I could not have pulled everything together without the help from my two co-hosts–thank you Christy and Kelly! And thank you to my friend, Sally, for taking these amazing pictures. You captured my favorite details perfectly.

I kept meaning to get this post up sooner. The timing seems appropriate right now because Baby B was due yesterday and I have a feeling she will be gracing us with her presence any day now…any hour? Come on, Baby B!

I posted the invitations what seems to be a very long time ago. And now, here are the vintage-feminine details { almost completely inspired by Pinterest discoveries }:

Ross had to drink a LOT of Starbucks frappuccinos for the glass milk bottles to be a success. I had to use a LOT of Goo Gone, which during my first trimester become one of the scents I could not stand anymore! We will use these for many parties to come, I think!

Flowers were done by a local flower shop using blue Ball jars as the vase. It’s a fact that I am a horrible flower arranger.

Aside from the bowl of pita chips, the food was completely gluten-free and included some of K’s favorites. The cake balls were done by my co-hosts and were delicious. They followed this informative, but hilarious video tutorial.

K introduced me to white chocolate drizzled popcorn. It’s amazing. A dash of sea salt over the melted chocolate is essential.

Also on the menu: fruit salad drizzled with coconut balsamic vinegar, peppers and chips with hummus, and three different flavors of cake balls. Drinks included water with lemons and limes, decaf sweet iced tea, decaf coffee and Laura’s hot apple cider.

These amazing { and stackable } metal tins came from Ross’s mom. She was an invaluable resource for me as I planned this shower.

She let me borrow all of the old boxes, too. The antique pink dishes also came from her stash, but I get to keep those!

Don’t you just love a good baby bump?

Once plates were full of food, guests came down to the family room for some mama wisdom, a few games, and gift opening. Although, the shower was held at someone else’s house, I brought almost all of my throw pillows from home to add to the decor. I have many. The window frames were borrowed from a friend–thank you, Jenni!

I had my heart set on creating a fabric strip banner from the very beginning. Actually, it’s this photo that inspired the “sugar & spice” theme, too.

There were many other mamas of new babies at the shower. I love this picture. Little Allie { on the left } is awake here, but all three of them slept just like this for a long time!

Praying for you, K! You are going to rock your labor. Can’t wait to meet your sweet little girl!

• I think the best part of the whole trip was just spending time with each other. There was literally zero stress and it was awesome. Katie and I first met during our freshmen year of high school. We’ve been best friends for 15 years! Ross and I know Jed from IU before he and Katie even met. Over the years, and now with our kids, we’ve established a comfortable, lifelong friendship that we will always treasure.

• Observing our kids loving life at the mall play area.
• Really good home cooked meals and REALLY good homemade wine. :)
• Sharing ice cream with Baby Girl.

• Witnessing Joah’s first steps.
• Analiese holding Joah’s hand to make him feel better in the car (so cute!) and to help him walk (that didn’t really work…)

•  Going to a DC United game. Wish Jed wasn’t injured so he could have played. Wish they had won. Still really fun.
• Analiese’s first face hand painting!

•  A hayride to see llamas, bbq lunch, hot donuts, pumpkins and everything else that makes Fall so great.

•  An entire aisle of sprinkles at a Pennsylvania Dutch Market. Seriously, every store should have one of these.
• My first ever trip to a Paper Source store. Ahhmazing.
• Girl’s night: dinner and raspberry martini’s at Cheesecake Factory.
• A walking tour of Washington DC and seeing the new MLK Jr. Memorial.
• Walking along the inner harbor of Baltimore with my aunt.
• My uncle showing Analiese how to blow bubbles in her drink. Thank you for that! :)

• Receiving an e-mail from our friends who were watching Parker while we were away. He went to work with Mike and, apparently, did this all day long:

Thank you to everyone for hosting us! We had such a great time!

The event planner, perfectionist and task master in me LOVES to see months of brainstorming, planning and creating finally come together. It’s like a mini-wedding of sorts. When we began planning, we threw out a lot of ideas and eventually came up with an ABC theme with a vintage/modern feel. I think we accomplished what we had envisioned and Katie loved it which is what was most important.

