Lil Sister's Bridal Shower

I've been planning, scheming and dreaming about this day for awhile now. My baby sister's wedding shower. Wow. That's still crazy to say. It's no secret that I love to host....and decorate....and plan. So it goes without saying that within about ten seconds of hearing that my future bro-in-law was planning on proposing back in July I had plans in the works for a shower to honor my best friend and sister. It didn't take long to come up with a theme. If you know my sister then you know that she enjoys the pretty things in life. Jewelry, clothes, accessories.....she's a girly girl for sure. I also know that she has a certain affinity for her beautiful Tiffany purchases from that bro-in-law of mine. Picking a theme was easy, ya see! Tiffany blue has been on my mind for months now. Etsy, pinterest and hobby lobby were my go-to places. My Aunt Lisa was my partner in crime and joined in on the diamond and blue madness. Anybody who can put up with my neurotic planning tendencies is a saint in my eyes. I can't thank her enough for co-hosting with me. We tried our best to keep the shower theme underwraps so that Bailey would be completely surprised. Ok, enough talk.....it's time for pictures!

The cake was made by The Cake Lady in Woodward. She is my cake hero. This cake looked identical to the picture I gave her to model. I'd say it was very well-received by the bride. ;) Isn't she pretty???

Finding the perfect touches to decorate with became quite the hobby. I fell in love with this sign.....

Pearls, diamonds, glitter and shine.....oh and of course Tiffany blue!

A talented gal on Etsy made this personalized banner for the shower. The chandeliers were just perfect....

The Tiffany boxes were just little pieces of perfection sitting in these martini glasses. Oh I've just died and gone to heaven. My diagnosis: bling-itis.

Lisa picked up the little silver and white candies for the favor bags.....

We used Bailey's wedding guest book for the shower guests to sign in....

Is this not gorgeous!?

I just love the clean look of white frames and the antique style went perfectly with the theme....

I found a couple of these big authentic necklace boxes on Etsy and Lisa's friend happened to have a collection of old Tiffany boxes that we just had to decorate with....

On to the FOOD! This was where Pinterest came in mighty handy. Lisa and I wanted to do something simple since it was a middle of the afternoon shower. So we stuck with an exclusive dessert menu. These cookies with cream cheese frosting and fruit topping were my favorites....

These colorful fruit kabobs were pleasing to the eye and fun to prepare.....

We had an assortment of snacks for the funfetti cake mix dip. Super sweet!

And it wouldn't have been a party without Lisa's punch. Yum-o!!!

And last but not least....the cake.

It was quite the creation.....

Thanks to Lisa we were in character and ready for a "shower at Tiffanys".....

Our trusty assistants Lana, Dara and Heather all showed up early to help make it happen. We had all of two hours to decorate, setup and get dressed but it came right down to the wire. I was pretty bummed that I didn't have time to hang my blue and white poms that I'd purchased a few months prior just for the shower. Who knew that seperating poms was so time-consuming?! The bride arrived fashionably late looking absolutely glowing and pretty as I'll get out in her navy dress and heels. Ready or not, here we go!!!

Guests started to arrive which meant lots of hugs and smiles....

Bailey's best friend since grade school and fellow bridesmaid, Whitney, spent the entire day and evening with us which meant so much to Bailey.

And the biggest surprise of the day: DARA WORE A DRESS!!!!

Fabulous ladies, simply fabulous!

Grandma and Aunt Deedee drove in from Shattuck for the day....

All of her bridesmaids were there except for cousin Presley in Missouri. The two hot red-headed ones were causing trouble in the back of the room....;)

Lisa and I made sure everything was going smoothly while everyone talked and ate....

Oh wow, look who showed up?!?!

We thought he could use a little dressing up.....

Perfect!

Bridesmaid Amber and her sister Meghan were able to join in....

Bailey had the waterworks flowing about ten minutes into the shower when she found her way back to me and started crying. I knew what was wrong and didn't really have the right words to say to make her feel better about missing mom on a day like that. But what better substitute for a mom than a pretty awesome dad?!?

