Rachael's Shower!!...much belated I might add...

I dont know what they heck has kept me from

posting this for so long....

I think I somewhat mentally checked-out after the

shower finally happened.

But...All in all I'd say it was a success!!!

Alicia came over at about noon the day of and

we spent about 3 hours getting everything 

set-up and ready.

Rachael came over a bit early around 2:30 to get 

first glimpses of all the preparations...and

I think she was pleased with how things turned out!

The rest of this post is going to turn into somewhat

of a picture dump....so, enjoy!!

The Wall-O-Belly Pics

Tissue poms and cute girly dresses

These pictures turned out so dark :(

But here was the food table as we started getting 

things set up and arranged.

Wish Tree!!

I made little birds that people could either

write a wish they had for Rachael & baby or

guess the birthdate/weight. 

People seemed to prefer guessing the

weight and birthdate!

Rachael is not a big fan of cake...so it only seemed

right that we have an ice cream sundae bar at her shower!!

The guest of honor in front of her food table!

I used mason jars and paper straws for beverages

Guests starting to arrive

Last fall when we went to the Plaza Art Fair Rachael &

I saw this booth of paintings that we really liked. I made a 

mental note of the Studio's name and ordered a print a few

months later. This is my replication of the print that I ordered.

It has a lot of the colors that Rachael & Matt are using in their

nursery and I hope it's something that Baby Girl can have in

her room for a long time!!

Present time!!

Rachael was excited to get lots of 

practical gifts from her nursing friends...

Yay for breast pads and nipple cream!!

She had lots of little helpers carrying away 

tissue papers and ribbons...

Ashley and Rachael

Becca & Megan.

Becca is expecting her first just a few

weeks after Rachael!

Molly and her sweet new baby Ellie

Amelia, Mia and Rach

Miss Mia is just too cool for skool...

Rach & Stacey

Baby Savannah, Cathi and Rachael

Alicia & Rach

Rach and myself

Guests crafting headbands for Baby Girl Clark

Last but not least, your hostesses...

Alicia & I!!

Phew!!

Who knew throwing a baby shower could

be so stressful?! I'm sure it has much less to do

with the actual party and a lot MORE to do with my

neurotic personality!!

Now all thats left to do is wait for Baby Clark

to make her highly anticipated appearance!!

Party Planning = no time for blogging!!

Bah! I'm getting behind on my updates....

and I hate feeling like I have things like a dumb blog post

hanging over my head!

I never even posted about my mom's 60th birthday party...

Which was great, btw, and I think she had a great time.

Shame on me, for not grabbing the horns on planning

her big party....

but I guess there's always her 75th to look forward to!

Currently though,

 I am completely consumed with getting everything 

together for Rachael's baby shower tomorrow.

I can't believe it's finally here!!

I've known I would throw her work shower from the day

she told me she was pregnant, so I've had way too much

time to plan and scheme....oh and maybe stress a lil' bit ;)

But at this point I'm feeling much less stressed and a lot

more giddy/excited/anxious for her to see

all of our hard work and preparation!

It's been really fun and rewarding to see my ideas

and plans come to fruition....

(I may or may not have cackled like a 

crazy mad scientist on several occasions)

My sweet mom came over on Thursday and helped

me clean and get things ready.

She has hosted many a party at her house and

is very familiar with the stress that can come

along with trying to have your house looking perfect.

I can totally remember as a kid, seeing her completely freak out

the day before Thanksgiving or Christmas and I never got it..

.....well mom, I get it now.

Anyways,

I've got about 10 balls in the air right now,

and much more running around like a headless 

chicken to do, so I'll just hurry and finish up this

post with a few pictures from my moms party!!

Kelly and I on the ride down to Mound City

Thank goodness the weather cooperated with

the plans to have everything outside!

My mom's oldest friend gave her 

a pair of Depends...

now thats just mean I tell ya!

Yummy Costco cake

Sibling love

This was towards the end of the party

when my mom had had a few glasses

of some beverage that was being called

'Jungle Juice'.....

This other lady was also 

quite fond of said 'juice' and shortly

after this picture went running off towards 

the pasture with plans of jumping

on a horse....yikes....

My next post will be filled with

pictures from Rachael's shower!!

....and then it's nothing but

waiting for baby to come!!

I can't wait!!

Busy Days...where does the time go??

These spring days are flying by!! How is it already April??
As of late my days are filled with....

• Working...extra shifts will be the death of me I'm certain...  

