Katy turns 3 - Hello Kitty style

Now that the week is almost over and the weekend is almost here again (yeah!), I will finish with the final post of our weekend parties.  Sorry, no post on the bachelor party that Jimmy attended on Saturday because I wasn't there.  However, it might have been beneficial to everyone if I was there, being sober and all, because they are still piecing together the evening.  

We were up early on Sunday morning to head out to Deanna Rose Farmstead in south Overland Park to celebrate little miss Katy turning three years old!!!  It's crazy that she's already 3 (I know I said that about Kenlie too in her bday post) because I remember when we went to the hospital to see Pat and Trish on Emily and Adam's wedding day just 3 years ago!!  And then going to the lake that summer with her - she was SO little!!  She's growing up so fast!

Here is a cute picture that Trish posted on facebook on her birthday!  The little princess herself!

Jimmy apparently thought the party was at 5PM (regardless of the several calendar's that say 11AM and the invite on the fridge)...so I got to get home the next morning and force him to at least shower to go hang out with lots of kids!  I love birthday parties out here and while it sprinkled a little bit, the weather held off and it turned out to be a great day and was the perfect temperature!  Katy loves hello Kitty so that was the theme of the party and it was very fun!  Check out all these kids!!!

Everyone watching Katy open presents...

Katy even took the time to open the cards!  What a sweetie!!

Oh I had to get one of old Jimmy.  He looks so alert, right?  He did wander off at some point with like 6 kids in tow to go look at the buffalo.  We sent his oldest brother Tim out for reinforcements given the state that he was in.

There was lots of chatting and cousin time at this party!  Maren with Will always cracks me up because she just picks him up and spins him around and loves on him.  I was happy I caught one of her!

And then the dude club chatter complete with a handshake!  Ben is so old now too!!!

Once the food, cake and presents were done and Happy Birthday was sung by all to Miss Katy, Trish passed out the favor bags to all the kids which had some fun stuff in it, including some quarters to use in the farmstead for animal food, tickets for a pony ride, AND these cute little animal masks that were all different.  Of course some of the kids wanted to be "stars" and get their picture taken with them on....commence photo shoot!

Kenlie the pig

Ben the bear

And sweet Norah the raccoon

Everyone was then off to explore all the animals and enjoy the park!  This place is pretty cool if you haven't been here.  We have been here a few times now for some birthday parties and I know I'm looking forward to bringing our own little guy here once he's a little older and can enjoy!  There is just so much for the kids to do!  Including man picture ops...

Kenlie and Maren as flowers!

And this garden they were in was sponsored by K-State...so they found this tile in there and wanted me to take their picture by it.  Maren said that her Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Chris would love this picture...I agreed!!

My one animal shot of the day?  These pigs all crammed into a baby pool!!!  So funny!  And Libbie and I were in deep discussion about how pigs aren't really THAT cute and I would agree!!

After some more walking around and a stop by Ben's bank, it was time for pony rides.  All the kids loved these!!  It's crazy because as I mentioned, we had been here before for Kenlie's birthday party - but that was back in 2010!!  I kept saying I remember that Norah was so little last time we were here and I was right.  Check out this post!!!  I even have a picture of little Norah who was stuck in the stroller and not happy about it because she was too little to ride the pony.  Well guess what?  This time she was old enough and loved it and it was her little brother Will that was stuck in the stroller and had to miss out on the fun!  Seriously - TIME FLIES!!!

Norah on the pony!

Kenlie loving it!

Maren was a pro!

Libbie looking SO stylish as always!

And Ben...

I think Ben was more upset because he didnt' get to ride the horse named Jimmy and he really wanted to because he thought it was funny that his uncle and a horse had the same name.  The guy did say that Jimmy was moody today and temperamental so he couldn't come out.  Hmmm - ironic because that was how Jimmy was feeling the rest of the day! Haha.

After that, and several bathroom stops in between, it was time to go because I needed a nap BAD!  And luckily I actually came home and took one.  Staying out until 2:30 isn't good for anyone, but especially 8 months pregnant and then getting up at 8 to get ready for a kid's birthday party!!!

Overall, it was another fun Carter birthday party and we had a great time!!!  It was fun to see Katy so excited to see all her friends and family and open up her presents and have a great time!! Cheers to many more wonderful birthday's Katy - we love you!

DIY Bachelorette Favor Bags!

One of the super fun things I did in preparation for Lauren's bachelorette night was put together a "survival kit" or favor for all the people coming.  I, of course, initially headed to pinterest for some ideas and then hit up Michael's and Target and this is what I came up with.

