Bookish Baby Shower

Back in July I got to help throw a baby shower for a couple of friends who had new babies (the 4th baby for both).  Neither of them "needed" a shower, so the focus wasn't on gifts, but on having a fun party.  And really, any excuse to have a party... and a children's book themed party?  seriously, I swoon.

I got to work with my friends Heidi and Jen, and it all came together beautifully I think.  It was a fun night!  Congrats to the new mamas!!

The amazing Heidi.

Jen, holding Logan, with mama Kira.

My jobs were to help with food, decorations, and be in charge of a couple of games.

One game was a phrase-dropping game.  Each person was given a piece of paper with a phrase from a children's book and they had to say it in conversation without anyone noticing.

The phrases:

• “Tell me about me…tell me about things I once did” (Little Bear)
• "I just wanted to be sure of you.” (Winnie the Pooh)
• “Even though she was a cow” (Ferdinand)
•  “Even in Australia.” (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)
• "You never can tell with bees." (Winnie the Pooh)
• I think I can, I think I can” (The Little Engine that Could)
• “most of your hair has been loved off” (The Velveteen Rabbit)
• “We will call him Clark.” (One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)
• “George was fond of peeking in windows.” (George & Martha)
•  “I’ve always wanted a friend.” (Corduroy) 
•  “I guess I've always wanted to live in a palace.” (Corduroy)
• “I’ll eat you up, I love you so.” (Where the Wild Things Are)
• “You've nothing to do and I do need a rest”  (Horton Hatches the Egg)
• “Would you like them here or there?” (Green Eggs and Ham)
• “Your Majesty. Please…I don’t like to complain.” (Yertle the Turtle)
• “What big eyes you have.” (Little Red Riding Hood)
• “Then I shall do it myself.” (Little Red Hen)
• “Someone’s been sitting in my chair.” (Goldilocks and the Three Bears)
• “…and he huffed...” (The Three Little Pigs)

(The ones in bold were said successfully.)



Ellie with mama Jill.

My brother does fantastic scavenger hunts, and I decided to follow in his footsteps for my other game. I came up with a list of 25 book themed items to hide around the living room. I had so much fun planning it and hiding things!!



The Piggywig's nose ring

Things hidden:

1. The Owl and Pussycat’s Runcible Spoon
2. Corduroy’s Button
3. The Hungry Caterpillar’s Leaf
4. Madeline’s Eiffel Tower
5. Winnie the Pooh’s Hunny Dipper
6. Harold’s Purple Crayon
7. The Hungry Caterpillar’s Strawberry
8. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom’s Letter “B”
9. Strega Nona’s Pasta
10. Goodnight Moon’s Red Balloon
11. Papa Bear’s Porridge
12.  The Little Engine (that could)
13.  Humpty Dumpty’s Shell
14. Francis’ Knife (for spreading jam, of course)
15. Mother Goose’s Feather
16. Jack’s Magic Bean
17. The Piggy-wig’s Nose Ring
18. The Mouse’s Milk Straw
19. Sam-I-Am’s Ham and Egg Plate
20. Mr. Macgregor’s Lucky Rabbit’s Foot
21. Sal’s Blueberry Pail
22. The Little Red Hen’s Grain of Wheat
23. Max’s Wild Thing Crown
24. The Three Pigs’ Brick
25. Fancy Nancy’s Necklace

The Owl and Pussycat's runcible spoon

Heidi also did a baby-themed scattergories game, which was fun.

Game prizes were little bundles of books tied with a ribbon and had a quote on top:

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents

 

For décor we had books and book-related toys on display (Heidi has a shelf above her dining table that was just perfect!).  Heidi made a book-page pennant/banner thing which added a lot and was super awesome. 

I made a "Little Red Hen" birdhouse (for my Mom, but we used it for the shower before I gave it to her). 

{bookshelf before}

I also made a little bookshelf to use on the food table.  I got it at a moving sale for $2 and then painted it.  Mr. Fox added trim, and I added a deco-paper backing.  I think it turned out cute, and added some extra fun to the food table.

(cutest photobomb EVER, little Owl.)

The shelf sat like this in the living room for a few days, and this was a common view. 
The babies both LOVED climbing on it!

(The food wasn't completely in place for this picture,
but it shows a view of the whole table area.)
{Bookshelf: after}

Each food referenced a specific book, and Jen made cute little book covers to clip next to the appropriate food.
 

