Baby Shower

I was thrown a baby shower luncheon last Saturday. There were 19 people in my house, all family and friends, and we had a really nice afternoon. First we ate a yummy light lunch, then played a number of games, had cupcakes and finally opened gifts before sitting around and chatting at the end. The theme was "Candyland" and the decorations were candy-themed and super cute. The hosts (my aunts and cousins) put a lot of time and effort into planning my big day and I really appreciate everything they did. I'm thankful for everyone who came to the shower--it wouldn't have been the same without you!

Surprise!

(I'm way behind on posts but I'll do what I can to update the blog this week as I receive more photos.)

On Wednesday Chad took me out to dinner. He suggested we go to a restaurant we hadn't been before. I was a little confused as to why he wanted to go to this place on a Wednesday night, but really didn't think much of it. So after he got off work we headed down there, put in our food order and sat there talking, enjoying the evening. About 20 minutes after we got there our good friends L&A from the Washington DC metro area popped their heads into our booth. I looked at them and just sat there, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me. I couldn't believe that they would be in the same restaurant. In our town. On a Wednesday. She had just emailed me that morning from DC -- it seemed nearly impossible.

Once the shock wore off (or at least the initial shock, I was still surprised for the next 24 hours or so, really) we all sat down, ate dinner and headed to our house. Apparently our friends, Chad and my parents were all in on the surprise visit. So sneaky!

For the next four days we showed them our town (they'd never been here before), went to Yosemite, Shaver Lake and did a few other things together before we took them to the airport Sunday night. It was such a quick trip (for us) but I feel so lucky they made the effort to come out here. Talk about a wonderful surprise!

Happy Mother's Day!

Chad and I spent Mother's Day with our moms (and dads), and it was really nice. Chad's parents visited for the weekend and my folks came for dinner. We ate BBQ tri-tip, beans, rice, fruit salad and blueberry pie on our outside patio and shared a very nice evening.

Here's a photo of us all together--the first time since our wedding in 2005!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Grandma. We love you!

Rockin' Out

My parents bought me a glider rocker for my birthday. There are lots out there to choose from but I decided I wanted one that was contemporary so we could put it in the living room and not compromise the style or the overall look of the room. Here is the one I picked. USA Baby gave us a binder of fabric swatches in lots of colors and fabrics and we ultimately decided on green. Our brown living room is accented in green and orange so the chair fits well in there and in the baby's room if we later decide to put it there. We ordered the chair the first week in April and were quoted 8-12 weeks for it to be ready. Well, less than four weeks from the order date we got the call that it was ready for pickup. Yay--talk about fast ordering, assembling and shipping! We brought it home on Saturday and I'm already loving it so much. The fabric is super soft and the chair is really comfortable. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Another Milestone

On Monday I passed another pregnancy milestone: 30 weeks! Here I am Tuesday afternoon starting my 31st week. Finally it's warm enough that I can take these photos outside. Fewer than ten weeks to go...

Big Day

Today is Chad's birthday! Even though he had to work on his big day I think he had a good one. We celebrated a few different times this past week so I'm pretty sure we covered all the party bases. Here we are just before heading to sushi this evening.

Happy Birthday, Chad!

Summer Garden

I'm so happy because this weekend we pulled out our winter crops, tilled the soil, and finally planted our summer garden! We planted four types of tomatoes, a red bell pepper, zucchini squash and a cucumber. We're keeping it simple this summer because I'm not sure how much time we'll have to spend taking care of the plants. We kept three of our broccoli plants from this winter in the box because they're flowering. As soon as the leaves start dying we'll pull them out and pick something else for that area.

And Now for the Dresser

Today we got the dresser for the baby's room. It was ordered the same day we bought the crib, but USA Baby (where we picked it out) didn't have the dresser in stock. We waited patiently for it to arrive and finally got the call on Thursday that it was ready. Now we figured it would be too big for either of our cars so on Sunday when my parents were here with their truck they picked it up for us. Chad and my dad brought it in the house and we all spent a little time getting it out of the box and into the right spot in the room. Fortunately it was already assembled with the exception of two parts: the drawer knobs needed to be secured and the two shelves for the right side of the dresser needed to be put in. Easy assembly if you ask me!

We love the dresser and it matches with our crib perfectly. A BIG thank you to Dad and Mom for buying it and delivering it to our house.

Paper Lanterns

My dad had a meeting here in town so my mom spent the morning at my house. While she was here she hung the paper lanterns I ordered for the baby's room. As you can see I bought one of each of the main colors in the room: orange, green and white. We hung them with coordinating ribbon my mom brought with her. The ribbons weren't what I originally envisioned for the lanterns, but once we got them hung I decided I liked them. The lanterns are fun and they sway in the breeze which will make for entertaining movement for the baby. What do you think?

Crib Skirt? Check!

I set aside this morning to start working on the crib skirt for the baby and by 2:30 this afternoon I finished it. The project wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be and I feel pretty good to have completed it in only one day. One-day projects are the best--especially when you can add in lots of breaks without falling too far behind. I ended up making a very basic crib skirt and it turned out exactly how I hoped. Not perfect, of course, but pretty darn good for a first attempt. The fabric is the same as what we used for the window valance but instead of orange, you'll see that it's green.