She's About To...POP!

This weekend I was honored to host a baby shower for my dear friend Robin, along with fellow hostess Liz. Robin is expecting her 2nd baby in a month or so, and it was so much fun to get to shower her with love! I got the idea for "She's About to Pop" from another fellow blogger, and she was kind enough to let me shamelessly copy everything she came up with. Thanks, Darci!

Here is the invite, which was created in Picasa. They never went out in the mail because Walmart.com lost them during shipment, but it sure was cute!


Everything in the shower was associated with the word Pop. Here is the favor bar...lots of candies the include the word pop. Pop Rocks, Ring Pops, etc. So cute!


I made the Dum Dum tree with help from Isabelle and her daddy.


Food: Of course, all "pop" related. Veggie pops with Jalepeno Ranch from Chuy's (Robin's fave), popcorn chicken (from Chick-fil-A!), fruit pops with baby blue cream cheese dip, cheese pops, and a selection of popcorns.



The blue popcorn is from Uptown Popcorn in Fairview. It was really pretty and went with the theme, but Liz and I do not recommend consumption. Gross.


Robin loves popcorn. Here's the beautiful mommy to be trying some out!



Another shot of the pretty table...


The Hostesses with the Mostest-es!!! Liz is Robin's neighbor across the alley. We have become great friends through Robin and I am blessed to know her!


And what would any baby shower be without a cake? Paula from Divine Desserts created the most beautiful lollipop cake ever! How much cuter can you get?


Our decor included hanging balloons and flower balls from the ceiling.


Liz showed me a picture of something similar to this, and I had to re-create it for Robin. A lollipop made of diapers! It was super easy to make. Maybe I should go into the diaper arrangement business? :-)



Robin received lots of fun presents.


Here she is with the "Little Brothers Are Awesome" outfit from Liz and I.


Of course in keeping with the Pop theme, we played a balloon game. Everyone had to blow one up to the size of Robin's belly and stuff it under their shirt. Closest to Robin's size wins!


I for one was very glad that my baby bump could be quickly removed from under my shirt!

Another activity we did was the Hopes and Dreams wall. Everyone filled out a card with something they hope or wish for Robin or the baby, and we hung them from the mantle.



Such a fun afternoon spent with special friends! We hope you had fun Robin! Love you!

An Interview with Isabelle

Thank you, Amanda, for this precious idea! After reading her "interview" with her son Luke (one of Isabelle's best buddies), I had to steal the idea and do this with Isabelle. You ask your kid these questions once a year and save the answers as a memento of their childhood. This was so much fun and gave me many, many laughs. Here you go:

What is your name? Isabelle

How old are you? 2

What is your favorite color? Blue

Who is your best friend? Dougie

What is your favorite animal? Tiger

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be Connor. :-)

What is your favorite movie? Baby Einstein

What is your favorite book? Everywhere Babies

What makes you happy? Daddy (ah, how sweet!)

What makes you sad? Daddy (ah, how funny!!!!)

What is your favorite food? Grilled Cheese

What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me

What are you scared of? Monkeys moving (aka the gorillas at The Rainforest Cafe--we ate there like 4 months ago and she still talks about being scared...)

Thank you Isabelle for the joy you bring to me each and every day! Mommy loves you!!!

Family Portraits

Here are the pics from a photo shoot we did in November. Thank you Andi Stubblefield for these precious pictures!

Cousins and Crawling!

The last few weeks have been very exciting around here! We went on a trip to Austin to visit Brendan's brother Jason and his family. The road trip actually went really well and Isabelle was very excited to go on a "trip." Barney on the DVD player and the iTouch kept her entertained in the car, and Connor was just a good little baby as usual. Here are some pics from the visit.

Eating cereal in the morning. Ella got Luke and Isabelle both set up with their bowls.




About to ride the Cedar Park choo choo train. It was really cute and a lot of fun.



Playing dress up with Ella. Ella gave Isabelle a dress up kit with jewelry, shoes, etc, and she loved it!