{ it all started with the invitation i made–masculine, but with a touch of chic. }

{ we used pages from vintage children’s books and different sized white frames to create multiple vignettes around the room. jackie did a great job with picking out the right images to frame. i love the penant garland that she made, too. }

{ i liked the penant banner so much, i decided to create mini ones to decorate the game prize bags. }

{ katie registered for these ABC cards from Abes Market. they are SO adorable and fit into our color scheme perfectly. i ordered the mini clothes pins from Open Stock Party. }

{ i volunteered to make the pom poms. because i loe pom poms. so pretty. }

{ these were part of my gift to katie. the numbers 6:24-26 may look familiar and is also for sale in my Etsy shop, pipe|up. the cards and clips on the table were given to guests when they arrived. the cards asked everyone to share their favorite thing to do with their mom or kids. we used this as an introduction once we were all seated. the clips were part of a game where you couldn’t say the word “baby” or else you had to give away your clip to whoever caught you. katie’s nieces were at the shower and they loved playing this game! we also played a game where you had to match the celebrity to her little one with a crazy name and used yarn to guess the size of katie’s belly…a crowd favorite. }

{ gifts! }

{ jackie made the ABC cupcakes – yum! we cut strips of paper to go around the bottom to match the rest of the decor. }

{ another vignette of framed children’s book pages by the punch bowl. }

{ katie, elisabeth and i have been best friends for a long time. we’ve thrown each other wedding showers and now we’re onto baby showers. it’s so fun to share life with these girls. i miss them and wish we were closer! }

{ this might have been my favorite decor piece. jackie’s mom had these amazing, giant branches that she placed in a large glass vase with some neutral colored potpourri. jackie and elisabeth made the letters as favors–each guest took home their last name initial–and tied them to the branches with twine. we all loved the idea, but once the letters started going up, the branches started falling over. we knew that even if we got it to balance just right, it would be trouble once guests started taking their letters off. so, we had to improvise. jackie called her husband to see what they might have that could weigh the vase and branches down. the solution? grass seed. the color worked perfectly and it held the branches much better. the other thing we didn’t think about was the mirror behind the display. it was reflecting the backs of the letters, which weren’t as pretty as the front. so, we covered the mirror with a patchwork of scrapbook paper. good thing we built in some extra set up time! }

{ guests were asked to replace their letter with a piece of advice to katie. unfortunately, not too many people did this, but it was a nice thought, right? }

{ analiese made a short appearance at the end of the shower. she had been napping in another room for most of it, but woke up in time to see some familiar faces. she’s saying hi to baby z. }

I’m so looking forward to meeting the little guy!

This past weekend we were hosts to a slew of family and friends who were in town to celebrate Analiese’s dedication at church. Not only was Analiese dedicated to God for His service, but we, as her parents, were dedicated before God and His church that we will commit to bring Analiese up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We understand the responsibility to raise her in a home where the love of God is demonstrated and taught. We believe that this ceremony does not assure that Analiese will go to heaven. Rather, the decision to accept and follow Jesus Christ as Savior is hers to make when she is at an age to clearly understand God’s plan of salvation. Therefore, her dedication does not take the place of baptism. Instead, she will be baptized when she’s ready to make a public declaration of her own personal faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We pray that this is God’s plan for her and we’ll do our best to teach her God’s word, love and promises.

We are so thankful to everyone who made this a special occasion for us. Thank you for the miles driven and flown, and the love and support shared with us and Analiese.

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Shakley! We did not take this photo. Their amazing photographer did. (Free advertising…you’re welcome Brian Kaplan.) Ross and I agreed that the ceremony was one of the most fun and personal ones we’ve ever been to. The first thing I tell everyone is that Sissy grabbed Brian’s butt during the kiss. That, along with the letters they wrote to each other and the choreographed first dance (is this on You Tube yet??) allowed everyone see the bride and groom’s personalities. These two met nine years ago and are now husband and wife. They are so meant for each other and since I don’t know Sissy very well (and happen to adore Brian as a great friend), I loved seeing that show throughout the ceremony and reception.

Did I mention that it took ten hours and a shovel impaling our car to get to this event? Yes, an hour into the drive down I-75 we ran over a shovel:

It wasn’t the highlight of the weekend, but it definitely took up a lot of time. Thankfully, no one was hurt and we could continue on our way with a rental car. We split the drive up each way by staying with my family in Cincinnati. It was a packed weekend of seeing family and dear friends. Analiese did great considering the amount of time she had to be in her car seat.

The main reason we were there this time, though, was to attend the wedding of our dear friend, Jen DiAngelis (now Quie)! Jen is the epitome of elegance and sophistication. So, it was no surprise at all that the wedding was just as beautifully done.

Some friends from IU stopped at the Olsen household for a quick dress change before we headed to Cincinnati along with the Balls. We don’t have too many opportunities to dress up, so it was fun to do my hair (with my mom’s help) and feel prettier than I do in stretchy gaucho’s and a tank top (which has been my go-to summer attire). Thank goodness I happened to have a dress that could accommodate a growing baby bump!

I had the pleasure of assisting Jen and Christian with everything paper for their wedding. It was so much fun designing everything from the invitations to poster-sized seating chart to a unique photo guest book (my favorite piece!). One of these days I’ll start that business of mine officially!

Even though it flew by, we had a great weekend. It ended especially well with my favorite meal prepared by my mama – beef burgundy. Or as they refer to it in Julie & Julia, “Boeuf Bourguignonne.” So so so delicious. Had leftovers tonight.