Girly Baby Shower Fun.

In about two months or so, I’m going to be an auntie again! My baby sister, Jodi, and her husband are having their own baby – a little girl due January 7 – and this weekend my sister-in-law, Dana, and I threw her a baby shower.

Joe was the last baby we’ve had on my side of the family and that was nearly 10 years ago, so imagine, if you can, the sheer excitement of having a new little wee one to hug and rock and spoil! Truth be told, Joe was initially hoping for a boy cousin he could eventually babysit, and he declared early on that he won’t be too pleased if he has to play Barbies with her. We’ll just have to see about that, but for Dana and myself, we’re pretty excited (you think?) to be able to shop for a little girl.

I am nearly 10 years older than my sister and actually remember the details of when our mother went into labor with her. I was in 3rd grade at the time, and every day, my teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, would ask me if the baby had arrived yet. Finally on a snowy January night, my mom’s water broke while we were watching “Charlie’s Angels” on TV and she went to the phone to call the hospital to let them know she and my Dad were going to be on their way.

Funny thing is, we still had a “party” phone line on the farm back then – have you heard of or do you remember “party lines?” This means we shared a phone line with our nearby neighbors, and often when we would pick up the phone to call someone, we would hear a neighbor having a conversation with someone else. This, of course, happened the night my mom wanted to call the hospital right away and she had to interrupt our neighbor and ask her if she could hang up and let mom get a hold of the hospital!

Long story short, my brother and I were excited to welcome our sister home a couple of days later and life was never the same again. As the oldest sibling, I was all about being the 2nd mom around the house and couldn’t wait to help take care of her. This worked out pretty well during my babysitting years, but once I was in high school, my sister became the stereotypical annoyance – following me around, listening in on my phone conversations (oh the horrors!) and generally being a pest – or so I thought in the infinite “wisdom” of a 16-year-old.

Luckily, we both grew out of that stage, too, and now we’re very close, even with the 10-year age difference. And it was a thrill to plan and co-host her baby shower – I am feeling very blessed tonight and want to share a few photos of the special day with you.

Baby gifts galore along with chevron goodie bags that were filled with my favorite chocolate chip cookies (recipe here). In a very Pinterest-worthy moment for me, I bought chalkboard labels and used Joe’s sidewalk chalk to label all the bags with the guests’ names.

We bought a pack of newborn-sized diapers (which look like doll diapers, by the way!) and had everyone write funny or insightful sayings and advice on them, so that when Jodi and/or her husband, Clay, are changing diapers in the middle of the night, they might smile or even laugh at what they find!

My mom made vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the party — and using another idea we saw on Pinterest (of course!), we made the most amazing cupcake display, as you will see below!

And if you know me, then you know I absolutely had to give this baby girl some leopard print shoes! It is never too early to start sharing the shoe love.

The pair in the front are from Bison Booties, this amazing company based in Mandan, North Dakota that makes these hand-crafted, soft-sole baby shoes in a plethora of designs, colors and sizes. The 2nd pair came from one of my sister’s good friends – proof that great minds do think alike!

Here’s my cute little prego sister with our mom – love these ladies!

And here I am with Jodi, who is showing off the onesie my sister-in-law and I gave to the baby … because OF COURSE this baby girl is going to love her aunties!!

I didn’t even talk about the menu, beyond those UH-MAZING cupcakes. We served homemade mac-and-cheese in individual cups, my semi-famous turkey tortilla roll-ups (recipe here) and crockpot turkey meatballs that were to die for! We had a friend of our family make the meatballs so as soon as I snag the recipe, I will share it here – it was delish! In the meantime, here is the mac-and-cheese recipe, which is super cheesy and creamy and – bonus! – made in a crockpot.

Enjoy!

Easy Crockpot Mac & Cheese (adapted from this recipe on ShortStopBlog.com)

16 ounces cooked macaroni
16 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, cubed
16 ounces Colby cheese, cubed (you can also substitute Cheddar or almost any type of cheese you like)
16 ounces Velveeta (cubed)
1 stick of butter, cut into slices
16 ounces milk
salt & pepper, to taste

Spray crockpot lightly with cooking spray. Layer 1/3 of the macaroni in bottom. Layer half of cheese, butter, salt & pepper. Repeat, ending with last 1/3 of macaroni on top. Pour milk over mixture.

Cook on low for about 4 hours and stir about mid-way through.

Note: This makes a large recipe, but it’s easy to halve it if you are preparing it for 2-3 people; just cut the crockpot time in half as well.