Saturday, June 29, 2013

Julie's Baby Shower

My Aunts, mom, and cousins helped host a baby shower for Julie today.  Before Julie was ever planning on having a baby, she had always said that if she had a baby, she knew she would decorate with frogs. She has always loved frogs since she was little.  I knew we had to do lots of froggy things for her shower.    My mom carved this watermelon frog and created a "swamp" of veggies and dip.  

My aunt Lori and cousin Liz made and decorated lily pad cakes and ordered the frog cookies.  





I was in charge of decorations and flowers.  


My cousins, Katie and Denise, made this bunting and had each person at the shower write words of advice or verses on the back for Julie.  Levi, Denise's son, was such a cutie at the shower and definitely enjoyed all the attention.  


Julie and Katie were born 10 months apart and have always been great friends.  They are now expecting at the same time which is so very exciting.  I think we're all hoping Katie will have a girl and maybe the babies will grow up to be great friends too.  Katie and I have a very similar picture of when she was expecting Henry and I was pregnant with Jack.  



Julie and me

Julie and Aunt Gail

Grandma Net, Aunt Diane, and future Grandma Diane

Grandma Enns

Cousin Amanda and Cousin Kelly

Cousin Liz and Aunt Lori

Mom, aka, Grandma Debbie

Cousin Katie

Cousin Denise

I had asked my Aunt Gail if she would give the devotional for Julie's shower and she agreed.  I always love when Aunt Gail speaks.  Her words of wisdom were beautiful and sweet.  She was the perfect person for the job.  

Katie wrote a list of gifts received for Julie.  Katie's handwriting should be a font.  I love it.

My mom hand appliquéd and quilted this quilt for Julie.  Julie and Dana have traveled to Hawaii a couple of times and Julie absolutely loves it there.  She had brought back this traditional Hawaiian quilt pattern for my mom and so my mom made it for her shower gift.  


Levi was a terrific gift opener and tester at the shower.  He added an element of fun to everything.  


He even tested out the bumper pads.  I think they got his stamp of approval.  We had a great time celebrating Julie and her little one.  I'm so excited to meet my niece!  


Monday, June 17, 2013

Jack's 4th Birthday



Jack has always been hyper focused on one movie or show at a time.  He obsesses over it, wants all the toys that go with it, and then one day, he moves on to something else.

He started with Toy Story, then Monsters Inc., then it was Spider Man.  And then it was Star Wars. 

Starting in April, Jack started talking about his birthday and how he was going to have a Star Wars party.  He would curl up with me on the couch and we would look on Pinterest for what he wanted at his party.   He loved doing this. 

I started prepping decorations and tried to figure out what would make his day special. 

The day before Jack’s birthday he said, “One more sleep and I’ll be 4.”  He then started jumping around in circles chanting, “ I’m gonna be 4!  It’s my birthday!  Wee, wee, wee!”  To say he was excited was an understatement.

He woke up bright and early on his birthday and stumbled into the living room.  Phil and I had gotten new tires and training wheels and fixed up Ryan’s old bike for Jack.  His eyes were bleary as he stared at it.  When I got my camera out to take pictures, he put his hand with four fingers up, which I loved. 





After he had woken up, we took our first big boy bike ride ever.  It took him a while to get the hang of the pedals.  He kept putting his foot backwards and putting on the brake.  When we got to the end of the street to our cul de sac, he has finally gotten it and I started to cheer.  Another couple was leaving their house for a bike ride and heard me cheering and they joined in.  Jack, being like his daddy, loved the applause, which spurred him on to keep pedaling and keep trying.  


Next, we packed up all the goodies and headed to Grandma Debbie's to get ready for the party.  We had light saber pretzels...  




Noodle light sabers and costumes...


Death star watermelon...

and light saber cupcakes.  



Jack went on a gift opening spree.  Paper flew everywhere.  



He got all things Star Wars and couldn't have been more happy.  






Last, we had cupcakes with four "light saber" candles.  




Happy Birthday Jack!  We love you and have enjoyed these four years with you.  May we have many more.  

Doug and the Girls Visit

Doug and the girls came for a visit in mid April.  I was thrilled to see them.  The two months that passed between our last visit seemed an eternity and I couldn’t wait to be with them.  Little ones change so much in a short amount of time.  I couldn’t believe how big Georgia had gotten.  I couldn’t get enough of her smiles. 

 Carolina was my little shadow while we had been in Oregon and had missed her following me around.  I was so happy to have my little buddy back. 

Ryan was great with both of the girls and was a big helper.  Jack really liked Georgia, but Carolina was old enough to be able to get into all his stuff and mess with his things.  He’s never had a younger sibling to bother him and he didn’t take to kindly to being in this position.  





I enjoyed watching the cousins get some play time together in our yard.  Carolina was really funny about the grass and didn't want to walk barefoot on it.   I thought about it and I realized that her aversion to it was probably because she doesn't have a backyard or the warm weather that we have and just was completely unfamiliar with it.  Doug would pick her up and swing her out and over the grass and set her down.  She would then have no problem with it.


Georgia was such a good baby.  She slept through the night each night she was here and had so many smiles for us.  


Lorie, bless her soul, volunteered to watch all of our kids and her kids so the three of us could go out to dinner together at El Portal.  Those six kiddos kept her and Scott hopping all evening I'm sure.  I kept my phone ready the whole time in case she needed to call us to rush home.  I love this picture of us, but I can't help but feel sad when I look at it and see Vanessa's absence.   


Carolina is such a friendly little girl and enjoyed talking pictures with Uncle Phil and his phone.  



Jack was so sweet with Georgia.  Hopefully he and Carolina we'll become good friends too.


Our house was bustling and full of energy with all of us Ogdens under one roof.  This is what breakfast time would look like as I rushed to eat before running off to work.  Pretty funny.


Doug showed off his culinary skills for us by BBQ some ribs for all of us and my family.  He made a rub called a Memphis rub while he was here.  The ribs tasted amazing.  They were cooked in my dad's smoker.  









These girls are so special too us.  We so enjoyed loving on them for the week that they were here.  And we had fun with Doug too.