Blue Monday: Two Special Gifts

Today I'm linking up for the first time with SmilingSally for Blue Monday. To visit other Blue Monday participants, click here.


My blue item today is this beautiful little figurine that my 10 year old daughter, Lynzie, gave to me this last Christmas. What is so special about her is that Lynzie had picked out one very similar to it weeks before and told me how much she liked it. I told her to put it on her Christmas list!

When I opened her gift, it really blessed me that she'd chosen something that she wanted so badly to give to me. To add to the specialness, I had purchased the one she picked out and stuck it in her stocking---so we ended up with a matching set!

My daughter Lynzie is one of God's most special gifts to me! She is not only a lovely young lady of whom I grow more and more proud each year, but she's also becoming a close friend and prayer partner!

The second special gift I'd like to introduce is also one of my children---our newest family member, Liam Bradley! Liam was born on May 12 and was the tie breaker for our three boys and three girls! While he's nice and pink, I figured blue is the color associated with baby boys so it's not too far of a stretch to feature him on Blue Monday, right?

Have a great Blue Monday everyone and be sure to check out all the other Blue Monday bloggers at SmilingSally!

Pink Saturday: Mom

Today I'm paying tribute to my biggest fan: Mom! This is the first time I've linked up with Beverly's Pink Saturday and up until late this morning, I was having a difficult time deciding what pink thing to feature first! For more Pink Saturday, click here.

How fitting that my mom would choose today to send me a poem that she'd written five years or so ago! The poem is all about her "pink" daughter (yep, that would be me...). As soon as I read it, I knew that I'd have to see if she'd let me print it here for Pink Saturday!

I'm also showing off my birthday present from Mom. I'm a collector of all things tea-ish and Mom picked out the most beautiful chintz tea-for-one! I absolutely love this special gift and therefore I've placed it in a prominent place on my special hutch amidst some antique books that I'm collecting.

The little flower inside was picked for me by my 7-year-old son, Elisha, on Wednesday as we brought our newest little baby Liam home from the hospital.


Here are Elisha and Liam cuddling together at home:



And...because I know you're curious, here's our whole family in the hospital with baby Liam:

Now, for my Mom's beautiful tribute to me, Tootsie:

Reasons by Christy Virgil
My little pink bundle.
My blue eyed joy.
Sassy personality with the generous heart.
Tootsie and Fruitsie will never part.
The strong honey haired teen. Finding her way in the dark.
The storm has passed, she's always ready for the task. always looking ahead.
Giving, giving, and giving.
Neverending.
I live through her life.
My pink beautiful daughter/friend.

I love you, Mom!

The "Blue Jammies"

I am reposting this for my first week of Favorite Things Friday. For more FTF, click here.

Today I'm very happy to announce the arrival of our newest son, Liam Bradley Coller! Baby Liam was born yesterday morning about 5:00 am.

In honor of this little guy's birth, I'm blogging about the "Blue Jammies" for Vintage Thingie Thursday and Favorite Things Friday.


Liam is our seventh child and the newest one to wear these "vintage to some" baby pajamas. I'm not sure how I even ended up with these 11 years ago when I was preparing for the birth of our first child but it has somehow become a tradition for each of our children to wear them on their first night home. They're made of a light blue terry cloth material and have square plastic snaps and white lace on the collar. I'm thinking they're from the late 70's, early 80's. **Update: My mom says that she's pretty sure she got these as a gift in 1982 when my brother Joe was born. They must have been in the hope chest she gave me when I had our first daughter. That makes them even more special! Thanks Mom and Uncle Joe!**

At this point, we're still in the hospital but I'm really looking forward to getting Liam all snuggled up in the Coller Family Pajamas once were home and settled! (Update: to see Liam in the Blue Jammies, click here and scroll down to the end of the post.)

For more Vintage Thingy Thursday, click here!