meeting the greats, part three.

while in tennessee, i got to spend some time with my best friend rachel and her daughter maggie.  i hadn't seen maggie since she was mary's age and she'll be two in december!  we had a great visit catching up and discussing motherhood.  rachel and i have been best friends since kindergarten and it doesn't matter how long we go in between chats- we pick up right where we left off.  i am so lucky to have a few friends whose friendships run this deep.  

mary and "aunt" rachel

maggie (and mary's mimi) checking out elmo's restaurant

maggie meeting mary

mary wanted to be down on maggie's level and intently watched her play.

working on her tummy time

maggie telling us "bye"

derby day + cinco de mayo + surprise baby shower

after the shower at christ school, jay and i headed to the grove park inn to enjoy viewing the kentucky derby.  we had an early dinner and jay had a traditional derby mint julep while i enjoyed a virgin margarita for cinco de mayo.  it was so good i almost didn't miss the tequila!  :)

here we are all dressed up for the shower and the derby!

then we had an errand to run closer to where we lived and jay decided we needed to make one more stop before heading home... little did i know we were headed to a surprise baby shower!  some of our friends put together a little couples shower for us.  it was such a sweet surprise.  there are pictures but i don't have any of them yet.  we got more good things that we needed for mary that we didn't have yet so that was great.  it was also just nice to relax with our friends.

christ school baby shower

we were blessed to have another baby shower yesterday.  some of my sweet coworkers and friends at christ school showered us with love and gifts for sweet mary.  we got a lot of great items that we still needed for mary.  lindsay decorated one of the rooms in the wellness center for the party!  everyone contributed to the food and we all just had a great time visiting and celebrating this next little girl to come to campus.  there is an explosion of baby girls- i guess to balance out all of the boys we already have!  anyway, here are some pictures from the festivities saturday.

 

baby shower pics, take 2.

so i mentioned in the first sneak peek that my cousin angel surprised me by making to my shower for pictures despite her very busy busy day.  she emailed a few pictures of family and friends and i wanted to share them with you.  if you are looking for a photographer in the middle tennessee area, look her up!  she's amazing!  i can't wait to see the rest of the pictures and share more of angel's fabulous talent.  you can check out her website and see more of her work.

me, mary, and our sweet hostesses- margaret, rachel, becca, mandy, and debbie

mimi & me & mary isabelle

mama & my aunt janice (mama's oldest sister)

lauren, mama, me, janice, melynda, and angel- sweet family!

friends fixing fabulous food!

i love this candid picture of janice and lauren laughing- this is what angel is so great at capturing!

mama and me with my sweet grandmother (dad's mom)

mamaw stella and my mother-in-law pam

jay, me and pam

it's a girl!

Maggie Danielle Stooksbury

Born December 4th @ 8:12pm

7 lbs 8.4 oz    18 inches

Proud Parents:  Mark and Rachel

Please keep them in your prayers.  Rachel was re-hospitalized with a uterine infection and just got back home yesterday (Wednesday) and Maggie is allergic to lactose and Rachel is having to cut all dairy out of her diet.  (Thanks for the prayers in advance.)  I can't wait to meet this little sweetie!

showering Maggie.

part of our most recent visit to franklin involved me helping to host a baby shower for my best friend, rachel.  rachel is the "original" best friend, though, i like to call 3 of my closest friends my bests.  i met rachel the summer before kindergarten.  26 years later, here we are, waiting to welcome her first baby, maggie, into this world.

we had a lovely turn out for maggie's shower and it also happened to be a beautiful, sunny fall day.  my cousin, angel, helped us again by providing us with pictures from our afternoon.  we enjoyed meeting sweet baby vince (who is also in another post from recent with his knitted hats on).  we enjoyed good food, fun games, good friends, and great gifts for maggie, rachel, and mark, to help make her arrival a little bit easier and a little bit sweeter.

diaper cake made by becca (rachel's sister, another best, and hannah grace's mama)

sweet petit fours

all the hostesses with the honorees

fun guessing games- how big is the belly? and how many qtips fit in the jar?

sweet gifts- i knitted the blanket in the above picture for sweet maggie

one sweet family

maggie danielle stooksbury is due november 28th.  she's seems to be happy where she is for now but i know everyone is ready for her arrival.  i'll be sure to let you know when this little bundle of joy makes her entrance into the world.  

oh, this blog is about knitting...

so who knew life would get in the way of my knitting?  i have been knitting a lot this summer but i must say that i forget to take pictures of what i make.  so now when i give gifts i make sure that they send/post pictures of them in use.

my friend mandy recently had her 3rd baby boy.  i thought she might want a blanket, but she said she has more than enough blankets.  so she requested cute/crazy baby hats instead.  i made sweet baby vince 3 hats.  one is still too big for him (which was the plan since winter is on its way) but the other 2 fit.  i stole pictures from her facebook (with her permission, of course) so you could see super cute vince in his hats i made for him.

the baby jester hat

sweet little pumpkin

not loving the pumpkin patch.  i ♥ this picture!

babies and showers

so, remember when i mentioned we had a great baby shower for becca and hannah grace?  remember sweet hannah grace?  how could you forget this sweet face...

look how chubby she's getting.  hannah grace is up to 3 1/2 lbs- probably more by now.  well, back to the baby shower... remember also how i said my cousin angel was our photographer?  she did an awesome job and i wanted to share some of her photos.  if you live in the middle tennessee area and are looking for a great photographer, check her out.  she's amazing!  www.angelparduephoto.com

it was great for angel to be there taking the pictures so that we had one less thing to worry about as hostesses.

becca's mom, margaret, and sister, rachel

thanks again, angel!  we all ready appreciate you.