Since we were going out, who doesn't love koozies?  Michael's glitter koozies in a few different colors in their "foam" section of the store on sale for $1 each.  Sold!  I got 16 of them that varied black, purple and pink (pink was reserved for the MOB and Bride to be).  For Lauren and her mom's bags, I added a special little touch and used a silver paint pen on their koozies.  And of course - a water bottle to make sure people had a little bit of hydration between the winery and going out that night!

Here are the contents of the whole "survival kit":

• koozie and water bottle
• pink necklace from Party City
• assortment of fun bling rings from Party City
• a few mints - for the night of or morning after!
• 3 Tylenol packaged up in a folded piece of paper and sealed at the top with a blank label - this was a pinterest find.  I wrote "Sunday breakfast" on it and then "aka Tylenol"
• hand sanitizer...which was a personal touch because this bachelorette likes things very clean so I put a little funny poem/label on each of them in everyone's bags
• DIY wine charm (see below)

I wanted to make the bags applicable to some of the days events so I thought a wine charm would be something fun to give everyone and then I could pass the bags out when we were at the winery.  I searched all over the Internet for an easy DIY wine charm tutorial and didn't really find that many that I wanted to use because most were similar to the wine charms that Krista made where they went up the glass.  I just wanted something that clipped around the bottom.  At first I bought wire to make into a circle but that just seemed like it was too hard....so I found at Michael's some hoop earrings that were already made in the jewelry section and then put my beads of choice on then (a heart for the Hart's - Lauren's future last name) and then used wire things to make the loop to close.  I have a lot of the hoops left over and think this would be fun to make for more parties!!

The wine charm on the wine glass

I picked up these pink bags from Hobby Lobby that were the perfect fit and with the water bottle in the middle it helped them stay up!

To assemble them I just put the water bottle in the middle, all the accessories around it and then cut some black ribbon, printed off a cute little "contents" label and hole punched the side.  I strung the ribbon through the hole and then put the wine charm on (so it didn't get lost in the bottom of the bag) and tied it tight around the top of the water bottle.  I think they turned out pretty fun looking!

And there you have it!!  A fun and relatively inexpensive way to make some bachlorette favor bags filled with things for the party!!

A Bachelorette Bash for Sasha

Everyone knows first comes an engagement, then the wedding planning, then a bridal shower, and then finally the bachelorette party.  Well it was that time for Lauren's bachelorette party.  So after we cleaned up everything for the amazing baby shower that Lauren threw...ran some quick last minute errands and the group for Lauren's party met in the Sheraton lobby on the plaza.  We were headed to Belvoir Winery up in Liberty (about 30 minutes from the Plaza).  If you recall, this is where David popped the question to Lauren and got all this fun officially started - so we were all excited to see it and taste some wine (well...minus the two pregnant people - we just watched, but it looked good!).

Here is the beautiful estate that we pulled up to....

And we made our way down to the gazebo where he proposed almost exactly a year ago!!!

This was the lobby of the winery.  It was a beautiful old house with lots of history behind it.  The lady that did our group tasting was happy to share lots of information about it with us, including that they are planning to make the second and third floors into a bed and breakfast in the near future.  What a fun little estate this will be to come stay at when it's done!  I told Lauren this should be their anniversary destination!

There was a bar that is open for general public tastings 7 days a week. 

But since we had a party of 16 people and I called ahead, they were kind enough to not make us all cram into that little bar area and gave us our own room.  Even though it was a little warm in there, we had a blast with everyone tasting the wine and hearing the story behind all the wine blends they made there as well as their names.  (Also, see those little favor bags - I will show you on a different post what is inside them!  They were super fun to make and easy and made it a little more fun!)

The bride and some of her friends getting the day started off right!!

Here are some SMNW alumni outside of the winery enjoying the beautiful weather that Saturday had to offer!  It was so great because we did the baby shower and bachelorette party in one day so Jennifer and Katie, who both live out of town, could easily make it to both!!

Overall, the winery was pretty fun and after exploring and everyone got a few more drinks of their choice, the designated drivers headed back to the Plaza for our dinner plans and to kick off the night!!

