Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, Jenna and I hosted a baby shower for one our best friend's, Claudia. I have known Claudia since 7th grade and we have been great friends all these years. We were thrilled to give Claudia a baby shower to celebrate her first child. Jenna and I are crafty people, so we were going to hand-make a lot of the decorations. I am pretty sure from the moment we found out Claudia was pregnant Jenna and I started planning the shower.  We started shopping for the shower in October...we are crazy like that.

Claudia and her husband aren't finding out the sex of the baby until it pops out. I am not a huge fan of not finding out the sex, but that's me. So, in planning this shower we didn't know which way to go with colors. Claudia isn't a frilly person and we didn't want to do the whole pink and blue thing. So, the three of us went to Joann's and found some awesome fabric that could go for a boy or a girl.  The fabrics were backed with chocolate and then had bright bold colors and designs.  It was perfect.  The fabric that we would make the candy bags out of was cream with polka dots in those same bright colors.  We would add some ribbon and the bags would look adorable.  The hard part was done, we had picked the fabric and we would go from there.  

We picked colorful plates and napkins.

Made tissue balls in all different colors that hung from the ceiling. 

The fabric squares on the tables looked great.

The orchids in the deep colored vases looked amazing.

The candy bags displayed on the candy table looked awesome.

The diaper cake that Jenna made tied it all together.

Everything turned out great and just the way Jenna and I had envisioned it.  The baby shower was so much fun.  The food was delicious, the games were a hit and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The Mommy to be getting ready to open some presents.

Most of us have known each other since first grade.  Friends Forever!

Me, Claudia and Jenna

Claudia is due in about 2 weeks...I can't wait to meet and hold the baby.

Trent's Big Boy Bedroom

Part of our gift to Trent for Christmas was to redo his room...Star Wars themed of course.  It was hard to decide which Star Wars theme to go with.  We could do the classic Star Wars or the new Clone Wars Star Wars.  After researching it a bit and then finding on Amazon these awesome wall clings, we decided to go with the Clone Wars.  Pottery Barn has a cool classic Star Wars theme, but not too many accessories, basically it's just the bedding and a wall hanging that has horrible reviews.  So, I finally got my act together, hired a painter, picked out the colors and told myself that this was all going to look amazing when it was finished.  I would have to live we the house in disarray for a week, I could do it, I could do it, I could do it.  It was hard, but it was well worth it.

Trent's room now has two walls that are gray and two walls a deep blue. I love the colors. I added a splash of black with the curtains and then Tim and I put up the wall clings.  We are so happy with how it turned out.  We also got Trent a new bed, which has a trundle bed, but we are using it as storage for now.  Yay for more storage!  Trent is so excited about his new room.

We went from surf boards and a beach themed room to Star Wars.

Yoda protecting Trent.

Anakin and Yoda.

Captain Rex standing guard.

Trent posing like Captain Rex.

Trent, Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Trent using the force.

We also painted our room.  When we moved into the house almost 8 years ago we always said we would repaint our room, well it has taken us 8 years to finally repaint it...better late than never.  We also bought new bedroom furniture.  Our old furniture was mostly from Tim's room at his parents house...about 13 or so years ago. That furniture has been across the country and back and it was time to retire it. So, now we finally have a matching set of furniture that looks amazing in our newly repainted room.  Wow, I feel like an adult with matching furniture.

The view walking into our room.  The light isn't the best, but the color is a nice creamy pale green, Urban Nature, which is in the Pottery Barn catalog. 

Another view, the light is a bit better.

I love our new dresser with a mirror!

Slowly but surely we are updated our house.

Fun at the Carnival

In past years, the carnival rides at Camellia Festival have been a little rickety and out dated. I think they were the same rides I went on as a kid...and that was forever ago. My Mom and Dad had scoped out the rides early in the week and they said they looked a bit newer and fun.  
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the rain had held off, so we headed over to carnival just a block from my parents house.  My Mom, Ashley and Jake were up for the carnival adventure too. Trent and Jake didn't waste anytime at all and they don't have a fear of heights, so they jumped on the the Pirates Revenge ride with huge (and a bit serious) smiles.

A little higher...

The boys loving this ride.

We then headed over to the bumper cars.  Since it was so cold outside and there was a threat of rain the carnival wasn't that crowded.  I think they rode around the bumper cars for a good 10 minutes.

Tim and Trent ready to bump some cars.

Ashley and Jake ready to do some damage too.

Go get them!

Next was the giant slide.  I love Jake's expression as he is zooming down the slide and not holding onto the potato sack.

Trent holding on tight.

Jake flying down the slide.

Then the boys did most of the carousel type rides.  There was the boat that went around in a circle, the Bumble Bee, the motorcycles and the cars.

And, of course, there is some shooting involved.

We saved the best ride for last...the roller coaster.  Trent was a bit hesitant at first, but he was all smiles during the entire ride.  Jake and Trent were the only ones on the roller coaster and they went around about 5 times.  Each time they had a bigger smile on their face.

Trent's hands were up the entire time.

My favorite picture of the day.  So happy!

This is what life is all about!

A Fun 3-day Weekend

We had wanted to head up to Arrowhead for the holiday weekend, but with snow in the forecast we thought we better stay away.  We didn't need the hassle of putting chains on, shoveling snow, and bundling up, so we headed out to Oxnard instead.  There was rain in the forecast for Oxnard, but we got there on Saturday just before the rain.  It rained in the evening, but it didn't really matter we were all set to stay in for the evening.  Tim's long time friend from college Satish came out to stay for the night.  It was great having him there.  He is so good with Trent and was such a great sport about doing Trent's science experiments with him.  After dinner the kids played their own things and the adults played Catch Phrase.  We had so much fun!  It was the men against the women and I think the women beat the men.  We played for at least 2 hours and again had so much fun.  I think it would be impossible not to have fun playing that game.  It was a good day.

On Sunday, we went to the beach and park for a bit.  The weather was beautiful, chilly, but gorgeous blue skies.  In the afternoon, we went on a duffy boat and took a tour around the harbor.  It was so much fun.

Heading up over the sand dunes to the beach.  

Madison and Trent leading the way.

 My Man.

 Madison and Trent.

 Tim and Satish with the dogs.

 Having fun at the playground.

 Aunt Debbie and Trent on the duffy boat.

 Tim and Trent driving us around the harbor.

 Trent makes the best faces. 

 Gorgeous!

 Grandma and Trent.

 Me and my boys.

 Deep in thought...

 Again, simply just gorgeous!

On Monday, we slept in and then went to see Gnomeo and Juliet, which was a really cute movie.  We headed home in the afternoon and prepared for the week ahead, which turned out to be the longest week ever (more on that later).  I am glad we decided on Oxnard for the weekend, it was fun and relaxing.