It's a Baby Shower!

The second big party that we've thrown in our house is now done, and I will say that it was quite a success. There were (miraculously) no kitchen disasters, there was plenty of food and it tasted great (and the desserts, as you will see, were unbelievably amazing, thanks to Mrs. Hart and Vicki, who are my new idols), the children stayed amused, everyone got along and mingled well, and Chris and Chris got some wonderful gifts for their little bun in the oven. Doug and I throw a good party, if I do say so myself. Maybe we'll be the Massachusetts version of my sister and brother-in-law, throwing great parties for all occasions. Because really, it's a lot of fun to have everyone together, having a good time, and while it does take work to make sure that the house is in order, everyone has what they need and want, and that the food is all ready and edible, the payoff is definitely worth it. I'll have to tell Doug that we should throw parties more often.

We weren't able to take too many pictures of the event, as I spent a lot of the first part in the kitchen, and Doug was busy making sure there were enough beverages, making sure the parking situation on our little tiny street was working out (apparently our old neighbors across the street, the very ones that busted down our fence, had an issue with us parking a car in front of their house. Didn't want us to get too close to their walkway lest the car possibly touch it. Yes, these are the folks that drove into our fence. Yes, it took a lot of effort not to get very snippy at them.), and making sure the cats were accounted for and not getting themselves into trouble. We do have some of the fun on film, though.

Here are Emily, Alastair (who is such an adorable little boy!), and Marieke enjoying cookbooks and Monet. Alastair is a culture-fiend for sure.

This one's a snapshot of the food table with much of the food eaten, which is a good thing. What is a bad thing is that nothing was totally finished, and that no one took leftovers. Now our fridge is filled to the brim with all the leftovers and Doug and I just don't have the room in our stomachs to eat all of this good stuff before it goes bad.

Now here are a couple of good ones - the look on girl Chris's face as she sees the sneaker-socks is, in the words of MasterCard, priceless. The socks really were very cute. And now baby girl chris has a set of more formal socks with her mary-jane socks, but can go totally casual in her sneaker-socks. She's set. She's also set, or almost set, with bibs. The second photo is one of Chris opening the bibs that I made for the baby. Yes, this is the craft project I've been trying to covertly blog about for the past month or so. I have photos of the process of making these bibs, so I'll do a blog on that in the future, but the great thing is that the bibs went over well. They liked them! I am very pleased.

This next photo is of the parents-to-be cutting their baby cake.Now, do you see this cake? I mean, look at it. It's a work of art! Mrs. Hart really out-does herself with these cakes. She also made the cookies from scratch. And Vicki made these delicious cupcakes with a slightly citrus-y frosting (homemade, of course) that are on the right in the photo. I had three. They were that good. Seriously, these women are my new baking heroes. I want to be them and know their secrets.

And now here's my favorite photo - a belly shot of the mom-to-be. Isn't she lovely? There is a little baby girl in there, getting very ready to be born. Chris said about seven to eight weeks left. Wow! That's exciting indeed.

What was also exciting, for Doug at least, was having an audience for his new toy, his ukulele.Everyone has a "thing" they do at parties to make it more comfortable. Some people drink wine. Some people hold something, like a drink glass, so that they don't have to seem like they're standing around with their hands in their pockets. Some people get really talkative and animated. And some people play ukuleles. It was nice to have a musical element to the day, and the uke was fitting, seeing how it's a tiny instrument with a tiny sound on a day that we're celebrating a tiny new life.

The cats survived the shower/party. They survived the people, the noise, the disruption. They're back to their old selves, just like me and Doug. Once the dishes were put away and the floors vacuumed and cleaned, life was back to normal. That's a bit of a downer, though - it was fun having company, and it was great to see everyone. I'll just have to take a lesson from Wyatt - find a sun spot and relax.