When it rains, it pours!

      Well, it was a weekend of "showers" for us in the Byrne household! Last week, we noticed a water stain on the kitchen ceiling that was progressively getting larger but was not bad enough to call a plumber yet, for fear that they would want to break a hole in our walls to determine what was going on.  Thursday morning, I got a text from Jonathan saying that the ceiling was leaking from the kitchen light after he got out of the shower.  Awesome. It could literally be 'showering' on the two baby showers I was hosting this weekend! 

       So, thinking that the problem is made worse by use of our shower/tub, we were forced to shower elsewhere. Throwback to our college days...we gathered our towels and toiletries (too bad I don't have a bath bucket anymore!) and showered at the McNabb's house (thank you!). 

       As if that wasn't enough, we got a call from a neighbor on Friday asking us if we would like our dog back. "What do you mean? Our dog is in the backyard....oh wait...." Yes, lincoln took 1.5 years to discover (or create?) the hole in the fence that now allows him to explore the neighborhood. Jonathan texted me while I was working yesterday: "Sometimes I pause and ask myself, 'why is Lincoln waiting on the front porch for me to let him in?' Then I realize it's because our yard is not fenced in."  So we spent this afternoon rigging up a closure to the gate. Lincoln is bummed and slightly mad at us.

       Baby shower #1 on Saturday was great. We honored Stephanie Jones, an OT from work who is having a baby boy in April.  Jackson was thrilled to be part of the party! Everyone brought food to this one so if my ceiling caved in we would have been ok :) 

Co-workers at Stephanie's shower

After everyone left (a huge thanks to Michelle and Diane for doing all the clean up), I got right back to cooking for shower #2! Not quite realizing how poor my planning was, I decided to make many new recipes for the shower because they all looked so delicious! They included 2 batches of cake balls, owl cupcakes, sweet potato biscuits with ham and apricot jam, spinach tortilini salad and deviled eggs.  The cake balls were a near disaster, but so delicious! The biscuits were a sticky mess and almost didn't make a showing at the shower. The eggs came off in clumps when I peeled them but I salvaged enough to use.  All in all, when the shower was all ready to go on Sunday, I breathed a huge sigh of relief! 

Double chocolate and red velvet cake balls

Owl Cupcakes for the owl-themed shower!

Laura's shower

The second shower was for Laura Langa, a new friend whose husband works with Jonathan. She is from AZ and we were so lucky to have her mom join us for the shower! She is having a baby girl in May.  

After this weekend, I needed a break from the kitchen so JB and I finished the growth chart. It's going to look so great in his room! Hard to believe that he is already past the 2 foot mark, but we won't measure him until he can stand up.  

And finally, we unwound today with Women's Bible Study in the morning, a walk with Mary and Ellie in the afternoon and a run with Anna and Val this windy evening. Val finally got to hold Jackson, since she is usually holding her own daughter, Sofi. Jackson was ALL smiles for Val and Anna today.