Bonne Fête Nationale!

Independence Day has become rather important to me.

All it took was watching the John Adams mini-series a few years ago (and a few times since).  Watching those scenes where the details of the Declaration are hammered out.  Oh my gosh, I loved how they played Thomas Jefferson.  Seeing those actors embody the Founding Fathers.  Well... the whole thing gives me goosebumps.  

America.  

Last year we began a new tradition: A Fourth of July party.  It's a simple celebration.  We provide meat and drink.  Guests, primarily family, bring a dish or two to pass.  There are bags, badminton, tons of food, babies everywhere and my homemade sangria.   This year we didn't do the "Half-Way Farm" campgrounds but we hung out around the fire pit late into the night none-the-less.

Did I mention lots of sangria?

I was so excited this year as I had the brainstorm to use one of my old barn doors as a coffee table, hay bales as intimate seating, even an oil painting hung from the tree and a hooked rug for babies to crawl on.  I loved the idea of everyone lingering around a low table, a place to put your glass, low enough for adults and their little ones.  An outdoor living room.

The piece de resistance was the most stirring lines from the Declaration written on the side of the barn.  I love to recreate fonts so I had a little fun with some of the more noticeable letters.   I then invited every guest to read it at their leisure, ponder the words and then sign their names.  I loved that.  It felt special.  It felt patriotic.  It felt founding.

I hope to add guests every year.  Sometimes I am cautious about inviting people to occasions that are on coveted weekends like the 4th.  I never want anyone to feel obligated, you know?

I will do the "Barn Declaration" every year from now on.  I loved it that much.  The bunting and flags will stay on as farm décor throughout the month of July.  Did I mention I love bunting?  If you find it at a garage sale, shag it and I'll pay you back!

Here at Half-Way Farm, la ferme a mi-chemin, we are still waiting for a hot summer.  The garden seems slow.  So much rain and only a handful of days so far above 80 degrees.  The days too cool for a dive in the pool.  But our Fête Nationale was lovely.  

Merci to all who came.

Parisienne Farmgirl's Sangria:
One big jug of cheap Burgandy wine
One large bottle of pink Moscato wine
Two bottles of champagne
Two cups Volcanic Organic lemon juice
1 cup organic cane juice sugar
1/2 cup rose grenadine
fresh citrus as desired 

Mix.  Enjoy.

                                                                                                                         

Houston, We Have a Seven Year Old

So.....

Nope.

  Not my Dad.

The gentleman standing with his arm around my kiddo is...

Captain James Lovell

Captain of the infamous Apollo 13 mission!

HOW FRICKEN COOL IS THAT!!!????

After many weeks of planning with Captain Lovell's secretary we finally pulled it off and Aidan got to meet the one hero he has ever expressed a desire to meet!  It was so awesome... I mean... as a Momma to see his face.  

We all cried.

We went to Lovell's restaurant in Lake Forest, Illinois and told Aidan there was some NASA memorabilia there (other wise he would have wondered why we were dragging him to some place he had never heard of... and fancy at that for his birthday).

We got seated and Captain Lovell's secretary came to the table to confirm I was (the stalker) Mom she had been talking with the last few weeks and within five minutes here comes Jim Lovell around the corner to wish my son a Happy Birthday.

When he introduced himself Aidan was so perplexed!  He said, "Hey.... what are YOU doing here?!"

Oh my gosh... it was so awesome!

SO AWESOME!

A SPECIAL thanks to Julie who laid the groundwork (as family friends of the Lovells), Susan, Mom, and Ms. Weeks for helping me pull this off!!!

Aidan will NEVER forget it!

Two days later was the REAL birthday - Lego City/Lego Star Wars style.

Aidan and I collaborated on the cake and we loved the way it came out.  I REALLY enjoy duplicating fonts... hmmm... I still haven't showed you the "I Love Lucy" font I did on a cake a few weeks ago... note to self...

Family traditions - the chocolate cake my Mom began making when I was 13... with my own dark chocolate spin of course.

This was my first "kid party".  I just didn't want it to be a dud and truth be told, I got a little intimidated by some of the Lego parties I saw on Pinterest. 

 I mean... WHAT THE HECK!

Stylin' Momma's hugh?!

Aidan went on and on... said it was the BEST party EVER!

I sobbed like a baby when I tucked him in that night.

How in the world has seven years gone by?

Motherhood.

The most beautiful, painful thing in the world.

I love you so much Aidan.

Words are a failure.

