Lori's baby shower

We threw the most fabulous baby shower for my sister-in-law Lori last weekend! At least I thought it was fabulous... We were smallish, number wise, but it was seriously cute (and delicious).

These are the invites I made (I erased the address and phone numbers for privacy). I bought the pdf file of the sea life from an etsy shop called Blackleaf Studios. You pay $5 and then have the right to use the clip art and print it off on whatever you want, however much you want. (Genius idea, right??) So I uploaded it onto a photo card template from Shutterfly, and they just happened to have the polka dot design in the right colors. I used some Pampers Gifts to Grow points and so a set of 25 cards was free--all I had to pay for was shipping. I was absurdly pleased with myself. I also used the clip art to send some free e-vites on pingg.com

 

We had the shower at my parent's house in Hurricane. It's for sale and it's empty right now because they've been living in my brother's house next door. It was perfect because it was like a big blank canvas that I got to decorate.

 

 I had the sea life clip art enlarged and printed off at Staples (I wish I had a color printer...), laminated them and cut them out. I also had smaller versions printed and cut them out for other things.

Here's the food table--we were just barely finishing setting up when everyone arrived and I was like, "WAIT! I HAVEN'T TAKEN ANY PICTURES YET!!!!!!!!" Ahem...

 

My mom and sisters helped with all the food--we had a 6-foot sub sandwich from Walmart (it was really tasty!), mini pecan tarts, coconut fluff, a fruit tray with yogurt dip, Golden Graham treats, pasta salad, cake pops, banana streusel muffins and mini sodas and bottled waters.

 

I made tissue poms and polka dot garlands for the rest of the decorations (posts on those later).

 

 

This "chandelier" will be used as a baby mobile

 (huge) diaper cake I made

Sign in table

I just love how it all turned out! :D Next time I think I'll hang the decorations from the ceiling instead of the wall, but I just was in too big of a rush...

 

 Lori's having her second baby--a boy!

 

This is her 3-year-old daughter, Hattie. 

*Pause to wish you had her cascades of golden hair and eyes of limpid blue*

 

We're taking bets as to whether her baby brother comes out as another blondie or is dark like his daddy.

 

  

Monica, Maria and my mom  (thanks for helping out, ladies!)

 

 Madelyn

My sister Meg, about to go on a group date hiking before her first Homecoming Dance (!)

I wish I had a better picture of Lori's side of the family, but there's her mom, great-aunt, sister and nieces

 

Then her friend Cristina dropped by afterward (she was busy getting her bridal portraits done during the shower)

Madelyn and Hattie took to frolicking in the front yard...

 

If there's anything those girls know how to do well, it's frolic.

 

Me...I am a dork. (But a crafty dork.)

Sorry about alllllll the pictures--it was just such a fun event! Tutorial posts and recipes to follow sometime soon.

Birthday boy

Oy, what a weekend. I'm still digging out of piles of stuff over here...so forgive the mess and the bedraggled state we're in in the photos.

Sunday was Luke's birthday! He got to open presents in the morning, but then we spent the rest of the day in about 12 different church meetings. (*grumble*) This huge one was from Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Rich.

 

 It was a shopping cart! I had actually been thinking of getting him one, but this was much nicer than what I would have bought.

 He went straight to the pantry and put some cans of diced tomato in.

 

Then when he opened his Pee-Wee Pillow Pet (a turtle), he stuck him in the front seat.

 Grandma Carolyn also gave him this super cool Poke-A-Dot book, which he LOVES. It has plastic button thingies like the ones you push on the top of a lid on a fountain drink.

 I gave him some foam blocks that are shaped like Tetris pieces. He loves to knock them down. He can't let even two blocks be on top of each other without him thwacking them clear across the room.

 I also gave him a plastic tool kit (we have a wooden one, but he was using the hammer to dent Madelyn's walls....more on that some other time......)

 

 He got a Fisher Price space shuttle from his Auntie Monica and fam. It makes cool sounds and has an astronaut and little moon rover. It is so cute.

He also got Superman jammies, a Sunday shirt, a new Elmo's World DVD (thank you Maria) which he has already watched about 17 times, Sesame Street coloring book and crayons, a Cookie Monster book, a SpongeBob play camera and a big bubble blowing toy we haven't used yet.

Spoiled!!!!

 This was his super elaborate "cake", which I baked the morning of his birthday and then finally frosted, etc  at nearly 9:00pm. I made my favorite chocolate chip cupcakes, which are fabulously divine.

Madelyn wanted the caterpillar to have a smile, so she made me add more Sour Skittles. She was jealous that it wasn't her birthday...

 Monday, I took him in for his 2-year checkup at Mark's clinic. He's made a lot of progress since his 18-month visit!

Weight: 26 lbs. 1 oz. (26th percentile)
Height: 35 inches ( 68th percentile)

He wears size 6 shoes and 18-24 month clothes. Just thought I'd mention that because I was reading my friend Jamie's blog, and her son Mana (who is one day older than Luke) is in 8-9 shoes and 3-4T clothes! He's half Tongan, though....

At his 18-month checkup, Luke was only saying maybe 5 words and was considered speech delayed. In the past few weeks, he's finally decided to start talking. The size of his vocabulary is still on the low end, but Dr. Dowse said he was fine (so hopefully he won't need speech therapy like we thought he would).

New words: Boo! Hi, bye, shoes, uh-oh, Mama, Dad, there is is, there they are, side (outside), ice, ball, oh, bubble, wow, whoa, 'ray! (hurray), kitty, aha!, go, ok, yay, mhmm, uh uh, I, why, cookie*.

*On his birthday, he pointed at Cookie Monster in his new book and said "Cookie" as clear as day! Although I haven't been able to get him to say it since. He's stubborn that way.

Likes: snuggling with his mama, Sesame Street (especially Elmo), SpongeBob SquarePants, Lunch Lab Live with Professor Fizzy (on pbskids.org), balls, ladders, swings, slides, mud, coloring, running, hiding under blankets, hiding in the closet or under the bed, climbing on everything, water, baths, dogs and cats, yogurt drinks, Chinese food, noodles, pizza, cucumbers, carrots, Wheat Thins, root beer.

Dislikes: dropping off Madelyn at school or gymnastics (he cries when she walks away), getting strapped in his car seat, the drain in the bathtub, being separated from his mama, getting his teeth brushed (although he's getting better...) and not being allowed to play in the front yard.

(Madelyn's learned to stand on her head in gymnastics)

I am sure lucky to have two great kids. I love them to pieces and am glad to be their mom! ♥♥♥

Two years old!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet, snuggly, happy, curious, mischievous boy! 

We love you, Luke!!!

Oh.

 So that's where my comb has been this past week.

 Good to know you were using it to dig for stuff in the sandbox.

Stay tuned for some big things happening this weekend. The shed's almost finished, I'm throwing Lori a baby shower tomorrow, and Luke turns TWO on Sunday!!

I'm off to clean and bake and clean and cook and clean. Toodleoo!