Baby Shower

My best friend, who I haven't lived this close to in 18 years, is pregnant with her fifth sweetie pie and I was bound and determined to throw her a shower.

I've been browsing Pinterest for months, gathering theme ideas, food ideas, game ideas, favor ideas, and so on.  I used several of the ideas I found and I was pretty pleased with how it all came together.

I originally thought a pumpkin theme would be cute but ended up going with "The Apple of my Eye".  I was quickly drawn to everything apple and had to resist the urge to spend every dime I had.  Thankfully, I didn't just stick with apples but included red, green, and yellow where I could.

The shower was at 11:00 so Katie's friend, Heidi, and I whipped up a brunch menu which included Heidi's delicious chicken sandwiches and apple toffee dip and I got together the yogurt bar.

We were all distracted by the yummy food and great conversation that we got a late start on the game and gift opening. Katie's sister, Sarah, offered to host the game and ended up picking the same one I had thought of. Too funny!

Katie was gifted some adorable outfits, yummy treats, useful postpartum items, and several packs of diapers (there was a raffle).

The candle's scent was fresh laundry (I think) and that's exactly what it smelled like!

Loved all the laughter...and Gredtel's face.

Figuring out how the mug for the jugs works

Friends

I was so excited to throw the shower and can't wait to finally meet this baby girl (4th one...she's going to be cute like her sisters)!

This Is How We Roll

I was out of the shower for about 5 seconds yesterday when I heard my phone vibrating on the counter.  It was LaVor, who was out of town working.

He said he knew it was Sunday but he just heard on the radio that Florida Georgia Line was going to be at our Walmart for a meet & greet/autograph signing that afternoon.  Since they're The Lime's favorite band, we had to take him.

While we were getting ready for church, I tried to be sly and ask The Lime if he went to a country concert or rodeo, what would he wear?  "I'm not going to one so I don't have to decide," he said.  

I ended up telling him about the surprise and he said he didn't want to go.  What?!  I told him we were going whether he wanted to or not.

So we went to half of church and then headed over to Walmart, where we found people who had camped out in line.  Poor things, the line wasn't that outrageous that they had to do that.  We got there about 3 hours early and were probably about 30-40 spots back from the front.  And, boy, was there an eclectic group there!  Yet we were the ones getting weird looks in our church clothes.  Go figure.

I brought some snacks, the iPad, and The Friend, which were entertaining for the first little bit but then The Lime found a huge box of plastic cups that entertained him for over an hour.  

Both boys were perfect and patient.  Aside from the awkwardness of nursing Doodlebug in front of all those people, the wait was painless.

We all got wristbands as there were only 250 spots available. 

We brought The Lime's cowboy hat for Brian and Tyler to sign.  He didn't want to wear it but Doodlebug did.

There was a "no picture" rule when you met the band, which infuriated the girls in front of us in line.  I took a picture of The Lime with the guys in the background but it didn't save on my phone.  Ugh!  Then I took a picture of him with his signed hat and that didn't save either.  Double ugh!  

When we got up to Brian and Tyler, The Lime shook Brian's hand, told him he was their biggest fan, we congratulated Tyler on his recent engagement, they complimented The Lime on how cute he was, and we asked them to say hi to Cole Swindell for The Lime, since they're buds and he's The Lime's #2 favorite country artist.  It was all over in about 10 seconds but it was fun and something I hope The Lime remembers for a long time!

Not Dead

We're still alive!

These last few weeks have been busy, and not always with exciting events that are blog worthy.

There's been lots of running around here and there, lots of crying and time spent in bedrooms as punishment, a little bit of rain, season finales and season premieres.

September will not end before I write more than two posts for the month.  I promise.

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 4

-Has decided to wake up multiple times during the night and will even stay up at 4:00 and not go back to sleep for 2 hours.
-Smiles all the time.
-Loves to watch The Lime's every move.
-Always has something in his mouth (hands, toy, burp cloth, blanket).
-Discovered his toes on 9/16.
-Usually has his hands in his mouth.
-If his drool was made of gold, we'd be rich.
-Wears 6-9 months pajamas.
-Likes having his ears cleaned.
-Is a chatterbox.
-Loves playing in the bath.
-Still doesn't have anything in his baby book.
-Still sleeps in his cradle in our room.
-Is following in his brother's footsteps and is quite the ladies man.