We had a room reserved for dinner at the Gran Falloon on the Plaza which ended up being the perfect spot!  It was great because it was isolated so we could bring gifts, balloons, some napkins/decor to spice it up and a cake...AND Karel, Lauren's mom, also surprised us with a little friend.  Named Peter Pecker.  He had also made an appearance at one of Lauren's softball friends, Megan, bachelorette parties a few years ago.  Megan's mom was able to make it down for the celebration that evening from STL so it was even more fun!  So here is the bride to be with her "friend" for the night.

Isn't his face creepy!?!?!?

The Gran Fallon was fabulous and very easy to work with for this kind of party.  I couldn't have been more happy with them.  The room had no charge...the only thing I had to do was a $25 cake fee for bringing in our own cake, but they did have some options to choose from there, so if you wanted to buy it through them and waive the fee you could.  I had dropped off the balloons, plates, napkins and cake earlier that day in between the madness and didn't really give them any instructions at all.  They had an awesome set up for the whole group (complete with the napkins) and the balloons and cake set up on it's own table.  They were so great to work with all night and it was great because they didn't mind that everyone did individual tickets.  We couldn't have had a better waitress either - she was super patient and awesome the whole night.  Overall - I would recommend for a party of this sort if you are looking!!

It was funny because there are 3 rooms you can reserve and who would have guessed that the party in the room right next to us was a 30th birthday party for a guy that we were friends with in high school that was 2 years older than us!  It was fun to see them all and John made his appearance a few times on our side of the room!

Peter made appearances all around during the night.  He kept himself comfortable during dinner time next to the presents.  I think he likes that stuff.  And what was pretty funny was Megan's mom, Barb, made a shirt for him to wear that says "Picky" because Lauren is pretty much the most picky person you will meet.  In everything.  Especially guys - so David, you are lucky because you had all the right qualities to make her fall in love and stay in love with you!!  Hold onto her!!

And then it was time for the fun to begin...Lauren broke out her pink sunglasses and that was it.  Sasha was ready to emerge (which is what they call the drunk Lauren).  Megan started off the night as any good bridesmaid would with a shot!

After dinner and getting some food in everyone, it was time to cut the cake and open the presents.  The presents that Lauren insisted she didn't want.  But Megan and I are sneaky and tried to spread the word behind her back!  It was pretty fun watching her open them and in the end, she liked them all!!  I'm sure David will too!!!!!!

A couple of people got Lauren some $20 bachelorette grab bags from Cierillas - and they were SUCH a great idea.  I had never seen these before but it's just $20 and there is a bunch of random stuff in it that you get to watch the bachelorette open.  We all loved watching her take things out of the bags - including some dirty movies, cute lingerie and other toys.  It was even more fun to see her squirm because she was so uncomfortable.  Like I said - it was a good thing we got a private room!  Things got a little rowdy!!

After we all finished up at the Gran Falloon, it was time to get on the KC Strip trolley that picked us us right outside of O'Dowds and head to Kelly's in Wesport per the brides request.  If you live in KC and haven't used the trolley - you should!  For just $10 you get an all night pass all over the city and they actually pick up and drop off pretty frequently so you are waiting around.  Beats paying lots of money for lots of different cabs and it's fun!!

From the pictures I got here, it's no surprise that we had a good time at this stop.  From hanging out with random guys to watching strippers on the dance floor to inappropriate balloon animals to making sure Peter was joining in on the fun and jello shots...well it was a great time and Lauren had a blast!!

We made sure to give Peter some attention too.  Random people were quite intrigued at his presence and liked him. 

 

We also had someone else join us!  Lauren's brother Calen's girlfriend who is also Lauren!  They call her Lauren Kay and it was so nice to meet her and glad she came out and hung out with us all night long!  I made them all take some jello shots with whipped cream in this picture!

The pregnant matron of honor and the beautiful bride!  I did my best to hang all night and did pretty good - however, with my big belly I did get a few stares....

And the balloon guy.  Jennifer paid him $10 so he would make one of her cat, Lily....hahahaha!!  And then we had him make a little something inappropriate for Lauren Sasha to wear around.

Yes, you can guess what that is.....and the bride to be had a pretty good time with it.

Including letting others in on the fun of the hat....this was a bachelor that was out with his friends celebrating his upcoming nuptials that she couldn't let him miss out!  They had a good time chatting with her, but then again, who wouldn't??

At around midnight or a little after, we decided it was time to keep up and take advantage of our trolley transportation.  We were waiting to catch the trolley to go to Brookside and Calen, Lauren's little brother, walked by us!!  Haha - he was pretty shocked to see us, but his mom and sister were pretty excited...and his girlfriend was too.  Of course we all grew up with Calen so there were hugs all around and then he insisted on leaving.  We were just too much fun for him!!