Ella keeping Connor company on the blanket in the front yard.


Riding a scooter! Santa (aka Grandma) has one all ready for Isabelle in his sleigh for Christmas!


Helping Aunt Kristy water the flowers



Riding bikes with Luke



All of Brendan's Austin cousins came over with their kids for a cookout. It was so much fun for Isabelle to play with all of them! Here are Ella, Luke, Isabelle, and Evan playing dead in the yard.



All in all it was a great trip! When we returned home, Connor decided to start crawling. I can't believe my sweet baby is already crawling. Isabelle gave me 13 months of immobility. This little guy will be walking in no time!


When he first started to attempt it, Isabelle would run over and plop down on him. Thanks, big sis! She did not know what to think of it. Here is the evidence:

Here I go! Here I go!!!!!


Plop! Maybe not...

Here he is crawling to his toys. I love how he explores everything! It's so much fun to watch.


And as with exploring, he wasted no time in checking out the electrical items I have scattered around at floor level. "Hmmm...this looks interesting!"


Maybe I'll try to grab it!!


And here are some cute pics to share.


My two babies in their matching jammies. Isabelle thinks it's so awesome that they have the same outfit. I won't be able to get away with this much longer!


I am really looking forward to the Christmas season!

Halloween!

Halloween was definitely the most fun it has ever been! It didn't involve any sort of awesome adult party or creeping through a haunted house after dark. All it took for me to say it was the best Halloween ever was getting to enjoy it all through my sweet Isabelle, who is the biggest fan of this holiday! Each trip to WalMart or Target always included a roll through the Halloween decorations and costumes. She was outfitted with halloween cups, plates, napkins, placemats, shirts, mac n cheese (yes, Kraft makes a Halloween version!). We got to attend several Halloween activities which included trick or treating 4 times total! Here are some photos of the day's events.

Connor was dressed up thanks to sweet Tori who brought over an array of baby costumes. He looked super cute in all of them, of course! A duckie and a spider...loved it!!!!

Oh, and to make the day even more super fun was finding Connor SITTING in his crib that morning! Looks like I needed to lower it down now that my little peanut is growing up! Here he is after his morning nap.


And just because he looked so cute in this next picture (that was not taken on Halloween), I have to include it! Temps are finally getting a bit chilly on days, so I got to deck him out in his fleece hoodie and sweatpants.

At 4 pm on Halloween, downtown McKinney hosts a super cool event called Scare on the Square. All the vendors close their shops and sit in front of the stores so kids can trick or treat. Of course we had to attend! Isabelle's costume of the day was a ballerina.

Here she is getting her first taste of Smarties. She was a big fan!


Sweet Connor got pushed around in the stroller and wore a monkey hat for 5 seconds just for a photo op. It was hot out!!!


Isabelle is fascinated with the Scream man. She calls him "Man Waaaaaaaaa!"




We got to trick or treat with our neighbor friend Grace. They both spotted Frosty and had to get their picture taken!


That evening (after a quick stop at McDonald's for a special Happy Meal) we trick or treated the neighborhood with our neighbor friend Chase. Last year these two were barely toddling around as a TCU Cheerleader and a puppy dog, and here they are as big kids...a ballerina and batman!



So now for my favorite part, letting her dump all the candy out (I put all of it in the bucket from all 4 of our trick or treating adventures). This was always my favorite part of Halloween...getting home from a long night of trick or treating and spreading it all over the floor (and of course organizing it into appropriate categories...some things start young and never change!). It was such a joy to see my own daughter experience this awesome part of the holiday! Her favorites are Smarties, Nerds, Candy Corn, and M&Ms. I am happy that she is not a huge fan of the chocolately candies, so daddy and I get to enjoy these.

Thank you Isabelle for making this season so much fun for me. I can't wait to spend the Christmas season with my precious family!!!



And to end the blog, a video taken Halloween morning of my darling baby boy laughing his little head off at a toy harmonica. That laugh is sent down straight from heaven!!!