The Launch Party! Budget, Recipes and Menu's Oh My!

SIL, fabulous friend, Auntie and Fashion Editor for PFM, Victoria came down on  Friday night... we stayed up WAY to late watching "What Not to Wear" episodes on YouTube and started Party Prep around 8 am on Saturday.

Prepping for a party with 5 kids in the house under 7 is...how shall we say this...

A LOT OF WORK!

I mean, they actually want  you to STOP what you are doing and FEED THEM three times a day!

What's up with that?

Thankfully I had made the macarons and the cakes earlier in the week or else we might have finished around midnight.  We WERE able to cut away at nap time thanks to hubby who held down the fort - we went out for a no-chip mani and a heady run thru Sephora!  

Waaaaaaaay too much fun!

By 6:30 the three little ones were down, my hair was done thanks to my stylist friend Anna... more about her later, Victoria was primping and my helper for the night (Gina) had shown up to cut the bread, wipe down the champagne flutes and look for spots on the silverware!  That might be the most genius thing I have ever done - hire a darling high school girl from across the street to move dishes along, manage garbage, hang coats, etc!  I was, despite how jittery and nervous I was, actually able to enjoy myself!

Late afternoon I was frantic for something to put my veggies in... 'til I had a total lightbulb moment and grabbed a wine crate.  It was so beautiful this photo does not do it justice!!!  (What you can't really see is the red cabbage has been cut out to serve as a bowl for the dip.)

On the Menu:

Cheese plate

-Morbier

-Brie

-Cambozola

Sushi platter

Duck Liver Paté

with sea salt, pepper, and figs

Salami wrapped green onions (apparently the big hit of the evening!)

Moms Chèvre with Dried Fruit and Honey Spread

Dark Chocolate Reine de Saba 

Blackberry Grapefruit Buttermilk Cake with Sauternes

Of course, this party was planned on a budget.  ($250.00) 

I was able to have flowers in every room thanks to Costco, Trader Joe's, the tree in the empty house across the street and my sweet smelling Vibernum in the backyard.

To accommodate the large crowd I made two of my Reine de Saba cakes, one 8 inch and one 9 inch and stacked them!  I love the way it came out.

 I do not like to use plastic at parties but for large groups I don't have enough mis-matched China so I use clear glass plates from the dollar store (I have had them forever!) and beautiful napkins (These lovelies were perfect for my colors this evening - I bought them at Romancing the Home in Lake Forest, a PFM advertiser.)

Only $4.50 a package and they
are SO SOFT!!!

 I also bought 15 nice, simple wine glasses at the dollar store a couple hours before the party.  My favorite champagne flutes are from a garage sale from 16 years ago - $2.00.
Too bad I forgot a photo of the beverage counter!!!

I was also frantic for something to serve my onions in and then I realized that a copper pot would add another provencal country feel to my table!  It needs to be re-tinned so for safety I lined it with romaine lettuce leaves.  It turned out so beautiful. 

These onions were a HUGE HIT and it just made me giddy!  The are SO simple and SO delicious.

Simply spread cream cheese on a thin slice of salami and wrap it around the end of a green onion.  I got the green onions and cream cheese at Aldi and a big pack of salami at Costco.  The total was only $12.00 but the response from the guests was out of this world!

Mom, Susan (Friend and owner of Romancing the Home) and moi.

PFM and blog readers, Dawn and Sharon

 Neighbor Nancy and her sister who had taught an Annie Sloan chalk 

paint class in town that day at the art studio.

Now this was a huge treat -

that gorgeous girl you see here is Jennifer Morris of Amusing Provincial!  She and her hubby drove all the way from Kansas City JUST for the lauch party!

WHAT???!!!

That's what I said!

Our moments to chat were so brief it was such a buzz kill - it was obvious that was have serious friend potential and I am looking forward to getting to know her better!  How pretty is she!!!???

 Me - Giddy but exhausted!

Now here is the troop-

I have had the blessing in the last 10 weeks or so of having this group of women enter my life.  This is Susan and her Romancing the Home team.  I honestly don't know when I have encountered such a wonderful batch of women!  Fun, creative, stylish, generous and SO KIND!  They came in two carloads to the party, gave the most beautiful hostess gifts... all in all they are simply so supportive, it brings a tear to my eye and I do look forward to getting to know each of them better as the opportunity arises.

You girls are the best.

My Sisters!!!!!!!!

Me-n-Hubby at the end of the night 

Whew!

