Leard/Tanamachi Shower in Mesquite

This shower was held at my mom's house in Mesquite, TX. It was mostly for my side of the family and friends. Also whale themed!


Dan and I made whale cookies to give as favors! I got the idea to shift the icing color as I went from Beth's cupcakes. Some are light blue, some are dark, some are more grey, some are more blue-green, etc.


Cute whale clothes and some repurposed decorations ;)


My mom's idea to make it look "under the sea"


I get the comfy chair!


VIP's. From left, future grandma "JoJo" Janis, soon to be great-grandma Nana, and future great-aunt Lynda.


Mom really wanted a Mavericks theme - so this is her hold out decoration.


I made these to put together in a book later.


Nana noshing.


Work friends of mom. So glad they could be there!


One of the games - cut up pictures of Dan and me to create what Jonah would look like!


My aunt Lynda embroidered this for us - I love my face but my mom's is even better!


Sweet friend Megan was one of the winners of baby-gift BINGO.


Leard family photo. From left, Uncle Jefferson, Me, Lucy, Dan, Nana, "PawPaw," "JoJo" and Aunt Lynda.


SO HAPPY to see my friend Rachel who lives in Waco!

Baby Backpack for Dan

So far, I have yet to buy a diaper bag. Thanks to an AWESOME friend, I was given a gorgeous pre-loved Kate Spade baby bag in great condition, which I plan to use personally. It definitely looks like a purse. I like it that way.

However, I realize that when Dan has baby duty or when we go out together and he needs to carry the supplies, he might be less-than-stoked to carry around what looks like a purse. He assures me that he is willing to carry anything, and I know he will because he loves me. But since he hasn't had as many fun baby gifts yet, I suggested we go to REI and buy him a cool-looking backpack that's water resistant, wipable, and usable as a baby backpack even though it looks nothing like it. We have three now we are trying to choose between, what do you think?

Source: rei.com via Brittany on Pinterest

Option #1

Source: rei.com via Brittany on Pinterest

Option #2

Source: rei.com via Brittany on Pinterest

Option #3

When the REI employee asked if he could help us, I explained what we were shopping for, and how we were actually going to use it as a diaper bag, which meant it needed to be wipable or washable. I could tell he didn't really like the idea of any of those awesome bags getting soiled. He said, "all I can think of is baby poop all over it." I did explain we would use wet bags.

Gracey Shower in Dallas

This shower was given to us by Dan's family. Dan's mom Dotty is one of 6 six sisters, daughters of John and Martha Gracey. All the sisters now have so many kids who are cousins, and many of them still live in the Dallas area, so they have throwing baby and bridal showers down to an art. All the Gracey sisters (Dan's aunts) pitch in, plus my sister's-in-law Sarah and Ellen. It was held at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Dallas.


Beautiful cake made by cousin Lauren.


Diaper cake made by Ellen. She also hand painted the wooden letters for Jonah's room!


My friend Caroline was able to be there!


About to open gifts, Dan is caught on camera.




Dotty explaining her gift to me:

She gave us a subscription to Growing Child, a monthly newsletter that helps you understand your child — why he does certain things at certain times, what he's learning by doing them, and what you can do to help him develop. Each monthly issue of Growing Child matches the age of your child. Growing Child will keep you informed about what to expect at each stage of your child's development, and how to deal with each month's changes and challenges.


Sweet sister.


From left, me, Dan, Memama (Martha Gracey), Philip, Dotty, and Ellen

Trinity Shower in SLO

This week will be mostly some blogging of photos from some of my baby showers friends and family so graciously gave us this summer/fall. To start, the sweet ladies of Trinity Presbyterian in San Luis Obispo gave me a sweet, crafty shower in July while we were in California. It was the beginning of many whale-themed events to come.


Cute whale cupcakes made by Beth Appel.


Favors also made by Beth.


Chip and Beth's house decorated so cute!


Playing a game. Guests had to mold play doh into a baby behind their backs.


Picking the winner


Andrea, on the left, also hosted. Friend Annie on the right. Chip watching strategically from the food area.

Give them Grace - Review, Study & Resources

This summer I was able to help lead a quick book study with some moms on this book, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus. The book has lots of good things in it. There are some things I don't agree with, things I would challenge, but I'd definitely affirm:

• The authors expose the formula many of us operate on in raising children: Good parenting in, good children out.
• The authors correct this false formula: "Parenting with grace must not be employed as another formula to try and control God and your children." - page 52.
• On page 54, "One way to judge is to consider your reaction when your children fail."
• And page 59, "There are no promises in the Bible that even our best parenting will produce good children. None."
• "God may use your parenting as a means to draw your children to himself. But he may use other means and at a different time. Or he may use your child's rebellion and disinterest as a way to accomplish his unexpected will." - page 61.

The book has discussion questions for each chapter, some are good, some need work.

As part of our discussion, I also wrote a case study to help us talk about some of the principles, with accompanying questions. You can access it here:

"I know what the Bible Says!" - Parenting from the Backseat

We also read this article from The Gospel Coalition Blog:

Failure is not an Option

Which was somewhat in response to the July/August 2011 cover article from The Atlantic:

How to Land Your Kid in Therapy - Why the obsession with our kids' happiness may be dooming them to unhappy adulthoods. A therapist and mother reports.

And I wrote these discussion questions:

Questions for Failure is not an Option

DIY Flower Hairpins & Washcloth Lollipops

Made these for friends & family and packaged them with some baby bath products or lotion for a fun & cute gift. Lots of baby showers these days....


I still need some work/help on putting it together for presentation...


I was inspired and helped to make these hairpins by my dear friend Andrea (check out her blog and etsy site). I gave them away as party favors at one shower, game prizes at another, and part of a hostess gift for another.

DIY Wedding Programs Created by Me

These are the wedding programs I created and assembled for my wedding in 2008. I always planned to post pics of the process and never did.

I used red card-stock for the backing, and cream colored paper that I printed the pages from my designs on the computer for the other layers. I used a corner-cutting punch to make the corners curved and then tied all the layers together with gold ribbon.

I had lots of help from friends and family assembling it all as well :)

Here are some more photos