Sweet Surprise

In the middle of the week last week I got a phone call from my dear friend Kelly. We talk almost daily so that wasn't a huge deal, but the topic of the conversation was. Basically I was told in no uncertain terms that I was being kidnapped Saturday afternoon. She told me she had already talked to Shawn and she just felt like I needed a good stress-free and relaxing girls day out. It sounded so good. Shopping and dinner and just hanging out. I was all for it. I knew that she had "an appointment" for us in the evening, but she wouldn't tell me what it was. I thought it could be a movie or a pedicure or ice cream. I had absolutely no idea what it was and I honestly wasn't even that concerned about it. I knew it would be nice to just hang out and I was up for whatever.

We spent the afternoon at the mall shopping without strollers or sippy cups and snack breaks. It was a little strange to shop at a leisurely pace at first, but it didn't take long to fall back into that pre-kids mentality. Well, I say that but in all honesty I bought a few little things for myself and spent the rest of my shopping money on Lauren and Easton. Ha! It really is fun to shop for little ones. And, I found the perfect little button up shirt for Easton to wear at my brother's June wedding in a size 0-3 month at Gymboree for $10! I couldn't believe my luck! He is going to look so handsome in it. :)

After the mall we headed to Barnes & Noble. We were both tired from walking so we thought we would take a little time to look through the books, find a place to sit, and just chat for a while. I think everyone else in town thought the same thing because we ended up sitting on the floor and laughing at the kazillion pregnancy books. At this point I was getting pretty hungry so I mentioned that we should just go ahead to Panera (where we had decided to eat) and get a table and just talk there. Kelly kept me pretty distracted and some more time passed before we decided to head on to Panera.

When we got there I noticed Kelly was walking really quickly and she wasn't going toward the counter to order our food but instead to the back area of the restaurant. We walked into a little room and I was floored! Kelly had arranged a surprise party for me and some of the dearest faces I know were there. I. could. not. believe. it. I remember just looking at each face there and thinking oh my goodness, ____'s here. I was seriously so surprised! I was in complete shock that Kelly had arranged all of this and that these sweet girls would want to spend their Saturday evening celebrating with me. It was really too much to take in and I am honestly still not over it.

We ate some yummy food and then Kelly had some fun little games for us to play. The first one was a How Well Do You Know Jen game and Tammy won!!! Then, Cara killed us with the purse game. She had the most points by far. If you are ever out and need something, ask Cara! She is likely to have it. :) It was really cute because Kelly had little gifts for the winners and we laughed and just had the best time. 

Some of the darling girls who were able to make it:

Cami and Cara

Leslie and Tammy

 Mandie and Desire'

I didn't get a picture of Kelly or Carissa. :( I had a hard time remembering to get my camera out! 

Our group photo!

Bethany, Leslie, Shari, Megan, Amber, and Alysia weren't able to make it, but it meant so much to me that they even tried to make it work!

This shower was unique in that all the girls brought gifts for me to use in the hospital or after Easton is born! I got some of the sweetest things. Adorable slippers, super soft jammies, Tums!!!, lotion and bubble bath, cute flip flops, fancy hair accessories, the softest nursing/baby blanket ever, a super soft nursing bra, a gift certificate to get a pedicure, comfy tank tops, fun note cards and pens, sticky notes (you have to know me to know how that pampers me, hehe), and the sweetest book to read my two little loves. It was just too much! I couldn't believe how thoughtful these girls were. What a blessing and such a great idea! I wish I had gotten pictures of all the gifts but I didn't. :(

My monkey jammies and slippers from Leslie! CUTE!!!

Cara and Alysia got me a sweet book and this was the best picture I got of it. Ha!!! Mandie and Desire' look good!!!

Cami made this awesome headband. The girl is crazy talented!!! Seriously, she made a few other little hair clippies for me that are so fun!

I have to say though, that one of my favorite gifts from the shower was a little scrapbook that held cards and words from these exceptional ladies. One of my biggest fears about having Easton has been that I would experience the depression I felt after I had Lauren. I haven't really talked much about it, but it was real and it was there. I never ever want to go through that again because I felt like it sucked the life out of me and it took me a really long time to find myself again. I am so scared of that happening again. Each girl wrote a sweet card or made a scrapbook page to go in the book with words of encouragement and bible verses for me to meditate on and every time I look at it I get weepy. I know that book will be a huge blessing to me after Easton is here because I already feel like it has blessed me. I plan on adding any cards or encouraging notes I get to the book so that I can look back on that if/when I have blue days or nights. Thank you Kelly, for planning that thoughtful gift. It really means the world to me. And thank you to each of you girls who wrote me a letter of encouragement. I know that God will use the words you thoughtfully wrote out to minister to me in the days to come. Thank you!

Thank you Kelly for planning such a fun and memorable shower for me. You worked so hard and did so much and I just thank you for the little details and for getting all those wonderful women together. I feel so unworthy of the love and friendship I felt from all you girls, but I am so extremely thankful. For your examples of friendship, being women of faith, motherhood, etc. You each inspire me in so many ways.

I am so blessed.