The Summer of Celebrations (part II)

Next up on the list...showers.


After the two weddings in early June, I helped host two showers at the end of June...a baby shower and a wedding shower.

The first one I want to tell you about is Chelsea's Baby Shower, but before I do that I wanted to highlight her Gender Party Reveal that we helped with in March.  (Heather blogged about it here, but some people have been asking me to put it on my blog so they could find it easier.)

My sister, Kyle, first told me about Gender Parties.  She'd seen several blogs about them...and how they were the new way to celebrate and reveal the gender of your baby to family and friends.

Instead of finding out the gender at their appointment, Cody and Chelsea decided to have the sonographer write it down on a piece of paper and put in an envelope.  After the appointment, they brought the envelope over to my house.  I was oh, so honored to be trusted with the big surprise!  (I didn’t even tell Charlie, though he tried to get it out of me…and then pretended like he didn’t want to know, anyway, after I refused…I was reveling in all the power I possessed for the few hours that day.)

I made the actual cake balls a few days before and doubled this recipe.  To half of the batch, I added red food coloring to the crumbled cake and frosting mixture until it was a bright pink and to the other I added blue.  My friend, Lindsay, helped me ice the cake balls on the afternoon of the party…okay, I’ll just be honest and say that I tried to ice several and they looked so sloppy...I think icing cake or cake balls is a gift and is definitely not one I possess…so I just let Lindsay ice the rest.  As she was icing them, I pulled two blue cake balls and two pink cake balls aside and labeled the plates they were sitting on, since we iced these before "the envelope" was dropped off.  I was so afraid I was going to get them confused and ruin the whole evening. 

As guests arrived, they gave baby name suggestions for both genders. (And this baby was actually named with one of the suggestions given by Heather! How neat is that?)

Guests were instructed to wear BLUE... 

or PINK according to what they thought this baby's gender was.

The pink and blue fare included:

I'm unashamedly copying the recipes directly from Heather's post.

Coffee Punch (dyed blue)
3 cups strong coffee

2 cups sugar

1 pint cream or half and half

1 quart milk

2 t. vanilla

Dissolve sugar in hot coffee. Cool. Add other ingredients. Freeze. Remove from freezer about 30 minutes before party. Mix and serve very icy.  (I've mentioned this recipe before.)

Raspberry Limeade

1 can of raspberry lemonade concentrate

1 bottle of cold, carbonated lime water

1 bottle of cold, carbonated raspberry water

Mix those ingredients and enjoy!

(This Limeade is Aaron's specialty, except he uses all lime everything instead of raspberry...but Chels needed a pink drink so she substituted, accordingly.  This was my beverage of choice when I was pregnant with Asher and it was responsible for 28 lbs of the 50 lbs that I gained with him.  Thank you, Aaron.)

You can see how the inside of the blue cake calls were kind of oozing out, Lindsay triple-dipped the cake balls that  Chelsea and Cody would be biting into, so they'd have no idea until they bit into them.  These were just for all the guests to eat so we weren't as particular.  (Recipe at the beginning of this post.)

Jello Squares

3 small boxes of Jello

(3 watermelon for pink, 3 blue raspberry for blue)

3 Knox Gelatin envelopes

heavy whipping cream

Mix the Jello and the Knox Gelatin together (this will be dry). Add 3.5 cups hot water. Add 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream. Stir. Pour in a 9x13 pan. Refrigerate. The cream will separate and go to the top. Cut and serve.  (To say that these were a HUGE hit with the kids would be quite an understatement. Chelsea's carpet can attest.)

Pink Party Salad

1 can strawberry pie filling

1 (8 0z.) cool whip

1 small can crushed pineapple (drain)

1 can eagle brand milk

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix all of that together and refrigerate a couple hours before you serve it.

Blueberry Dump Cake

2 cans of blueberry

small can of crushed pineapple

1 yellow cake mix

butter

Pour the blueberries and pineapple in the bottom of a pan, then pour a yellow cake mix on top of that mixture. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour on top of the cake mix. Don't stir. Bake at 350 for about an hour.

Chelsea bought the pink and blue packages of white chocolate chips from Hobby Lobby to coat the pretzel rods.

