Baby shower for C

Okay guys, can I just tell you HOW EXCITED I am to be an Auntie?!  Between the two of us, my husband and I have 6 younger siblings, but because we got married young (22!  and every year it seems younger!)  and none of them did, we have had the ONLY kids on both sides of the family.  Until now!  We've had three siblings get married in the last year and  half (M&M, B&H, A&B) and now we're getting a niece!!!!  I've waited so long!!!

So anyway, all of my husband's family was in town over the weekend because his sister came home from her mission for our church.  Couldn't miss the opportunity to throw a baby shower for my first niece!

I went with a coral and teal color scheme.  Coral because that was one of the wedding colors B&H used, so I had decorations I could use from the wedding!  Teal because I used my great-grandmother's china, which has a teal border around the edge.

Invitation

Designed in Photoshop.  Hot Air Balloon from the digiscrap kit By the Light of the Moon by Etc. by Danyale

Decorations

My favorite part from the B&H wedding was the fabric banners I sewed, and I've used them a few times since.  They are so festive and fun.

I also used the flowers from the centerpieces, added a few in teal, and hung them from the ceiling using fishing line.

Last but not least, I hung teal balloons with fishing line.  Used the marble trick (stick a marble inside before blowing up and tying off, thanks Hungry Hungry Hippos) so they would hang down straight.

Food

We all know that's what this is really about, right?  Everybody comes hoping for great food!  And rumor has it...I delivered.  :)

The menu

Savory:

Antipasto kabobs (recipe coming!)

Cucumber boats

Chicken Salad on croissants

Veggie Tray

Sweet:

Crepe bites

Cheesecake pops

Mint brownies (recipe coming!)

Pistachio & Pomegranate Dark Chocolates

Cherry & Almond White Chocolates

Drinks:

Coconut Limeade (recipe coming!)

Apple Ginger Sparkler

Entertainment/Games

I am not big on cheesy games.  So it's always interesting trying to find something fun and cute but doesn't trigger my gag reflex.  Here's what I came up with:

As the guests arrived, they each gave Mom some advice

and wrote a birthday wish for baby, to be opened on her birthday at that age.

With food, each guest took an ice cube with a little plastic baby frozen into it.  Once the ice melted and the baby was free, they had to shout "My water broke!"  The first few people won a prize.

After we finished eating, we played the Name Game.  Ahead of time, I looked up the meaning of the names of all those attending.  Then each guest wrote down a guess at the meanings of all those names.  I found that most of them didn't even know the meaning of their own names!  But I told them to get creative in their guesses, because they could get a point for a correct answer AND the momma to be would give a point for her favorite WRONG answer.  This turned out to be a hit!  Everyone really enjoyed it.

Then we moved onto opening presents.  Before each present, I asked a question, and kept tally of points.

Questions:

Who came the furthest to be here?

Who has the most kids?

Who has lived in the most different states?  Cities?

Who had the longest labor?  The shortest?

Who has the most siblings?  The least?

Who has known mother to be the longest?

Whose birthday is closest to the due date?

Whose birthplace is closest to where the baby will be born?

Who has had braces….the longest?

Who is the shortest?  The tallest?

Who has the biggest feet?  Smallest?

 At the end of presents, the winners got to pick a prize.

Prizes

There were two kinds of prizes.  Body wash (thank you B&BW semi-annual sale!) and a loofah with a tag that said "From our shower to yours!"

And a pedicure kit with either nail polish or a foot repair cream with a tag that said "You nailed it!"

Favors

As a thank you for coming, each guest got a little bag of my famous homemade honey caramel popcorn.

And that's that!  I don't get the chance to have parties like this or make food like that very often!  So this was a lot of fun for me.