So we made it to our final stop, The Brooksider.  At this point it was about 12:30 or so and about half of the party had decided it was time to head home...but Lauren was still going strong and so was Peter.  This might be one of my favorite from the whole night at the bar down in the "boom boom room" aka dancing room at the Brooksider.  Love that Peter's leg is making an appearance and well, it's clear that Lauren/Sasha/bride to be is having a GREAT time!!   We started our own little dance circle with Peter involved in the dancing and had a grand old time.  Seeing that I was dancing around in my little black maternity dress with a blow up doll and blaring music (as I was constantly apologizing to my stomach telling him I promise I won't keep him up this late ever again when he's in my stomach as long as he promises to not do it to me once he comes out....), I was having a good time as well.

Even Peter had a great time at the Brooksider....

 

But then at about 1:45, Karel came up and told me I needed to go back to the hotel because she knew I was tired.  And yes, yes I was.  It was a long day for me and the babe....especially in a dress and heels!  But all worth it and very fun.  We had a hotel room at the Sheraton on the plaza so I caught the trolley back to the plaza, got Miranda's car with all the presents in it, made a pit stop a Quik Trip because I knew that Lauren and Miranda would in need of some Gatorade and snacks when they got home (let me tell you this motherly instinct is kicking in!!) and went back to the hotel to get in my PJs, arrange my snoogle and get to sleep!

Lauren was carried up to the room by Vanessa and Austyn and Miranda and had a great night!!  She went right to sleep and even commented on how nice it was for the hotel staff to bring up snacks for her (haha).  The next morning she was up early and chatting...but I'm not sure if that was her choice or because she heard me up the 3 times going to the bathroom...we'll never know!!  I had to take off early to get home and showered and ready for Katy's birthday party at 11 and party #3 of the weekend!

Overall - it was a GREAT night celebrating the most wonderful person in the world!  So glad all the girls and moms were able to make it out and seriously cannot WAIT for July 14 for this girl to walk down the aisle to the man of her dreams!!  However, for all those wondering, this will be my last bachelorette party as a pregnant lady this time around....this mama to be had a HARD time recovering the next few days and I didn't even drink!!!

A sweet baby boy is on the way - baby shower!

This past weekend was quite the whirlwind weekend packed full of lots of events with friends, family and fun times!  I am pretty sure my body is still recovering from the go-go-go this weekend because this 8 month pregnant mama has trouble keeping up!

First event of the weekend??  A wonderful baby shower to prepare for Baby Carter's arrival.  My friend Lauren was the brains behind the shower theme and decor and planning and WOW is all I have to say. I was literally blown away with what a great job she did.  My goodness - everything was so amazing and beautiful and just perfect to celebrate this sweet baby boy to be!!!!

First off - check out this cake.  It was almost identical to the cute invitation that was sent out and was SO delicious.  I took the rest home with me which was NOT a good idea because it's so yummy I have been eating in all the time!

Cake and drink spread - super delicious punch!

And there was NO shortage of food.  The shower was from 11-1, so they loaded up on everything you can imagine to feed the masses (well I think it was like 30 people, but the food could have fed way more!!).  From fruit trays to chips and dip to coleslaw salad (one of my favs) to sandwiches, I think everyone left with a full stomach.  But just look at how beautiful it all looked.  Lauren didn't leave one detail unattended to with the awesome table covers and decorations it tied the whole thing together.  I just loved it!!

 

We were quite the social bunch with lots of talking and catching up and "ooo-ing and aww-ing" over my big stomach and sweet baby Jackson and Brodie who both made an appearance!  Finally - Lauren had to make me go through the line to start the process of eating so we could get to the game and presents.  During lunch/eating we played a super fun game where Lauren had a bunch of different qualities/traits listed out that if I could pick, what I would want our son to have between Jimmy and I.  Some of them were very obvious - like organization (Brittany) and listening skills (Jimmy).  However, I would prefer this baby to have Jimmy's skinny legs versus mine and I would be thrilled if he had sweet red hair just like Jimmy had.  Athletic ability though?  Haha, this has ALWAYS been a discussion that Jimmy and I NEVER agree upon.  But for the record, I want him to have my athleticism and my musical talents (yes mom, remember I played the violin, cello, flute and trumpet for 4 years?!?).  

