Dear Emily {Choose Beautiful}

My dear Emily Kate,

Tonight you were so lovely.  On several occasions I thought my heart would burst as I watched your loveliness.

You read me a book with such beautiful expression and excitement.  And your pure delight in doing this small act was lovely.

You decided to pick up the house because I wasn't feeling well and you wanted to surprise your daddy who has been out of town for several days.  I didn't ask you to do this.  You just did it.  You did it with a smile.  And your desire to serve me in this meaningful way was lovely.

You picked up your chunky baby sister who was crying and bounced her on your hip to quiet her and entertain her.  And your motherly instinct and care for another was lovely.


You bounced and giggled on your bed with your little sister.  You sweetly allowed her to join you on your bed and you played with her and made her laugh with delight.  And it was lovely to watch.

You told me a story about your day at school.  You smiled so brightly when you shared a part of your life with me.  And it was lovely to be included in your thoughts.

You are a beautiful girl, Emily.  You are lovely in so many ways.

But the things that make you the loveliest are not the things that the world will tell you makes a person beautiful.  

The world will tell you that the way you look, the clothes you wear and the size of your body are what make you beautiful.

But please hear what I have to tell you sweet girl...
The world is wrong, Emily.  So very, very wrong.

Your eyes do sparkle and your hair is silky and you do look precious in your tutu's and "sporty" clothes.

But those are not the things that make you beautiful.

What makes you radiantly beautiful is your heart.  
Your spirit.  
Your character.
Your kindness.

And tonight, in all those little things that you did, I saw your beauty shining so brightly. 

You, just being you, was lovely.
Beautiful.

I watched a video today that I can't stop thinking about.  A company put two signs above two different doors at the entry into the building.  Above one door, the sign read "Average".  Above the other door, the sign read "Beautiful".  It was poignant to watch the women try to decide which door to walk through.  To see how many beautiful women walked through the door marked "average".  I suspect they walked through the "average" door because they were evaluating themselves by the world's idea of what makes a person beautiful.  By how they look on the outside.  By what size their clothes are.  By whether or not they can wear a pair of skinny jeans.  

And I wondered which door I would walk through.  I hope I would choose beautiful.

And then I thought about you.  And your sisters.  

And how I hope and pray that you as you grow, you will know that you are beautiful.  

You are beautiful because your are made in God's own image.
He resides within your heart and His love is beautiful.  And that makes you beautiful too.

You are beautiful because your are uniquely you.
No one else has the same eyes that change color and no one else does cartwheels the same way and no one else can make her sisters feel as special as you.  You are beautiful simply because you are YOU.

You are beautiful because you smile and laugh.  
I've been telling you that "you're never full dressed without a smile" and "your smile is what makes you pretty" since the time you were old enough to talk.  Your smile and your giggle are beautiful.  Infectious really.  Do the things in life that make you laugh.  And smile.  You get to decide how you approach life; what your attitude will be.  Keep choosing fun, choose to giggle, choose to smile.  A positive spirit radiates beauty.  No matter how pretty your clothes are, it's the smile on your face that makes you beautiful.

You are beautiful because you are kind.
When you include others, when you refuse to speak badly about another person, when you share the special things that are yours, and when you seek to comfort those who are sad, you are being kind.  And hear me loud and clear on this one, sweetie.  Kindness is very, very beautiful.  

It's already starting. 

You are only seven, yet you are becoming aware of the world and its false idea of beauty.  I know this and it scares me.  It scares me because I fear the world's voice might speak so loud that you actually begin to believe it.  

Don't believe it, Emily!

As you grow and you hear the world trying to whisper its lies to you about beauty, don't listen!  No matter how loud the whisper gets, don't listen.

Listen to me instead.
Listen to Jesus.  The one who created you in His own beauty.
Listen to the voice inside of you that reminds you that you are beautiful, even when you don't feel like it.  
Listen to the truth.

And then, dear girl, hold your head high, stand tall, smile your infectious smile, and walk through the door marked "beautiful".  

ALWAYS CHOOSE BEAUTIFUL.

Because you are.  

Unicorns & Rainbows {Molly is 5}

For the most part, life with Molly Clare actually is "unicorns and rainbows".  And not only is she obsessed with a love of unicorns, I think she is kind of a unicorn herself!  She is...
- cheerful
- sparkly
- happy
- one-of-a-kind
- not afraid to be herself, even if that means she is different
- beautiful
- a dreamer
- super, super special

To know my Molly is to know that she loves unicorns.  She wears a unicorn horn to dance, to school, and even to church!  She dreams of owning her own unicorn and wants to give other people unicorns for their birthday presents. So, without question, unicorns was the perfect birthday theme to celebrate a full hand of fingers for Miss Molly Clare!

