Baby Shower in Tinley Park

September 18, 2011

I am so fortunate to have so many generous and caring people in my life.  Carl and I both are.  And the baby showers that were thrown for us (and Audrey!) prove just how thoughtful and generous our families and friends are.  My mother-in-law, Carl's Aunt Janet, and Joyce's good friend Kathy Moran threw us a shower in Tinley Park on September 18, 2011, for family and friends up in the Chicagoland area.  It was at the cutest restaurant called Isabella Cafe in downtown Tinley.  They had the best Italian food - so delicious!  This is the invitation and the menu:

Here is a picture of me (at 35-weeks) and the hosts:  Aunt Janet, me, Joyce, and Kathy 

Just check out all the little details.  So much work went into this shower.  They are a creative bunch!

Kathy Moran made this diaper cake.  Check it out.  Illini cap (that we are taking to the hospital with us for some of Audrey's first pics), a softball glove, softball bat going through the middle, socks, onesies, headbands, toys, even a cupcake ornament:

There were about 30 people total who attended, which is quite a turnout!  Carl and I both are so thankful and appreciative of all the gifts we received.  We really did get everything we needed from our registry plus some other really cute things.

Look at all these gifts!

I have many more pictures, but I'll leave you with just one more... Carl and me, the parents-to-be:

It was a Sunday in the Fall, the Bears played the New Orleans Saints hence Carl's jersey.  Unfortunately, the Bears lost.  

My Little Cupcake Baby Shower

My cousin Keely was so nice to throw me this wonderful shower at my Aunt Faye's house in Decatur on August 27th, 2011.  Here is a pic of me and the host:

Note:  I had a goal to get a picture with everyone at the shower, but somehow I didn't get a picture with my Aunt Faye.. what the heck!  

It was the most beautiful shower!  The theme was "My Little Cupcake".  Here are some pics of the cute invitation that set the tone for the shower and gave indication that we would probably have some cupcakes at the shower.  Yum!

  

Look at how beautiful the decorations were!  This was the front room and what everyone saw when they first entered the house.  Isn't my Aunt's house gorgeous!

The tables were just beautiful.  I love the pink and the green together.  The centerpieces were gorgeous flowers and floating candles in square vases.  Would you believe that the flowers came from my Aunt Faye's garden?  Seriously.  They are Annabelle Hydrangeas.  (Fun fact: Keely's daughter's name is Chloe Annabelle, named after this beautiful flower!)  Keely is so creative... if you look closely, you may be able to see that the base of the flower is unique.  It's a bottle (a real baby bottle!) with diapers wrapped around it.  Isn't that such a good idea?  She sent all the bottles and the diapers home with me.  And at each place setting, she had candy favors for everyone.  The pink goody package on the plates says, "Sugar & Spice And everything nice That's what little girls are made of".  And she special ordered the jelly beans cups to say "Abby's Shower, Sweet Thanks".  

The food was delicious!  See my post from last week about the "good food weekend"... yeah, I was talking about this food!  I drank about 4 glasses of pink lemonade - yum!  One of my favorite things in the world is chicken salad on a croissant.  So good!  And they also had a beautiful fruit platter, delicious mixed salad of mixed greens, strawberries, and pecans, and coleslaw. 

Keely and Aunt Faye really made this shower so special for me and our guests.  Here are some pics of me with my good friends that were in attendance:

From top left (clockwise):  Cynda Marr (25 weeks pregnant!) and her mom, Sherry Derbort; Kristen Legner; Barb Wilkey & Maci Whetstone, Crystal Whetstone's mom & daughter; Crystal Whetstone.  It really meant a lot to me to have my closest friends with me!  Also in attendance was Joyce and Jennifer Larson, my Mother--in-Law and Sister-in-Law (I didn't get a pic with them either, shame on me!) and my Mom and sisters.  Here is a pic of me with my Mom and sisters at my parents house before the shower:

Everyone was so generous!  We received so many gifts for baby Audrey.  I will post pics of the gifts soon...