Baby Shower for Natalie

A couple of weeks ago on April 4th, one of my friends Amy and I threw a baby shower for one of our best friends, Natalie. Natalie is having her second baby, a girl, who will be here May 23rd (so soon!). Her other daughter, Jordan, is one of Payton's best friends.

Amy was sweet enough to open up her house for the shower. The invitations for the baby shower were pickles and ice cream, so Amy and I went with that for our theme. We tried to incorporate pink and green throughout the party and have ice cream or pickles as well.

Some of the food and also the diaper cake that I made Natalie.
The favors were watermelon salt water taffy.

One of the games that we had was "Guess how many pickles are in the Jar" and the other was "Celebrity baby Names". One of the prizes was an ice cream scoop, hot fudge and caramel. The other prize was two ice cream dishes and pink and green sprinkles. Amy and I had fun trying to come up with different things for the shower.

Me and Natalie

Amy, Natalie and I

All of the guests at the shower. Natalie's mom took the picture. Thank you Kathy!

The shower was so much fun and Baby Girl Shapiro got some nice gifts! We're all looking forward to when she arrives and we have a new baby to snuggle.

Our beautiful little flower girls

Friday the 27th, my cousin Brianna came over and brought the girls their flower girl dresses. Brianna and her fiance Ryan are getting married August 1st, and Payton and Gracie are going to be in the wedding. I had the girls try on the dresses and they looked so cute! Thankfully they still quite a bit of room to grow in both dresses.

Both girls were still wearing their leggings and socks under their dresses. Of course those will not be there during the wedding.

Also that day, Brianna had brought over dozens of tulips and roses so my sister-in-law Rachael could help make centerpieces. Brianna wanted to do a trial run to see how they would look and get a good idea on how many flowers were going to be needed for the day of the wedding.

All the flowers

Rachael making a centerpiece.

The finished product. I think Rachael did an excellent job! They decided that they are going to add some Hydrangeas and some greenery as well.

Brianna was playing around with making a bouquet. She did a beautiful job as well. We're all looking forward to the wedding day to be here. It's going to be fun!

Ready for summer

We are ready for some sun and summer to be here!!

Payton's new swimsuit (I had the girls try them on, right when they got up in this particular morning. That's why Payton's hair hadn't been brushed quite yet..)
Gracie's new suit

I love the girl's new suits! Now we need some sun and a pool.

Is anyone home??

Every night when I come home from work (around 8:45), I find Ryan and Payton hiding under a blanket. Usually I hear Payton giggling and Ryan saying "sshhh". So, to play along, I ask the dogs if anyone is home and if they have been left home alone and where Daddy, Payton and Gracie are?

As I get closer to them, I get a little louder asking if any one's home.
This is what I see when I pull the blanket off. It's so cute and I look forward to this every night when I get home..

Dinner with the Ostranders

On Friday the 20th, we went over to my good friend Elesha's house to play during the day and have dinner with her and her family. Elesha and I met through Stroller Strides and she has a son, Jack, who is three months younger than Payton's. Elesha and I were also pregnant at the same time with our second babies. Her son Crew is two 1/2 months younger than Gracie. We have become close friends, and so have our kids, and I feel so lucky to have her in my life. Since her and I and our kids have so much fun hanging out, we thought, why not have our husbands meet too! So, we set them up on a "blind date", but with all of us there, and we spent that Friday evening together. We had so much fun and bedtime, at their house, worked out better than we had hoped!

Crew and Gracie munching on snacks while Elesha and I chatted and got dinner ready.
Craig, Jack, and Payton looking for worms

Jack and Payton checking out their findings..

After dinner Jack and Payton got ready for bed, Gracie went to sleep in Crew's room and Crew went to sleep in Craig and Elesha's room. We set Jack and Payton up downstairs to watch a movie while us adults chatted.

At bedtime, we put Jack and Payton to bed in Jack's room. They were both so excited to be able to go to sleep with someone else. We were all kind of worried how it would work out, if sleeping would really take place, or if they would get up and play, but thankfully, they went to sleep!

The little monkeys, sound to sleep.. together. We didn't think they would actually go to sleep, but they did after about 10 minutes of chatting.

We had so much fun with Craig, Elesha, Jack and Crew. Thank you Ostranders for having us over and for a yummy dinner and wonderful conversation! Ryan, the girls and I are looking forward to our "second date". :)

Where's Waldo?

Where's Payton and Gracie??

This is what happens when I work all week and have something going everyday. I loose my kids to laundry..

Stair crawler

Our little coconut is now a stair crawler/climber. A couple of weeks ago she accomplished climbing up one stair, and then two. Well a couple of days ago, I went downstairs to put some rugs in the dryer, and was only away for maybe 1 1/2 minutes. when I came back upstairs, I couldn't find Gracie. She had crawled all the way up the stairs and was sitting in her and Payton's bathroom.. I know, not the best move on my part not having the baby gate up. Trust me, I've learned my lesson.

Baby Shower for Sam and Nadine

Saturday after Tiffany's bridal shower (see posting below), I headed home and dropped Gracie off and then headed out for round two of Saturday shower fun! This shower was for my good friends Samantha and Nadine who are due to have their second babies the first week of April. Sam is having her second boy and Nadine is anxiously waiting to find out. Everyone there I met through Stroller Strides and am so blessed to have them in my life. They are an amazing group of women who have been a huge support system for me and wonderful role models for my girls.