We kinda love him!

The tears were dry and it was time to lighten the mood with a game....and a surprise guest! The happy couple played a fun little game where we found out how well the bride knows the groom. Spencer was a sport and answered some questions for me ahead of time and he arrived to take part in the game. His job was to feed his bride a piece of bubblegum for every question that she answered wrong. Judging from the laughter in the room I'd say that these two were fun to watch....

Gettin' a little hard to talk there Bailey??

Spencer was lovin' every minute of it

She contested a few of the answers but in the end she had a six-piece bubble to blow. Game time was followed by PRESENT TIME

.

Trying my best to stay in character

Spencer stuck around to see if they would get the ice-cream maker that he'd been longing for. I hear that it was the only item he really wanted....and his grandma came through for him. He got a lot of laughs when he opened it up.

No doubt, they walked away with some amazing gifts. She was one happy bride-to-be....

If I remember correctly the smell of cake and champagne were wofting through the room and the cake was begging to be cut into. But the only problem was that Bailey wasn't ready to cut into it because it was "too pretty."

;)

Spencer stuck around a little bit longer with all the girls....

Like a dummy I wanted to give a toast but hadn't thought about what I wanted to say at all.

So I decided to put Dara on the spot and she gave the first toast.....

Dara's short and sweet words were followed by Aunt Lana's tear-jerker toast to her "daughter she never had."

Many others followed in with some sweet words that had most of the women in the room shedding a few (or a lot) of tears. Then I opened my mouth up and spewed out a lot of words that probably made no sense at all and I kept telling myself to just shut up but for some reason I just kept talking. I'm gonna have to start preparing now for my matron of honor speech unless I want to ramble on some more. :/

A lot of Spencer's family was there as well as some of our close family friends, a couple of my mom's former co-workers and a group of Bailey's aunts and cousins. I wish I would've taken more pictures of each table of guests but I did get some great shots of the woman of the hour with some of her friends and family....

It was a day that I will never forgot. I can't recall a time when my sister has smiled that much in a two hour span of time. I think her smile was contagious as I looked around the room at all the faces because there was a sense of happiness that couldn't be denied. My baby sister is growing up on me.....and she's doing a mighty fine job at it I must say.

Oh yeah, there was one more guest I forgot to mention. Our momma. You bet your big black sunglasses she was there in spirit watching every last bit of the fun....and she was more than likely laughing at dad's girly hat the entire time. ;)

Hallie and Mommy's Staycation

That picture above just about sums it up. We relaxed. And that's all there was to it. But of course I've got a lot to share though. It wouldn't be livin' on Hallie time if I didn't expound a bit, right?

So why did we have this little staycation last week? Well, it's a rather long story. But I'll make it short. ;)

Riley and I had made plans awhile back for the three of us to go with him to OKC for one of his work conferences the end of the last week in March. I was looking forward to just getting out of town and taking a couple days off work. I made resevervations downtown where Hallie could have access to an indoor waterpark and we were officially ready for a couple days of nothing but swimming and movies in bed......

....or were we???? Guess not.

The beginning of last week started out pretty yucky. Well, the week wasn't yucky....but more like my right eye. I've never had pink eye before so I really didn't want to believe that that's what was going on. I assumed it was just from yard work...all of that nasty dust and debris flying around. As my eye got worse over the course of three days and finally jumped over to the left eye I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Oh yeah, I guess I should also mention that my throat felt like I'd swallowed a bunch of knives and was on fire. I chose not to eat just to avoid swallowing. The doc ended up giving me eye drops, a z-pack to whip what appeared to be the beginning of strep throat and some prescription strength allergy meds. I was all set. Well, kinda. I went ahead and worked on Wednesday since the doc said it would be okay to see patients. I ended early that day simply because I was exhausted. But for the life of me I just could not seem to force mysef to rest. That afternoon after work I was out walking being pulled by the dogs, doing chores and trying to organize the fridge. All things that weren't necessary but for some reason I chose them over taking a nap and recovering a bit. It was no surprise that I still felt like dog doo doo the next day which meant it was time to decide whether I was going to stay home or leave town. I decided it would be good to get away and I had convinced myself that taking Hal along wouldn't be too stressful. So I packed. And I packed and packed and packed. You would've though we were going to be heading on a trip around the world. Riley got home at the end of the day later than expected and exhausted. He was tired. I was pooped. Hallie was not in the greatest of moods to be getting in the car for a long drive. So he decided to leave the next morning. And I decided that I didn't like that plan. ;) So after much pouting about all that I had packed.....I decided to stay.

