A Baby Shower

For a few weeks now I have been a busy bee preparing for a big baby shower for two of my most favorite people in the world, Lauren and Dustin! 

Yesterday was the big day and I think it was a successful par-tay with a good turn out.  There were approx 35ish people here at our house, including a handful of littles (which made for good entertainment at times).  Etta was the queen of the littles in her cute little party dress (which was ruined when she got fabric paint all over the back of it- and on the wall). 

Soon after Lauren and Dustin and their mamas arrived, there was a sweet little name reveal.  They gave the grandmas-to-be handmade nametags that said, "Liam's Grandma".  Carrie got a great shot of Lauren's mom realizing what she had just read (but I don't have it to share with you- sorry).  It was a sweet moment.

I made a diaper cake.  My first ever diaper cake. 

I also hung a little clothes line in our breakfast nook and pinned white onesies to it. 

The guests were able to take one down and paint it with fabric paint and hang it back up to dry.  There were a few artists in the crowd!  Keith pre-made his a couple nights before.  His had a canoe on it (of course) and he was very proud of his creation.  So proud that he asked me that night if we were going to have a contest for the best one (which we didn't).

We had food.  Lots of food.  Tons of spinich dip (I had planned to double the recipie, but accidentally quadroupled the mayo, so I went back to the store to get the ingredients to quadrouple the rest *sigh*), petite fours, tortilla spins, ceaser salad, cheeses, grapes/strawberries, hummus, mixed nuts, chips/salsa, trail mixes, and I can't remember what else.  Plenty to drink too.  I was so afraid of running out of drinks, so I *may* have overprepared in that department.  We had sodas, and tea, and lemonade, and juice boxes, and wine, and beer. 

We played a couple of games too.  I filled a jar with starburst candies and let people guess how many were in the jar.  I didn't get a picture of that, but there were 559 in there and the winning guess was 550.  Lauren got to keep the starburst and Susan (the winner) got a Starbucks giftcard.  We also played bingo.  As the gifts arrived, I stuck a numbered sticker on the back of the card or the inside of the bag.  Then, as Lauren (and Dustin) opened the gifts, she called out the number.  Amy, was our bingo winner.  She also got a Starbucks giftcard.  The third game was "guess when Liam will arrive".  I printed out a calendar and marked the due date (September 15th) and let people write in when they think the baby will arrive.  I'll mail the winner their Starbucks giftcard when the time comes.  :)

Our game winners, Amy and Susan:

Lauren and Dustin are loved by so many!  There was a house full of their friends and family and you could feel the love. 

They also really racked up in the gifts department!  :) 

We gave them the bathtub they had registered for filled with bath stuff, and a giftbag of randoms that I had picked up along the way, and the sweetest gift we gave them were a pair of embridered burpcloths, a little knit hat, and the special little appliqued "!!!" onesie that I had custom made.  You see, in the very begining of the pregnancy, Lauren was still keeping it a secret.  !!! became my little secret code for my excitement.  Then, as the pregnancy progressed, I would (or she would) randomly text that !!! message or leave it as a comment on facebook.  It just kind of turned into something special between the two of us.  I think she liked the onesie.  :)

As the party broke up, Lauren made sure to paint a sweet little onesie for Liam with guitars on it (Dustin is a musician) and our friend Carrie made a cute one with a tennis ball on it that said "Love-Love" (Dustin is also a tennis pro). 

Then, all of the gifts were loaded into their Pilot and I packed up some food (including spinich dip) to send with them, and we said our goodbyes.

Etta loved playing with the balloons that came off the mailbox while we cleaned up. 

Keith was SUCH a big help in the prep AND clean-up department!  Couldn't ask for a better husband!  All three of us were pretty wiped out.  Etta was in bed by 7:00 and we weren't too far behind.  Keith got up with her this morning and let me sleep in (as he usually does on the weekend).  I slept for nearly 12 hours!  I had spinich dip for breakfast and we've all been snacking on left-over party food all day today. :)