Baby Shower

The Baby Shower cake was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen

and was decorated by my niece Elsie. Nicely done!

Last night Sarah and I had a fun evening, attending the baby shower of expectant mother Emily. Emily is the niece of my sister-in-law Dana, and the daughter of Dana's sister Kara. To me, Emily is like another niece as well as a friend. 

One thing I've always appreciated about Jeff and Dana is how they blend both sets of relatives, as if we were already one big family. Since they got married in 1983, we've been invited to most every family camp-out, ceremony, and celebration imaginable, attended by both Dana's relatives and Jeff's relatives. During those thirty-four years, I've come to think of Dana's parents and sisters and myriad aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews as my own relatives. By marriage, of course, but family nonetheless.

The shower was decorated beautifully by Tahna.

Emily already has two cute little boys, Anthony and Trenton, but this time she is very excited to be expecting a baby girl. This shower was an opportunity to celebrate with lots of tiny girly-girl clothes and trimmings. Emily's new little daughter is due October 28th. (The day after Sarah's birthday, as well as on the birthday of my daughter-in-law Danielle!)

The food was provided by Tahna, Cheri, and Kara.

The hostess of Emily's baby shower was Tahna, one of Dana's younger sisters and therefore an aunt to Emily, even though the girls are both young women quite close in age. In fact, Sarah and Tahna have been very good friends since high school. I was impressed by the great job Tahna did with the fun decorations, the games, and the food. Especially as Tahna is herself very pregnant with her second child. Her baby is due on September 7th.

I understand the chicken salad/croissant sandwiches were done by Cheri.

I loved that the refreshments included things I could enjoy eating without having to deviate from my diet. The croissant-sandwiches were stuffed with healthy chicken salad, which I could have eaten without the bread if I hadn't already eaten a light dinner prior to the shower. I had to skip the crackers, of course, but there were sliced cheeses and fresh fruits and vegetables with ranch dip on which to snack freely.

Emily with bags and bags of gifts for the new little one.

That's Emily's mom, Kara, seated behind her.

After we all gathered outside to eat and chat for close to an hour, the mosquitoes came out and we retreated indoors for the opening of the presents. It was so much fun to watch Emily's delight as she opened each dainty little gift. She loves imagining her own little daughter dressed up in the new outfits one day soon. 

Emily with gifts from Sarah (light pink) and me (dark pink).

During the hours before the baby shower began, Sarah and I each went shopping (separately) for Emily's gifts. When I picked up Sarah on the way to the shower, we cracked up when we compared out gift packages. Not only had we chosen the same-sized gift packages (mine dark-pink and hers light-pink), but we'd also selected the exact same sparkly-heart gift tag to put on the bag! And, believe me, there were many bags and tags to choose from. I guess it's true, great minds do think alike!

From me: adorably fringed, pink moccasins I just couldn't resist,

and two pairs of tiny sock-booties. 

I hoped Sarah and I hadn't chosen the same gifts, as well, but I didn't know what Sarah had gotten for Emily until the very moment Emily opened it. Luckily, I had chosen tiny shoes and booties while Sarah chose an adorable, sparkly outfit. (I love sparkles. Just sayin'...) Someone in the group pointed out that the pink moccasins I gave her would go well with the pink outfit Sarah gave her. True that!

From Sarah: a sparkly pink onesie-dress with dark pink leggings (on lap).

The following photos: more sweet little-girl gifts Emily received at the shower.

That's my niece Haley in the background of these shots.

I brought my own sugar-free dessert so I wouldn't be tempted by the cake!

We ended the evening with ice cream cake and more visiting. I had hand-dipped some strawberries at home about an hour before the shower started so I wouldn't be tempted by any sugary treats, which worked out well.

I even walked away with an unexpected prize! It's funny, but I've been to three baby showers in which one of the games was cutting a piece of yarn or string to the length that you estimate will go around the mom-to-be's pregnant waist. The first two times, I won hands-down. (I have a well-developed sense of spatial reasoning.) I almost won last night, too, missing the exact length by less than half an inch whereas most of the other ladies missed by several inches. However, one other girl missed it by only about an eighth of an inch, so I came in second place.

Dana's mom, Cheri (also Kara's and Tahna's mom), won the second game, in which we all wore clothespins on our shirts and lost them if we uttered the word "baby" at any time during the evening. I lost mine about half-an-hour in. Cheri, on the other hand, was very single-minded in catching us and collecting our clothespins. However, she declined the prize, and so Tahna awarded it to me for my second-place win.

I walked away with this prize: an infuser cup and

a pedicure set (the pieces were inside the cup).

It was a great way to spend the evening, chatting with friends and family while enjoying good food and games, and celebrating the impending arrival of a new life. Next up will be Tahna's baby shower/brunch, and not a moment too soon!