Showering Baby Livermore

The weekend wrapped up with a group of 14 gals getting together to celebrate the impending birth of Baby Livermore and my sister's pregnancy! I had the best time planning my sister's baby shower that we hosted at our house. With the help of Carli from Dimple Prints and Chef Ann, everything turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself)!

Some pictures of the details:
All the invites, labels and paper goods were designed by Carli, with a little help from an idea I had from some burp cloths and onesies I found in a shop on Etsy, Mac and Me.

The diaper cake included the burp cloths and onesies I had found that really inspired the entire shower theme. I absolutely loved the fabric (Amy Butler Lotus wall flower and Full Moon Polka Dot) and thought it was perfect for a giraffe themed gender neutral shower.

The favors were Garret's Popcorn because Kristi is "ready to pop." Thanks to my wonderful hubby for picking this up on his way home from work on Friday.

The table was filled with lots of my mom's infamous salads -- Wild Rice and Curry Chicken Salad, Tomato Basil Tortellini, Napa Cabbage Salad, and Fruit Salad. No shower is complete without lots of yummy treats, which included Dea cupcakes, mini cheesecakes and Oreo balls!

My mom and I, well mostly my mom, made the tissue paper pom poms straight from Martha Stewart. They were actually pretty easy and really made the entire area very festive. I will definitely be doing these again for my next party.

Baby Livermore was spoiled with lots of great gifts and is all set to come home in a couple of months. A special thank you to all my sister's friends that made the trip out to Glen Ellyn for the shower. My sister is truly blessed to have such amazing friends and family in her life.
After much anticipation and a teeny tiny bit of stress, the weekend turned out to be so much fun! I would do it all again in a heart beat...there was so much love and laughter around our house this weekend, it is really something I will never forget. Thank you again to my mom, dad, sister, and Ben for all your help around our house the past week or 2; I don't know what we would have done without you!

Grand Rapids

The weekend following our trip to Nebraska held a trip to Grand Rapids. We headed over there on Saturday morning for my cousin Nicole's HS Graduation Party and a surprise wedding shower for my cousin CJ and his fiance Molly. Almost the entire Hunt family made it to Grand Rapids, we were only missing Kelly, Jim and Addy and CJ. Yes, you read that correctly, we had a couples wedding shower and the groom didn't even have to be there. We did try to Skype him in, but he didn't have a mic on the computer he was using.

I should note that Kelly and family were not there because she was in Lake Tahoe doing a 100 mile bike ride for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - good job Kelly!

So it was great seeing everyone including meeting JB Moore for the first time. JB drug his mom and dad up from TN for the party.

See all of the pictures HERE. Below are some choice pictures from the weekend.

The guests of honor, Molly and Nicole with E-Man

Ethan and Nanny

Great Aunt Linda

Famly Pic - Nice Smile, E

Maybe the first time Dunk the Wieney has been played as a shower game

ElephanToes

Shortly after Ethan was born we received the most adorable burp cloths from ElephanToes, a small home business run by Marcy Barkema. Since then, I have been meaning to do a post to endorse her ideas, talent and creativity. Not only does she make the cutest burp cloths, she also can do onesies, bibs, crayon rolls, and many other fabulous personalized items. Marcy and I hit it off right away while e-mailing back and forth. She and her husband are expecting in January and I am certain that little one will be outfitted with the best monogrammed items. So, if you are looking for a great, well crafted gift for friends with little ones, check out ElephanToes, you won't be disappointed. You can check out a lot of her designs here or see some of my favorites below!

The Nickoloff Twins

Our good friends the Nickoloff's are expecting twins in December so yesterday my mom, Ethan and I headed to Naperville for a shower to honor Sarah, Chris, Baby Boy, and Baby Girl Nickoloff.
The shower was beautiful...special thanks to Heather's mom for opening up her gorgeous house for the afternoon. We were able to catch up with good friends, enjoy some delicious food, and most importantly celebrate Sarah's pregnancy and the twins pending arrival. Sarah just glows each time I see her and is such a beautiful mama to be. The twins are truly blessed to have Sarah and Chris as parents and Diane, Jim, MA, and Chris as grandparents. We can't wait to meet the little ones in December, if not before!! Congratulations!!

You can see more pictures from the beautiful afternoon here.

Shower Time

Me with the guest of honor

On Saturday, my sister threw me the most amazing "Ethan" Shower (I can't really call it a baby shower since the baby has a name!). As many of you know, this shower was supposed to be held back in June, but it just so happened to fall on the day of Ethan's birth. Many of my girlfriends were kind enough to come to the hospital to celebrate that day, but this was a way to welcome Ethan home. Even though the group was small, the afternoon was wonderful and just gorgeous. It was great to catch up with some friends I have not seen in a long time and spend the time with my mom and sister. My mom made some of her infamous salads, my sister made peach bellini's and we had "Dea" cake. What could be better than that?

A huge thank you to my incredible sister for hosting such a great afternoon. It was really a special afternoon for me. Thank you mom for all the great food, thank you Shannon for the great favors, and thank you Carolyn and Steve for opening up your house. Lastly, thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts, you were all too sweet and went above and beyond. Ethan and I were extremely spoiled that afternoon. I could not have asked for a better way to spend last Saturday. Here are some pictures from the lovely shower.

The Dea cake...so yummy!!

The gorgeous flowers

Leslye and Gina

Sarah, Allison, and Nikki

The very cool sign that Sarah made for Ethan's room. She is so talented!! Can't wait to hang it up!!!

A Little Help From My Friends

Well, it is just about time that Matt and I start to get serious about preparing for Baby Hunt. Next week, I will hit the halfway mark of my pregnancy...the perfect time to start cracking on the registry process. To be 100% honest, I find myself very overwhelmed every time I start browsing the Babies R Us website; which is where all our faithful readers come in.

I am looking for advice/suggestions on all your favorite baby products. I know that all babies are different and everyone has different opinions, but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

What was your favorite registry item? Is there anything you wish you would have used, but didn't? What did you get, but never used?

We will take any suggestions/ideas/thoughts/comments. Many thanks in advance!!!

Kelly's Baby Shower

This past weekend we headed down to Lafayette to celebrate Kelly, Jim, and Baby Thomas! The weekend kicked off with pizza and bread sticks at the Hunt's house on Friday night. It was a relaxing evening and great to catch up with Kelly, Jim, the Hunt's, the Konneker's, and the Doyle's.

Saturday I, along with the aunties and Lindsay Doyle, hosted a baby shower for Kelly and Jim at Lafayette Country Club. It was a great way to celebrate the impending arrival of Baby Thomas. Everyone was incredibly generous as Baby Thomas received so many nice things. This baby is going to be one stylish little girl!! Click here to see pictures from the shower! Thank you to Lindsay, Cindy, Linda, Renee, and Becky for making the shower so special and such a success.

It was a great weekend in Lafayette and so fun to see everyone that we have not seen in such a long time. We are looking forward to the birth of Baby Thomas and could not be more thrilled that Baby Hunt will have a cousin just a few months older than he or she. How fun to have cousins so close in age!!