Thursday morning, after Riley left early that morning, I woke up feeling like a new person. My eyes were both white again and my throat didn't hate me any longer. I knew right then and there that Hallie and I had a couple wonderful days ahead of us. We spent Thursday taking many wagon rides, running circles in the driveway and watching cartoons while relaxing on the couch. The morning was just beautiful which meant we were outdoors until naptime came around.......

"Can the dogs come out and play?"

The crazy little driver ran her car into a big bush.....

She looked a little worried upon exiting the vehicle.....

"What am I gonna tell dad when he gets home?!?!"

Her worry got the best of her and she started throwing things.....

"He's gonna ground me....and I'll never get to see my friends....and my life is over...."

Both of us girls took naps that afternoon. I can't remember the last time I did that. Besides the UPS lady ringing the doorbell in the middle of said nap, it was quite wonderful and everything I'd dreamed it would be. ;) We had an Easter egg hunt that afternoon. We have about a million eggs lying around the house and I thought it rather silly that we were waiting to use them for just one afternoon on Easter Sunday. Why not get more use out of them? And the girl is obsessed with "ehhs" anyway. Egg hunt practice ensued!

It rained Thursday evening. And it kept raining. It just didn't stop. I began to get worried about my big plans for the evening. Ya see, there aren't many nights that I have the couch and tv all to myself. My plans were to curl up under my favorite blanket and watch Footloose after I put Hal to bed. Like I said, big plans. ;) That rain kept falling and it seems to be falling right on our dish outside. Hal didn't seem to mind the rain though.....

"Rain is a good thing."

She stood at the door and just stared in awe. The girl hasn't seen a lot of it in her short little life....

"Can I go play in it?"

Hal passed out after about twenty favorite books.....I watched my movie.....all was right with the world. The rain smelled so yummy. It's amazing what taking some time off work can do for your mindset. Aww. I felt refreshed and ready to take on Friday. Luckily there wasn't much to take on though because it was day #2 of staycation. Hal was a bit somber Friday morning. It may have had something to do with making a trip to Walmart first thing that morning....

"Seriously?!"

I thought that the park would cheer her up so we took a ride in the blue shuttle around the corner. At the park we found some kids who were out of school for the day. Commence the bullying. Hal was not given a very warm welcome as these kiddos told her that she couldn't play there because it was their park. I was frankly disgusted. And sad. Hal looked pretty sad as she got out of the wagon and walked around. She stood back hanging onto my leg for awhile until the two kids finally decided that Hal was actually a pretty cool "baby."

"You bet your Tonka truck I'm cool, dude"

She skirted around the bullies for awhile until they left the park. Hal was pretty excited about their departure as was I considering the oldest boy was swinging a sock full of rocks around and throwing it. Mind you this is the same kid that was throwing glass bottles in the street and busting them all the while laughing. Like I said, Hal was happy to have the park to herself.....

"Nanny nanny boo boo, they can't get me!"

We took our party back to the house and did a little kicking back in the driveway. She kept crawling up in the stroller so I thought I'd take advantage of her willingness and we went for a run. She was a great sport (which is rare these days in the stroller) and snacked on her Cuties while I huffed and puffed up the hills. Once we got back to the house we both did some running up and down the driveway. She got a kick out of high-fiving everytime we passed eachother. Nap time was right around the corner but I think she was in a bit of denial....

