Baby Flood!

A flood (literally) made this shower rather memorable. This shower was hosted by my family. We like to meet in the middle since we live spread out across multiple states. The middle point is Omaha. Due to extensive flooding, the route to Omaha was a little complicated and slow.

The crew...

We played Baby Pictionary. I am not generally a fan of many shower games but for some reason, this family gets very into games. This is the same group that had an incredibly intense spoons tournament last Christmas.

Along with a lot of great gifts, everyone included their favorite (or their kid's favorite) children's book. I LOVE KIDS BOOKS!

It was a VERY long day going to and from Omaha (following all 2-lane routes) in the matter of 13 hours. It was well worth the trip!

SIDE NOTE: YES, I wear this teal outfit a lot. When you aren't working, it is hard to justify buying too many cute pregnancy clothes. I generally bum around in gauchos and a tank top!

Baby Downpour!

The second shower of the month was thrown by my good friend Anne & her mom, Kim (who happens to also be a good friend of my mom's). Anne and I have been friends since FIRST GRADE! She has a little boy and another baby on the way. I can't wait for our kids to grow up together too!

Anyway... On to the amazing downpour of friends, family, gifts, and delicious food that was this shower. It was a tad overwhelming the amount of friends that came to this shower. They were (as always) an absolute hoot. Never a dull moment with this group of crazy women :)

The Hostesses...

My friend Megan...

My pregnancy buddy, Casey. She is due a few weeks after me (also with a boy)!

My Grandma happened to be in town from Nebraska so she made it to this shower too (along with my sister and mom, of course).

I used to babysit these girls and now they are all in college or older. They make me feel OLD!

Baby Shower!

Wow! June has been a busy month! I had 3 baby showers and feel almost completely ready for the baby. The first family shower was thrown by Joe's family. The gracious hosts, my sister-in-law and mother-in-law, put together an adorable, fun, and delicious celebration!

The hostesses

I received a lot of great gifts, including a lot of beautiful handmade goodies. Joe's great-aunt crocheted this blanket...

My sister-in-law made this adorable hat!

Overgrown Landscape

When we moved in 3 years ago there was some incredibly overgrown and old shrubs in our front beds. The project has been ongoing since then and is still not really complete. One of my biggest annoyances with landscaping is when people don't think about the full growth potential for the plant. Between our house and sidewalk we have a 18" space for plants. That is pretty darn narrow. The plants that were there when we moved in are designed to get anywhere from 6-10' wide! Needless to say, it was a maintenance nightmare. They took over the sidewalk and actually damaged the side of our house! I almost forgot to take pictures but here is a progress shot of the removal (completed a few years ago).

Before:

Progress (today):

Obviously, these plants have a ways to grow but it will eventually look great. The Sky Pencil Hollies (3 in the middle) will eventually be about 6' tall and less than 2' wide. The ornamental grasses on either side of that will also be about 6' tall and just as narrow but for some reason they didn't do well and are struggling to grow back in this year. I planted Little Henry Sweetspire under the windows (and oh look! there are lights!) and they will stay less than 3' tall. Obviously, the Clematis and Daylilies will stay narrow enough as well.

Hopefully, in a few years I can post new pictures of a completed front landscape. We had some loss and setbacks this year due to some mud(d)jacking but I think it is coming together nicely.