Showering Mandy!

Yay!! Today was finally Mandy's baby shower. I feel like my mom and I have been talking about it for months (okay .. we have been.) And it is so awesome to think that baby girl Payton Kerruish is coming in just seven (give or take) short weeks. So, everyone who knows me knows that I love parties and planning for parties. I couldn't wait for this shower and I wanted to go with a different theme- something pretty, a little trendy, and very Mandy. I decide to go for an "Apple of My Eye" shower with green apples and hot pink daisies. I worked with Jill from "Peas and Thank yous" and she helped this idea come to life. I loved all her little details. I took about ten zillion pics so I will just share a few highlights...

A proof of the invite- not the actual info but you get the idea. They were even more adorable in real life because the apples were 3D die-cuts.

The gorgeous preggo!

It wouldn't be a shower without the famous clothesline!

The teeny tiniest shoes

Washcloth roses- a new idea I found online. I just need to perfect it- it kept falling apart :)

The water bottles were my favorite!

My mom getting all the food ready- it was a BIG job and so good.

Jill really outdid herself with these cupcake toppers. I just love Target cupcakes too- I don't know why but I think they are the best. Maybe it is the whip cream frosting.

Look at all these gifts!

My sweety loved  the shower! She thought all the presents were hers!

The "daddy rules" with the "application for dating my daughter"- were super cute.

more cupcakes please!

My little sis and I - I hope you enjoyed your day Bean! I love you and wish you and Zack all the best with your little one. Now let's meet her!

18 months

Yes... this is the face my daughter gives me on a regular basis. It's like "Really? You MUST be joking. I will not eat this chicken nugget and I already think you are kind of lame". Ha! I can't imagine what she will be like as a teenager.

Isabel is 18 months old now- (to people without kids that is 1 and 1/2. I always hated when I didn't have kids and I asked someone how old their child was and they would respond in months like "He is 30 months old" Then I would quickly convert it in my head and wonder why they didn't just say their kid was two.)

Every age (well minus the newborn stage) just gets better and better. I love how much our Bel has suddenly started talking. She suprises us with new words almost every single day. She still hangs on to her old faves like "More", "Mine", and "Juice" but she also has some funny new ones like "Noodle", "Bible" and "Oh Boy!". (That last phrase is repeated over and over and is pretty funny when she says it to the waitress at the restaurant who brings her her dinner plate)

What else is new? She is learning to sing. She has terrible taste in music (mainly Elmo and those creepy Wiggles) but she actually can sing a few words and "la la las" when listening to her "Best of Elmo" CD in the car.

She is really getting into her baby dolls all of a sudden- pushing them in a stroller, feeding them a fake bottle and dragging them around by their hair. She still loves the park, books, sidewalk chalk, and coloring with any pens, markers, or crayons. She loves boys and men- always flirting and waving hello but has gotten more shy around kids and adults she doesn't know well. She hangs back in social situations, observing others before she joins in. Jason and I are both kind of like that too so it is interesting to see her develop that shyer side.

It stinks being at work for most of the day so we try to plan fun things to do together on the weekends as a family. The weather won't be good for that much longer so we need to get outside while we can. This past long weekend we visited Randall Oaks zoo again and Cantigny Park. Here are few fave pics...

Oh yes... and I forgot to mention one of Bel's fave new toys.... a MOP. Yes....you heard me a toy mop. She loves this thing so much but we ended up having to hide it because she was swinging it around and hitting Lucky with it. So.. for a special treat- she can mop. :)

My dear friend..

This is not going to be a sad post! Even though I miss my dear friend Jackie more than usual at this time of year, I decided to post these fun pics from my scrapbook because I want to remember the great memories we made together. Not many people are blessed enough to have the kind of friendship in their life that brings them laughter, joy and makes them a better person- and I had that for 13 years with her. God gave me the gift of her friendship and I am thankful for that.

So... here are the pics from (left to right)

Pic 1: Wiener Wagon! Yes, that's right we BOTH worked at the South Elgin Wiener Wagon. I remember the day we walked down there for applications- 15 years old. Jackie lasted there much longer than I did though (she always had a better work ethic than me.I think I quit or was fired after 3 days :) She was the Wiener of the Month!

 Pic 2: Halloween at U of I! See... I always loved Halloween and dressing up. Jackie and I spent most of our weekends at ECC driving down to OTHER colleges to visit our friends.Road trips- singing to our mix tapes. So much fun.

Pics 3 and 4: Living together in our first apartment in Chicago. That was our dream! To move downtown and go to school and be real life "city girls". Only it turned out that I was actually just a lame "suburban" girl at heart and couldn't wait to move back to be near my Target and away from public transportation. Jackie was actually a successful city girl. She wasn't even afraid to ride the subway by herself at night :)

Pic 5: The day I was leaving for my summer trip abroad to England. Jackie came to see me off and we wrote emails and letters to keep up. Seriously she was like a boyfriend! We couldn't be apart that long :)

Pic 6: Just a fun girl's night. We had a lot of these. What more do you need? A glass (or three) of wine, good conversation and lots of laughs.

So.... even though five years have passed since I last talked to my dear friend- and a LOT has happened in my life- I know that one day we will meet again. Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of Jackie's life and thank you for the beautiful blessing she was in mine.

Fun with old pics...

I found some old pictures of me as a baby when I was going through photo albums in my mom's basement. I decided to post some of my faves alongside a few pics of Bel. You can tell me if you see any resemblance :)

Back to School

Well, it is official. Summer is over and Bel and I are back in school. We both had a successful first week. I started on Monday and then my students came Wednesday. I had so much work to do to get ready. Looks like I have a pretty good group of kids again this year (except for one little trouble-maker. He seems to be shaping up though after our little "talking to" on the first day :) I must say I wasn't really looking forward to going back this year, but now that I am there I am regaining my enthusiasm. In fact, I have some fresh ideas and am looking forward to trying out some of my new resources and our new curriculum. Bel also had a good week. She goes to daycare on Mon., Thurs, and Fri. and this year she moved up from "Little Angels" (the infant room) to "Kitty Cats" the (18 - 24 month old room). There are only 4 other kids in her class right now and NONE of them are there on Fridays! So, this week they decided she could be in "Ducklings" (the toddler room) on Fridays. Of course she really loved this because she always wants to be with older kids. Ms. Lindsay is her teacher this year. She is a new college graduate- young and nice. Belly likes her and that's what counts. Overall, I feel much better about daycare this year in general. I guess it's because Bel is older and much more self-sufficient and active. I know the socialization and structure at school are good for her. When she was a little baby it was so much harder to leave her there. I feel like she is very lucky now because she gets to spend all Tues. and Wed. with her grandma and grandpa (going to lunch, the library, parks,stores etc.) and then play with all her school friends the other days.  A good balance.

The first day of school - Bel was very tired and didn't want to get out of bed.

She looked like such a big girl with her Elmo back-pack (which she is obsessed with by the way)

One change this year is that we have to feed Isabel breakfast before school- last year they fed her when she got there. The problem is that "sleepy head" doesn't want to be rushed through her breakfast. She likes to eat at a very leisurely pace.

Jason pointed out that Isabel was only at daycare about ten minutes before she got sick. That is always the downside of the "germ factory" that is daycare. Well, she will have an amazing immune system by the time she heads off to kindergarten. We'll keep you updated on our school adventures this year.