A Gymnastic Birthday Party

On Saturday Jocelyn attended Olivia's 2nd birthday party which was at a gymnastics place in Cypress (Cypress Academy).  Jocelyn was a little hesitant at first, but once she figured out how fun all the trampolines and foam pits were, she was unstoppable.  This was one of the neatest places for a party!  The pictures are a little blurry, but I couldn't get Jocelyn to slow down so I could get a good one.  Oh well.  The party went by so fast.  Maybe I should check around Pearland for toddler gymnastics. 

Baby Shower Time

Jocelyn and I had a very busy weekend and traveled to Seguin/San Antonio and back home on Saturday for a baby shower for Mark and Amy, (my brother-in-law and sister-in-law).  I was thrilled to be co-hosting the shower with Amy's mom and her sister-in-law Julie, and I got to do the decorations. One of my favorite things to do is decorate for parties and I had a blast crafting for the party.  We had it at the Weinert House in Seguin, which is a beautiful bed & breakfast.  The lunch was catered and delicious!  A friend of Amy's made the adorable cake and Jocelyn let me know how delicious it tasted.  Here are some pictures of the party decorations and one shot of the mom-to-be getting herself some lunch.  I wish I had taken better pictures but John has our real camera with him on his trip to Colorado, so I used my iphone.  If I had a steadier hand they might have come out better...good thing I'm not a surgeon.

I tried to match some of the decorations and colors to match Addison's nursery, which has some what of a nature theme (birds and trees).  I used burlap on the tables, with some felt-feathered wreaths and gerber daisies.  I ordered the flowers in bulk and won't be quitting my day job to become a florist because I must not have followed the directions very well since the flowers weren't as perky as I'd hoped.

I also made little take homes for the guests - they are little mason jars with hershey kisses inside and I spray painted the lids with chalkboard paint and wrote "Thanks" in chalk on the top.  I returned home with most of the jars - although a lot of them no longer had kisses in them.  I like to reuse things, so I'll have little jars I can repurpose for something else! 

One of my favorite things that I made was a diaper cake.  My first attempt at one of these and it was a lot of fun to do.  The center of the cake is a wine bottle that was the perfect height for a 3 tier cake and worked perfect to hold it all together...of course the bottle was empty - sorry Amy.

I didn't get a good picture of my paper rosettes while at the party, but I had taken one at my house so I'll just stick that in here.  These were placed around the 3 rooms where the shower was taking place.

After the shower, Jocelyn and I headed in to San Antonio to visit with Lisa, Matt and their little girl Harper (Jocelyn slept the whole way there which was great).  They already had Mickey Mouse Club House on and, after a few minutes, Jocelyn felt right at home playing with all of Harper's toys.  They are a little over a year apart.  So cute.  Wish I could have spent more time visiting with Lisa who I don't get to see nearly as much as I'd like. 

We made one more stop at Grandpa and Grandma Cherri's house, and then hit the road for the three hour drive home.  Jocelyn watched movies and stayed awake the whole way.  I'm glad she did because when we pulled up to the house just after 9pm she had just started to fall asleep so it was very easy to put her down to bed for the night.

Fun times!  Can't wait to start making decorations for my next party.

Visitors from Mississippi

Melanie, Paul and Miss Riley came to visit this weekend and we had a great time.  Jocelyn and Riley got a long most of the time....throw in a 2 year old with a "mine mine mine" complex and a 4 year old that wants to play with everything and there is bound to be some bumps.  Saturday, Melanie, Paul and Riley spent some time in Galveston visiting with some of Paul's family in the morning, then we all went to Gringo's for dinner.  Jocelyn just had to have the chicken nuggets but then it was like pulling teeth to get her to eat any of them.  Sunday we went out to my Dad's house where Jennifer, Kenny and the boys met us on their way back in town from New Braunfels.  I love my Dad's house, just wished they lived a little closer to us.  The rain kept us from spending too much time outside, but that is alright, we made the best of it.  I wish I had taken some more pictures but these are pretty much it.  I know, epic fail on my part.

On a sad note, our family dog Barney passed away on Monday night pictured below with Lydia).  He was such a sweet boy and we will miss him lots.  I'm sure he is up in heaven spending lots of time with his old pal Fred and girlfriend Lydia.

Happy July 4th

We had a wonderful and busy July 4th.  John played a round of golf with friends in the morning while Jocelyn and I ran errands.  They had a great time despite the heat, but I guess if you love playing, then you don't mind sweating even while you're just driving in the golf cart. 

After lunch, Jennifer and I took the kids out to our friend Kelly's house for a 4th of July Party, where John met up with us after golf.  It was also Jeremy's (Kelly's husband) birthday.  The kids had a great time playing at Kelly's house with all of Will's toys and splashing in the little pools in the backyard.  Will, who is only 2 weeks older than Owen, is such a cutie and very chatty.  Of course, I ate too many sweets and left no room for actual food, but Kelly had a great spread of treats that I couldn't resist.

After the party, John and I, and a group of friends headed to Bicentenial Park in Baytown (just a few minutes from Kelly's house) to watch Robert Earl Keen play.  It was a free concert from 8pm to 9:30pm.  Jennifer was nice enough to take Jocelyn back home with her and the boys before the concert.  We had a great time.  Robert Earl Keen always reminds me of the great times in college.  Funny how music can bring back so many memories. 

Cousins and Dress Up

On Saturday, Ya Ya, Thaden and Owen came over to play with Jocelyn (while Jennifer and Kenny got some shopping without kids done).  Jocelyn loves her cousins so much and talks about them all the time.  During their play date, Jocelyn told Thaden that he was her best friend.  So sweet. 

Love these kids!

Grandma Pam bought Jocelyn a few dress up outfits recently and Jocelyn wanted to try them all on, one right after the other.  Plus she wanted to wear her Aurora dress, of course.  Here are a few shots of her impromptu fashion show.