Then...the moment everyone was waiting for...after all the guests arrived, I handed Cody and Chelsea the appropriately colored cake balls as everyone gathered for the big reveal!

And it was...

This was McKlayne's favorite part of the party.

And my favorite part:

(Oh, how I miss moments like this with that one on the right...)

(I would thoroughly being pregnant if this is how I looked...too bad my tummy is the LAST thing to grow.)

And...this is how I will feel in 5 months.

Friday Funnies

As I was going to kiss Asher goodnight before I went to bed, on an out of town visit this summer, I found him like this:

I will keep the owner of these unmentionables anonymous to protect the innocent. But, apparently, these had been in a stack of clean laundry in the room that Asher was sleeping in for the night. I guess he thought they'd make a great accessory!

When I went to ask him the next morning what he was doing with that "thing" on his head, he said, "I was just being an Indian."

********

Last week we visited the nursing home, and Mrs. M. was the last stop on our in-room visits. She is one of my favorite residents to visit. We were talking about pregnancy and she was reminiscing on her three pregnancies. And then she said, "You don't look pregnant...well, not in your stomach anyway...but your arms sure are getting plump."

Jordan, I guess you have your work cut out for you ;)

The Summer of Celebrations (part I)

Will a post a day, keep the haters away?  Our crazy schedule is finally starting to settle down some and I've got a whole list of things to blog about from this summer and a bunch of posts already written in my head...so over the next week or so, I'll try to catch up!


We started out our summer going to several weddings and throwing some showers...


We went to Austin for my college roommate's wedding...but, unfortunately, I didn't have a working camera...and these are the only ones that Cate captured:

Lindsay and Jim are precious together.  I love the way that Jim cares for Linds...the way he watches her when she tells a story...the genuine interest he takes in her is, maybe, what I love most about watching the two of them.  He loves her very deeply-it is so evident.  And I am so thankful for that.   They were married on Lake Travis (man! I wish I had pictures!) It was such a beautiful wedding-the venue, her dress, every detail of the entire evening was so elegant yet comfortable and fun...so Lindsay.  (We love you two and are so thankful to be in your lives!)

We spent the whole weekend with the Shipley's at Bella & Pop's house.  It was so refreshing to be able to just hang out and relax with such dear friends.  We ate well (thank you, Bella!) rested a little, and played Settler's of Catan MUCH!!  Cate and I kept Ryan and Charlie up late one evening re-telling just about every story that we could remember about the other.  I've known Cate since 7th grade...since we were 13!  (I just did the math here...wow...that's half of my life!) so, there were lots of stories. Lots of stories the husbands had never heard before and lots that they had :)  Thankfully we're not the same silly girls that we were in high school-or even college, for that matter.  The Lord has grown us both so much and I'm thankful for the ways that He has used Cate to refine me.  I'm also thankful that my best friend married someone that my husband adores.  (I guess it was kind of a pre-requisite, but I'm glad that Ryan wasn't just "pretending" in the whole screening process :) I can't imagine spending weekends with the Shipley's and feeling like I had to check in with Charlie constantly to make sure he was "okay"...in fact several times he'd disappear and I'd later find him playing pool with Ryan.  I don't have a picture of them from that weekend (remember...no working camera!) but here is one I stole of their18 month old, Eli, from their blog:

And one of us from Cary's wedding...which was well over a year ago.  (Put an Apel/Shipley photoshoot on the agenda for our October visit, okay?  This is just ridiculous that I can't find any pics of all of us!)

(I know, I know...back when I had long hair and our babies were SO little!)


The following weekend, while garage saling, I found a super deal on a point and shoot camera that Chelsea talked me into getting.  (My BEST gs purchase of the summer, Chels! Thanks for making me go back!)


And later that evening, we went to Charley and Lauren's wedding.  This precious couple is oh, so dear to our hearts.  Charley first walked into our little Moss Street rental house for Hope Group back when I was super fat and pregnant with Asher and we squeezed about 30 people into our 900 sq. ft. home. 