After that it was present time which oh my goodness.  This was just super fun and so over the top.  Everyone was so generous and there were so many great things that we got that we will use!!  I felt so much better opening everything about him arriving.  I kept having these feelings of anxiety that we have almost nothing if the baby decided to come tomorrow...well my friends and family were so generous, I feel SO much better that we have some of the key things we need to help this baby boy survive! Of course there were wiener dog presents - my mother in law made some awesome burp cloths with little wiener dogs on them that I LOVE and crocheted him a little poncho...so cute!  Vanessa got him a little wiener dog onesie - which is adorable.  I am sure Milly and Willy were thrilled they were even a thought in anyone's mind during this shower!

The funniest thing (well funny, dramatic, pregnancy hormones...whatever you want to call it), was when I opened the present from my grandmother (mom's mom).  She cross-stitched (which is something that she taught me to do and we used to do together when my sister and I would go stay with them for a week during the summer) a little door hanger that says "baby asleep" on one side and "baby awake" on the other that matches the nursery perfect.  So that was the first thing in the box.  Then I dug further in the box and found a white baby blanket.  I noticed a few stains/spots on it and was a little confused but then found a note folded up with my name on it pinned to the blanket.  I opened it and my grandmother wrote that she was sorry there were some stains she couldn't get out, but that this was my mom's baby blanket that she had as a baby and thought I would like to have it.

Yep.  I lost it.  Uncontrollable tears.

And guess what happened next (not surprising)...my mom starting crying too.  And once that happened, neither of us could stop.  Kind of reminded me of this moment just a little over 2 years ago walking down the aisle...see us?  Both crying.  Couldn't stop.  I tried and then I would look at her and couldn't stop.  And vice versa.  It's a vicious mother-daughter thing I think. 

So back to the shower.  Tears flowing some people laughing, some people confused.  We were fanning our faces to try to stop the tears and Vanessa had missed what happened and said she thought that someone had farted - which that would have been hilarious.  But no.  Just crazy, crying Bruns girls.  However, the gift was pretty amazing.  And the whole time my grandmother didn't shed a tear and just kept saying "I'm sorry for making you cry!!".  Haha.  Oh what a good memory to have!

After all the presents were opened and all the thank yous were said, it as time for everyone to start heading out and I realized...we need some pictures with people!!  So here are a few we were able to get in before everyone headed out.  At this point there were lots of people who had to take off, so they didn't get in (Vanessa, Lyssa and Mallorie are a few I can name off the top of my head!).

Pi Phi girls - minus a few

Erica made the trip in from Omaha to celebrate the little mister's arrival, which was so sweet of her!!

AND she got me this awesome etsy print to go in the nursery that I had pinned on Pinterest.  Who knew Pinterest was also like a registry - I LOVE the print so much and teared up reading it.  Dang it, what has happened to me!!??  Will look perfect above the crib I think!

Source

And Emily brought Jackson- which was so fun to see him again.  He just keeps getting bigger and bigger and I love it!  We even coordinated our outfits!  Minus me having a HUGE bump and Emily (who just gave birth 8 weeks ago) being a little skinny mama already. 

This little lady and also a cute mama-to-be was so sweet and came in town for the baby shower from Houston!!!  And I'm so glad she got a picture of us together.  I keep thinking that these are the pictures where our little boy and their little girl are in our stomachs that we'll show them when they are BFF's (or bf and gf...) later in life and say "See...there you are in your mom's stomachs.  You were friends even before you were born!!!".  So happy she could be there to help celebrate!!

Finally - the wonderful hostesses!!  Lauren and Katie!  They threw an amazing shower and I am so blessed to call these 2 friends after all this time.  To think we were hanging out in third grade and thought we were so cool then and look at us now! 

We had a busy day because after we cleaned up the shower, I dropped the presents off at our house and then it was off to gather the last minute details for Lauren's bachelorette party that started at 3:30PM that day!  And that in itself deserves it's own post because that was so much fun!!  Pretty much it was a crazy day and we knew we were crazy for putting everything on one day, but Lauren and I knew we were up to the challenge because it was great to have Katie in town from Houston for both events as well as Jen from DC!! 

It was such a wonderful shower and I cannot thank everyone enough for coming out with one thing in mind - this sweet little boy that continues to move all around inside me and grow and grow.  We are beyond blessed to have such wonderful friends and family and we cannot wait for him to arrive and get to meet all of you!!!  Thanks again to Lauren and her mom and Katie and her mom and my mom for all the set up, planning, etc for the shower!! 

One last table shot - I LOVED it!!