Welcome Baby!!!!

 

Hooray !!!!

The day finally came..

Mike and Maria’s Baby Shower !!!

We celebrate the anticipated arrival of little Vincent !!!

This is not little Vincent… however he will be our little monkey!

The morning of Mike and Maria’s Shower started out perfectly fine.

That is until we looked out the window 30 minutes prior to everyone’s scheduled arrival and saw a blizzard… It never fails.. ugh..

We carried  on and decorated  inside, hoping for the best !

As you can see.. The color scheme for the nursery is brown blue and white.

As well as a jungle theme.

The cake turned out cute too.. the cannoli filling was just an added bonus ….

Oh… My … Gosh was it good !!!

Some of you PINFREAKS will notice that,I tried out a whole lot of things for the shower (Coffee Filter Pom Poms,Tissue Paper Poms Tulle Poms and a Twine Ball )

Thank You Pinterest

I got so inspired and downright brave after making these little ditties that I decided to something I hadn’t done since high school…

( No I didn’t  do the hustle)…

I picked up a paint brush and some paint !!!

I took a stab at trying to recreate the shower invitation…IN OILS no less… what am I …..crazy?

Meh.. I’m no Leonardo but I did what I could..

The nutcracker Monkey and Lion were gifts from Nancy … How flippin cute…

At the opposite end of the room we had a set up a little area for  brown and blue candy as well as displaying  some cute little Monkey outfits I found… on the right you will notice that once again Martin and Melissa’s wedding centerpiece came  in handy for yet another project..

Halloween it sports bats…

Christmas it has bulbs…

at Easter it becomes an Egg Tree…. and on this day..it will be a  “Wishing Tree”

We ran off post cards that said Wishes for baby… that everyone in attendance  filled out.

Then hung them on the tree.

We also had everyone give the future parents any tidbits of wisdom they wanted to share.

We’ll  laminate them as remembrances .

Cute huh?

On to the center pieces..

I don’t know how I landed on this website … but I’m so so glad I did.

These little beauties did double duty.. serving as the main centerpiece, as well as being favors for everyone to take home !!

This company was so accommodating..

I Highly recommend !

Mamma did her fair share too…

I went out and bought the materials needed for this cute banner.. and she did the hard work.

The Bottom banner will eventually say “ Happy Birthday”

It will not only be a great thing to display on his birthdays.. it is also a wonderful keepsake from his  Bisnonna/ Great Grandma.

I think the room turned out pretty good…

( THANK YOU HEATHER and KAREN !!  for all your help that afternoon)

Wasn’t it nice of the restaurant to make sure their color scheme  matched ours?

*Note the blanket of white outside the windows…errrrrrr

Now all we had to do was wait to see if anyone would show…

Aunty Heather was my right hand that day.. which came in handy since you kinda need a right hand to take pictures.. She did a great job!!

In spite of the snow.. people came… bearing gifts even !!

It was so good to see so many happy smiling faces..

Some couldn’t smile because they were a little Emo…

“Little Marrrria  is all grown up …. waaaaaa”

There were old friends…

And new…

and even a little Testosterone thrown in for good measure..

( Mike.. what a good sport)

Aunt Lina says the girls can’t wait to meet

“Their cousin Vinnie”

Three generations well four if you count the one still brewing.

It was so good seeing everyone !!!

It makes me kind of sad though.. I mean my Goddaughter here was just born yesterday… ok .. not yesterday… but it sure seems like it..ugh !

Same with these two birds…How can this young chick on the right be a grandma already…when the young chick on the left just got out of pampers herself…

I think Jen has the right idea.. just smile… wave… and make the best of it.. we can’t stop time.

Maria did a great job of catching up with folks she may not get to see very often..

 

Taking some time for a snapshot of the family…

She’s pretty lucky to have such good in-laws

My gang is pretty nice too.. however here it looks like we’re trying to solve the problems of the world…

Either that or  we’re trying to piece together how we can all look so different yet really still be cousins…hmmmm

These two birds are probably texting each other…

YES Bridget… Little Marrrria is going to be a Mom… No that is NOT a pillow.

She really couldn’t have been happier that day .

and I couldn’t have made weirder faces if I tried…

Here I was trying to be ladylike in getting everyone’s attention by tapping a glass…. instead of being  loud and tacky..and screaming out…

“YO….LISTEN UP !

From the look on  her face….

Even the lady on the wall wasn’t buying it…

We gave away a couple of gifts for those whose birthday’s came closest to Mike.. Maria.. and Baby.

Then it was on to putting down in writing our wishes for Baby Vincent.

The girls hung everyone’s well wishes when they were complete.

In fact the hired hands… ugh.. I mean the girls were very very handy that day.. as they helped with all the grunt work.. ugh I mean the labor of love.

And labor they did… there were so so many gifts.

It is overwhelming how kind people can be

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

They got so many wonderful things..

Some were even handmade !

Well done… I say…Well done !!!

Most made them happy…

But some just made them cry…

You see this little grey coat and hat were originally my son’s.

A long time ago I lent it to my sister in law Nancy.. who was sweet enough to pass  it back to Maria.

It was such a touching moment when Maria realized it had once belonged to her brother.

Let’s just say … Maria loved it …. the crowd loved it

Nana loved it too…

Although she was also rather intrigued with the ribbons.

WHAT is it with this woman and ribbons?…

 

First at Maria’s Wedding Shower..

and now this?

All I know is.. Nana thought the shower was a hit !!

 

Mike and Maria were just so happy to see everyone and very grateful for their generosity .

So.. with all the gifts open.. it was time to mingle again..

and mingle we did..

Some even worked on their gifts during the shindig. ( Hey.. a girls gotta make a living ya know)

It is so true….There really isn’t anything like friendship….

It warms  the cockles

Of your heart.

Friends who have been around forever..

Friends who are new

Friends and their children

Friends and their parents..

 

What can I say….

 

It’s a blessing beyond compare..

God Bless you my friends

God Bless you my Daughter and Son in law

God Bless you Baby Vincent…I don’t know how…

but I love you already !!

*See …  I told you I’ve been busy !