Showers all around...

Our close friends, Sam and Holly are expecting their first little bundle of joy in just a few days.  So, of course I was all about showering her with gifts and a good time with her friends!

When Pinterest first was introduced to all of us "crafty" people, Holly saw the baby shower theme "She's about to Pop".  And even before Emma Rose was conceived, that's the shower she wanted!  And of course, having a theme totally excited me!

I wanted to do it a little different than the normal popcorn idea and Holly was getting her bedding custom made (by my most talented Mother in Law).  So, I used the colors from the bedding and brought the "Pop" in with the food, drinks, and party favors.

I loved how it turned out!!  These pics are from my phone, so not the best quality...but you get the idea...

This is what greeted everyone at the front door.  

The food table.  There was so much good food!

Ham & Swiss Poppyseed Sliders

Mushroom Pops

Popular Cheeseball & Crackers

Orzo Salad with Pops of Color

Fruit Pops

Chocolate Covered Popcorn

And my favorite:

Blow Pop Martini's and Wine Pop!

  

I loved getting all the decorations together!  All the colors were so fun! The invitations asked the ladies to bring a bow for Emma instead of a regular bow on the gifts.  We were able to use Emma's bow holder from her nursery to display all her new goodies!

There's nothing better than a monogram!

The fun party favor:  a mini bottle of bubbly for everyone to celebrate Emma's arrival!

Luckily one of our friends is an amazing baker! She made the cake to match the colors and added her monogram!

And the table with all the food:

I made us do one game.  Guess the size of the belly! We used balloons to keep with the whole "Pop" theme.  It was hilarious!

It wasn't really a game, but we had folks write notes for Holly to read during those late night diaper changes!

Emma got lots of cute things!

There were even some tears shed during the opening of gifts!

I was so glad to be able to shower Holly & Emma Rose with love!!!

Big New Adventure...

I have a big announcement to make!!  I'm so excited about this!! 

I'm officially a Mary Kay consultant!  

I have used their skincare and foundation. But, honestly, it had been a long time since I had used them. Now I'll be using all their products!

I have been using the skincare and foundation for three weeks now. And I cannot tell you how amazing my skin feels!

So, who wants me to come share these awesome products with them???

Enough...

Okay, enough about Emily growing up! All that talk had me depressed!!

Now onto something exciting the girls were able to do....horse back riding!

A friend from church had asked Steve to help their son with baseball.  And of course Steve was all about it!!!  He definitely LOVES him some baseball...I think there's a possibility he has slept with his glove before, just so he could dream about baseball!

The trade off for helping their son is the girls can go horseback riding on our friend's horse.  They were SO excited!  In fact, Elaina woke up asking to go first thing that morning. It was hard for her to understand she had to go to school first!

And of course, Daddy did good and sent me a couple of pictures!

Don't they look adorable up there on that horse!!!  This might end up being some expensive baseball lessons that turn into the girls taking riding lessons!

And it's official...

She is all grown up and there's not one thing I can do about it!  She now has her ears pierced!  What's next!?!?!

She did great! Elaina, not so much.  I guess we'll wait until she's a little older.  At least I still have one baby left.  Well, maybe not a baby, but close enough!

Wordless Wednesday

How can it be true...

Somehow we know have a 4th grader!!!! I'm really not sure where the time has gone!!!

I know I'm about a week late on this...I think it's the fact that I'm trying to get a grip on myself!

This year was the most emotional drop off for me yet!  Knowing this is more than likely the last year I get to walk her in on the 1st day of school has made it hard. Next year I'll have a middle schooler and a kindergardener! How is that possible!?!?!

Here's pictures of Emily on the 1st day.  She looks so grown up and mature!

One last note about the 1st day of school...we weren't able to make it to Parent Night, so we didn't meet her teacher until that 1st morning.  When we introduced ourselves, Mrs. Byrum said "Emily, I'm so excited to have you in my class. I've heard great things about you." I'm definitely one proud momma!

Paint, paint, and more paint...

At the end of August, we are hosting a baby shower for a sweet new arrival.  In order to get ready for a bunch of women celebrating at my house, there are lots of projects on my list! That's part of the fun of hosting, your "honey do list" gets done!

First on the list is something I've wanted to do since we got our kitchen table! And I'm in love with it!

After painting the table, I had the bug again! 

Thanks to one of my friends at work, Emily got a new bed. So I decided to get her some new bedding and make her room a little more "mature". As much as that whole sentence breaks my heart, she was super excited!

As always, I forgot the before picture. So, here's some in the middle of it all pictures!

And here's the after pictures!!! I still need to paint her desk and need to find a white dresser and a different chair.  But I was about over paint by the time I got it all complete! 

She was ecstatic with it all!!!

When little hands get on my phone...

Elaina loves to get my phone and play games on it.  And every time I go through my pictures after she's had it, I always get a smile on my face!  Here's just a sampling of the pictures I see:

Don't worry...she doesn't know she's making the infamous duck face!!!  She has lip gloss on is puckering up for the camera! 😊

Another Trip in the Books....

Every year, our church puts together a canoe trip on the Harpeth. Last year, Emily and I went. It was a little rainy and not so fun. But this year, we decided to try it again!

We had so much fun! It was a beautiful day and the water was perfect!  And it was so much fun going down the river with 100 of our friends from church!  The girls had friends to swim with and so did Steve and I!

In fact, Steve and I like it so much, we are talking about getting our own canoe or kayaks! Trying to get more outdoorsy and getting the girls outside more and not on the iPod or in front of the TV. That's a hard task sometimes!