Party Time!

There's nothing like a weekend full of food, fun and good friends. Last weekend we hosted a party for my Shepherd friends - well technically they're now our Shepherd friends, but they will always be mine first:) I've really enjoyed getting to know this group over the past 2 years. I don't work in the same department as any of them, so I don't see them as much as I'd like, but we always have fun when we do get together - which is at minimum once a week for lunch. And I know if I ever needed anything, one of these guys or girls would be here in a minute. That's just the kind of great people they are. I am very blessed.

So we started off the evening munching on some serious appetizers - sausage balls, spinach dip and queso. I shouldn't have even bothered with dinner, because the snacks were so good we were all full by the time the main course came out. I try to find simple things to serve when we have company, so the menu consisted of grilled peanut butter chicken (sounds gross but tastes great), steak marinated in worchestire sauce, oil and coke (the secret weapon), baked potatoes, Asian broccoli salad and skewered vegetables. Dessert was fresh baked cookies compliments of Mrs. Publix.

We spent the first part of the evening hanging on the porch, and then snapped some fun pictures before heading in for a little game of Guitar Hero.



Me and Jeff



The Gentlemen - (L-R) Jeff, Josh, Jeremy and Marcelo.



The Ladies (L-R) Natalie, Lisa, Courtney, Laura and Amanda



Our attempt at a group shot



Josh was hands down the guitar hero of the evening, and also got an A+ for patiently teaching all of us newbies how to play.



But Jeff was the winner of the spirit award for the evening. He really got into it!

Even Natalie jumped in on the fun.

Sunday night I had the pleasure of watching Natalie for Josh and Lisa so they could enjoy a special Mother's Day dinner. We had a great time feeding the ducks in our neighborhood pond, playing out front, watching the little mermaid and finally taking an hour long bath. Although Nat wasn't too interested in most of the movie, she did get sucked into a few parts. When the cook was chasing Sebastien around the kitchen she kept saying "Oh no, oh no!" It was really cute. And man did she enjoy her bath. She played by herself about 45 minutes, and then we got into a game of peekaboo. Even Jeff joined in the fun, and we were all laughing hysterically by the end of it. Much to Nat's disappointment, after an hour of sitting in lukewarm water that I could not keep warm, the bath ended. And 5 minutes later Josh and Lisa pulled up to find Nat blue-lipped and wrapped in a blanket. I was sure they were going to think I'd been neglecting their daughter after finding her in her frozen state, but they assured me this happens often because she loves her baths so much. Here's my favorite shot of the evening. Could she possibly be any cuter?

Hope everyone has a fun rest of the week!