I had a table set up with cards for everyone to write a message to Jerome and put in a jar. I will be sending him these cards with packages we will be sending, a few cards at a time throughout his deployment.
I made these jars for each of the tables. The sand represents Afghanistan. Each jar had a different set of pictures, his Chief pinning, his brother Joey pinning his ESWAS pin on him, him and his buddy Aaron on the USS Hayler, his last deployment to Afghanistan, marching in a Memorial Day parade and our kids waving their little American flags and many, many more pictures.
The cake was made by my cousin's wife and turned out beautiful. I had her make it as a service members flag. Natalie and Katie iced the cupcakes I made. Jerome's brother Joey did a wonderful job with the cooking for the party.
His friend Alex gave both Jerome and Noah a wonderful send off toast. It was very well written and spoken. There was a lot of laughter and tears.
Our girls enjoyed dancing with their Daddy.
Jerome loved having all of his family there.
We danced to our song, The Longer The Waiting, by Josh Turner. Jerome started singing to me while we were dancing which made it even more special.
Our dance was cut short because Katie started crying seeing us dancing together. She and Natalie both were crying. She later told me that it made her sad seeing us dancing together because she was going to miss seeing us together when her daddy leaves.
Spencer became emotional once during the party as well. He was crying and Jerome was crying as he was giving him his "be strong, I'll be back in a year" talk.
Our kids went home with friends and Jerome and I made it a long night and enjoyed the rest of the night (morning) with his friends and brother.
Amber - God bless your family and look over Jerome as well as you and the kids during his deployment. Please know that his service is valued and appreciated; so too are the sacrifices made by you, Spencer, Natalie, and Katie. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nicki, that means a lot to us.
ReplyDeleteHello amber, I stumbled upon your blog when searching for unique centerpiece ideas for my husbands upcoming deployment party, I really love your unique jar centerpieces and was hoping you might remember where you found them? I haven't had any luck finding those particular ones. Thank you! Alla
ReplyDeleteSure! The jars I purchased at Walmart (I believe Target has them too) they are around $5 each. They are found in the kitchen section with the kitchen canisters. I bought a bag of play sand from our local hardware store and put just a little in the bottom of each one. Then I put a styrofoam square (found at the dollar store in packs of 3 or 4) in the bottom so that I would be able to place the flags how I wanted them and to raise them above the jar top. Then I added more sand to cover the foam piece. I slid the pictures in the sides, some vertical ones I had to trim to fit. Then I put a battery operated votive light candle in the center (sitting on top of the foam square/sand). I found the battery operated votive candles at Hobby Lobby (I used my digital online 40% off coupon to purchase these), they were in a bag or box with several in it. Then I took the American flags (I did 5 or 6 per jar) and pushed them down into the foam around the votive candle to keep it in place as well. I know Target has packs of American flags in their dollar section, which is where I purchased most of the flags. Then I tied a yellow ribbon around the top of the jar. I hope this helps (and I hope that you find these jars). If you have any other questions please feel free to email me at: amberhopephotography@frontier.com
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your deployment party! This was the first one I had ever thrown for my husband. He was very excited about it and had a wonderful time at the party.
Thank you so much for the info! Last question: what size do you figure the jars are?1 qt:(5.5in ) or 2qt:(6-5/8")
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