Baby Shower

Finally, photos from the baby shower I hosted for my friend Michelle at the end of July. John's parents, Mary & John, came down for their summer visit a week before the shower and were such a tremendous help to us in preparing. Mary and her sister Martha made the cutest pink and brown banners out of new and vintage fabric pennants, which we strung in doorways and across windows. Mary also brought along her stork clear-toy molds, which we used to make wax storks. Mary and Lucia made super cute soaps for party favors. Mary and John also gifted me with my very own "lambey" cake mold, which we used to make the lambey cake you see pictured. John and Mary found the cake mold after much searching, and John used a ton of elbow grease to clean and then cure the mold for me.

Mary and John were instrumental in helping us get ready for the shower, and I can't thank them enough. I only regret that we worked them so hard while they were here. We definitely owe them a leisurely visit next summer. They've earned it!

John (my John) had the idea to plant African Violets in Vlasic pickle jars (which picture a stork on the label) to give out to the winners of our shower games. John was in charge of purchasing and planting our prizes.

My friends, Madeline and Katie, supplied most of the food for the shower, and it was delicious. Thanks so much to you girls for all of your hard work. Madeline made curry chicken salad, served in croissants; a wonderful fruit salad, and cake pops. Katie brought veggies, hummus, and an amazing spinach and artichoke dip. My neighbor Deb brought her famous caramel slice. I made "mushroom puffs" and the punch. We had quite the spread! My mom, who was out of town the weekend of the party, provided me with tons of platters, pink and brown print paper-stuffs and napkins, her punch bowl, extra chairs, basically all the extras I needed to feel comfortable hosting 20+ girls.

At the shower, we played a game where everyone brought a baby photo of herself, and then the guests had to guess who was pictured in each photo. It was really hard, and a bit more time consuming than I'd planned :) Unfortunately, baby pictionary was bumped as a result, but of course, no one noticed or minded because we went straight into opening gifts, which is pretty much the point.

We concluded the shower with a quick trip down the street to Michelle and Freddy's house to see the perfectly decorated and stocked nursery. Pink and brown all the way!

All in all, the shower was a success, and I thank everyone who contributed from the bottom of my heart!

Julie's Wedding

These are photos taken at my cousin Julie's wedding reception back in July. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Long time, no blog updates!

Hello again! This post is for my sister, Jessy, who is understandably sick and tired of seeing that 2 month old photo of Maxwell every time she opens her blog :) Now, she'll get to see a photo of Jude instead!

I hope that everyone has had a great summer! It's hard to believe that it's already September. I was thrilled to wake up last Saturday morning to perfect almost-fall weather (thanks to Hurricane Earl). The temperature was in the 70's, there was basically no humidity, and not a cloud in the bright blue sky. And, it was the start of college football, which normally annoys me, but given the weather, football was just another welcomed indicator that the summer is coming to a close.

Last week, John and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! John surprised me with half a dozen roses, and an absolutely spotless house! He cleaned everything, like really well, while I was at work. This sounds a little weird even to me, but I can't remember the last time I appreciated something so much. Plus, now I know that John is capable of Grade A housework, which is a gift I hope keeps on giving :)

So, the above photos were taken from my phone (I don't have my camera on me b/c I'm actually making this post from work...Shhhhhhhhh!). The beautiful baby you see is Emily, the brand new daughter of our friends Freddy & Michelle. These are the folks who I threw the baby shower for (I have tons of photos of the shower to post!). John is such a natural with kids. Holding new babies makes me nervous, and before I held Emily for the first time, I made John go over technique with me more than once...there were even a couple demonstrations with the cats! Thankfully, my training paid off -- Emily made it out of my arms completely unscathed :)

More later, I promise!