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 :)

To D.C. to meet Addison Joy

Well, Henry and I are back from our week+ long vacay, but there will be more to come on that.  I have more stuff to catch up on from May and June, believe it or not. 

I am elated that Kelly and Matthew have a their new bundle of joy as of April 1, 2010, and, to somewhat fulfill my excitement, I booked a trip to meet her in May.  I was there for 4 days just after Carissa’s baby shower.  That said, I’m seriously ashamed that I have been so incredibly busy that I couldn’t post about this fabulous trip until nearly one month later.  So wrong!!!  Nonetheless, I’m glad I can share some about her, but just know that this info on her development is OF COURSE outdated, and you should see the Grant Gang’s blog for more updates on how she is now :)

I left Houston EARLY early on Monday morning and flew to D.C.  I met Kelly and Addison at a Metro stop NE of DC, and we traveled back to her apartment.  Unfortunately, Matthew had to be away for training with work for 11 days, so I didn’t get to see him.  Kelly, Addison, Piper and I hung out for 4 days and pretty much just played with Addison and did stuff for her.  That’s the fun of it!!! :)  Throughout my stay, I think Kelly would agree that the pic below is her absolute favorite:At the time, Kelly didn’t have any pictures to prove Addison was smiling, but I caught her in a full grin while she talked on the phone with her Daddy :)

Here’s a fun video of Addison and you can catch glimpses of Piper playing with Addison!

Addison was able to talk to her Mia, too!  Mia is Kelly’s mom :)

Addison was also working very hard on rolling over from her stomach to her back.  She successfully did this the day after I left :)

Here’s a few other fun glimpses at Addison:”I’m ready for toe-touches, Mom!”  Big beautiful eyes This crunchy paper on her belly was lots of fun for her to play with. Check out the length on this almost 2 month old :) Mommy playing with her sweet girl.

And because Piper matters, too ;)Here’s some of my faves of me and the sweet girl :)  Pretty soon I’ll be able to show you how much she’s changed with info on her from this past weekend :)

Ember’s First Rain Shower, Mile Walk and Bath

This is really short and quick since the video is long :)  Last night, the two of us decided to take Ember on a mile long walk as her previous walks were barely 1/4 mile.  As we neared the end of the walk it started to rain!  We figured now was as good a time as any to give Ember her first bath since she was already wet…and so were we :)  Here’s a look at Ember’s first bath!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Alicia celebrates her birthday today! Happy Birthday!  We love you!

Update on Ember

Wow, so we are learning more and more about this sweet puppy every day!  After talking with Mom more and looking at pics online, we are thinking she looks more like she has German Shorthaired Pointer in her.  Want to know why?  Look at one of them: Source of photo

Click the source to see more photos of this breed.

I think this photo shows that this breed has so many similarities to sweet Ember!  We still think her other half is likely Australian Cattle Dog, but it’s possible it could also be Australian Shepard. Additionally, Mom believes, after checking her teeth, that she probably wasn’t quite 3 months when we got her.  She’s thinking maybe 10 weeks.  If that’s so, then we NOW have a 3 month old :)

She’s growing so fast, and I can see it!  I can also feel it when I pick her up, haha!  I think she’s likely 15 pounds by now, and she was 12 when we got her.  I’ll find out at her Vet appt today her actual weight.

Here’s some new pics of her lately!I took this pic early in the morning on June 20th as it shows some big green sleepies in her eyes :(  I think she just has grass allergies, and the freshly mowed lawn flared her up.My sneaky little girl ;) While I was on the computer, she decided she wanted to lay in the office with me :) She was playing a little rough with Uncle Ronnie; playful little girl.She loves her granddaddy!While she loves being at Grandmommy and Granddaddy’s house, she’s always one tired puppy at the end of the day!She is no stranger to car rides, and she was certainly ready to ride home sleeping after a long day! She REALLY loves her Aunt Justine!  She even used her as a pillow!

She was having lots of fun playing with her Daddy!

We give her this Kong toy to play with and chew on which is stuffed with treats that she has to fish out of it.  This time, she had some unusually difficult treats to get out, and it took her an hour!  Lots of entertainment :)

Her Aunt Ashlee has also successfully taught her to lay down on command!  Whoop!

We are loving our sweet Ember!

Dad’s Birthday Celebration

Friday, my Dad was SUPPOSED to be surprised with two birthday celebrations, but only one was truly a surprise.  We left early Friday morning to head to my parents’ house.  Henry told Dad to get ready because he was taking him golfing.  Along with Henry and Dad, Dad’s long-time friend, Mike Espinedo and his wife, came down from Dallas so that Mike could go golfing with them.  To complete their group of four, my Uncle Ronnie also joined them.  To my understanding, my Dad was certainly surprised, very thankful, and they all had a great time golfing at Augusta Pines…minus the serious heat and humidity that day.

Post golfing, Mom and I had setup a surprise party for him that evening.  Well…somehow he found out about it, but that was basically expected by anyone that knows him :)  He was able to celebrate with lots of friends, and I am so thankful to each one of you that was able to come!  THANK YOU!!!!  Here are a few pics from the party and the whole day. This is Mike :)Here are some photo slideshows that I made for Dad.  The first is earlier years and the second is more recent years.

Hope you enjoyed your birthday Dad!

Happy 50th Birthday Dad!

We love you!

Ember’s a smart girl!

Henry and I are discovering what an extremely smart dog we have on our hands!  Yes, she has improving to do in areas, but I’m baffled at the improvement she has made already!

I’ve already informed you of her quick learning of “Sit.”  Even better though, she can do it with only a hand motion now :)  She doesn’t need to actually hear the word!  I’m still working on laydown.  She doesn’t grasp that yet.

On Wednesday, we allowed her to take another car ride with us to deliver food to friends in our bible study.  They have a new addition as well, but much more important: they have a 10 day old baby boy!  Anyway, Ember did pretty well in car.  Mommy should have stopped and let her use the RR, so her accidents are not her fault; they are Mommy’s fault.

She was able to play with our friends’ lab when we got to their house, and she played great!  She wore herself out, too!  On the way home, she actually laid down and was quite sleepy.  It was too cute not to photograph :)That’s one worn out puppy!

Yesterday, I went to Walmart for a bit during one of her naps and decided to get her a new toy :)  She’s already begun the destruction process on this one, too :)Last night, her Granddaddy and Grandmommy came over to meet her and play with her!  She was really good and greeted them with love.  They even brought her some treats and new toys to play with!  She was a little over stimulated at first, but it definitely didn’t last long.  Then, her granddaddy taught her to play ball!

At the end of this 2nd video, she plops down because she was already so tired from having chased the ball so much :)  Ember is in love with her new toys and her new playground!

We still haven’t introduced her to half of the house yet.  We are waiting for a while to do that. 

We love our new sweet puppy!