Fantastic Owl-Themed Baby Shower!!

Last night was my baby shower, hosted by my best friend, Tami.

Since I'm due at the beginning of January, Tami had the shower just before the busiest time of the year (Thanksgiving and Christmas).

I just about died, it was all so perfect. Remember the adorable invitations she already sent out? She kept with the owl theme. Which I love, since I fell in love with my Carter's Tree Tops baby bedding because of the darling owl on the comforter.

The pictures simply don't do the shower justice. The time and effort, the detail, all the special little (and big!) touches made me feel SOOOOO loved. Several girls asked Tami if she'll be their friend, too ("Hint, hint, do MY next baby shower!," they were all thinking). : )


But I'm going to try with the pictures anyway.

Welcome table at a local clubhouse:



This "family tree" has pictures hanging from it, and five of them are all of our baby pictures. 2 of them were from Tami's family. People had to guess Whoo was Whoo, knowing 2 of the pictures didn't belong!





This nest contained the cards for the opening game. Look at those beautiful white feathers!





Here are the cute "guessing" cards. No one guessed all of us right, though most people were pretty good at weeding out the pictures that didn't belong. A lot of people thought Rob's baby pic was me and visa versa. : )





My flash was too strong and too close, so it's hard to see these little miniature blue binkies on their brown-ribbon necklaces, but they were cute. They were the other game. If you said "baby," and got caught, you had to give up your necklace. I think the person with the most necklaces at the end had 5 of them. Of course I lost mine in about the first 2 minutes!




Going around the room, from left to right, after the welcome table, was a nice sitting area.






Next, my woodland animals comforter was set up on display next to the cookie bar.





And what a cookie bar it was! Look at all those gorgeous, fresh home-made cookies, and their presentation! There were little bags you can see at the bottom of the picture that had stickers on them with the owl from my invitation, and people could mix and match cookies and take them home in the little baggies as their party favors.

And look at the beautiful diaper cake in the middle, with the rich brown and blue ribbon, and little miniature binkies attached to each layer!









Swinging around to the right were banquet tables set up end to end, with a blue runner, miniature bird's nests, apples, & fresh flowers that had similar blue and brown ribbons wrapped around their vases (I took a new pic of the flowers as they sat on my mantle this morning, so you can see just how pretty they are).

The tables were next to a mirror, and you can see the food table in the background.

And of course the food was DELICIOUS, since Tami served things I'm craving, like chicken salad sandwiches with cashews, purple grapes, celery & chicken, with a twist of ranch dressing mixed w/ mayo. Mmm mmm. I took this pic before everything was set out, though. Can you see that fresh fruit behind the wraps? Happy sigh. I'm still full.

Here is my yummy & pretty chocolate cake. I know you're asking, "Well, what did everyone else eat?" But I was really nice.

I shared.

Some ladies, eating. I loved seeing so many great friends; "school" moms (we meet when our kids are in the same classes, and bond quickly), neighbors (I have an AWESOME neighborhood, it's one of the reasons I never want to move), and gals from church (I also have a great ward/congregation, yet another reason I love right where I live).

Some ladies, chatting (ok, well, a lot of them stopped chatting when Tami snapped the pic).

More chatty ladies. That's what we do best. I loved every minute!

One of my gifts, a home made "rag" quilt from my neighbor Hope, which I took a picture of this morning.

I would also post the picture of the home-made hooded towel my sneaky cousin Shelly sent Tami from Illinois, that Tami quietly nestled in with the rest of the gifts. But it's already upstairs in the bathroom where the boys were quite excited over who got to use it first.

A picture of Tami and me at the end of the shower. Awww. The perfect ending to a lovely night. (And if you look at the cookie bar you can see it was a hit. Even though Tami replenished it all night, pretty much ALL the cookies went home with the guests.)

Well, actually, it was made even better when she came over to my house later that night and we sat and re-lived the shower together, which I always love to do after something memorable.

Again, what else can I say but give a HAPPY, contented SIGH, and cuddle up with some of the baby's new, soft blankets and stuffed animals? And tease my kids about letting them "eat" a piece of the diaper cake???

Life is good.