Feelin' the love

Last night was my Moms Club year end banquet. Put simply, it was great (and I'm not just saying that because I helped plan it!) When I joined the Moms Club almost four years ago, I didn't really have high expectaions. I figured it was something I had to do for Hannah and Lizzie because they needed to have friends their own age and I didn't have any friends with kids in that age bracket.

Yet from the moment I went to my first meeting I felt welcomed and a part of the group. Now I'd say I spend just about as much time gabbing with my friends as the girls do playing with theirs. The Moms Club has offered me a circle of friendship and support that I never imagined, or really thought I needed. I was wrong, of course, as this brilliant, strong, wonderful women have encircled me with just those very things and I have embraced them, too.

Here we all are, with the exception of Melia, who took the picture and promises us she will photoshop herself into the photo --we even left space for her!So last year about this time I was getting ready to begin my term as president, or, as I preferred to call it, my benevolent dictatorship. Last night I realized that my time is almost over. We'll install the new board at our meeting in a few weeks, and I know we're going to have another great year.

This is what we did at the banquet.

We held the banquet at my sister Terry's horse farm. We put the room together in the early afternoon, and each place setting got two favors, a DVD slideshow and a glow bracelet.

Here are the favors. My friend (and Moms Club member) Stacie is a Stampin' Up consultant (and the reason you all get nice cards once in a while because she helps me make them) so she designed both favors. The flower pot is painted and hand stamped and we planted them with pansies. The clipboards are actually for photos. Stacie designed them to fit our theme, Growing Friendships, and cut all the stuff and then several others of us did some stamping and then glued them together. Now that the banquet is over, you can take off the program and instead place a photo there and display it. The little tag in the upper left hand corner says "One of a Kind." I loved these favors, even though I'm sure my plant will be dead in about a week. But that's just me:

Those of you who were at Hannah and Lizzie's christening party will remember how beautiful Terry's barn is. (THANK YOU AGAIN TERRY!!) We started with cocktails out on the patio in the courtyard. Some of the members had made appetizer type things, brought wine, etc. The weather was gorgeous in the early evening with a light breeze. Very nice way to start things off. Dinner was a catered buffet with a choice of chicken florentine on a bed of vegetable risotto or fettucine with asparagas, pine nuts and marscapone cheese (there was enough for everyone to have BOTH!), a huge green salad with lots of fresh vegetables and a great cranberry balsamic dressing (there was ranch peppercorn, too), rolls with butter and a dessert tray (as well as some homemade peanut butter cups made by Kristen, who has to give me the recipe (Mom you would LOVE them!!), with bottled water.

Here is Lizzie enjoying the fettucine the next day at lunch:

During dinner every member won a door prize donated by members. They were things like a Stampin' Up stamp set (won by me!), lots and lots of Arbonne products (friend and member Clare is a consultant), some body shoppe products (friend and member Amy is/was a consultant), a cookbook and a few other things. It's always nice when everyone can win something.

After dinner I made a whole bunch of presentations, blah blah blah ... you all know it's hard to keep me quiet so you can just imagine how much I had to say!

Then the membership gave ME the most wonderful gifts. Seriously, I was so touched. They gave me about 47 roses, a second bouquet of flowers, a crystal vase that weighs about 200 pounds it's so large and dense, and a fountain.

Flowers:

More flowers:Fountain (yes those are all real amethysts!) Isn't it stunning. It sounds really nice too, although I had to get used to the sound. For most of the morning I thought someone had left the water on in the kitchen!

After all the gift giving and speeches, I premiered the DVD slide show I'd made of my past three/four years with the club. It's amazing how the children have grown up even in the short time I've been a member. It's NOT so amazing that I took about a gazillion pictures over the past several years. It came out nice and made me cry to watch it, even after I'd watched it about 150 times while putting it together.

Then everyone helped clean up (YAY!!) and we chatted for awhile and then we had to get back to our homes and families.

I was exhausted when I got home, but not too exhausted that I couldn't eat a few of those peanut butter cups. Did I say YUMMY!!!??? They really are. I would post a picture of them, but they are now all gone.

Now the next big event in our household is preschool graduation, which is next Thursday. Good thing I have some kleenex left over from the slide show!!