The Nursery - Shades of Gray

Turning the extra room upstairs into a nursery is going to be quite the undertaking, but a very fun project nonetheless! The first step...picking out the paint color.

We decided that whether Baby Shep is a girl or boy, we want to go with gray for the walls. If it is a girl, the stuff in the room will be pink, black, and white. If it is a boy, the room will be filled with navy, red, green, and yellow (basically primary colors).

I thought picking out a shade of gray would be easy enough, but it is crazy how many options there are! We narrowed it down to four and tested them on the wall.

I think we are going with the lightest one on the far left-hand side (note that they all look a bit darker in person). It is called "Sparrow."

What do ya'll think?

Erin & Adolph's Top Golf Shower

Yesterday we had a small "shower" for Erin and Adolph (aka John...I know Erin is about to be Erin Adolph, which will make it a bit strange, but it will be hard to ever call him John) at Top Golf. While we called it a shower, it was really just a fun night out with friends to celebrate their upcoming wedding.

I am usually terrible about remembering to take photos at events like this, but I actually managed to capture a few good shots.

Josh, Adolph, and Derek enjoying some beverages. Josh and Derek definitely took advantage of the fact that their pregnant wives make nice designated drivers :).

The girls. Please don't mind how large I look. The camera adds ten pounds, and so does Baby Shep.

Sarah totally has me beat on the belly size at this point though. Baby Girl Hicks and Baby Shep are going to be best friends.

Sarah managed to do very well despite the large belly.

An action shot of Jeff. Nice form.

Josh was also looking good out there. I think he was aiming for the yellow target in this one.

We also had two Top Golf newbies - Jill and the bride-to-be. And they both did very well...I think they will be back.

Erin's Mom also joined the fun. I can't believe how much they look alike!

I think I made a really good first impression with Mrs. Eason. Our conversation in front of her went a little something like this...Erin: "Do I need to get my own bucket?" Me: "No, you can just play with John's balls.....oh my gosh....(laughing hysterically)." She probably thinks I am a terrible influence :).

We had a great night, and I can't wait to celebrate the Eason-Adolph wedding in September!

Travel Magnets

Early on in our relationship, Josh and I started the tradition of collecting fridge magnets during our trips. And they can't just be any magnets...we try to find the most unique/tacky/funny ones that we can. From a flip flop magnet with real Jamaica sand in the toes, to a bottle opener magnet from South Padre, to a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head magnet from Idaho.

The most recent addition to our collection came from Josh's recent trip to Galveston for a CLE. On a side note, I am so proud of him for presenting at his first CLE. He did very well and received many complements on his presentation, which focused on the burden of proof for the objections to a debtor's claim of exemptions.

While in Galveston, Josh picked out this lovely snow globe-type magnet filled with dolphins and glitter...awesome.

I think it fits in very nicely.

I love family traditions, and it will be fun to continue collecting magnets with our kids.

Here's to many more fun trips!

Baby Shep's First Gifts

I am trying to hold off on buying any cute baby clothes until we know whether our little peanut is a boy or girl, but I just couldn't resist buying this Kings of Leon onesie at the concert we attended a few weeks ago (which is a whole other story...it may be the last KOL concert for a quite a while).

I hope Baby Shep is as much of a fan as I am :).

Baby Shep also received this fun gadget from "Linda the Landman"...one of my favorite T&K co-workers. I can't wait to fill the Gyro Bowl with cheerios and other goodies, and see how it works. Thanks, Linda!!

St. Patrick's Day

I know it is August, so it is a bit strange that I am blogging about St. Patrick's Day, but I promise I have a good explanation. We were discussing our annual St. Patty's Day party at Sarah's birthday party last weekend, and a big question arose...will having a roughly six-week-old baby deter the Shepherds from having said party in 2012?

It may seem crazy to even consider throwing a big bash while I'm still in what Sarah calls "the newborn haze," but what kind of Mom would I be if I neglected celebrating Baby Shep's first St. Patrick's Day? It is still TBD at this point, but I will be sad if we cancel completely. I have a feeling we may just have a scaled-down version next year.

On this note, I realized that I never posted pics from this year's party. So, let's reminisce and pretend that the weather is as fabulous now as it was on St. Patty's Day...

There was tons of food as usual (one of my favorite parts of the party), but I only managed to take pics of the dessert table.

We actually had a bunch of kids this year as well (at least early in the day).

And it was our nephew Jack's first St. Patty's Day.

See...it is possible to hold a small baby and a green beer at the same time :).

Kate and Ellie also had a good time...and Kate was really curious about the keg.

And a bunch of other kiddos joined the fun...

And all the kids running around didn't stop the tomfoolery, excessive drinking, and dance parties...

Kim even made an appearance all the way from Los Angeles.

**Note that no babies were harmed in this game of Corn Hole.

We even had a leprechaun join the revelry.

And after someone may or may not have added everclear to the punch, the middle school jams were put on the iPod, and the dance party was on...

As you can see, we had a great time at the 3rd Annual O'Shepherd St. Patty's Day Party....

We will just have to wait to see what St. Patty's Day 2012 has in store.