hannah's first shower!

hannah had her first shower yesterday!!

they don't look happy or anything, huh?? :-)

my cousin, heather, hannah and i before the shower

the shower was given by and attended mostly by the ladies that lived in the neighborhood we did when we were growing up. that group of 10 or so women were very close while we were growing up...and have remained close - they get together pretty often!

mrs. daley lived across the street from us. one of her sons and hannah were the same age and were INSEPARABLE as little kids. i lived with the daley's my senior year of high school (remember how i moved 4 times that year??) seeing these women kind of just took your breath away. it was like walking back decades and you felt 13 years old again (for me)...4 years old again (for hannah) :-)

mrs. quenneville, mrs. wesolowski and mrs. murphy threw the shower. and it was amazing!!

john's mom even came up for the shower! {we LOVE her!}

we told some pretty funny stories about when we were growing up. such a gift...friendships!
and i KNOW these women have been gifts to my mom over the years.
but i'm not quite sure they understand what gifts they gave to us kids, also...such a fun, loving, supportive group of people to grow up around! and they REALLY love all of us!

{almost everyone!} it was SUCH a special day...family (my aunt and cousin drove up from richmond!)...almost family (john's mom)...and friends that might as well be family!

and. get this. besides me and my cousin. all of the women that were there have been happily married for 30 or MORE years! isn't that amazing?!? lots of wisdom in that room!