Temperamental

Over a month ago, our friends e-mailed me, asking if I could take some photos of them and their families at their upcoming sealing. I was more than willing and thrilled to do it for them!

That was, until an error started popping up on our camera which in turn wouldn't let me take any photos.

We took it to our local camera shop and they cleaned the contacts for us. I continued to take pictures of the boys and didn't have any problems so I thought we were in good shape for the sealing.

After the ceremony, I went to the car, grabbed my stuff, and started taking candid shots. First shot, error message. Turned the camera off, tried again. Second shot, error message. "You have got to be kidding me!" was zipping through my mind. LaVor could tell I was upset and so I handed him the camera in disgust, totally defeated and embarrassed that this was happening moments before our friends would be exiting the temple.

He took a few shots and said, "It's working fine for me!"

So stinkin' frustrated!

"You've got to be kidding me!" ran through my mind again.

So he handed the camera back to me. First shot, error message. Turned the camera off, tried again. Second shot, error message. I.was.done!

I handed the camera back to him and told him he was the official photographer. So he was, and got some great photos.

Then we went to the luncheon, where they wanted additional photos taken. I tried my hand at the camera one more time but still no luck.

Still frustrated

The camera has worked great for me since, so who knows what the problem was that particular day.

The most important thing was that we were able to be there for the sealing and the camera wasn't temperamental for LaVor.

Releasing the Skeletons

Remember in a few previous posts how I mentioned I was anticipating my hair falling out?  Besides the evidence all over me, the floors, and the shower wall (even found a hair wrapped tightly around Doodlebug's toe...sorta like how hair gets wrapped around the vacuum brush...blah!), it is also very visible on my head.

Normally I have a slight part from my bangs and the rest of my hair but this is what happens after I deliver those cute babies.  Lovely bald patches on both sides of my head that are thankfully being camouflaged by side swept bangs.  

I'm glad I started growing them out before I started losing hair.  The bangs are getting long enough that I'm slowly exiting the awkward stage and entering the cute stage.  When LaVor says I look cute two Sundays in a row, with my swept bangs, I must, because he much prefers my old bangs.

Speaking of LaVor, I was talking with some runners the other day and they asked if I ran or did any other sort of recreational sport.  "Nope," I said.  "I sit on the couch and eat ice cream."  In fact, I just finished a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough.

But thanks to my diesel mechanic husband, I get an excellent workout cleaning the shower.  Now I won't completely throw him under the bus because I take showers too, but the grime that I scrubbed this morning isn't my "chased The Lime at the park" grime.  No, this is tough, greasy, other heavy equipment fluid gunk that takes multiple solutions to eliminate.  And a ton of elbow grease.  

There is no way I would post a before picture, because then I'd have to kill you, but I will share an after photo.

When my arms start shaking like JELLO from scrubbing so hard, and not because they're fat, and I'm perspiring all over, I know I'm burning a sufficient amount of calories.  

Enough that I don't need to take on running and I can still enjoy my bowls of ice cream.

8/31

I took a picture of yesterday's mail, in preparation for today's subject. I was getting ready to e-mail it to myself when I realized I didn't save it.

Since we don't get mail on Sundays, my e-mail will have to do.

I just spent about 10 minutes e-mailing all of the photos on my (flip) phone to my e-mail. As I finished the last one, LaVor said, "You know we have a cord that plugs into your phone and the computer so you don't have to do this, right?" Um, no. I didn't know that. But thanks.

I made the mistake of not saving my photos on my phone when The Lime was a baby and then I lost my phone when he was 10 months. To say I was upset is an understatement.

So my e-mail is full of photos from my phone, just waiting to be saved so I can treasure them forever.

It's blurry for safety reasons