We loved him so much that we made him stay in our group for a few years.  After he got back from Fish Camp one summer, he started telling us about this girl, Lauren, that he'd met.  He told me that I would love her and that in some ways we were a lot alike. (I thought he was just trying to warm me up to her...)  But, we quickly got to know and adore Lauren (and Charley was right...on more than just our wardrobe choices...we hit it off instantly), soon after they got engaged, and she was a staple in the Apel home this past Spring. 

We're so proud of them-for their maturity and boldness- (we were definitely not there when we first got married) as they desire to love and seek after Jesus with their lives.

She even become "our Lauren"...you see, when a college girl tends to spend a lot of time in our home loving on our kids, helping me prep for dinner, folding laundry, knowing where the clean dishes go...the kids and I just sort of bond to them..and they become "ours".  Kind of like our Emily, our Blaire, our Madeline...I guess we're sort of possessive that way. (Sorry Charley, we love you and all, but I think you understand...and you are married to her, so you've got that going for you!)


And oh, how we miss her!  It's sometimes tough living in this transient town where you invest so deeply in relationships and just when you're completely comfortable...and never want them to leave...it's time for them to move away.

Whenever McKlayne couldn't see Lauren, she'd say, "Where's my Princess Lauren?"  She wanted to be next to "Princess" Lauren all night.  Her "princess" obsession is only growing...

Speaking of Em, we got to reunite (and share some news) with her (I stole some of these pics from her Facebook.)

McKlayne quickly found Aunt Kelsey among all the strange faces.

And the kids danced the rest of the night away.

They decided that they LOVED weddings....or at least when they get to dance at receptions.

And we had to peel them off the dance floor when it was time to leave.

Friday Funnies

We were driving in our neighborhood...

A: Look at that brick house, McKlayne, the big bad wolf can't blow that house down.

***********

I walked into McKlayne's room and saw a HUGE dead roach on the floor. I screamed.

Asher comes running in, followed by McKlayne.

A: What's going on? Are you okay, Momma?

Me: Yes, there's just a huge roach...

A: {Spotting it}...Oh, McKlayne, look at it! That's impossible!

McKlayne: Can I kill it?

A: Nope, it's already killed.  McKlayne, it is huge! That is impossible!

********

The kids were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:

A: Momma, Pete needs to settle down.

Me: How come?

A: Because he's being ugly to Toodles... (The mousekatool...whatever he is...some computerized robot thing?)

*******

McKlayne ran in the front door barely missing the sprinklers that were watering the grass: "Whoa, that was a close one."

******

McKlayne and Asher were spinning themselves in circles around the kitchen, making themselves "dizzy."

Of course, McKlayne mimicking everything Asher says, chirped in with her own version every time she spun around..."Whoa, I'm getting BUSY..."

******

And, I'll leave you with this one...that happened just yesterday as we were driving around town running errands.

A: Momma, how come you keep checking your face out, again and again and again?

Yup...I had been looking in the mirror, making sure my nose was clean, nothing was in my teeth, fixing my hair, etc...nothing better than your three year old calling you out on vanity.

Circus Carnival Party

(This week, I am going to attempt to catch up on documenting our summer so far.) 

I've been promising a post about Asher's Circus Carnival Birthday party since January. Since I was so busy making sure all the booths were running smoothly (at the party), I forgot to take many pictures!  So, I had to wait until the Circus traveled to San Antonio.  (After all that work planning Asher's party...and a lot of which Avery helped out with the week of...we hated to see all of it go in the trash, so we loaded up my brother's truck and shipped the circus to San Antonio. Perfect...I could finally get some pictures!!)


On Memorial Day Weekend, we went to San Antonio to celebrate my niece's, Brynn & Camdyn's birthdays.  My sister was so smart to combine their parties...I may have to do that next year and celebrate Asher's "1/2 birthday" with McKlayne's birthday.  (It is pretty crummy trying to plan a winter birthday.   Because all of our friends and family have so many kids...which we love...and we like to invite the whole family, the guest list gets long fast, which excludes having an inside party at our house!  Every indoor venue is terribly expensive to rent...and in College Station, you just don't have many options.)  We were planning on bearing the weather having the circus party in our backyard...which is pretty large, but the week of the party it rained and rained, leaving our backyard flooded!  Our sweet friend's, the Terry's, generously offered that we have Asher's party in their barn and we gladly accepted!


