Some tricks, more later (hopefully)

Here’s a quick look at some of the commands/tricks we’ve been able to teach Ember.  Some of them aren’t so sharp at this time, but they’ll get better with practice.  In fact, they already have since this video was captured!  We are working on others with her, so we are hoping (keeping fingers crossed) that she can learn more :)

Ellie Benkendorfer

Our dear sweet friends, Brian and Lisa Benkendorfer, welcomed their first child into the world today.  Sweet Ellie Ann was born at 32 1/2 weeks and is 3lbs. 7oz.  She will be in the NICU for quite some time and is definitely in need of some prayers, though she has some terrific and loving parents.  Please also join Henry and I in praying for Ellie’s magnificent mother, Lisa, in her healing.

Above all, I know Brian and Lisa are truly thankful to the Lord above for the support they receive, mostly from their family and also that they have wonderful baby girl! 

Again, please send up prayer(s) for this new family of 3 (4 if you want to count Sarge :)  )!

Watch Ember Anytime

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve been posting quite a few videos of Ember on YouTube that I then share here on our blog.  Well, I won’t be posting every single video here, but I did want to share our YouTube channel with you so that you can see the latest of our videos at any time!

http://www.youtube.com/user/kbtoreador

Most of the videos are of Ember, but there are other videos in there as well.  Here’s a quick one to share with you just for kicks :)

Addison Joy’s Sip N’ See

FINALLY!  The post that lets me know I’m mostly caught up!  Whoop!  I am so excited to share details from our trip to Mississippi!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, but it was actually kind of…uh, home-like?…to be able to drive there.  I’m pretty sure I drove there twice in high-school/college.  I’m not positive, but I think that’s right.  It’s much nicer to be able to make that drive with Henry now :)  After leaving Madisonville, LA, we headed for Taylorsville which is where the Gambrell Manor (as Kelly would call it) sits.  On our way, I had Henry exit Hardy St off of 59 so that I could show him a little bit of University of Southern Mississippi.  He’s met so many of Kelly and Matthew’s friends from college after marrying me that I thought he should know where all these peeps came from…sort of.  He really liked it!  Plus, as Sally and I discussed, it was cool for me to be able to see how much it’s CHANGED since I saw it last.  A&M and USM definitely have that in common right now; LOTS O’ CHANGE.

Anyway, we got to the Gambrell’s around 2:30, and Henry was able to meet sweet Addison :)  We had a great time with family that evening and Laurie (Kelly’s Mom) and Kelly had prepared an amazing dinner for everyone that night!  So delicious!

The next day was sweet Addison’s Sip N’ See!Sally, Laurie and I were soooo excited!  Laurie did so much for this amazing little party, and you’ll see it all in the video and the photos.  She did an absolutely incredible job.  She made table runners with painted polka dots on them, painted polka dots on brown pots, put pretty purple flowers in the pots with fun lavender and brown crinkle paper at the base, made cute brown, lavender and light green bows to stand up in the plants, prepared some AMAZING food (more in a second), and ordered delicious cupcakes from Teresa’s bakery!

Sally made super cute life saver pacifiers, which I forgot to take a picture of, but they look like the ones I posted a picture on for Carissa’s shower.  She also made a gorgeous diaper cake, which you will also see later.  I made the invitations that you see above, but Laurie and Sally really helped me in getting the wording and fonts right :)  They also selected the perfect invitations!  I also made some cookies, which, again, you’ll see later.

So, here’s the awesome menu that Laurie put together for the Sip N’ See.  It was all delicious!

Pulled Pork Sliders with Pickled Red Onions
Tequila-Lime Chicken Wings
Italian Pasta Salad
Cheesy Potatoes
Watermelon Salad
Crunchy Chinese Coleslaw

Almond Sugar Cookies
Raspberry Mint Iced Tea
Sugar-Free Lemonade

And at the Sip Station:

Assorted Hot Teas (I think had about 1.2 million different choices, hahah!)

