Shower Weekend!

This past weekend was shower weekend for the girls in the family! Which means it was kind of busy, really fun, very PINK, and super special! =) 

We all loved celebrating the upcoming arrival of Piper Caroline and showering her mama with lots and lots of gifts and goodies! 2 showers in 2 days wore me out (and I'm not even pregnant, haha), but now that shower weekend is behind us I'm more excited than ever to meet my niece! Squeal!!!

The first shower this weekend was a family and friend shower hosted by our cousins (who are definitely the party planners/throwers in the family) on Saturday afternoon. Everything was beautiful and girly and just perfect! Our hostesses went ALL OUT and everything turned out so adorable, sweet, and Pinterest-y! We had the best time at this shower!!

Mama to be! 

The details in the decor were amazing!

Anna is using pink, cream/white, and gold in the nursery so all the decor was perfect!

Those bloomers!!

The loot!

The girls in the fam... including Little Miss Piper!

Some of Anna's best friends who were able to come. Such a sweet and fun group! 

This shower was such a fun celebration with our closest family and friends and I know Anna and Frankie are so excited and grateful. I remember feeling a huge sense of peace after my showers because I knew I was way more prepared and ready to welcome my babies afterwards. They really are the best!

The 2nd shower of the weekend was given by our church, specifically our Sunday School class. (Anna and I are in the same Sunday School Class and it's a really sweet and close group of couples and I loved working with all the ladies of the class to put it together.)

This shower also turned out so special and so perfect. My friend Megan designed the SWEETEST invite for me to send out to extra friends and family who don't attend our church. LOVE!!

Mama and baby! =)

There was soo much food at this shower! I made this picture before it was even all put out. Everything was so good and every detail was special.

This is only a portion of the gifts Anna received. Again, I made this picture at the very start of the shower before everyone had arrived. She opened presents all afternoon and was totally showered with love... and dresses, bows, diapers, wipes, bibs, body wash, and the most adorable little outfits ever, to name a few. Our church family is such a blessing. 

I totally forgot to make a picture of the table that held the cutest little favor bags along with the framed invitation and a sign in book for everyone to write down their address for Anna. I think someone was always standing there so I never had a good opportunity for a picture and then I forgot. I also forgot about pictures while she was opening presents because I was writing down everything and my camera was right beside me the whole time. Sigh. 

At least I remembered these afterwards. =)

It was a fun and oh so special weekend celebrating Baby Girl's upcoming arrival. And such a blessing to her parents I know! We are beyond excited to meet our sweet Piper! Anna and Frankie are going to be amazing and we can't wait to see them become mama and daddy. =) Excitement is growing by the day!! T-minus 30 something days to go!

Friday Favorites: Up & Down Week Edition

It's Friday! Yaaaaaay!!!!! This week has been a bit of a doozy for me so I'm especially happy to welcome the weekend! I had major allergy issues at the start of the week plus some crazy anxiety sneak up on me, so that combo made for some lack of sleep and not so great days. The rest of my family has had a pretty good week, it's just been me who's been off. Sigh. Thankfully I'm feeling lots better physically and mentally. Great is Thy faithfulness!

Here's a peek at my favorite moments this week...

*Despite feeling terrible and it being a gross and rainy day, I still managed to take Austin and Layton to Storytime at the library for the first time this year. And I must say it was worth the effort. Both boys had a really good time and Austin even got to make this Letter B Bear which he was super proud of and is now being displayed on the fridge. =)

*Every Tuesday we're commitment free (for the most part) and so as soon as we have homework done the boys enjoy endless playtime together since we're not rushing to be somewhere. We love Tuesdays! This Tuesday was a wet and rainy one so we went down to the basement after finishing up homework and these 3 brothers played and played and played. And I mainly read on the couch and stepped in as referee if needed. I LOVE having that extra space and LOVE watching my boys play. It was a great afternoon.

*My biggest boy made me the sweetest card this week to help me feel better. Love you, love me. And that artwork! Presh!! 

Here's the translation of what we decided was a poem... but first you should know that he asked me how to spell "together" and somehow it didn't come out right. Ha. Your name is mom. My name is Garrison. Together we are Garrison and mom. I love you and you love me. Together we are the best of family, you and me. And inside the heart: You and me and all of our family. Oh the sweetness!! It most certainly did help me feel better! 

*One day this week while I was doing laundry this little man decided to steal the laundry basket... and later I found him parked inside of it and quite thrilled with himself. =)

*Picture Day for this cutie was yesterday. He still looks a little sleepy but I couldn't resist a quick picture before he left for school yesterday morning. 