After much scrounging the internet for birthday party ideas, I found this site and it was my biggest inspiration for the Circus Carnival Party.  Charlie, of course, made the invitations:

Bags of peanuts and popcorn were passed around as guests arrived.  I ordered the bags from this Etsy store.


                             

I can't believe that I don't have any full-body shots of Charlie as "Charlie Brown the Clown".  (Does anyone else?)  He spoke in his best clown voice as made balloon animals for guests as they arrived.  (This totally made the party memorable, honey, even if you did scare a few kids.)

I had a LOT of help from childless guests.  Our siblings, and some other college students and friends helped us run the booths and pass out tickets, accordingly.  (We could not have pulled this off without all of your help!)  The booths included:

Face painting by Uncle Cary. (I didn't get a picture of him...this is Char from our niece's party with Stella...but look at Cary's masterpiece of the octopus on Asher's cheek below.)  The kids really loved this.

Spray Away:  Kids get one ticket for each ping-pong ball they knock off a golf tee with spray from a water gun.

(I don't have a pic for this one.) 

Lucky Ducks: A galvanized bucket full of water and rubber ducks.  The children pick a duck and look underneath to see the number of tickets they win.  Ten ducks were numbered 1-3.

Feed the Elephant: This was a big hit with the little kids. (Charlie painted this on a washing machine box and used a dryer vent for the trunk.)  The kids would place peanuts in the trunk to "feed the elephant" and raise the trunk until the peanuts dropped inside. 

Someone was inside the box to drop tickets in the other side of the trunk and when the child pulled the trunk back down, tickets would fall out.

Pie Toss:  My brother was such a good sport.  He allowed the kids to throw whipped cream pies at his face all day.  Once again, Charlie painted the "strong man" that Jordan donned.  (This station was also one of kid's favorites.)

Clock the Clown: My sister and I made these clowns out of plastic juice bottle (filled with water about 1/3 of the way) covered with fabric and styrofoam ball decorated with pompoms and pipe cleaners for the heads.  The kids got a couple balls to throw and got a ticket for each clown they knocked down.

Feed the Lion: Bean bags were tossed into this lion's mouth. Tickets were handed out accordingly. (Char, our parties would be lame without your brilliant handiwork.)

(This also doubled as a good photo opp.) 

Lastly, my favorite booth was the photo booth that our dear friends Ryan and Sara worked.  (You've probably heard of us talk about them before.  We love these people.) I got the photo booth inspiration from this blog.

I hung a piece of fabric inside of a HUGE refrigerator box.  We had a box of fun dress up clothes and asked each family to take a picture.  We mailed these pics out with the thank-you notes.  This was another big hit!!

I didn't take a picture of the "Concessions" table, but we had chili and hotdogs with all the fixings, chocolate covered pretzel rods, lemonade and water.  

And...again, I didn't get a pic of the prize table, but imagine something beautiful like this:

Photo Credit

We had glass jars full of all kinds of yummy treats & prizes: groucho marx glasses, gumballs, twizzlers, M&M's, temporary tattoos, crazy straws, goldfish, and candy bracelets.  Each jar was marked with a number for the number of tickets that it cost.


Asher's cake was decorated with some of his plastic animals.  I found that clown on the unicycle at Dollar Tree and balanced him on top of some old peanut butter lids.

Charlie designed some really cool banners for all of the names of the booths and tables, including "Happy Birthday".  And because I would be clueless as where to start with all of this without a graphic designer/artist for a husband, we've made the files available for you to download and use.  Just click here and you can download a pdf with all the letters for the banners for you to print.  

Let me know if you use them! I'd love to see pics of your circus-carnival themed parties!

More pics from Asher's party:

And a few pics from the Currie Girl's Circus Party:

McKlayne did not want to give back the Minnie Mouse ears or the beads.  She wore them for half the party.  When I'd ask her if she was ready to put them back, she'd say, "No! I  Minnie Mouse!"

                   

I just adore him. Did you notice how much he matured in just 4 months?

Avery had a tattoo and nails booth where she painted the girl's fingernails!!

My sister, Kyle, took the following and said, "It's like I wasn't even there."

She's right.

I love these two and all their interactions...okay...almost all their interactions.