I'll be back later to tell you a gross story.  Stay tuned.  :)

Linking up here:

{M} Twigg Studios-Skip to My Lou-The DIY Showoff-Mad in Crafts-Marvelously Messy-Making the World Cuter-Sew Can Do- C.R.A.F.T.- Keeping It Simple-Creating My Way to Success-All Things Fee-Craft-o-Maniac-Boogieboard Cottage-Between Naps on the Porch-I Should Be Mopping the Floor-Momnivore's Dilemma-The Girl Creative {T} Yesterday on Tuesday-Tip Junkie-Sugar Bee Crafts-Funky Polkadot Giraffe-Hope Studios-My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia-Home Stories A2Z-Primitive and Proper {furniture only}-Elizabeth & Co.-Coastal Charm-Ladybug Blessings-Homework-New Nostalgia {W} Simply Designing-Someday Crafts-Creations by Kara -Sew Much Ado-My Girlish Whims-Savvy Southern Style-Seven Thirty Three-Polkadots on Parade-Ginger Snap Crafts-DIY by Design {Th} Cherished Bliss-The Brambleberry Cottage-Beyond the Picket Fence-A Glimpse Inside-Domestically Speaking {paint only}-A Creative Princess-My Repurposed Life {F} Today's Creative Blog-Thirty Handmade Days-Romantic Home-Remodelaholic-Shabby Nest-Lovely Crafty Home-WhipperBerry-At the Picket Fence-Finding Fabulous-delicate CONSTRUCTION-Naptime Crafters-Chic on a Shoestring Budget Decorating-Fingerprints on the Fridge-504 Main-French Country Cottage-Truly Lovely-Miss Mustard Seed {furniture only}-Simply Sweet Home-Craftionary-One Artsy Mama-Lil' Luna-The 36th Avenue {S} Reasons to Skip the Housework-Funky Junk Interior

3 year House-iversary!

My house right before the sun came over the mountains this morning

3 years.

This is officially the longest we have spent in any one place since we've been married.  It's actually been kind of a strange feeling.  I can feel a little itch to move on to a new adventure.  But we are settled, so I need to seek for new adventures right here at home!  That's another story for another day, however, so back to the House-iversary!

We didn't get as much accomplished this year as I would have liked.  Let's just say I greatly underestimated the amount of crazy a third child would introduce into my life.  :)

In the last year, we:

Planted two shade trees and four fruit trees in our backyard (Autumn Blaze maples, a Granny Smith, a Honeycrisp, a Bing and a Rainier).

Built a big sandbox and the base of the rest of our play structure

Built a closet organizer in our closet

Cleaned out the spare bedroom that was acting as a storage room and made it into a guest room

And....that's it.  But let's not forget folks, I did have a new baby.  And I did lots of non-house related projects, including two weddings!!!  (B&H and A&B)

Hopefully this year will be better.  I have a mountain of goals, but in the hope of keeping them realistic, here is what I really want done this year:

Build wall cabinets for bathrooms

Build jewelry cabinet for my room

Take out part of one pantry and build a desk

Pantry organization

Finish building and installing upper cabinets in my craft room!!!

Install french door on my craft room (gotta keep my wily 13 month old out!)

Paint the basement

Paint the guest room

Build two headboards

Build two nightstands

Sew curtains for each bedroom

Add deck, playhouse and slide to the sandbox/play structure base

Plant peach trees

Plant lilac bushes

Rip out shrubs that I hate in the front yard

That is kind of a lot, huh.  Ah well, better to aim for the stars and miss than aim for a cow pie and hit it.  Wish me luck!!!!

And I'll be back later in the week with the baby shower I threw over the weekend, so y'all come on back, ya hear?  ;)

Top Reads of All Time - January

Okay, so yesterday was a really exciting day for our family.  My sister-in-law came home from serving an 18 month long mission for our Church.  I don't talk about this much on here partially because I want to keep my blog DIY and partially because I don't want to put anyone off by talking religion, but I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Otherwise known as a Mormon.  My beliefs are very important to me; in fact, they are the guiding force in my life.  If you are interested in knowing more about what Mormons believe, please visit mormon.org.  Or email me (diykindagirl@hotmail.com), and I'd be happy to talk to you about it.  Just no mean emails, okay?

So ANY-way, in honor of my dearly beloved sister-in-law coming home, I thought for today's Top Reads of All Time, I'd share my favorite Mormon religious books.

Just Hold Me: Embraced by the Savior's Love by Don Staheli

One of my personal spiritual epiphanies came while reading this book.  It is about Jesus Christ, and His ability to comfort and uplift us.  Poignant book.

Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson
This is a really wonderful book about the Atonement of Christ.  The author has a beautiful way of explaining the Atonement and why we should trust in it, "Believe Christ."  It really helped my understanding of both the Atonement and Jesus Christ.







