Jack Richard...

On June 28, my sister and her husband welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world.

8 pounds 1 oz.

21 inches long.

(these top three pics were jacked from the hospital's image gallery)

I am now the VERY proud auntie to little Jack Richard.

Check out his hair!!  He was born a rockstar :)  

We are all so smitten with this little guy.  He already has my heart.

Amelia loves her new little cousin...

I am so proud of my sister.  She looked so beautiful and strong, and amazing when it was all said and done.   I am so proud to be her sister.

What a blessed little addition to our family.

xo

janel

sunday.

Yesterday was a really great day all around.

We started off the day with Cardboard Testimonies at church.  If you aren't sure what they are, you should google it, they are really powerful and neat.  Adam and I had a great testimony to share this time so it was exciting to be a part of it.

After church, my lovely friend Haley called to tell me that her and her honey, Blake were engaged!!!  

(photo stolen from her blog)

I was so excited because they were in town so they shot over to our house so I could congratulate them and so that they could meet Amelia.

Amelia loved her auntie Haley so much (and Blake too).

After our little visit my sister and I went to dinner at the Schlafly Tap Room before the Florence and the Machine concert.

So, once we got to the show, we met up with our friend Katie and hung out a bit in the lounge.  I saw this girl approach two women and hand them these lanyards.

Me being me, I walked over and chatted her up and scored 4 backstage meet and greet VIP passes to meet Florence!!

It was awesome.

Then, I realized it would be a fun engagement surprise for Haley and Blake too (who were also going to the show) so I asked the woman if I could have just two more passes and she did!  So I called Haley and they ran (literally) to the Peabody Opera House for the meet and great.  It was amazing.

Now, Here is the part where I share a bazillion iPhone pics from the night :)  And they are in random order, but who cares, because it was THAT awesome!

Florence was so cute!  Her sweet little Brittish accent was adorable.  She was super nice and personable.  She says that she loves American books because we put such nice paper in them :)  That's the one thing I remember her saying.
Good times were had by all.

The show was lovely and I had so much fun with my sweet sweet friends Jane and Katie and of course the best sister ever, Nicole.

Plus, I met FLORENCE!!!

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

showered!

**

This weekend I hosted TWO baby showers for my sister and little Jack. 

They were amazing :)

The theme was "shower" as in a rain shower:)

We made tissue paper clouds that hang all around with paint chip rain drops hanging from them.  It was so adorable.

All of the decorations were handmade, and I think that gave it more of a special touch for Nicole.

The best part of having two showers in one weekend was that we could just keep all of the shower decorations up for both days!!

My mom's amazing friend Jackie made all of the desserts for the parties.  We had cake pops, mini strawberry shortcakes, home made chocolate chip cookies, pecan cream cheese cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries...yummy!!

oh my golly.

I feel as though I am kind of a cake pop connoisseur and I can be 100% honest in saying that these were the BEST cake pops I have ever had...hands down.

So, Saturday was more of a smaller shower with all of our close college friends, and some of Nicole's friends from work.  During this shower, I had a "onesie" making station set up so that everyone could make a cute onesie for Jack.

These turned out to be so fun and so cute.

It was the best time :)

Sunday was a HUGE shower with all of our family and close family friends. 

We skipped the craftiness for this one and focused more on presents and food (the important things right?)

I think this little one's face is a perfect picture of how full of love this day was for Nicole. 

 (Seriously, does it get any cuter than that?)

We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people who are willing to get together and celebrate us on these occasions.

Nicole, I hope you had the best two days ever.  You really deserve the best.

I love you muchly.

Oh and while we are talking about Jack and Nicole...how cute is his nursery?!

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

the best fortune ever.

My sister is having a BABY!!!!

Oh my golly I am the happiest, most excited girl in the world :)

This weekend my sister and her husband, Matt, invited my parents and I out dinner at Pei Wei.  After we ate, the waitress came by with a plate of fortune cookies.  My dad was the first person finished with his meal and he grabbed his fortune cookie first.  When he opened the cookie, he had the most confused look on his face when he read the fortune.  My mom leaned over and read it as well, and it said:

"Congratulations Grammy and Grampy!  Lucky Numbers 06-27-12"

My mom was also stunned and when they looked at my sister she shook her head yes and the tears started flowing.

My dad and mom were so excited and adorable!

Although I have known for a couple of months, it was so cool to be there for the special moment where they told my parents. 

Seriously, I feel so blessed that I was able to see it and see my parent's reactions and the smiles on Matt and Nicole's faces.

Join me in congratulating the parents to be!!
I am so excited!!
I have already gone crazy buying Christmas presents for this baby :)
I love you so much Nicole and I can NOT wait to be the best auntie ever!!!!

xo
janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.