You're Never Too Old For a Tea Party!

My cousin, Dustin, and his wife, Amber, are having a little girl towards the end of March and we are really excited to meet little Adeline!  Amber's cousin, aunt, and friends threw her a shower on Saturday and it was one of the BEST showers I have ever been too!!  It was so creative and so, so, so much fun.  Those girls (and a few guys) know how to throw a party!!

This was the invitation each of us received in the mail......

I don't know if you are can read it or not but it says, "You are cordially invited to a Mad Hatter's tea party to celebrate Amber Autery's very merry baby shower."  A little further down the invitation it says, "Please wear a hat & follow the White Rabbit to....".  At the bottom it asks us to RSVP or "Off with your head!"


Once I walked into Amber's cousin, Jessica's, house I was in complete awe of the decorations.  First of all her house is          A-mazing!  It looks like it belongs in a magazine, it is decorated perfectly.  They put it on the market and it had 3 offers two days later!

But anyway, back to the decorations!  Look at the table where we had our tea party...

Everyone had china place settings with their own tea pot sitting on their main plate...

One of Amber's friends looked up "Vintage Tea Pots" on Ebay, which is why all the teapots are so unique!

We had cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad on endive lettuce leaves, ham/turkey sandwiches (I think, I didn't eat one of these), cookies, and some other pastries - ALL home made.  Then we had hot tea straight from London with cream, sugar cubes, and lemon slices. Yummmmmmmmmm!!

Here's the desert table...

The drink station...

This is where I sat and the tea pot I began the tea party with (I'll explain more later)...

The guest(s) of honor!!!  Look at that feather on her hat :)

My Mom and My Grandmother

My Grandmother and I

Cassie (my sister), Penny (my mom), Mawmaw, Amber, Piper (my aunt), and Me (I look HORRIBLE in hats, don't judge!!)

Jessica painted the sign behind us and it is now hanging over Adeline's crib...so cute!!

A look at the table as everyone sat down for tea.  Aren't their hats awesome?!?!  We even had 2 guys join us - one dressed as the White Rabbit and the other was the Mad Hatter!!

As we drank our tea and ate our pastries we played a really fun game.  We were asked 10 questions about Amber and her pregnancy.  Whoever knew the answer just yelled it out, which was frustrating for the few teachers in the room....Aunt Piper ;)  Once someone said the correct answer they were allowed to "steal" someones tea pot and give them theirs.  Then the person who had their tea pot stolen could either keep the one they just got and pass their turn to someone else or they could steal another persons.  This happened 3 different times in between questions.  The frog, ladybug, monkey, and duck were a few favorites.  Then after we answered 5 questions everyone was instructed to look under their chairs and find a playing card.  Whoever had the queen of hearts was allowed to pick from a set of gifts.  Amber's aunt ended up getting the queen card and chose Bath and Body Works lotions.  After this we finished the question game.  I started off with the green tea pot with a frog and flowers on it.  During the course of the game I had the duck, the monkey, and humpty dumpty - which is the tea pot I came home with.  After the tea pot game several people were handed little wrapped presents based on certain questions (i.e., the oldest person, the one who traveled the furthest/least) then Sara (Amber's friend) read a story containing the words "Left" and "Right".  Whenever she said "left" or "right" you had to pass the gift that direction and when the story was over whoever had the gifts were allowed to keep them!

After the games we moved into another room and Amber opened all her gifts then the shower was over.

Here's my Humpty Dumpty tea pot next to the roses Bryan got me for Valentine's Day ;)

Thanks Amber for inviting me to your awesome shower!!!  

What a difference a week makes!!

The weather here as been CRAZY over the past few weeks!!!  Friday, January 28th we visited the park with our friends (and neighbors) Kristin and Sutton.  It was nearly 75 degrees outside........

Say Cheeeeeeese

Then the NEXT Friday, February 4th, we woke up to find this in our yard......

Sutton: "Dude, it's cold out here."

Matthew: "It sure is, and they have us in this darn wagon....again!"

At this point Matthew had enough pictures, he either wanted to be out in the snow playing or in the warm house, NOT in the wagon 

The front of our house.  I was standing in the middle of the street taking this picture.  You can barely see where the sidewalk/curb ends and the street begins. 

I don't think Matthew will be swinging in his swing today!

Our backyard after the dogs ran through the snow.  The bricks around the trees are stacked 2 high and they are almost covered in snow!

Bryan and I have 2 friends who live on our street.  The Brewer's live diagonally across the street from us and the Renshaw's are our next door neighbors.  Several of our other friends live in the neighborhood as well.  After some of us ate lunch together and hung out the boys decided to take Ben Wheeler's jeep out and "explore".  Ben, Bryan, Chris Brewer, and Trey Renshaw loaded up in the jeep and headed out in snow gear and a turtle shell sled.......trouble!  

Here's a picture of one of the guys (I can't really tell who it is, but I think it might be Trey).  

Yes that's 635 behind them... 

Yes I'm really glad I did not hear of their adventures until they were safe and sound at home... 

No nobody got hurt... 

Yes they did get stuck but were able to get free... 

Yes a cop saw them but he just waved at them...

  

BOYS WILL BE BOYS!!

It's Final.....

Since I have blogged about this subject in the past I feel I need to give an exciting update!  Russell (my cousin) gave Purdue a verbal commitment during the summer to join their football team in Fall 2011.  However, a few weeks ago he was approached by the University of Michigan with an offer to their school.  After visiting with the coach, visiting the school, after LOTS of consideration and I'm sure many prayers, he decided to change his commitment to Michigan.  He signed with the school this morning!  Here's an article from ESPNs website with some details......

Michigan's call answered by Arlington Martin QB

February, 2, 20

By Randy Jennings

Damion DrigginsArlington Martin quarterback Russell Bellomy already has learned about Michigan's fanatical following.

It didn't take long for Russell Bellomy to learn just what it means to be a quarterback recruit at the University of Michigan.

Returning from a recent recruiting trip to Ann Arbor, the Arlington Martin senior turned on his phone after stepping off the plane and had 50 new Facebook friend requests and about as many messages.

Bellomy’s highlight video went from 700 views to 5,000 in a day’s time and now it is up to 11,000.

“I’m learning just how many Michigan football fans there are,’’ said the 6-foot-4, 185-pounder who capped off a whirlwind recruitment by signing a letter of intent with the Wolverines on Wednesday.

Bellomy committed months earlier with another Big Ten school, Purdue. Then came a coaching change at Michigan and a two-week recruiting window for the new staff.

A Michigan coach visited with Bellomy 12 days ago, had a dinner with his family that night and offered him a scholarship before leaving the area.

Bellomy kept the Purdue coaches apprised of his visit and then his decision to go with the Maize and Blue.

“Michigan was always on my dream list of schools I’d love to attend,’’ Bellomy said. “On my visit, it was everything I thought it would be.’’

The Wolverines are getting a quarterback who threw for 1,564 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 804 yards and nine scores as a senior on a team that went three rounds deep in the playoffs.

“We’re a run-heavy offense,’’ said Martin coach Bob Wager, “but I think what impressed Michigan was the fact that Russell accounted for something like 45 touchdowns in his career and only threw five interceptions. He’s smart and he takes good care of the ball.’’

Four others in an illustrious Martin senior class have been recruited, including running backDanzel Williams (No. 64 on ESPNU 150) to Oklahoma.