Jenny's Baby Shower

Friday after work, Ryan and I set out to Chicago for J's Baby Shower.  We arrived in town around 9:40 and stopped by to say hi to J & Louis.  For the record, J looks great.  Obviously, since she is due in 5 weeks, her bump is ginormous, but if you didn't look at that you'd never know she was pregnant.  After visiting until around 11ish, Ryan and I left to go check into the hotel and get some sleep.

Saturday we were up and at J's house at 10 a.m.  The boys all went bowling and J, Amy and I drove to the shower at the Lucky Monk in South Barrington.  The theme:  Nautical.  Here are some shots of the decor:

This is a shot of one of the centerpieces.  They framed some of the 3D shots of Baby Malic and framed them.  The frames are being repurposed for his nursery now!

I loved the cake set up!  The boat and the net tie it all together.  Also, the cake was delish!  As were Linda's cookies...although they're always delish!

 Here's a close up of the cake (with one of Linda's cookies)

The menu!  The pretzel appetizer was fantastic.  I loved the tomato and cheese dipping sauces.  I ordered the burger and absolutely could not finish the whole thing because it was SO big! 

Here's a shot of the IWU ladies.  Man I miss them.  Sometimes I'm jealous that they all get to hang out together on a regular basis because they don't live two states away from each other ;)

In case you couldn't tell from the above picture, three of us are pregnant together.  I'm 23 weeks (due 1/4), J is 34 weeks (due 10/18), and Katie is also 23 weeks (due 1/5).  I love this picture!  It'll be fun to show the kids when they're older that their mommas were friends and sporting bellies together!

We ate lunch first and then it was time to open presents!  Baby Malic got a lot of great stuff, including some awesome clothing.  J's grandpa got him the most awesome pilot outfit EVER!  I can't wait to see a picture of him wearing that!  While opening presents we ate the cake...yum!  Katie and I even got a present from Barb for our little ones.

This is what Miss Madeleine Marie got:

How cute is that?  There's even a butterfly on the butt of the onsie!  She's going to be one stylin' little girl!

After the shower, the boys came by to help load the cars and then we headed back to J & L's house to unload.  Afterward, Ryan, James, J, L & myself all went over to the Unti's to visit.  Ryan and I had a great time hanging out with J's family (her mom, dad, brother, grandma & aunt).  I miss them something fierce and hate that I only get to see them once a year or so.  Dan tried to convince me to name the baby Bella....a combination of his two favorite beers: Stella & Bell's.  That cracked me up.  Ryan said if anything it would be Miller Lite or Oktoberfest.  After spending a great afternoon with J's family, the 4 of us went to Nick's Pizza for dinner.  Then we all hung out watching the UofM/Notre Dame game.

Unfortunately, the weekend just went by too quickly.  There were a lot of other IWU friends I would have liked to have seen while I was in town and of course spend even more time with those I did get to see.  But, alas, suddenly it was 8:00 a.m. on Sunday and Ryan and I had to hit the road.

We got home just in time for our family tradition:

Rotary Chicken Dinner!!!!!!  Which is actually chicken lunch because they sell out way before dinner.  It was yummy as usual.  This dinner has been a family tradition for a looooong time.  We used to pick up the dinner and bring them over to my grandparents house to enjoy with them, and my grandma has been gone for over 10 years now.  But, I love that the chicken dinner tradition has continued...it means a lot to me and I think of grandma every year we continue to do it.

Also:  The Tigers and Lions both won today!  YAY!