Me, Natalie and Elesha (the hostess of the most-es)
Elesha holding Baby Nash

Charlotte crawling on the floor, Hilary, and Molly

Nadine

Sam

Sam reading her card from us

All of us moms pooled our money together to give to Sam so she could buy a double Bob stroller. From her reaction, I think she was surprised! :)

And now there are three..

Natalie, Sam, Nadine, Baby Nash, and Teresa

Teresa had her beautiful baby boy on February 11th. I can't believe soon there are going to be four more (including Nash) little babies to watch grow!

Saturday was a busy day, but so much fun! Love these girls and I'm so thankful they are in my life!

Tiffany's bridal shower

This past Saturday we had a bridal shower for Tiffany. Tiffany is one of my best friends whom I swear we were separated at birth. We have so much in common, love to cause trouble together at the mall, and have actually been asked if we are related, more than a handful of times (I don't see it, but whatever). Her fiance Calen, is one of Ryan's good friends too! This May, Calen and Tiffany are getting married and Tiffany asked me to be in their wedding. Of course, I was honored and said absolutely! I'm so excited!!!

Saturday we had a "Sex and the City" themed bridal shower. That's one of Tiffany's favorite movies. Rachel, her maid of honor, did a great job putting little S.A.T.C. touches throughout the day. Rachel had asked me to bring the cake so I wanted to make one instead of purchasing it. Oh boy, what did I get myself into! Of course I wanted them from scratch, no boxed cake here, and I wanted to make cupcakes. I researched and researched trying to find a yummy chocolate cupcake recipe. Then I needed icing.. well, long story short I found this recipe from The Magnolia bakery in New York and I read that they had shown this bakery on S.A.T.C.! Sold! They turned out really yummy and pretty cute! And I did it all by myself and from scratch! Thankfully I had Nika there (see posting below) to make sure I was doubling the recipe correctly. Thanks Nik!

The finished product. They were very yummy!!
Miss Gracie

The Bride to be~ Tiffany

Opening gifts

The bridesmaids with the bride

From left to right: Lindsey, Mary, Rachel, Tiffany, Nika and myself

I can't believe that Tiff and Calen's wedding is eight weeks away. Now that her first shower has already come and gone, Memorial Day weekend is going to be here before we know it!

Playdate with Kiley times four!

This past week Payton and Gracie have gotten to play with Kiley quite a few times. On March 6th we had a birthday get together for our friend Matt, and Kiley came with Jason and Nika. That following Thursday, the 12th, I made cupcakes for Tiffany's bridal shower (we had that the following Saturday) and Nika came over to do damage control with the girls and help me with the cupcakes, so Kiley came to play that day as well. Saturday at Tiff's bridal shower, Nika and I both brought Gracie and Kiley. Then on Sunday, Nika watched Payton and Gracie for a couple of hours while I was at work.

Gracie and Kiley learning their letters and numbers... more like tasting the cards instead.
Kiley

Kiley and Gracie crawling around with each other.

Kiley, Gracie and Payton

Payton asks for Kiley all the time. She loves to play with the two girls and boss them around.

Kiley, Gracie and Payton's bottom

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the two girls at the Bridal Shower or of the three girls at Nika's house. I love that the Osbjornsen's and our kids are growing up together. There will be many more playdates ahead..

Gracie's nine months already?

Gracie's nine months old! I know, I can't believe it either. This past month she hasn't grown much, but she's grown up a lot! She's gained three more teeth, loves to stand while holding on to the ottoman or some one's fingers, tries to climb up the stairs, shrieks when excited or upset, tries to stand up from a sitting position and I swear says "Mama" but it sounds like, mamamama... I'll take it!

The other day she crawled up onto the stair and was sitting on it. Sadly, I wasn't home and had the camera in my purse, so Ryan couldn't take a picture.
Gracie now takes baths with Payton. It's so much easier to get them both done at once, and they both LOVE it! Payton loves to help wash Sissy and Gracie loves to try and crawl through the water.
We visited Children's AGAIN on Tuesday the 10th to see a stomach doctor and Gracie had dropped to the 5th percentile for her weight. She was weighing in at 15 pounds 7 ounces. We're getting conflicting advice on what to be feeding her, so I can't really report what which doctor has decided. BUT Gracie is a happy, healthy, busy, mobile little girl who is cruising around everywhere, which I'm sure is burning quite a few calories.

Our little coconut is so much fun and makes our family smile every day! She mimicks us and it's so funny. We have another ham on our hands. If you haven't seen Gracie in awhile, you'll be amazed how much she's changing.

Every day we fall more and more in love with Gracie and are so thankful to have her in our lives! Happy nine month birthday Gracie Girl!

Sick kids

The month of February provided us with some sick kids. We've dealt with ear infections, colds, and the flu; never did one of them have it at the same time. Once one child would start to feel better, the other would get it. It was hard at one point, I had a sore throat that lingered for two weeks and finally turned into a cold, and my little girls were fighting it too.

Sick Gracie
Sick Payton
Thankfully now the kids are healthy. It makes us so sad when our babies are sick. All I want to do is take it away and me be sick instead.
I'm so ready for this flu season to be over!