Small and Simple Things by Marjorie Pay Hinckley

A lovely book written by a lovely woman.  It is a collection of bits of wisdom and encouragement gleaned from a lifetime of experience.  The author, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, was the wife of the last prophet of our Church, Gordon B. Hinckley.  She was gracious and kind and loving, someone I truly admired.





Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
I couldn't make this list without including this book.  The Book of Mormon is holy scripture, a record of God's dealing with the people of ancient America.  It was translated by Joseph Smith by the power of God and published in 1830.  It is truly another witness of Christ, that He is the Son of God, that through His Atonement, all mankind may be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His Gospel.




Thank you for allowing me to share something so deeply personal.  And please, if you email or comment on my Facebook page, remember to be kind.

Tomorrow, I'll be throwing a baby shower for my sister-in-law, so I'll be back next week with all the details, from food to decorations to games to prizes.  See you then!

Daydream Medallions card

The swap that wasn't.  Whenever I'm doing a swap, I first make one card all the way through, just so I can figure out the process and discover any mistakes that I'd rather not repeat.  I was getting ready for a demonstrator swap, and made my one card all the way through...and discovered it was just way too much work to repeat 16 times!  But the card is lovely, and I wanted to share it with you!

Stamps: Daydream Medallions and Itty Bitty Banners
Paper: Wild Wasabi and Very Vanilla cardstock
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, Soft Suede
Embellishments: Linen Thread, Stampin' Dimensionals, Snail
Tools: Simply Scored & Borders Scoring Plate, Big Shot, Bitty Banners Framelits Die & Floral Frames Framelits Die,

Linking up here:

{M} Twigg Studios-Skip to My Lou-The DIY Showoff-Mad in Crafts-Marvelously Messy-Sumo's Sweet Stuff-Making the World Cuter-Sew Can Do- C.R.A.F.T.- Keeping It Simple-Creating My Way to Success-All Things Fee-Craft-o-Maniac-Boogieboard Cottage-Between Naps on the Porch-I Should Be Mopping the Floor-Momnivore's Dilemma-The Girl Creative {T} Yesterday on Tuesday-Tip Junkie-Sugar Bee Crafts-Funky Polkadot Giraffe-Hope Studios-My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia-Home Stories A2Z-Primitive and Proper {furniture only}-Elizabeth & Co.-Coastal Charm-Ladybug Blessings-Homework-New Nostalgia {W} Simply Designing-Someday Crafts-Creations by Kara -Sew Much Ado-My Girlish Whims-Savvy Southern Style-Seven Thirty Three-Polkadots on Parade-Ginger Snap Crafts-DIY by Design {Th} Cherished Bliss-The Brambleberry Cottage-Beyond the Picket Fence-A Glimpse Inside-Domestically Speaking {paint only}-A Creative Princess-My Repurposed Life {F} Today's Creative Blog-Thirty Handmade Days-Romantic Home-Remodelaholic-Shabby Nest-Lovely Crafty Home-WhipperBerry-At the Picket Fence-Finding Fabulous-delicate CONSTRUCTION-Naptime Crafters-Chic on a Shoestring Budget Decorating-Fingerprints on the Fridge-504 Main-French Country Cottage-Truly Lovely-Miss Mustard Seed {furniture only}-Simply Sweet Home-Craftionary-One Artsy Mama-Lil' Luna-The 36th Avenue {S} Reasons to Skip the Housework-Funky Junk Interior

This Week's Reads 1/24

From a tired mommy who reads for entertainment not enlightenment.

My husband was out of town on business again this week, so that meant early bedtimes for kids and staying up late reading for me.  A book for every night he was gone!  :)

Sleeping With Anemone by Kate Collins
I've been making my way through this series, though I haven't blogged them all.  I just have to say again that I love this series more with every book I read!  This particular book, I have to say, I had the mystery figured out pretty early on, pat on my back.  :)

Night of the Living Dandelion by Kate Collins
This one I didn't figure out until the very end...it's also fun when the author keeps you guessing.  Plus one of the suspects was Romanian, which I have a soft spot for (to make a long story short, I spent an amazing semester working in a orphanage in Romania).  Anyway, great read!






Return to Tradd Street by Karen White

I love this series.  Really.  Like one of my favorite mystery series ever.  I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but all kinds of interesting things happen in this book!  And I love seeing how the characters change and grow.  Well written, I have thoroughly enjoyed it.