Auntie Jenn's Baby Shower

My sister Jenn is going to have a baby....

and if that weren't reason enough to celebrate just on its own, it's also a girl!

So, like I said in the last post, we recently threw a baby shower for the baby in the bump. Jenn's nursery colors are coral and navy, so we themed the shower mostly around that, and had so much fun doing it! I am surrounded by all things "boy" in my house, so I relished the opportunity to dabble in pink for a while!

We kicked all boys out of the house bright and early the day of the shower, with the promise of breakfast out with Daddy and Poppi and a round of mini golf. Although the littles were sure this adventure was all about them, a smidge of it was also about me. It was a huge help not having busy little hands "helping" with all of the decorations and last minute prep. 

We held the shower as a brunch and since Jenn requested no games be played (thaaaaank goodness!), we had "well wishes for baby" cards instead that people could fill out while we waited for others to arrive and brunch to be served.

Burke's mom Marti (right) and her good friend (and such a sweet lady) Kathy came to help with last minute things a few hours before the shower. I so appreciated the help, and the company!

My co-horts in this shower throwing adventure: my beautiful momma and sister Christi

And what shower would be complete without plenty of delicious food?

I kept telling Jenn that I was especially looking forward to the shower because it meant we got to see all sorts of family and friends we hadn't seen in a while (a perk to being related to the guest of honor!)

Our grandma, Nammy, Jenn and Jenn's friend Julie

Tanner was the only boy who got to crash the party and I'd say he was pretty content to do so!

The soon-to-be Grandmas

Tanner and my Auntie Pam

My sister Christi and her two best friends Sarah and Nicole

Beth, Holly and Christi

Auntie Pam, Jenn, and our cousin Hannah 

We sat down for brunch and let everyone fill out their wishes for Jenn's baby and then started on gifts. Can you see what she pulled off the top of that package?

Here. I'll clarify. Spurs. Itty, bitty, cutest-you've-ever-seen spurs. I just about died at their cuteness. (Burke's mom rides cutting horses, and it was her gift that these sat on top of.  So fitting, and so adorable).

One of the gifts my mom gave Jenn was a few of her favorite outfits that we wore when we were younger. If you know my mom, the fact that she had actually saved and stored something for 29, gulp....almost 30, years, is a tiny miracle in and of itself. Her type AA-plus personality is a lean, mean, constantly purging and de-cluttering machine. Seriously. Tiny miracle, and such a cool, sentimental gift.

Loved this picture of Jenn and Nammy!

Jenn's besties: Holly, Kristen, and Julie

The lifegroup girls

Nammy, Jenn, my mom, and Marti 

Eventually the littles that I had sent out for the day returned, along with Poppi and the hubbs (I think they arrived home a wee bit early just to sneak some of the food!)

All in all, a really fun day. We are so excited to meet this new baby! I've already spent the better portion of the last eight months whispering to Jenn's belly that I'm her favorite Auntie (that's right Christi...eight months. Benefit of living closer.). 

Five weeks and counting!

Preschool

Well, we wrapped up preschool a week or two ago. I'm behind on blogging. Really this should be normal for all of you at this point. The excuse this time? My mom and sister and I recently threw a baby shower for my other sister and up until the big shindig, my free time has been consumed with all things baby and party. I'll post pictures on that soon (no, really. Soon. I promise), but for now, preschool. So preschool wrapped up a few weeks ago... for this year anyway. Next year he'll be off to a pre-kindergarten class at the same school. Same school, new teacher. 

Drew loved his preschool class this year. In large part due to these two special ladies:

His teachers, Mrs. Kim

and Mrs. Christy

These two ladies took the love of learning that we had already seen in Drew and nurtured it into an excitement that I hope continues through his education career. They were so creative in how they taught and were such lovers. Drew came home each and every day with some fun story about his teachers and an energetic tale to tell about some project or activity that he was able to do. Playing with fifteen preschoolers each day has got to be exhausting (we joked that they have to be the best sleeping people on the planet once they crash into bed each night!), but Mrs. Kim and Mrs. Christy continually made it look easy and enjoyable! I cannot say enough good about these two gals. We loved them!

Drew's end of the year ceremony was held in his classroom (a first for the school this year, so I heard)

They sang a few songs for us, one of which was a rhythm song using painting sticks, 

and then had a small and quick achievement ceremony. Mrs. Kim stated two facts about each of the kids and their favorite thing about the time in her class and what they wanted to be when they grew up and then handed them their certificate. Drew was so proud of himself. It was adorable. 

Drew's Certificate:

Favorite Color: Blue and Red

When he grows up he'd like to be: a Motorcycle Racer

What he liked to do best at preschool was: the field trip to the Discovery Center and loving people

As a side note: There were only five boys, including Drew, in his class this year. The parents and teachers would regularly talk about how much the little girls just loved the boys and couldn't get enough of them. Well, when it came time to read one of the little girls' favorite things about preschool that year (mind you, this is on her certificate), she had two things listed, the second of which was "lovin' on Drew". *grin*

Tanner in his second home...the Ergo pack

and Collin, bribed into sitting still for the ceremony with movies on the phone. Hey, whatever it takes to keep him quiet and still for a moment!

After the ceremony, all of the preschool classes met up on the front lawn for cake. Coll was happy to join in on this part of the fun, no iPhone movies necessary.

