O Family Fun: Showered with Love!

John and I have truly been showered with love and gifts during this pregnancy! Our baby will be so blessed to have all of our family and friends in his life. We can't wait to introduce him to everyone in just a few short weeks!!

Our first shower was a family shower that my Aunt Karen, Aunt Faith, and Grandma Krehbiel threw for John and I in Wichita November 15th. The theme was Corduroy Bear because that was my favorite book growing up. One of the reasons that I picked our nursery bedding was because it reminded me of that book. From the adorable invitation to the table decorations everything was so cute and decorated in bears, plaid, and corduroy. We had a Thanksgiving menu served with chocolate raspberry cake for dessert (my favorite!). We even had homemade chocolate "bear" mints made by Aunt Faith. We played Baby Word Scramble and "The Price is Right". My Uncle Jack was very clever and played Bob Barker while we all guessed what the price of the baby item was. At the end, the person with the closest actual total price received a package of Ghirardelli chocolates and I received all of the items that we had been guessing. It was so fun because I had never played either game and John and I got a bunch of great items for Jr! This shower was so special because I got to spend time with all of my cousins on my moms side and even meet some of their new babies. During my pregnancy, I have been one of 6 cousins that is pregnant so Jr will have many little buddies to play with when he arrives in February!

Everything was so cute!

1st Cousins

Lisa, Krista, & Ryan

Jenny, Kyle, Malinda

Jenny & Baby Megan (Lisa's 3rd Baby Girl)

Grandpa & Marsha

The Games

Unscramble the words to win!

Uncle Jack leading "The Price is Right"

Jenny showing the next item up for guessing

Rasberry Chocolate Cake-My Fav!

Baby Macy

John's Brother's 2nd daughter sure loved those mints!

Jr's next shower was in Topeka, KS and was hosted by some of our best friends Travis and Annie Stryker on December 4th. Travis and Annie had their first baby Kaitlyn last spring so they have become our "go-to" couple for questions regarding babies. John and I are really looking forward to introducing the two kiddos in February and we think they will become instant friends. Kaitlyn is one of the best babies that John and I have ever been around…I think it is safe to say that I have Kaitlyn to thank for helping to get John to agree to starting our own family! As you can tell from the pictures the cake and decorations were adorable and done in baby blues. It was so much fun to see my aunts, friends, and the Strykers at this shower!

Adorable Cake Table

Newly Engaged Kris and Christina

Me, Aunt Patricia, Aunt Julie, Mom

Opening all the wonderful gifts!

Daddy's Little All Star

Jr's Grandma Tami and Grandma Barbe

Thank you Stryker Family!

Some of my best friends in Bartlesville threw Jr a very Boyish Baseball Gathering December 13th. It was ADORABLE! The house was decorated in Baseball gear and the menu was themed "A Day at the Park" including old fashioned Coke Bottles, Popcorn in Bags, Pigs in a Blanket, and Baseball cookies. I must say Jr kicked a little harder after this gathering…his testosterone was really pumping! This shower was so much fun because I was able to catch up with, and ask a bunch of labor and delivery questions, to all of my friends who live in Bartlesville. We all try to get together as much as possible but with many of the girls having small babies it has become a bigger challenge lately. It meant so much to me to get together with everyone and Jr and I had so much fun at his first "Day at the Park!"

The beautiful Hostesses

Andrea, Megan, Katie, Brooke, & Megan

The decorations & food were perfect!

The Diaper Cake

The Cookies! YUMM

Misty holding Baby Kate (Megan H's new little one)

The girls with their hostess gifts!

We are so domestic in Bartlesville :-)

More pictures coming soon!

Dec 27th my sister Jenny organized a Holiday Cookie and Tea get together for me. Many of my best friends from high school and college were back in KS for the holidays so it was a perfect opportunity to catch up and let them actually feel the baby bump (most had only seen pictures)! The last time many of us were together was the night of Lauren's wedding and John and I had just found out the day before that we were pregnant so we weren't telling anyone. It was so tough to keep the secret from my best friends but it made it even more wonderful to have them there celebrating with me in the moment! The weather tried to damper our spirit with Snow and Slush but the girls still came and we had so much fun re-living old memories and talking about the new life that I will soon be living.
Jenny had the most amazing spread of cookies, candies, dips, teas, coffee, chocolates and more! She even made an adorable diaper cake and we played the funniest games tasting baby food and measuring my baby bump. Everyone guessed that I was bigger than I really am by the length of their ribbon…..but after some consideration I decided I still love them :-) The only one who really shocked me was my very own mother who could have wrapped her ribbon around me 2-3 times!!! HOW RUDE! It was a clever game and I enjoyed every second of it!
These girls are so special to me for so many reasons. Many of them have been involved in everything from Grade School, to College Graduation, Engagements, Weddings, and now babies. I love these girls! We missed you gals that couldn't make it but I can't wait to introduce you to Jr soon! I will post pictures from this gathering later. I forgot my camera at home and am waiting on my mom and the girls to send me the pictures to post to the blog! (Thanks ladies-updated 1/17/2010)

Here is a picture of some of the girls who came back for the shower

from John and my rehersal dinner 4 years ago!

Stephanie, Erin, Jane, Megan, Lauren, Jenny, Jenni, Me, & Betsy

We missed Stephanie and Megan (among other great girlfriends), who were not able to come back to KS for the holidays or shower, but I love you and can't wait to see you again soon!

A few pictures from the Shower!