Happy Father's Day!

You may wonder how Big Daddy got his name.  

When JR was born, he was average weight, but he grew quickly.  He was soon in the 90th or above percentile for weight and height and he's pretty much stayed that way.  Since neither Big Daddy nor I are very 'big,' people often wondered aloud where JR got his size from.  The honest answer is we just don't know.  But, as an inside joke, we did start calling JR "Big Big."  

He's a little goofy (ha,ha,ha!)

Fast forward a few years and ML comes along.  Somehow, somewhere along the way in her first year, she crossed "Big Big" with "Daddy" and "Big Daddy" was born.  Everyone thought it was hysterical that ML called Big Daddy "BIG Daddy" and it just stuck.

Big Daddy is an amazing Father.  He coaches their teams:

 He dances with his daughter:

 He carves pumpkins........

and takes them camping, and roast smores, and chases lightening bugs, and brings out the telescope and shows them the stars........... and on and on.

Big Daddy is just the greatest!

We love you Big Daddy.  Happy Father's Day!

Sunday Baby Shower

Sunday I hosted another baby shower for my across the street neighbor with my next door neighbor (Did you follow that?  Ha!)  My across the street neighbor has a daughter almost exactly ML's age, who is a 'miracle baby,' so imagine their surprise when they discovered that they were expecting yet another miracle!  

My next door neighbor and I were excited to help her stock her nursery (again!) by hosting a neighborhood baby shower.

We really do live in the BEST neighborhood!

The printables were all purchased off of Etsy from Totfulmemories.  (I still can't figure out how to add a link without manually typing it in or adding to the HTML.  I'm still not allowed by Blogger to 'paste.' Bother.)  Tania was great to work with and I was able to use this package twice!  Crafted by myself and my best friend.

The cookies were by a local baker and friend.  Aren't they amazing?!

So many fun things and great gifts!  Can't wait to meet Baby J!

Luau Baby Shower

Friday night we hosted a Luau Baby Shower for our dear friends.  Our friends LOVE (love, love!) Hawaii and vacation there a few times each year.  They love it so much, they decided to name their soon-to-arrive daughter a Hawaiian name.  So when we decided to throw them a surprise baby shower, we decided to do it at our neighborhood pool and clubhouse.  With a pool in the background and a Hawaiian named baby,  Luau seemed like the only theme to go with!

I found these adorable stickers in the dollar section of Target.  Paired with some craft paper, they made great cupcake toppers!

Dessert table:

Food table:

Drinks:

JR LOVED the punch!

Opening presents:

These wreaths greeted visitors:

I found everything on the wreath at the dollar store!  Both bathing suits were only $1!  I could hardly believe it!

It was a great time.  We can't wait to meet baby Alana!

Summer Camp

This week, JR went to summer camp!  At our favorite camp in the world, the camp where Big Daddy and I met all those years ago........

JR and his counselor this week:

                               

It was a day camp, so ML and I had to drive him down every morning and pick him up every afternoon.  

ML and I had lots of fun while JR was at camp.

We went to the McWayne Center:

They had a 'special' Dora/ Diego exhibit brought in from the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  ML was *almost* too old for it, but she still had tons of fun!

She especially loved the 'animal care hospital' part:

JR was all worn out from camp each day.  This is pretty much the view in my rearview mirror every evening.  :-)

The next day, ML and I visited the Zoo while JR was at camp. This zoo hasn't always been my favorite. I always felt like the animals were crowded into small pens - it made me feel sorry for the animals.  I've changed my mind now!  They have really spent a lot of money improving the zoo and animal habitats!  It's a wonderful place to visit.

ML loves the zoo carousel:

And the petting zoo:

And this big bubble thing they have next to the water features!:

We also rode the zoo train:

On Tuesday night, we hurried home because some of our c-group friends were coming over for a game night!

We had a blast!

The rest of our week was spent driving (me :-), going to camp (JR :-), or visiting friends (ML & me :-).  It was a fantastic week of summer!

Baseball, baseball

This weekend was our last weekend of baseball.  While I won't miss the hectic schedule, I am going to miss the fun of the ball park!  The snowcones, the candy, the popcorn and the friends and neighbors to chat with make baseball a season we enjoy.  Saturday morning I wanted to do something a little special, but low key, for JR's last baseball game, so I reused this craft paper pom and made a little banner with the name of his team and a small sign for his place a the breakfast room table.

These photos, taken by our dear friend, are some of my favorites (and only!) from this season:

 I love this one, because one of JR's closest friends is on 3rd base and JR is right behind him, read to field the ball.

 Can you see my super tall red head????  :-)

 Love him to the tip of his nose!

 Look at those long legs run!

 Yes, we will miss the sweet times with friends at the ballpark.....

...... but we are already enjoying the adventure of summer!