"I'm not tired....you are just seeing things!"

"I've got places to go....invisible people to push."

A long nap from Hallie was well-received by this momma. I took that time to get prepared for Aunt B's wedding shower the next day. It took every last second of her three hour nap to prepare the food and decorations. As always, it took a lot longer than I'd expected because I'd taken on more than necessary. But nothing felt like enough considering it was for my baby sis! In fact, I wish I could've done even more! Hal awoke with the promise of daddy coming home soon. We left the driveway on a wagon ride and looked back to see him pulling in. We did a u-turn and headed back to give him hugs and kisses! We'd missed him!

"When did you say he's coming home again?"

She was one happy little chick after spending two days at home with me. I wholeheartedly felt just as happy!

I giggle everytime I look at this next picture. She's ridiculous. She's hilarious. I can't get enough. I thought we'd do a little "flower girl practice" while we had the extra time. We've tried this twice before and each "practice" ends like this....

"Who's idea was this!?!?!"

The dress came off. Dad was bearing gifts. So all was well.

Riley had sent me a picture earlier that day of the pink Barbie fishing pole he'd picked up for his girl from Bass Pro Shop. Here fishie, fishie......

"To the pond, dad!!"

Seeing him teach her how to cast and reel in her plastic blue fishy made my heart swell.

Nevermind the fact that she was a blaring hazard swinging the pole around and twisting up the line....but we just stood back and laughed. She already loves to "fish." Oh, and cookies. Have I mentioned she loves cookies too?? And did I mention that she LOVES to say the word "cookie?"

"I'll be your bridal shower taste-tester anyday, momma"

It's Sunday evening which makes four days off work in a row now. I'm on cloud nine. Rejuvenated, refreshed and restored. My staycation with Hallie was nothing short of wonderful. All smiles and giggles. Cartoons and Cuties. Park trips and wagon rides. Naps and cuddling. She learns so much everyday it's incredible. I was holding out on winning that big lottery so that I could have a staycation with Hallie every day of the week....but alas, I hear somebody else won it. ;) Until then I'll keep on trying to squeeze every last bit of time out of my day to devote to her. Man, she's an awesome creature. Thank you God!

Egg Hunt Practice

Is there anything in life more fun than having a good ol'-fashioned egg hunt?

I didn't think so. ;)

Some of my fondest memories of Easter Sunday involve my cousins and I at my Grandma Lois's house chasing down loads of colorful eggs as fast as we could. We were all in pursuit of the big prize egg which of course had big bucks in it ($5, hehe). Yesterday I set up a mock egg hunt in the backyard for my little bunny. I wanted to see if Hallie undertsood the concept of hunting eggs. But first I had some business to take care of: remove the fake grass from the basket to avoid a green mess in the yard....she has some difficulty holding the basket upright.

The girl caught on very quickly. I really didn't even have to say or do anything. I just handed her the basket and she went to town.....

She had a few basket issues. Her trouble had to do with the fact that she couldn't hold the basket still and the eggs would spill out once she collected them....

"You could've at least given me a basket with a handle or something!!"

Once the basket got too heavy she dumped it off at the porch and did some running back and forth....

She had rosy cheeks and was obviously getting a great workout in with all of the walking...

Once she'd hunted down all of the eggs my wee little one was a bit red-faced and tired. That's hard work with such short legs y'all! So what's a girl to do when the fun is over........

Dump them out and start over again, of course.....

She was feeling pretty confident after her first egg hunt was through so she was not shy about taking on her second big hunt of the day in Nanny's backyard. I told Nanny we were on our way so she got to work hiding the eggs.

"Nanny, I'm not sure if you know this but I'm kind of a pro at this hunting business"

Nanny held the baskets for her as she ran, ran, ran around the yard with a HUGE smile on her face....

Nanny sent us a picture the next day of two eggs that hadn't been found that said "I think Hal needs to keep practicing." That we will!

But it's safe to say she's not a novice anymore.

BRING ON EASTER!!!!!!