There are SO many ideas for rainbow decorations and my mind could have painted this room in ROYGBIV for days, but this what I had time to complete. It was colorful and sparkly and sweet and happy... just like my Molly!

Here are a few of my favorite things from this colorful unicorn celebration!

Unicorn horn dual centerpieces...

My girls did all of the skittle sorting themselves and helped build the "rainbow in a jar"!  The "unicorn horns" were my own idea and are ribbon wrapped styrofoam cones.

The unicorn signs. More importantly, the messages on them...

I ordered these prints from Etsy and printed them as photos.  I love the messages and hope that my Molly will do both...always be herself and always believe in her dreams!

Goody bags and sparkly unicorn wands...

Goody bags are always one of my favorite parts of party planning!  I ran out of time to find a super creative container for this party so traditional bags had to work.  I forgot to take a picture of the contents, but they included "unicorn horn" spiral lollipops, a unicorn puzzle, rainbow lip gloss, a rainbow crayon, a unicorn rubber bathtub duck, unicorn stickers, rainbow pencils, unicorn figurines, and the crowing glory... the unicorn wands!  The wands were purchased on Etsy and were adorable.  The unicorns were so sparkly and the silky rainbow ribbons were perfection.

The chandelier "tutu"...

The chandelier "tutu" was a happy accident, but more than appropriate considering that my "unicorn Molly" wears tutus more often than she wears pants!  I was going use the tulle for a runner, but it was taking way too much time to complete and so it became a tutu instead!

The rainbow ribbon runner...

I've made so many "rag ribbon runners" in the past few years.  They are easy and fun and different.  This one was made only with varying shades, widths, and styles of ROYGBIV ribbons.

 The welcome door decoration...

This was a quick, last minute addition as I had some extra ribbon and needed to remove my Christmas door decoration (yes, it was still on the door!).  

The cake that was so tall it started to fall over...

This cake might have been the world's tallest cake!  It was so tall that it started to lean and fall over :)  But look how beautiful the inside was!  We ate cake for days...until I accidentally set the leftovers on fire (true story)! I transformed an ugly unicorn figurine into the beautiful gold treasure with a can of spray paint! 

Rainbow fruit kabobs...

I had to include something other than cake, so rainbow fruit kabobs it was!  I'm pretty sure the rainbow effect of these was completely lost on the party guests :)

And my most favorite (and time consuming) detail of all was the unicorn horns...

 

I made the unicorn horns with a template I found online.  I used sparkly scrapbook paper so that each "unicorn"had a different colored horn!  Gold ribbon was hot glued to the horn to create the unicorn swirl.  I also added some strands of braided clip in hair because they were RAINBOW unicorns after all!  The birthday girl got the sparkliest horn of all!

And now for the party activities!

For the second year in a row, Molly requested face painting. It seemed pretty appropriate for the occasion and so once everyone arrived, they promptly got their faces primped with rainbows, sparkles and unicorns!

While face painting was going on, the other girls made rainbow name necklaces.

And they crafted this!

Pin the horn on the unicorn was next...

And then the unicorns went outside for the special "unicorn hunt".

I told the girls a story about how when unicorns walk, some of the sparkly magic from their hooves comes off on the ground.  And if they have been standing in one place for a long time, they sometimes leave a little gold unicorn hiding in that spot.  So the girls went out in search of unicorn magic (blue pebbles) and hidden golden unicorns!

And last, but not least, the PINATA!  Molly requested this months and months ago as she has never had one or attempted to break one.  I couldn't find a unicorn so I had to transform "Pinky Pie" from My Little Pony into a unicorn!

And then we sang and watched my sweet girl squinch up her eyes to make her wish before blowing out her FIVE candles.  And then we ate cake... the super big, super colorful, and super delicious cake!  And rainbow ice cream too!

I'm not sure how these past five years came and went so quickly.  Molly was my hardest adjustment as a mother.  She was such a hard baby and I was overwhelmed.  

But 5 years later, she is my middle and she is delightful.  She makes my own heart melt into "unicorns and rainbows" with her cheerful disposition, her love of life, her sweet voice, and her twirls.  She is my Molly...my very own unicorn.

I love you so very much, sweet Molly!

Believe in Your Dreams and

always, ALWAYS

be a Unicorn!