Baby Shower!

I have middle child syndrome. I know it. Brian knows it. That's why even though I didn't want or need a baby shower, the middle-child aspects of myself could not stand the thought that our baby wouldn't get a shower just for him when his two older siblings got baby showers. How then to satisfy this need for a shower when I knew it was a little ridiculous to have another one when I had everything I needed for this baby? I gave it some thought and decided it would be fun to have one with our little family, and we would just do a couple of little projects for our baby. So, I made an invitation, printed two copies, stuffed them into envelopes, addressed them to Michael and Rachel, and then delivered them:

 Michael was a little confused as to why I would invite him to a party at our own house, but that's okay. It was for Gabe.

We decided to have the party in between sessions of General Conference. Brian and I picked up balloons the night before, as well as some party favors to surprise the kids with. I made cupcakes and we had Mac & Cheese with apples for lunch. (And since it was a Saturday, Brian was down working in the basement, hence the work clothes).

 For one of our projects, we made a bookend to hold up all our board books. The kids and I had done some preliminary painting the day before,

but Michael added some stripes to the end stands,

We found this truck at the Wood Connection, and Brian cut it in half so that we could make it into bookends. Rachel and Michael painted the main colors, and I did touch up and a little detail work. Brian screwed the truck to the bookend boards (he also made the bookend boards). I love how it turned out:

 And it put the finishing touch on the baby's room. All set for some rocking and reading to our new little guy.

 After the bookends, we started on decorating some onesies. I had several fabrics to choose from and printed out 4 designs for the kids to do. They each picked a fabric and a design to make.

I manned the iron

  I let Michael cut his design out.

 Brian helped Rachel cut hers

 Ta Dah! Rachel picked the tie and the "scary owls"

 Michael did a whale cut out on whale fabric.

 Next, we let the kids open some presents that our neighbors were kind enough to give us. (I've been surprised how many people have given us things, even though I didn't have a shower).

The kids each got a little box full of glow in the dark as a thank you favor for coming to the baby shower. We ended just in time for the afternoon session of General Conference. I love how this shower turned out. We got to spend some good time as a family, and my middle-child syndrome is satisfied.