a book theme baby shower

I don't know what it is but there is a huge baby boom going on around here.  Just about everyone we know is either pregnant or has had a baby within the last year.  It is so much fun to see our friends become parents and welcome these sweet little babies into their families. 

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for one of our good friends, Alison.  She is due with her first baby in September.  Our Sunday School class helped organize the shower as well as our pastor's wife and worship pastor's wife.  It was so fun to plan and decorate. 

I just wanted to share some of the ideas we used.  We wanted to start a library for the baby so we asked everyone invited to bring a book, along with their gift.  All of our decorations were centered around books and we used the colors that Alison is using in the baby's room. 

Photographs taken by Lindsay Burnett at LK Images and a few by myself.

 

I wanted to make a banner with the baby's name, so I found some scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby with writing (it actually had Bible verses written all over it, which I loved!) and then solid colored paper to match the colors of the shower.

 

 

I also made some tissue poms, love those things, using a great tutorial I found on Pinterest. So easy and cheap! 

 

One of the hostesses had a couple different collections of children's books so we stacked those and scattered them around to keep with the theme.  She also was so crafty and made the adorable frames.  She used children's books torn into pieces and mod podged them onto a wooden frame, then made a bow for the top.  She printed out popular quotes and added those to the center of the frame.  This hostess also made a cardboard book into a utensil server, super cute!

 

Our crafty hostess finished it off by making these adorable favors to pass out.  I love the quote on the bookmarks. 

 

We had such a great time visiting and celebrating this precious baby and his parents.  I am so thankful for their friendship and cannot wait to meet their newest member in a few short weeks!

 

And just because I love her so much....

 

HIGH FIVE for Friday

It's Friday!  Hallelujah!  I feel like this week has been a long one.  When we do not have a regular routine of going to school, the time just seems to drag.  BUT....Friday is finally here and we are so excited about next week because...

1.  It's time for our trip to Myrtle Beach....hooray!!!!  We have waited and waited all summer for our trip to get here and it is FINALLY time!  It's been nice to have something to look forward to.  Hoping to see a little of this every day...

2.  I get to spend a whole WEEK with my family!  We are little scattered across the country right now and don't get the opportunity to spend a lot of time together so I am really looking forward to that time.  All together under one roof, with 3 kiddos.  I love my family! 

We've grown by a couple members now, but I just love this picture! 

3.  Getting to play in the sand with my babies.  It has been almost 2 years since we have been to the beach.  Braden was only 18 months old the last time and he LOVED it.  He still somehow remembers building sandcastles with Grandpa.  And this will be Cooper's very first trip to the beach and ocean!  Excited to see his reaction.

He looks so little!





4.  We get to celebrate my parents 35th wedding anniversary.  So special that they wanted to take the family to celebrate their wedding day.  We are so thankful for them and their example of marriage in our lives!

5.  Our home away from home for the next 7 days.  I can NOT wait to be there!!!  I guess I better go get started packing!

Go link up with Lauren from "From My Grey Desk" for High Five for Friday!  I've just recently discovered her blog...and it is a new fave!

Calling all Superheroes {and Super Moms}

Braden, my 3 year old, has become obsessed with superheroes and the idea of "good guys vs. bad guys".  I blame this on his Mother's Day Out school.  They did a superheroes theme for their second summer session, based on the verse "I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13.  I love it.  They were teaching them to be strong and courageous.  Braden fell in love with the whole theme.  He was so excited to go to school each day and loved showing me all of his cool super hero stuff that he colored or made when I picked him up. 

One day a few weeks ago I found a link on Pinterest, of course, for some cute super hero masks.  So, as any cool mom would do, I pinned it to my "kiddos" board, naturally.  Towards the end of this summer school session Braden just had to have everything Batman, a new shirt, jammies, etc.  We even watched a few Batman cartoon episodes (which I had to put an end to pretty quick, I had no idea how violent those shows are!  Not a good cartoon for a 3 year old to watch!  I think we will stick to Mickey and happy shows for awhile).  But he was just loving the idea of being a good guy and helping others - we will stick with that theme and maybe just hold off on the super hero shows for a little while, I mean forever!

So this week, since he has been out of school for a little break, I have been trying to find fun activities to keep him busy (which is hard to do with a 6 month old and extreme heat in Oklahoma).  I remembered that I had pinned the fun super hero masks, so to bribe encourage Braden to be good at his brothers doctors appointment, I told him we would make a Batman mask when we got home.  OH boy!  He was elated! 

Here is the link to the blog that I pinned, including the templates for all our favorite super hero masks.  AND for all those princesses out there, she has another blog post with templates for some super cute crowns!

And, now, I present to you.....dun, dun, dun.....Batman Braden....

You can all feel a little safer now....

And of course, we couldn't leave Spiderman out! 

An easy, and cheap, afternoon project made for lots of laughter and lots of fun chasing away the bad guys!  Oh, how I love my little super hero!