Regular Coffee

Decaf Coffee

Hazelnut Coffee

One other specialty kind that I’ve already forgotten :/

Have a look at the setup of the food!

Here’s just a couple of my favorite pics from the Sip N’ See. Fun video Henry took…kinda.

Also, I loooooooove this video of me and Addison talking.  Check out what word I got her to mimic :)  Aggie?  I think sooooooo!

Also, one of Kelly and Matthew’s friends made super cute shirts for 3 sweet little girls.  Check it out!

Lastly, here’s a look at a video of pics from the Sip N’ See :)  This is one of my favorite Animoto videos yet :)

Please also check out Sally’s blog for some great details about the Sip N’ See.

Visiting Nick, Stori and Isla in Madisonville, LA

Ok, I promised stuff about Mississippi today, but it’s going to have to wait.  There’s too much between seeing Nick, Stori and Isla as well as everything is Mississippi; they need their own posts :)

On our trek to Mississippi, we decided that it would be super awesome if we could stop in on Nick and Stori to not only see their house that we hadn’t seen in 2 whole years, but we could also meet sweet Isla!  Pictures and videos just weren’t cutting it for us anymore :)  We very much enjoyed getting to catch up with both Nick and Stori, too.  It’s been since Christmas, I think, since we’ve been able to really see and talk with both of them.  They were able to show us Madisonville, which is very cute by the way, and take us to one of their favorite restaurant, Friends.  Loved it!

But, I’m sure they would agree, the best part of our stay there was meeting Isla! I know everyone knows this, but check out how natural my hubby is :)

Check out Isla’s outfit for dinner :)

Henry got his last few oooohs and ahhhhs in the next morning, too. Sadly, we forgot to get pics with Nick and Stori :(

We had so much fun though, and Isla is so much fun to be around!

Corpus Family Vacation and Borchard Family Pictures

Ok, I’m really getting caught up now!!!  The first full week of July, Henry and I took 2 different trips; one to Corpus and one to New Orleans/Mississippi.  Well, this post is on the Corpus part of that trip; NO/MS is to come on Thursday.

So, July 2nd, we loaded up the car, including Ember, and we headed down to Corpus.  This was Ember’s first REALLY long car ride.  Henry and I were both really surprised at how well she did.  Were were planning to make 3 stops, but ended up only having to make 2 because she slept sooooooo hard on the first part of the trip.  She even ate her lunch in the moving car :)It’s quite odd looking at these pictures as I share these with you because she’s grown so much more since I took these pictures!

Anyway, when we arrived in Corpus on Friday, the first order of business was family pictures!  Bellezza Photography took the photos, and Kateri did a great job!  See, Hurricane Alex had made landfall the day before, so she was fighting some pretty tough winds to get good pictures of us.  You can check out the results by clicking here.  Here’s one teaser picture, but you have to go to the link above or the picture below to see more :)

Kateri did a great job, and I’m so glad that we have family pictures now!  Apparently no professional pics have been taken since Justine was a baby or earlier.  Glad that there’s record of her being here now :)  Hehe!

Moving on, we were also impressed with how well Ember did in Corpus with her daily routine.  She had nooooo problem at all with the new surroundings and getting some good sleep.     Most of all, she had lots of fun playing with Eddie and Velma’s dog Boomer!  He’s a Lab/Weimer mix and so so sweet!

So what did WE do in Corpus?  Well, ummmm, I have absolutely 0 pictures of that :/  Sorry.  Mostly it was hanging out with family, swimming in the pool, and cooking meals.  Nothing specifically planned or any outings.  It was a good time though.  Ember and I did sleep through the July 4th fireworks though :)  I feel bad that I have no pics, but I just never had my camera around me during our stay.  Most of the pics above are from my phone anyways.

Anyway, we had a good time, and Ember was super cute on the car ride home! She loves her Daddy lots! Ok, well this ended up being all about Ember, sorry!  We had a great time in Corpus though!

