We love the Koertens! Jonathan and JB are both in their 3rd year of their Emergency Medicine Residencies at Norfolk General/EVMS and Amber has been married to Jonathan for over a year. We have loved getting to know them over the past 2 years and have been blessed to have Amber as our summer babysitter. I had the honor of celebrating their upcoming baby Cara (due September 23rd) with a couple's baby shower at our home. We are so excited that Cara will have such loving, Godly parents and can't wait to meet her! Doesn't Amber look amazing? What a stunning pregnant lady!
Preparations went into full swing on Thursday night and continued through Saturday evening, when the guests arrived at 7pm. I am starting to feel like quite the little Martha Stewart, hosting my 3rd shower this year at our sweet little home. Jonathan and I are so grateful for this home, which allows us to entertain friends, family and neighbors. We hope that we continue to have a warm, welcoming home for our friends and Jackson's for many years to come. We just had a new fence and back gate installed so Lisa (our back door neighbor) and I were talking about having open homes for our kid's friends to come in and feel safe, loved and well fed :)
It was quite a spread, and everything turned out perfectly (whew!). We had veggies and hummus, fresh peaches and pineapple (thanks to Kaitlin for cutting everything), homemade pound cake with chocolate fondue, baked brie with cherry filling and triscuits, caramel and chocolate cake balls (thanks to Kim for decorating), mini chocolate and vanilla trifles with toffee bits (jars courtesy of Christina), chocolate covered strawberries (thanks Nessa), and homemade mints for favors. Man, that was a lot of cooking! I used all my china and platters from our wedding which was so lovely. Even though it's tough to dig everything out from high shelves and deep in cabinets, it is well worth it. Motherhood has also taught me that asking for help is a very good thing in life. I had two good friends come over to help cook and entertain Jackson while I cleaned. I am so grateful to be going through life with so many good friends surrounding me.
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| Amber with all of the ladies |
After a crazy night of cleaning up after the fabulous shower, we went to church and then set out for our boating adventure, courtesy of Groupon, which was delayed last month from the storm. We had a 4 hour boat tour of Hampton with the McNabbs and Dean. Since I was feeling quite nauseous from a combination of the waves and not eating well since Thursday afternoon (Martha Stewart must know how to eat better when entertaining), we docked in the very calm waters near Willoughby Spit and the HRBT. We enjoyed some drinks, floating and laying on a beach, baby-free! Thanks to the Byrnes for babysitting and tackling a tough to-do list at home including putting up a baby gate and doing our ironing.
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| The guys enjoy floating with life preservers in 3 foot water :) |
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