BAAAABY Shower

Last week, my friends Rebecca, Starr and I had a baby shower for our friend Sara. We had so much fun getting ready for it.  This is Sara's 4th baby and since they don't know what they are having we decided to go with a "neutral color" baby shower. We thought a lamb theme would be cute. So I decided to google "Lamb Baby Shower Ideas" and found this. This is actually a 1st birthday party but we made it a baby shower. Rebecca made all of the table decorations; the invitations (50+) and the sheep frame. She did such a good job with all of it. I have to say, it was a LOT of work but I had so much fun doing it.

This is the gift table. We were collecting gift cards/money. So I made a container with the sheep theme on it for people to put their cards in. I also made the diaper cake.

We decided to go with the color theme for the food too. So we had some REALLY nice people that offered to make the food for the shower.

For drink table we had water, ice tea and coffee. 

Here is a close-up of the banner that I made to hang up over the food table.



This is the cake that my friend Starr got made by a friend of hers. I love the way it came out. And let me tell you, it was GOOD!!! Now I want to get me a "cricut cake machine" so I can make fancy cakes like this one:)

 Let me tell you about these little "apple shooters"... They were awesome. Our friend Leslie offered to make these. And they were SO good. And I love the display she had too. It all just fit together.

Here are the popcorn cones Rebecca and I made. We popped the caramel popcorn right before the party and I just love the way it came out. And the little picket fence....isn't it cute??? Rebecca's dad made it for us. (Rebecca, tell your dad that the check is in the mail...hopefully its not lost).

Sara's daughter, Abby got to come and celebrate at the baby shower. She was so proud to be there (since her two brothers were at home with dad). I think she had a good time. I told her that she could have the little sheep from the cake...although I wasn't sure how it would taste. (I personally don't enjoy fondant that much)...and I don't think she did either. Oh well, the cake was beautiful:)

 Here is mom to be with Abby. I am so happy for this family. They have gone through a lot the past few years and God is blessing them with another baby. God is GOOD!!! Congratulations, Sara. I am so glad Rebecca, Starr and I got to do this for you. Please know that you and your family are in our prayers. And I can't wait to meet the new "BAARENDSE" baby:)

Rebecca, Starr and myself with the table decorations. I can't believe I did not get a close up of the beautiful flowers!!!! I'm going to have to learn how to make these!!!

Thanks Rebecca for making all these flowers.  You did an awesome job. We should start our own "baby shower" business. Just think of all the sheep we can make????

You ladies are the best. I had so much fun doing this with you guys. Thanks for letting me help. Now, to our next baby shower!!!!

Butterfly Release!

 Josiah's 4k class have been watching the life-cycle of a butterfly. They got some caterpillars in the mail and watched them metamorphosis in their classroom. So I told Mrs. Ward that I wanted to be there when they were going to release them. So last Thursday morning I got a phone call letting me know that they were letting the butterflies go at around 10:00am. So I grabbed my camera and went to school.
I got some great pictures of the kids playing together on the playground. Of course when they saw the camera they all wanted me to take their pictures:) I have to say, this picture of Josiah and his friend Cooper is my favorite:)

Group Picture-Being Silly:)

What a pretty bunch of kids

Now it was time to let the butterflies go. We lined up all the kids and Mrs. Ward got one butterfly out at a time. She would put them in her hands and walk down the line for each child to see one.

Some of them stayed on her hand for a few seconds. Others flew away immediately.

The last one she put on a flower and he stayed on it for quiet a little while. I think she walked down the line two or three times. When he finally did fly away, he stayed on a bush right in front of them. It seemed like he didn't want to go anywhere. The kids just loved that.

I think the kids really enjoyed it. And I am really glad I got to be there and watch them release the butterflies. Thank you, Mrs. Ward for calling me and letting me know.

Girl's On The Run Is So Much Fun!!!

For the past 12 weeks or so, Riley and I have been part of an organization called "Girls On The Run".

Girls on the Run® is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.

We have had so much fun. We met every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00pm-4:30pm at our elementary school. The girls would have a snack, then a lesson and then we would go outside and warm up and run. So on April 28th was the BIG day for the girls. We ran the Heart and Sole 5k.

There are a total of 15 girls that participated in our school and I believe they all had a wonderful time. To make things a little more fun, one of the teachers got all the girls and the coaches some very fun socks to wear on the day of the race. Those were a big hit with the girls.

Because SO many people were attending the Heart And Sole run, each little girl needed a running buddy. So Riley wanted aunt Merry to be her running buddy. She was SO proud that her aunt wanted to do it with her:)

For Riley's birthday, aunt Merry got her matching earrings. They are running shoes. So they decided to wear them on the day of the race:)

Riley's teacher, Mrs. Herring was at the race too. Her daughter was on the Girls On The Run team too.

The Spring 2012 Girls On The Run Coaches.

Lilli's mom was her running buddy.

Here is a picture of the starting line. There were so many little girls and their running buddies.

Walking to the starting line.

Riley was so excited about the run.

Here is our entire team with all the coaches

SHE DID IT!!

Riley and aunt Merry crossing the finish line together. (I was 2 minutes behind them).

I made it!!!

Riley and her head coach-Miss. Paz.

Some of the girls after the race. Mrs. Watson (our principal) came to support the girls:)

And the coaches are still smiling too!!!

While the girls were running, the boys had to get a picture taken with the Chick Fil A cow.

I  was so glad that Riley and I got to do this together. I am hoping we will be able to do it again in the fall.