My 26th birthday

Again…lateness.  I’m getting caught up, I promise.

Sunday June 27th was my 26th birthday.  Yep, that means next year is my golden birthday!  27 on the 27th!  I’m excited about that one!  Anyway, after trying out Ouisie’s Table for Katie and David’s rehearsal dinner, I was looking for a good reason to go back there.  Their food is terrific!  So, for dinner, my parents, Melanie & Steve, Ashlee & Phil, Alicia & Ralph, Justine, and 2 of the Borchards friends joined Henry and I for dinner.  Everything was so delicious!  If you haven’t tried this delicious restaurant, you totally should :)The soon-to-be-wed peeps :)   So, if you haven’t seen Justine lately, this picture should be the most shocking thing in this entire post.  Seriously, how did she get to be that grown up?!   To be able to celebrate with friends, Henry and I planned dinner at Amazon Grill that following Tuesday. Again, if you haven’t tried this place either, you totally should!  Henry and I love that place!  It’s an order-at –the-counter style restaurant.  Anyway, Kevin & Melissa, Kristen & Matt, Desirae & Jeremy, and Anne & Scott joined us for dinner :)  Yes, I did say Anne and Scott!  They are in town through November on a special assignment for Anne for work.  So awesome to be able to do things with them so EASILY!  Sorry, no pics from this dinner :/

Thanks to all who sent cards and joined me for dinner for my birthday!  I had a blast celebrating my 26th :)

Now we get to look forward to celebrating Henry’s 28th on October 7th :)

Chase is in the Army

This is yet another LATE post considering when Chase left.  Sorry :/Anyway, I may have told some people, but, my cousin, Chase, has officially left for Basic Training (BT) in the Army!  He left on June 22nd.  Ronnie, Teresa, Ashlee, Phillip, Mom, Dad and I all went to the airport to see him off.  He actually began BT on June 28th, and he will have graduation on September 2nd.  From there, he will continue on in his job training that will go throughout Fall.

Ronnie, Teresa and Ashlee have already received a couple letters from him, and he seems to be doing well.  He’s set some goals for himself in his PT test in order to pass with flying colors.

Here’s some more pics of Chase’s departure from IAH! Chase has a very WELL PACKED backpack.  This is all he was allowed to take, so Teresa helped him pack it to the max!

Now, here is where I need your participation MORE THAN EVER!  If you’d like, please leave a comment of some kind to Chase.  I will print this post and it’s comments and send to Chase.  Any words of encouragement that you’d like give him would be much appreciated :)  Thanks!

Ann’s Baby Shower

Yes, I’m even super late on this post, too.  Seeing as how Abigail has already arrived and I haven’t even posted about the shower yet, I’d say that’s pretty well behind.

Regardless, here’s some of the fun details!

Adrienne and I had some fun planning this for Ann.  Our menu consisted of the following:

Pampered Chef Chicken Club Crescents (individual sized instead of in ring form)

Hummus

Spinach and Bacon Dip

Fruit and Vegetables

Cotton Candy Jelly Bellies

Lime Jelly Bellies

M&M Pretzels

Almond White Cake with Raspberry Filling

Almond Sugar Cookies

Fat Free White Milk

1% Chocolate Milk

1% Strawberry Milk

Pink Lemonade

Tea

Lime Water

Adrienne also brought some great arrangements of flowers to accent our display of food and drinks :)

Along our accent wall in our dining room, I hung some green fabric that matched the invitations.  I also printed some pics of Ann and Adam’s wedding as well as some maternity pics and hung those on the green fabric as well.

I think the best part of everything set up though was THE CAKE!!! We were able to order a delicious cake from Kakes by Klassic!  She did an absolute fabulous job and matched the invitation PERFECTLY!  Best of all, it tasted AMAZING!

Here’s a look at the fun we had :)