I was NOT expecting hostess gifts - just that people would come celebrate with me meant so much but people put so much those into their treats.  Jewelry designer Jeannie LaBelle of The Gilded Junqueyard made this for me.  "Farm Girl"... alas... hopefully someday very soon!  

Pretty rings, keychains, Wellies with Eiffel Towers on them, perfume, etched cake plates, plates, champagne, a peony for my garden... WOW!  

A special, long distance, thank you to a certain "Madame".  

You dear, dear thing you!  From the bottom of my heart - Merci!

Ok - now for the "do"!

I am blessed with such talented friends and one of them is my friend Anna.  She is a styling wiz!  And known for it - she actually gets called to the United Center to give the stars a quick mani before their show!  Last year she "groomed" Sir Elton John, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Donnie Osmond... FOR REAL!

When she came by I told her I wanted something retro (on account of the style of my dress) meets Marie Antoinette!  SHE NAILED IT with no photo for reference!   I swear I would where my hair like this every day!!  I just loved it!  The photos DO NOT do it justice. Anna travels so if you need an up-fdo let me know and I'll give you her number!

So...

I've got some video clips and some "morning after" shots I'll share later this week.  We've had a wonderful time as a family since the party.  We stayed in our jammies for almost two days straight... dishes be damned too.  Then we went on some walks, made some great meals and tomorrow it's back to school (we school Tues-Sat).  It feels so good to have this magazine finally launched. 

Thank you girls so much for everything!  For those of you who took an evening to come to the launch, for all the kind words on Facebook, for the subscribers that pour in all day long...

Joel and I are so touched.

Merci.  Merci encore.

A $110.40 Birthday Party - Juliette a Deux Ans!!!

Too many weeks have gone by since my Hoolie turned two, but it was more about savoring the moment than hopping on the blog the moment it was over.

She is so precious I can't stand it.

She too wanted a Tink Bell party.

Hmmm... just a couple weeks after Christmas and her big sisters party... how to do it on a budget?

Let's begin with the cake.

Homemade by her wanna-be cake decorating Momma.

One of my tricks for a budget  birthday party is printable coupons for Michaels Art and Crafts.  If you google "printable Michaels Coupon" within a few clicks you will find a printable 40% off coupon.  I'll go to this store four days in a row if I have to to save 40%!  I got her cake pan, regular price $13.00 for $7.50.  I had everything else except the peach food coloring for her face.  So let's call the cake $10.00!

Tinkerbell plates, napkins, tiara (my girls gotta have tiara!) and hanging decor...

$19.00 - Party City

Flowers -

I bought the multi colored roses at the local grocery store.  They usually aren't the nicest and I am sort of ornery you know so I stand there and pull out the dodgy ones and replace them with better ones from other bouquets - I figure this is my right and that it's unacceptable for a store to sell roses with brown edges.  Humpf.  $10.00 

The other yellow roses someone brought over earlier in the week.  They were almost dead so I cut them very short and put them in the wine glasses with these darling, very Tinkerbell-esque glitter floral accessories from Michaels.  Found them on the Christmas clearance pile.  $.07 each!!!  Total $.40

Wrapping paper and ribbon.  Loved the color.  Bright and cheery and Tinkerish.

$1.00 bin at Michaels.

As you can see, I also used the paper as the runner on the table and simply taped it tight underneath.  I love the look.

$3.00

Forget paying a fortune for balloons... and what child isn't elated by a room full of balloons?  Hit the dollar store ladies.  For her Tinkerbell look we chose silver, green and butterflies.  One dozen.  $12.00

Your kids, my kids... kids don't need as much as we are tempted to spoil them with and I think it's important to make sure we aren't buying them too much for how it makes us feel.  In our home we are all about Melissa and Doug toys.  Available at Michaels too.  You guessed.  We printed two coupons that day and tag teamed.  Hubby ran in and then I did!

Melissa and Doug toys are creative and well made.  

Gift total with discount about $25.00!!!

For dinner we had Juliette's favorite spaghetti with her Momma's sauce.

Cost to feed six adults and three children

$30 Including Wine

My Sweet Hoolie - how can you be two already???

My Tiny Tink.

I love you so much.

Now you're my whole life,

Now you're my whole world,

I just can't believe, the way I feel about you girl,

Juliette Élisabeth,

Stronger than it's ever been,

We've come so far since that day,

And I thought I loved you then.*

Each of my children has their own song. 

 A popular song customized by adding their name. 

 This is the chorus to Brad Paisley's song, "Then".