UP UP & AWAY, A BABY GIRL IS ON THE WAY

After spending most of the week in Orlando, I had a quick turnaround and headed to Wichita to celebrate my baby sister's impending arrival.  We are so excited to welcome this very anticipated little lady and get a girl cousin on this side of the family!  We used her nursery colors, and my other sister Ellen coordinated our rather large hostess group to come up with a sweet, hot-air balloon themed shower.



As always, its so fun to see things all come together - thanks for giving us a great vision to execute, Ellen!

(Laura made the quilt behind the gift table for baby girl's nursery, because of course she did.)

Each person contributed unique, creative details to make the shower special, and the effect was quite lovely.  (I can say that without bragging, because I had very little to do with it - I only brought cookies.)

This shower had a large invite list, but we weren't really sure how many people would come.  Almost everybody did, and they were also surprisingly prompt.  The gift table was loaded down by 2:06 p.m., and Laura spent an hour and a half straight opening presents.  She was showered with so many wonderful things ranging from the practical to the adorable and everything in between.  Plus enough books for several mini-libraries.

Clearly, this shower had some of the best guests around, and it was a blessing just to see how many people love Laura, her husband Ryan, and their new baby on the way.  

And, it was a great excuse to be with the ladies of my family - I love you all dearly and wish we got to hang out all the time.



My girls got to help with the present opening and organizing and balloon wrangling, and they ate cookies to their heart's delight - a great day in their books.



We can't wait to meet baby McElroy come April!