Baby Shower

I don't hop on here so much anymore, but I wanted to post about Lincoln's baby shower.

A month ago, I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for one of my dearest friends. Kristina and I have been friends since the 7th grade. We have been through everything together - puberty, boyfriends, break-ups, make-ups, our own fights, my wedding and babies, her moves across the country and back, and everything in between.

I jumped at the chance to throw her a shower, and was super excited about the theme. Kris and Jeff are doing a woodland bear theme for sweet Lincoln's bedroom, which was so fun to do for the shower!

I am all about a cute, fun DIY craft, so this was right up my alley. I started by making a bunch of burlap & twine acorns. This was SUPER easy. I found some tutorials on pinterest and went to town. Then I asked my sweet, handy husband to make some candle holders out of some tree branches that we had in the shed. He spent a whole 20 minutes making them and they were perfect! I set them on a sheet of moss from the Dollar Tree for table centerpieces.

I had a picture in my mind of the perfect cake; however, since I was doing this party on a budget, I wasn't sure I would be able to afford what I wanted. But my amazing and super talented friend, Rachel, made this cake and cupcakes for super cheap. It couldn't have been more perfect. (Topper from Etsy.)

For my baby shower, my sister-in-law requested that everyone bring books instead of cards. This was a really sweet sentiment, but we now have notes in lots of different books instead of in cards or a guestbook in one spot. I knew I wanted to get Lincoln a book, and I found this adorable one (goes with the bear theme and is seriously the cutest book) and had the guests sign it as the guestbook.

She is the cutest, right?!

So happy for Kristina and Jeff, and I cannot wait to meet precious Lincoln. He is loved so much already.

Operation: Do ALL the Christmas Things (part four)

I think this is the last of my "Christmas things" posts for this year...except for actual Christmas. It's our tradition to make and decorate cookies for Santa (and ourselves) on Christmas Eve. This year, we had some friends join us for the fun.

Leland was really into cutting them out. Fischer was the king of decorating. And Alden and Otto enjoyed the frosting and mini m&m's galore. It was a good time.

Cheeeeeese!

Otto loved the frosting.

Cuties!

I've been meaning to make a "Cookies for Santa" plate for about two years now. I finally got around to it this year. Leland was so excited about it.

Christmas season as a kid was pretty magical, but Christmas season with kids is a million times better. I love all of our fun activities and adventures together, as well as creating memories with our own traditions.

Pumpkin Carving

This weekend, our friends invited us over for a little pumpkin carving party. Until this year, we hadn't carved pumpkins with the boys - we always painted them. But I was looking forward to carving them for the first time. Leland was excited to see Fischer because we haven't been able to see them much since school started.

Magi is such a great party hostess and thinks of things that I never do. She had some cute spider hot dogs and pumpkin cookies ready when we got there. I don't think I would have even thought to have snacks, let alone cute snacks.

We got to work right away when we got there. The boys weren't incredibly interested in pumpkin carving (the toys and their friends were more interesting), but they did have fun. I think scooping out the guts was their favorite.

Eric got fancy and used a template, while the rest of us tried free-handing it.

Our finished masterpieces.

Later that night, I lit some candles and turned off the lights so that the boys could see their pumpkins lit up. They loved it.

I love Halloween more and more every year. And I'm so thankful to have great friends to enjoy the festivities with.

Brothers and Best Buds

Last week, we had a play date with our friends, Fischer and Otto (and their mom, Magi). We met at a park to play, but the boys quickly discovered a nature trail in the woods and so we began an "epic adventure" (Fischer's words - he is too funny).

For much of our walk, the big boys ran ahead of us, while Alden tried to catch up and Otto stuck with us. 

But there were some very sweet moments, such the big brothers holding the littles' hands. The cuteness nearly killed me. 

And when Alden asked Leland for a hug. Oh, my heart could have burst!

This! Makes my heart so happy. 

We eventually made our way back to the playground and the boys all had fun on this tall slide. 

Naturally, I had to join them. 

All four boys wanted to sit on the swing together and even let me take a decent picture!

This is what summer is made of. Epic adventures and making memories with awesome friends. 

Elk Rapids Beach Day

One day last week, we ventured out to Elk Rapids again to meet up with an old pal, Emmett. Emmett went to Julie's daycare with the boys and his mom teaches at GTA with me (well, not with me - she teaches high school, but you know what I mean). Emmett is about a month older than Alden, so while they don't play "together" as much as play near each other, it was still a fun play date. 

There is a really cool playground at this beach. The boys had so much fun. And Alden, in his typical fashion, injured himself. Oy!

There was another young boy there who let our boys play with his trucks. I brought a huge bag of sand and water toys, including trucks, boats, and planes, but of course someone else always brings something cooler. 

My kids could swing all day! I think Emmett feels the same way. 

And my boys always have to climb EVERYTHING! Hence Alden's constant injuries. 

Leland and Alden LOVED the beach and the playground! We will definitely be going there again! 

Off to a Great Start

Warning: picture overload!

Well, we've had one full week of summer vacation and we made sure it was a FULL, fun week. 

To kick off our summer, we had a play date with Fischer and Otto. We played and picnicked at a new (to us) park and then went out for ice cream.

Another day, we went to Kindermusik, which I posted about here.

We visited Julie at her new apartment. It was so nice to see her and visit!

We went to the library for story time (and played with puzzles).

We ate smelled the flowers in the backyard.

We took walks.

The boys went to daycare one day so I could organize the basement, get my hair cut, and have lunch with my awesome coworker. 

We did a little Pinterest craft. They didn't turn out exactly like the original ones I pinned (my projects never do), but I thought they turned out cute. Leland LOVES them!

Alden's are on the top, Leland's on the bottom.

The boys helped Daddy in the yard after he cut down some tree branches.

We played outside A LOT! We wrestled and goofed around inside.

We snuggled on the couch.

Basically, we had a perfect week. And then we had a fun weekend, which I will share about later. It's going to be a fabulous summer.