Boys' day out...

Saturday, while the girls were "showering", Andy, Poppy, Adam and Liddy headed to Old Town for the annual St. Patty's Day parade.





Andy and Poppy enjoyed a few pints as they watched the parade and Adam got to take in all the sites. I'm sure that Liddy was loving being out and about as this snowy winter has put a damper on her walks.




Afterwards they headed home and started smoking a pork shoulder (what better way for three boys to spend a Saturday afternoon?!) As a birthday present, Andy's parents had bought him a heat lamp. They set that up and were able to spend the afternoon, comfortably, on the deck.






When I got home, that's exactly where I found them and I even got to enjoy a glass of wine on the deck. Ah spring, you can't get here soon enough!!

Kathleen's "Story Book" Shower

Saturday I had the great task of helping to host a baby shower for my big sister! My mom and our friend Ami were the other hosts and we planned a story book themed shower for Kathleen. We asked all the guests to bring along a book as part of their gift to build up baby girl's library and we also used the story book theme throughout the entire shower, from the menu to the game to the favors, everything was tied to children's stories.



The menu:
*"1 fish, 2 fish, Red fish, Blue fish" punch
*"Peter Rabbit's" garden veggie Platter
*"Madeleine in Paris" baked brie
*"Jack and the Beanstalk" salad
*"Green Eggs..." (mini-quiches)
*"...and Ham" (make your own ham sammies)
*"Chicken Little" tarts
*"Old MacDonald and Cheese" (had to have something on the menu that Kathleen would eat) ;)
*"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" fruit kabobs
*"The Velveteen Rabbit" cake
*"If you give a Mouse a Cookie" chocolate chip cookies







For the game, Ami pulled together a "Finish that Rhyme" game which cause quite an uproar. No punches were thrown, but poor Ami did put together a pretty challenging game. Who knew there was a second verse to "Jack and Jill?" Not a whole lot of people it turns out! It actually made for a good laugh and we all learned a lot of new verses to our favorite nursery rhymes.

For favors, Ami made everyone beaded bookmarks. They turned out so cute and now everyone will think of baby girl when they pick up their latest read.




Kathleen got showered with some amazing gifts and of course tons of books. She has some great friends and it was nice to see some of her old high school friends who apparently still think of me as a bratty 7th grader...super! :)



Happy shower Kathleen!! We can't wait for that baby girl to get here!!!
XOXOXO

Adam and Mom's mini-vacation...

To burn up some of my vacation days (I've got about 50 hours left to use by the end of March!) I decided to take last Thursday and Friday off. The timing worked out great as I was able to take Adam to his 6 month check-up and then we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa's for a weekend of family, friends, and most importantly, Kathleen's baby shower!



Our forever friends, Don and Rosemary, headed up from Myrtle Beach for the festivities and arrived at my folk's house on Thursday. It was great to have some quiet time with them and Rosemary just can't get enough of little Adam!!




Friday we took advantage of being out in Ashburn and set up a play date with Jenn and Owen. Owen is 1 1/2 and it's so fun to see how much he's growing up! He knows so many words and was even doing some of his sign language--it was so cute! Adam had fun playing with some of his big boy toys---though mostly he just shoved everything in his mouth (typical!)



Friday afternoon more family made their way into town, including my Aunt Anne and Cousin Jackie and her husband Jerry. It had been over a year since we'd seen Jackie, which is far too long if you ask me! She brought my mom the most amazing hostess gift, a platter that is shaped like the "19th Hole." How clever! We had a great time eating yummy food and doing some pre-shower prep.




It was a great two days off of work and the best part was spending all that time with Adam!

My little mess maker!

Half birthday!!!

Hard to believe, but it's been six months since Adam was born. We of course had to celebrate and so we followed Gribble family tradition and made Adam a "half" cake and let him go to town on it!



I had to cringe at the mess, but I'm learning to cope! haha :) It was all worth it though as he had so much fun smearing all that icing over his legs and face (and he did have a little taste, but seemed more interested in just mushing it in between his fingers) and playing with his balloons!

A few fun facts about our little 6 month old:
*He's sitting up on his own and having a great time experiencing his toys from this new perspective.
*Sleep, oh glorious sleep! Adam is falling asleep on his own and sleeping peacefully through the night.
*He's eating his cereal like a champ and will be trying his first fruits and veggies this weekend.
*He can get up on all fours and we're keeping a close eye as we know he'll be mobile any moment now.

Happy half birthday Adam!!

(Videos to come) :)

My Adam...

This picture deserved a post of its own...

XOXOXO

Cousins

Sunday night we had Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Lee and cousin Andrew over for dinner. It was great for them to have some "one on one" time with Adam. Andrew was especially excited to see his cousin and couldn't get over how much bigger he'd gotten since the last time they saw each other. He also mentioned several times how much he "loves babies!" Which is good news as he's about to have a baby sister in about eight weeks! :)

After dinner, Lee snapped some photos for us (always a treat!) and they turned out great!! I can't believe this is the first time we've gotten a picture of Andrew and Adam together. I also can't believe how big my little boy is getting!!








Cousins are the greatest aren't they??