 

• Family time...I had to work on Easter Sunday, so our family celebrated on Saturday. My parents, my sister and her friend Jackson came over and we grilled out.  It was pretty laid-back, but fun none-the-less.  I was lame and took absolutely no pictures...fail.  The weekend before I went over to my friend Lillie's house for an Easter BBQ...it's always so good to spend time with old friends.  Holidays like Easter and Christmas always leave me thinking about the traditions that I will one day want to have with my own family...I find myself already overwhelmed by the responsibility of having children and teaching them the importance and magnitude of days like Resurrection Sunday. I know I have plenty of time to figure these things out and there will lots of learning along the way, but I just want my kids to know the real reasons we celebrate these holidays....I of coarse want their memories to be fond ones filled with fun-times...but it's even more important to me that they know it's not about bunnies in baskets or brightly colored eggs.  How do you find the balance thats right for your family?? I'm sure when that time comes, there will be lots of praying and seeking done on my part!

                                                             

• House cleaning and sprucing up for spring....well, let's be honest...I'm barely keeping my head above water in the house wife category.                                                                                       Roy is back to work, so I've lost my live-in 'Man-Maid'....oh, hello laundry piles and dirty dishes...I so didn't miss you  :(  But what is it about the spring that makes you want to re-landscape your entire yard, while washing all your windows and redecorating your entire house? Maybe it's because the spring always seems like such a fresh start...but, unfortunatly for me... we're trying hard to reign in any extra spending these days so we can pay off some bills, so for now, I will just have to drool over pictures of beautifully landscaped yards and decorated homes.

• Sewing!!  I'm loving sewing even more than I thought I would...unfortunately most of my projects so far are for my best friend who also happens to be my only blog reader :) Hence I will not be posting many pictures of my masterpieces until later...

•  Cooking dinner and packing lunches...something I've never been too great at.  But it turns out that when you're trying to save money, cooking and packing your (and your husbands) lunches becomes part of the deal.  Doesn't sound like too big of a burden, but when I get home from work at 8 in the morning the last thing I feel like doing is putting together some semblance of a decent lunch for Roy.  Alas, I will push-on!!

• This is off the subject....but have you seen the new FOX comedy 'New Girl' with Zooey Deschanel?  It's hilarious...and I'm a tough crowd when it comes to comedies.....but  I don't go a single episode without seriously cracking up and several episodes have had me to the point if tears. Not sure what strikes a chord with me, it's just quirky and often inappropriate in the most hilarious of ways....watch it!! 

• Shower Planning!! As previous mentioned a zillion times already, my best friend Rachael is having a baby in June!! Myself and our friend Alicia are throwing her a shower for all of our co-workers in May. I'm being a psycho and unnecessarily stressing out and putting way too much pressure on myself...but I just want her day to be everything that she deserves!!  At first I just had a bunch of jumbled ideas, but no real plans, but as the weeks have gone on we've gotten a pretty good idea of what the party will be like. I'm feeling slightly less stressed and much more excited.  Part of what has me stressed is just the fact that it's going to be held at my house. I've never had a big party at our house!!  I feel WAY pressured to have our home looking perfect...which is just ridiculous and is NOT going to happen. I should just get over it...No, Beth, we are not going to be buying new living room furniture and painting the house for Rachae'ls shower!! Sheesh...I really think I need some Xanax sometimes!!  I'll try to keep the blog updated on my progress without revealing too many details!

Drumroll please.....

Team Girl                                            Team Boy

It's a..........GIRL!!!

It's a Girl! It's a Girl! It's a Girl!!

I was shocked. Floored. Flabbergasted.

Good thing I'm not a betting woman, cause I would

have put all my chips on 'boy'.

Wow.

I mean, how great is that?

Rachael and Matt will be awesome parents to

ALL the children they have, but I'm especially thrilled

for my friend because in her heart of hearts she

really wanted a girl first. 

And I'm SO thrilled for them!!

The party was great...

such a fun way to celebrate exciting news with

your closest friends and family.

I loved it.

Here's some pictures from the night!!

Party decorated in pink and blue with

Rachael's signature pom poms...

Baby Clark!!

Yummy snackies...

Guests arriving!!

Everyone was buzzing around with anticipation!

I ALMOST was too excited to eat anything...

almost...

Bah-looons!!

Everything looked so cute!! Now you see why the

pressure is on for me to throw one helluva

baby shower for this girl!!

Mommys gettin' a lil belly!

We couldn't stand to wait another second...

so, it was time for the big reveal...

courtesy of Matt and some pyrotechnics..

 

{Ok...so...I had really great intentions of uploading my

not-so-great video I took of the big reveal-however after

4 days of attempting to figure out how to upload a video

I have given up and decided to continue one sans video...

Feel free to pretend like you saw an awesome clip just now...}

Ok...I might be the worst videographer ever. EVER.

Sorry bout that one Rach :(

maybe somebody other than your 

unable-to-multitask-overly-excited-and-emotional

friend should have taken up video recording?? Oh, well.

And my voice. wow. it's terrible...

BUT atleast you can get a glimpse of the eruption

of excitement that occurred!

Rachael's rendition of when she realized

it was a girl at her ultrasound appointment..

love that face!! 

Grandpa Springer is so excited!!

We all are!!

YaY!!

I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl..

June can't get here soon enough!!!