Group hug for Mrs. Kim. 

Such a great year with some great people. We're looking forward to another fun school year beginning at the end of the summer, but for now, we're soaking up the lazy mornings and the summer fun together. 

Three Things

Three Things

And a side note: I have no relevant pictures to any of these facts, so you just get a few fun ones from the past month or so (and sorry for the repeats if you're on Instagram)!

About Drew:
1. His two favorite jobs at preschool: Table Helper and Calendar Helper

2. Delights in scaring people...jumping out from around corners or small places and screaming "Rah!". It's annoying at this point. He loves it and thinks it is hilarious.

3. According to a preschool project, he apparently thinks I'm 61 years old. As depressing as this may seem, I took comfort in the fact that at least he thought Nathan was older (91 years old)! ;)

About Collin:
1. Shoves the Lego guys into any and all of his toy cars that they will fit into, including the Transformers. Most often they fit in easily, but they almost always get stuck when he attempts to get them back out.

2. Loves to unscrew every knob in our house....dresser knobs, cabinets knobs, the knobs on the china hutch...you name it. I still don't even understand how he is able to get them off so easily. Each and everyone of them has been tightened down with a screwdriver and yet those little fingers still manage to take them off!

3. Has started super enthusiastically saying "Oh yeah! That's what me was thinking about!" (aka: That's what I was thinking about!) in response to anything you remind him of. The other night he couldn't remember what eyebrows were called and when Nathan told him, he went bouncing around the house saying, "That's what me was thinking about!"

About Tanner:
1. Is rolling everywhere. The days of setting him in one place and keeping him there are officially over. He is also starting to go up on his hands and knees to crawl.

2. Weighed twenty five (!) pounds at his last appointment. He has rolls everywhere, and I love it! So squeezable!

3. Loves to scream (happy screaming)....it's his favorite form of communication at the moment. The boys love to egg him on and will sit having yelling "conversations" with Tanner. Soooo helpful!

**And a Bonus for Tan Tan since he's changing so fast right now:
The little toothless wonder is no longer toothless as he recently got his two bottom teeth!

F-I-V-E

Well, like I said in my last post, it was recently birthday celebration week here as a certain boybarian of ours turned five. Drew decided he wanted to do a birthday party at Pump it Up this year and although it went against every party-planning-loving-bone in my body not to throw a party here at home, I did have a brief moment of glee as I thought to myself, "No mess...no cleanup...easy peasy morning, and back home for nap time". And then reality set in as our not-so-big Friday morning party with a few friends turned into a week of celebrating with different groups of people and plenty of planning and cake baking. So fun (especially for our birthday boy!), but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was exhausted after our marathon week of fun!

Birthday week started the day before Drew's actual birthday with cupcakes at his preschool. His request? Chocolate cake with white frosting and sprinkles. Because his birthday is towards the end of the school year, Drew has watched many of the kids in his class celebrate their birthdays before him. Because of this, he knew just what to expect and was hugely looking forward to the birthday crown and prize from the treasure chest that he knew awaited him that morning. His teacher also had each of the kids as they filtered into class that day, draw a picture for Drew. She then stapled the pictures into a special birthday book for him to take home. He loved coming home and looking through all the notes and pictures his friends had drawn him.

On his actual birthday, this cute Lego loving cheese ball requested pancakes for breakfast at our favorite pancake place here in town.

Not only was Daddy able to join us, but our flight attendant friend Kristen was in town too! Such fun!

The birthday pancake: chocolate, chocolate chip pancake with whipped cream on top and big enough to feed a small army

After breakfast we met up with Noah and Nathan to play at Skywalk.

Noah and Drewski

Preggo Auntie Jenn breaking all the rules as she played "popcorn" with all four boys

It probably goes without saying, but they loved it! "Again! Again!"

And of course, this is about as good as a group shot gets these days. 

Awana awards night also fell on Drew's actual birthday so we gave him the option of going, or having a birthday dinner at home. He of course, chose to go (social child!) so we did, and then headed out for frozen yogurt with friends afterwards.

Drew and Noah

On Friday, we had Drew's birthday party with his friends. I'm trying to stick to having a big birthday party for the boys every other year and then doing smaller parties with a few close friends on the off years, so this year was our first "off" year with Drew. We met up with three of Drew's closest friends and their siblings for some fun at Pump it Up (a local bounce house place). Drew had been wanting to visit for a while, so it seemed fitting to go and play for his birthday and ended up being really fun!

Headed up the stairs to a giant inflatable slide....

....and whooshing back down.

A quasi-climbing wall with all of Drew's friends. The guy that was supervising had told them their name would go on the wall if they could stick the flag at the top of this "mountain" on the star. They all tried for quite some time, but after trying it out myself, even I was left wondering how on earth reaching that silly star was even possible!

Collin wouldn't go down the giant slide on his own. He would climb up, but then would sit there until I would climb up and go down with him. Turned out, being his slide buddy wasn't all that bad...that thing was fun!

Pump it up also had fun cars for the little guys...

...and an air hockey table.

The whole gang

My parents came into town on Friday night and on Saturday the birthday shenanagins continued with a family barbecue at our house. Drew convinced Lala to let him make his own birthday cake. Chocolate cake, white frosting, sprinkles (of every variation) and strawberries. Yep. Strawberries.

The finished masterpiece 

Happy Birthday Big Boy! We love you!