*This week it appears Layton has officially given up his morning nap. So sad. Those morning naps sure are wonderful and it's been tough on mama to see them go all 3 times. The tricky thing with Layton is that we have Baby A here at least 3 days a week and he still takes a morning nap... so I can't really plan any outings or such to get us out of the house. Instead, on yesterday we took Bailey out and then I let these 2 play under the garage while I was productive right inside and could keep an eye on them. It worked out perfect! There really are perks to having a car too big for the garage I guess. =)

*While Austin and Layton enjoyed play time in the garage, I was just a few steps away at my kitchen table doing some laminating. My in-laws gave me a laminator (one of a teacher's best friends!) for my birthday and I'm loving it! I've made several things over the years for the boys when I'm ready to introduce letters or numbers or do anything educational with them and all of it desperately needed laminating so I can keep using it. I'm so excited to have my very own at home and thankful to know I won't have to start over or re-create anything!   

*Soccer practice was cancelled last night thanks to lots and lots of rain yesterday afternoon and evening so we had a bonus night off! We loved having a slow pace and low-key evening and even had an impromptu family game night... Some serious rounds of Crazy 8's took place around our table. =) 

We are soo thankful it's Friday!! Terrell and I started back watching our shows this week and we even added a new one that's a little different... Blindspot on NBC. The jury's still out but it's reeling us in. And tonight 2 of our most favorite shows come back on... Blue Bloods and Hawaii 5-O!! The Reagan's have sort of become my very favorite TV family and having been to Hawaii and seen some of the places and scenery from the show makes Hawaii 5-O have a special place in my heart. So excited to see the season premiers of them both!

This weekend is also the weekend of showers....Anna has a shower on both Saturday and Sunday and I can't wait to celebrate Baby Girl with everybody!! Plus we have 2 soccer games on tomorrow too. =) It should be a fun one and I'm excited to get it started... Happy Friday!!

Buggy Days Weekend

Buggy Days weekend turned out really fun and really hot!! Just as predicted it felt like a scorching hot summer day on Saturday even though the days leading up to Buggy Days had been wonderfully Fall-like and the days following are turning out pretty Fall-like too. Despite our hot and sweaty time I think the whole family enjoyed the weekend lots so hopefully it was worth it. =)

We kicked off Saturday with Austin's very first soccer game of the season. It was exciting and fun and our middle man did great even though he's one of the very youngest and smallest in this age group. We were very proud and loved watching him play! 

He scored 2 tough goals and was thrilled! His face and demeanor after those goals were priceless!! We cheered like crazy because we were so excited for him. I know this season will be lots of fun for him but it's also going to be a little challenging playing with bigger, older kiddos so his first game gave him a huge boost of confidence and really started the season off on a high note! 

Of course his biggest fans were in the crowd too. Our big boys are blessed to have their very own cheering section at each game. =)

After the game was over we managed to get Austin changed out of soccer clothes and went straight to town for Buggy Days. This year we decided not to participate in the kiddie section and I think it was the right decision. We let the boys walk around to all the booths with us and pick out a few things they'd like to buy with their own money. They both chose a Georgia Bulldog tooth fairy pillow, face painting, hotwheels, and sno cones. This way we didn't have to pay extra for the kiddie section, we didn't get stuck in the kiddie section, and we all got to see all that was and the boys were able to purchase a few things.  

We decided to eat lunch inside so we could enjoy some air conditioning and have access to a bathroom but after lunch we were back out and ready for dessert. I chose homemade ice cream for me and Layton and this is when Terrell and the big boys decided on sno cones. Our littlest man was a trooper... even if we did have to pull out the emergency paci come naptime. Poor baby was exhausted by the time we finally left for home.

We found a shady, grassy spot to camp out for a while and we finished up our "dessert" and let the boys run free for a while.

Then it was time for the parade... which my whole crew enjoyed. Even Layton! This was the best picture I got thanks to the fact that I was melting and couldn't focus on taking good pictures. Oh my the HEAT. It was soo hot. We called it quits once the parade was over and headed home. We were worn out and gross from all our sweating!

Saturday night my parents invited us over to eat and we wrapped up the day cheering on our Bulldogs, eating good, and laughing a LOT. It was a fun day. =)

All ready for church Sunday morning!

Sunday was a special joint service day for us because we burned the note on our new children's building after only 11 short years. Garrison's choir sang and it was his first time singing on a Sunday morning from the choir loft. He did great!

It was a special service for us because all 3 of our babies are now enjoying the perks of the new children's wing and the campaign to raise money for it and have it built started when Terrell and I were engaged! And now we have 3 boys who get to enjoy it every Sunday plus other special occasions. During the slideshow we even got to see a picture of Anna holding Garrison when he was just a teeny tiny baby. It was a sweet service.

After church, lunch, and some down time we met Terrell's side of the family to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday and my birthday. His is today and mine is coming up in a couple of weeks so I got to celebrate early. =) We enjoyed the party room at a frozen yogurt place and had a great time. The cousins loved getting together and I'm pretty sure our 5 kiddos combined were just as loud and rambunctious as a party full of 10+ kiddos. Haha. Thankfully I don't think we ran anybody off since we were mostly secluded in the party room. We had a fun afternoon together and I'm super excited about my gifts. =)

 It was a full and fun weekend for the Selph's and our blessings overflowed. So thankful to live back in the hometown! It's the BEST!