Last trip to PA: Baby Shower Time!

This past weekend we made our FINAL journey to Elizabethtown until APRIL! Wow, does that sound far away! Though this trip was hard (mainly, on me and my back), we know the next one might just be harder. :)

The main event this weekend was Quiglet's Baby Shower. It was a blast, my friends and family did a fabulous job making it a special and fun event. I can't figure out how to rip the pics off of Kodak, but here's the gallery.

We did a "Green" Shower, which I was really excited about because though I do love opening presents, the overwhelmingness of opening so many at a shower (I know, what a whiner) and the wastefulness of it made the idea of a shower w/ no wrapping paper really appealing. And it was fun, to me it was no less special!

Another awesome thing the shower planners did was ask everyone to bring a book in place of a card. Scott and I had such a fun time looking through all of the books we got to start Quiglet's library. :) It's special because of course we have our own favorite books but it was neat to see others' favorites. And who knows what baby girl will like!

This is her closet, Pre-Shower:

With the combination of ridiculous Old Navy sales and consignment sales, my mom and I have outfitted this kid for the first year. Though, I will say, most of this stuff is "cute" stuff rather than "functional" stuff... at the shower we got a bunch of sleeping items and loungewear (lol), which we definitely needed!

Christmas Wishes (shooting out of your eyes)

...sorry, that's from 30 Rock! Gotta love a Jordan Christmas.So, ho-ho-ho! This is our Christmas card!!! It's green and cheap (free) and conserves time :). We had a great holiday in NC with my parents and sister. We watched the entire John Adams miniseries which was educational, inspirational and fun! Scott and I exchanged gifts this morning - and a first for us - we woke up in our own home on Christmas morning! We're off to Pennsylvania for a week, with a stop by DC to visit Spector in 2009.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Meet the Wilkinsons!

Here are some good pics from the wedding! They weren't quite as wonderful as I was hoping, but who knew that heavy drinking (at the reception... I'm not that tacky ;))and use of a Nikon D80 didn't complement each other??? :)

Cara and the two kids - we played a lot of I Spy pre-wedding.
This was the second best thing to happen with a shoe this week... the best? Need you ask? Little Wilmond (is that how you spell it?) liked the fancy black shoes... for chewing.

Will and the ring bearer :)
I liked this one...
Reception! Cara & Steve, our new buddies!
Meet the Wilkinsons! :)
Ash had her company Christmas party the next ballroom over - crazy! Family pic!

Gu gives everyone a practice bubble blowing session...




We had a great time at the wedding, and it was our pleasure to be involved with it :) Here's the link to the flickr album with a few more.

Biltmore Estate and Misc McQ family pics

We spent most of the day Monday touring the Biltmore Estate and Winery. It was the Vanderbilt's house...er... mansion, and is beyond description. Unfortunately, they don't let you take pictures inside so there's no way to show you the crazy over-the-top opulence (big word, I know, but it's the only one I can think of to fit!) Some highlights for me: indoor swimming pool, the "man wing" of the house that had a secret door in the wall, the "Don't Tread On Me" flag (but that's only bc Scott and I are obsessed w/ the HBO miniseries John Adams), and I looooved the library.

So here's some pics:


If you're wondering what's up w/ the "look", it's bc he's saying "Jame, stop taking pictures of me." This one had a bus-full of hyper middle schoolers off to the side looking. I think he was worried what they would think :)



These old and crotchety trees were just amazing!



I call this one "two men with computer bags":
Wow.
They brought the sass all on their own...

Family pic!!


There's more to come... if you can believe it!! :)

Asheville!

...was awesome! We had such a great time. We left Sunday night with Scott's parents, who were in town for the wedding. I'm uploading all of the pics today... and will post them to the blog when I can! Here's the first installment. Our first night there, we went to the Grove Park Inn for the Gingerbread House exhibit - I think it's a national competition where everything has to be edible and the most creative and prettiest win. It was definitely amazing! Strolling around the Grove Park Inn was pretty fun too - it's a gorgeous and ritzy hotel. :)

Here's a few awesome Gingerbread Houses:


Ok, now THESE are the good ones! All of the above ones were either made by kids or were honorable mentions. They were just so impressive, I doubt the coolness can be captured, even by a Nikon D80.





Some Christmas decor from the Grove Park! It was so pretty at night...



Scott was really fixated on this butterfly ornament... hmmmmm...
Scott got to see Santa's list!! Lucky!!

Happy Wedding Day, Amy & Casey!

I'm off in a few hours to spend the day at the Wilkinson-Beattie wedding, and I'm so excited! Congrats to the bride & groom (and happy 11 year dating anniversary too!)

Another classic memory from this summer!

We're off to Asheville for a few days on Sunday, so I'll have lots of pictures when we return!!

Happy Birthday Sophie!

My niece, Sophie Anne, was born this morning! So excited to meet you, dearie... in November!

We're so excited!!!! :)

*Edit* Turns out she's wicked cute too!

Babies and Showers - weekend in PA

We had a great trip back home to PA over Labor Day weekend! I got to go out for a two hour breakfast with my girls, visit with Susanna, see my grandparents' new house and help them set up their new computer, and spend lots of quality time with Scott's family! And SURPRISE! Kelly's shower was Sunday! Sadly I don't have pictures of all the fun stuff I did, but here's a smattering. Yes, I said smattering.

If you give a baby a cellphone...she will never give it back to you. And you'll need to grab it when it's time to go and run away from the sobbing. She does love cell phones - it's funny!

Action shot - mid sneeze! LOL!

Erica plays "baby" with Susanna. Still has my cellphone...

Shower stuff! First off - my big project (and let's be honest, a big portion of my gift budget! diapers ain't cheap, folks!) was a diaper cake! It was so fun and pretty easy to make... and a really cool centerpiece for the refreshments table. And Kelly and John will be able to use the diapers too!

Next project, a watermelon baby carriage...kinda like a jack o lantern but with a watermelon and making it into a carriage...you get the picture. It was hard work, but I got to stab a watermelon and people seemed to be a little scared of me that day... not sure why.

The refreshment table!

Kelly and Carol

All of the guests wrote Johnny & Kelly a message for when they're changing Sophie in the middle of the night... Tammy and Adrienne had good ones... so true, really.

SO MANY PRESENTS!!!