Up Up and Away!

I officially know at least one person having a baby each month for the next 8 months.  I'm sure that list will only continue to grow!  And with the babies, come the showers.  Now, I'm not choosing favorites, but I'm pretty excited about this one.  A shower to celebrate my sister-in-law and niece!

Together with my amazing family-in-law, we hosted a cute Hot Air Balloon themed Baby Shower Brunch this past weekend!

O's cousin, Emily, and I found these sweet invites on Etsy (where else?) and between these and Pinterest, our theme was set!

I can't take credit for any of the cute decorations--Emily outdid herself!

She is an incredible artist, and made our hot air balloon thumb-print guest picture

We had quite the spread of breakfast casseroles, ham biscuits and fresh fruit,

A yummy pink punch served in festive mason jars,

All followed up with cloud sugar cookies & a cake that matches the invites exactly!

Seriously though, if you live anywhere near Lexington, Kentucky go find a Caramanda's Bake Shoppe right. now. GO.  For real, have a White Chocolate Raspberry cupcake for me.  I'd eat one everyday if we lived closer, no lie.

We opted to not have any shower-type games, but to do some onesie decorating & to have an "advice tree"

We all had a wonderful time visiting & celebrating.  We CAN. NOT. WAIT. to meet this Baby Girl!

Life Lately

Things are starting to get busy around here, but slowing down at the same time.  If that even makes sense.

As we get closer to O's graduation {26 days, but who's counting?!} there seems to be a never ending to-do list, but the longer days and warmer weather make each day a seem like I have a few extra hours.  Which leaves a little more time for tea drinkin'

Spending time on the deck, getting a little sun

Enjoying a beer with O & this sweet pup

Anddddd making a trip to beautiful Keeneland!

I don't want to wish April away, but I'm so looking forward to summer & our life post law school!

Happy April!

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring around here! Which is good, because I'm tired of hibernating. The cold, dark Winter weather makes me so unmotivated to do anything. But as soon as the temp hit 60 this past Saturday, I was Polly Productive. And it felt SO good to cross things off my to-do-list, which included:

Making these delicious, homemade oatmeal cream pies. These are seriously one of the best things to ever come out of my kitchen! My recipe made more than the two of us could eat, so I took a dozen out to our sweet friends who are moving into their new, GORGEOUS, home this weekend!

Making a trip to HoPo for supplies to bring a little Spring to our front door

And spending a little QT with these sweet girls.

All in all, I'd say April is off to a good start!

What will it BEE?!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of hosting a Gender Reveal Party for my friend, Treenah.  While the girls had cupcakes and cocktails to celebrate, the husbands all went out to B-Dubs.  It seemed only fitting to have a bee theme with all of the bee paraphernalia hanging around my house!

Paperless Post

Everyone had a pink or blue bee pin to show their guess.

Before we took a bite into our cupcakes, we tested out some old wives tales:

1. Baby's heart rate is above or below 140?

2. Carrying high or low?

3. Is baby stealing your beauty or giving you dry hands and cold feet?

4. Put your wedding ring on a string and let it dangle over your bump.  

Does it move in a circle or back & forth?

5. Are you craving sweets or salty?

6. Morning sickness or NO sickness?

7.  Have you been happy or crabby?

8. The Chinese Gender Predictor says: GIRL 

9. Miss Cindy, my mom, says: "The oldest daughter will have what her mother had first":  GIRL

So were the old wives tales right?  What will baby BEE?!  5/9 said Boy, and....  

Treenah and her hubby went to their ultrasound earlier in the day, and she sent me a text to let me know what color the filling should be in the cupcakes!   At first, this was the text I got:

Twenty minutes later, I got a call saying "I hope you didn't tint that icing pink...because IT'S A BOY!"

All of us from Life Group pitched in and got the mama-to-be the first of many BLUE things to help celebrate the occasion!

Congrats Travis & Treenah!!  Baby K sure is a lucky little guy.

XOXO

Happy Birthday, Izzie Dog!

Yes, I celebrate my dogs' birthdays.  It's so hard to believe that six years ago this little pup was born, and not long after that, I brought this tiny little fuzz ball back to our townhouse in Radford!

Izzie, you have brought us me so much joy & happiness over the last six years!  Love you little bug!

What's for dinner tonight?

Well, it was dinner Sunday night. And again tonight,

{I heart leftovers on the nights when O has a late class!}

Loaded Potato Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

5 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 box chicken stock

1 cup of half and half (you can do milk instead!)

Toppings: Crumbled Bacon, Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream and Green Onion

Heat the olive oil and butter in a dutch oven {or other gigantic pot}.  Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes, until translucent, and then add in garlic.  Cook for an additional minute.  Throw in your peeled, cubed potatoes and add enough chicken stock to cover everything.  Mine took the whole box.   Bring to a boil and cover until potatoes are fork-able {approx. 20 minutes}.  Add in half and half, stir.  If you like your soup ridiculously chunky, like O, your soup is complete.  I like mine medium chunky, so I used my immersion blender to smooth some of the soup out.  You can also hand mash with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon.

We topped ours with crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions and a dollop of sour cream!  I love toppings on soup, can't you tell?!

This made A TON of soup for just the two of us! It was lunch the next day and dinner tonight.

C-A-T-S Cats! Cats! Cats! {DIY Burlap Bunting}

We are right in the middle of basketball season, and if you know us, you know we L.O.V.E. Kentucky basketball in our house!  Our Saturdays and the occasional weeknight are planned around what time the Cats play.  Whether its just the two of us watching the game or with a group of friends, I try to keep things festive on game day!

If you check out my Pinterest boards, you'll see that I've been loving on banners and bunting.  I thought a festive UK bunting would make a great addition.

Let's back up--I started out by gathering all of my supplies at Joanne's.

Burlap {or other choice fabric}
Acrylic Paint & Foam Brush
Wide Ribbon
Decorative Ribbon {optional}
Stencil
Sewing machine or Liquid Stitch

I made a quick triangle template out of scrap paper, and used a rotary cutter to cut out the burlap.

I created my stencils the same way I did to label our closet bins.

Hold the stencil down & dab the paint onto the burlap with the foam brush.

After the paint dried, I used Liquid Stitch {more on this stuff later!} to attach the painted burlap triangles to the wide ribbon.

I added a little extra decorative ribbon at the ends of the banner & that was it.  Seriously simple project! I'd like to think it helped with the W on Saturday {still too close for my liking!}

So glad our fifth house's Dog Days of Winter Challenge suggested I stop pinning and start doing!  I love how this turned out!