 

 

 

The foods:

• Milk and Chocolate Chip Cookies .....If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• Pigs in a Blanket.................................The Three Little Pigs
• Fruit Salad..........................................The Hungry Caterpillar
• Swedish Fish......................................One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
• Mini Quiche.......................................Green Eggs & Ham
• Veggie Platter....................................Peter Cottontail
• Blueberries.........................................Blueberries for Sal
• Meatballs...........................................Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Heidi made  a super rich and delicious chocolate raspberry cake with an adorable mini-book-cover bunting strung up on top.  mmmm, it was so very good!

It was fun...both the preparation and the actual night.  Hooray for cute new babies (and hooray for fun parties!). 

Welcome to the world, Ellie and Logan!

Family Pictures

Last weekend we went to the Seattle Temple.  My sister and her husband were sealed to their newly adopted sons!  So exciting.  She'd asked if I'd snap a couple of pictures, since all of her family would be there.  In return she took some of my little family.

Here are the pictures of J's family:

 

Here are the pictures of my family:

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

There's a story with this one.  I'm not putting this on to make Grandma N feel bad...it was an honest mistake, one that Fox and I make from time to time as well...but it's just something interesting about Owl. 

So Owl is a thumb-sucker.  Otter started out as one, then Owl joined her, then Otter stopped.  So Owl is our only thumb-sucker now, and the only one that did it really for any long amount of time.  She's a comfort-seeker in general.  She likes to be cuddled up with a parent, or a blanket.  She likes to sleep and suck her thumb.  {Otter fights sleep, and will cry about her non-comfort.  Owl soothes herself}  Owl might need more soothing in general, since she's naturally a little more shy and she plays with her hair when she gets nervous about things. 

Ok, so Fox put Owl down for some of the pictures, and I think Grandma (I could be wrong about who) thought it'd be cute if Owl and Otter held hands.  Owl was sucking her thumb, so Grandma unplugged the thumb and tried to help the girls hold hands.  Owl started crying hysterically, and that's when this picture was taken.  I'm curious what Otter thought of it all.



all better.

 

I'm leaning towards #4 for above my fireplace.... The lighting is admittedly a bit wonky, but it was very backlit to start out (I photoshopped it to lighten it up).  What do you think?

 

Moose's giveaway winner...

is Rick!
Just kidding, I knew it was really Kendra.

Kendra won! 
Kendra, I'll bring over something spooky and swaggy...before Halloween, but how much before remains to be seen, ha ha!

My attempted photoshoot with Moose {and giveaway, because it's tradition}

So.  I wanted to get Moose's "birthday" photo shoot done before the weather got too yucky.  Friday was a beautiful day and a good available time.  I did have three other kids with me...Fox wasn't home yet, and Monkey was at a party, but the babies were sort of napping in their stroller, and Chick promised to be helpful (because they wanted to go to the playground after the pictures).  {The going out for goodies portion of the date will be on an upcoming day ... soon, since he wants to get ice cream and I don't want to eat ice cream in the cold!}

But Moose wasn't specifically groomed for photos.  And he's three.  And he's a boy.  Anyhow, I think I might need to take him in to a mall studio to guarantee that we'll have something for our wall.  I don't know...maybe I'll just say that these are good enough for this year.  He'll still be a three-year-old boy at a studio (but maybe he won't be a running, stick-waving blur in half of their pictures!). 

{By the way, what IS with him and sticks?!  He was playing with a stick in our family pictures last year too.  He's SUCH a boy.}



#1.  my sapling.

As a side note: I love the park that we were at. So lovely and forest-y.  I took Moose there last year too...I had planned to take him somewhere else for diversity sake, but then the kids were asking to go there for the playground.  They had such a great time exploring and studying nature that I don't regret the location...we'll go somewhere else next year.

#2

#3

#4

#5



#6 I can't even tell you how much I love this kid. 
He is frustrating and stubborn, but so loving and sweet too. 

#7

#8

ANYHOW.  I plan to attempt pictures of the babies soon...lets hope it goes better.
AND I do intend to update my blog...since all of July, August, and September is missing.  hmmm.  Within in the next week. 

 

 

Ok, I was thinking of skipping the giveaway this time since I still have yet to make the giveaway item for the winner of Chick's photo shoot....  But I'll work on that tonight.  SO I'll go ahead and do the giveaway again.  This time it'll be for something Halloween-y, and probably something garland-y.  Leave a comment telling me your favorite picture and why, and I'll pick the winner at random.

The contest ends on Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. (pacific time).