Well HELLO out there!
Since the last time I posted, a lot has probably happened in your life. Let’s see, like…
School is out?
You’re celebrating the end of Crazy-May like I am?
You got your planters planted with some lovely petunias and you feel sorry for your neighbor’s (um, “my”) nekkid planters every time you drive by?
You’re planning your summer vacation or staycation?
It’s been pretty nutty around here as well. For one thing, I had to keep my blog quiet for a while, because the only thing I had to talk about was, well, a surprise. I planned a surprise birthday party for Nick, and the next day, Avery was baptized and we had another full-blown party.
The theme of the birthday party was “techie”, since my hubby is definitely a techie.
I used old CDs and a pool noodle for labeling the various dishes:
The menu included summer staples like BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, fruit salad, “frog eye” salad (LOVE that stuff), and I made German Chocolate Cupcakes with binary code written across the top of the cupcakes like the old Hostess style white curlicues. (I piped the coconut frosting into the middle of the cupcakes so I could use plain chocolate frosting on top.)
For drinks, we had “Techie-la” Sunrises and one of Nick’s favorite summer drinks that I labeled a “Beer-nary Cooler”, which is half beer and half lemonade.
I used a glass cylinder from the dollar store and stuffed a bunch of old cords in it, then hot glued a plastic platter on top for a cupcake stand.
Decorations were photos of Nick from each year, with captions explaining the photo and his age in it.
For his birthday, Nick even got some new outfits!!! They don’t fit him all that well….but they do look pretty cute on Avery 
He also got some cool new lanterns to hang from our new pergola when it’s done. I’ll save pics of those for when they’re not sitting on our dining room floor 
The next day, Miss Avery started the baptism festivities by waking up at about 5 am. Luckily, her Gigi and Papa were staying with us and offered to get up and keep her occupied for a couple of hours so Nick and I could actually sleep in (we’d almost forgotten what that’s like…)
Then, on Sunday Avery got some nice time with her godparents before the ceremony:
Avery wore my christening gown, which was sewn by my grandma. My aunt made the tatting on the sleeves and the wide Hardanger lace on the bottom hem.
The bonnet is my great-great-grandmother’s handkerchief, and I also had it pinned under my wedding gown as my “something old” when we got married. It was really cute, but Avery pulled it off pretty quickly
And in OTHER news….one of Nick’s sisters graduated from dental school a few days ago and we stayed in a hotel with Avery for the first time (not the greatest night, but it could’ve been worse), Avery finally rolled over front to back, and our new deck will be started on Monday!!! Whoop!
I’ll keep you posted! We also got some mulch down in the back garden, so a tour of the yard (before and after the new deck for sure) is in order soon.
Burbs & Blooms 