini blanket. We put it on Molly the day she was blessed signifiing that she had been given a name. I love the tradition so much we have kept it going. So we put on her Name once when we got home to keep her dress nice and signify what the day was all about.
Now for the party.

For the drink we did pink lemonade and water.

The dessert table was my favorite part. I made some of my favoritis. Raspberry bread pudding, mini chocolate cupcakes and mini pumpkin cupcakes (both favorites of my family) Homemade banana pudding, and a brownie triffle. I threw in some sugar cookies, and whoopie pies.

Red Velvet cake! I added a little banner.

This was taken just before I had gotten all of the bread pudding out, so it's not completely finished. I love decorative pom poms they added some color and height.

For favorites I wanted to do something to say thanks for coming and all of the prayers and support. I settled on a picture frame for each family. I got some frames from Ikea sanded a little to ruff it up and then primed and panted it with chalkboard paint. Then I wrote up a little note that said thanks for coming and then some ways they could use the frame. like for birthdays, holidays, good luck for taking a big test, take a funny pick of yourself and put it in the frame with a little note to cheer someone up the list is endless. Just a fun way to make someone's day special.

For lunch we did pork burritos, homemade salsa and chips. I borrowed my moms chaffing dishes (I want some!) and then put the GOOD tortillas (meaning the ones you have to cook, so good if you haven't tried them you should), rice in another and then the pork in the last one. I filled both of those white bowls with salsa one more spice and the other more mild and then then lined the bags of chips on both sides. I wanted to have the chips in some kind of container that there weren't a million hands going in and out of. I got these little brown bags and then added a label to mark them as "Chips" so that everyone would know what they were. This was taken before the food was out and all set up. I put the plates in front and then I found the most awesome cutlery at Zurchers (totally look like real silver ware) It gave it a polished look with less dishes to wash.

Thanks B for helping me hang these at 11:00 the night before you left town! You rock. I really appreciated the help, but also I had a blast.

OK! This had to be my all time FAVORITE thing! I love the cupcake toppers. I loved the idea of making this more personal. Bringing the attention to Nora and making her the Star of the day. They weren't super hard to make and I loved the impact they had. I will be doing this for almost every party from here on out.

kisses with Nora's Name on the bottom.

Favors for family and friends.