our baby shower: baby-que

On the 31st of May, a rather hot day in Burbank, we had a few friends over to celebrate with us. My girls Michelle and Man-D did all the creative bits and Ambre helped with execution. I provided the locale, tables & chairs via a vendor, and whatever things the girls needed like drink dispensers and utensil holders that I already had on hand due to my insanity of always being ready to throw a party. The girls totally transformed our home & backyard into a sweet place for a baby BBQ.

The driveway was wide open and people came and went as they pleased inside and outside the house.

Man-D made a bunch of these beautiful garlands out of fabric and man, garlands make all the difference for a party. I mean seriously, so great.

The backyard looked so full of life with you know, furniture in it. I'm afraid it looks rather barren at the moment but hopefully in July when the new outdoor furniture arrives it'll thrive a little more.

Casual and colorful was the vibe which is 100% me. I am crazy about color. I know I know, black and white and grey are my most purchased pieces of furniture but that's just so I can add a lot of color into the spaces with accessories and such. 

The girls used mason jars and wrapped them in burlap and put pretty flowers and pinwheels in them.

The bar area came in handy once again. It's such a cute station.

Favors table.

The girls had this really cute little box where they put some cake pops in.

They were straight out of wonderland with some red roses. I allowed myself one rose.

How cute is this little scene?

Oh wait, it just got cuter. Claire looks like she could be Ambre's kid in this picture.

Michelle had a bunch of these balls and said I dunno what we can do with them and I said, I know! I had just pinned something with those very things. Done.

I requested no games. I said I was fine with "an activity" but I really hate shower games so Michelle came up with a decorating onsies and burp cloth idea. 

They were displayed on the lovely wall my husband and father in law built once completed.

And surprisingly, we have some very creative friends. A friend from our community ground straight up drew an Alice in Wonderland white rabbit. I mean… look at it!

They ran with the wonderland theme and we got a few cool pieces for our girl out of it.

It was such a cute idea. Not only does it spiff up a plain onesie but now they're special and we'll think of the special people who made them. The one on the left: chains. As in Alice in Chains.

The games were so unnecessary. We had a great group of people that mingled about on their own and didn't require forced socialization.

We did learn a valuable lesson though. From now on, summertime outdoor parties at our house will begin around 4pm, not end then. It's just a little bit hot.

We did remember to snag a photo of the two of us at some point in between the mingling.

And captured some other lovely faces as well.

We opened gifts once most everyone had left, it felt much more relaxed that way (though I have to make a big show at the next shower of opening the presents since it's the family one and I have family coming in from Mexico for that one).

So a special shout out to my muchachas for all their hard work (well, three of them anyway). And for funsies, here's a compare and contrast photo of the five of us when I was three months pregnant...

And then at eight months pregnant. Would you look at that, we're all standing in the same place.

My love for you all, much like my belly, has grown exponentially over the past 14 years.