Baby Shower on a Rainy Day. Appropriate?

My friends Dee and Chris are expecting a baby in early November. It's Dee's second child but Chris's first one. That's why we thought Chris especially, would appreciate a celebration of the birth. The baby is a boy whom will be named Ian Christopher. Awwww..... So preparations were made by myself and 4 other girlfriends to host a shower for them.

Our party planning began a couple months ago. Discussion pertained at first, to the invites. We wanted to have a photo taken of Dee and her baby belly, with the hand of Chris and her son Dillon, shaping a heart over it and baby Ian. Dee was fine with that until she knew it was for the invitations. She wasn't comfortable with having people seeing her bare belly. No problem. The pictures were a gift to her instead set into a collage picture frame. Other invites were then sent out a few weeks prior to the shower.
Five of us girls planned out the date, Saturday, September 25TH, and then began discussions for the menu. I was going to make Beer Bread into a bread bowl with Spinach and Herb dip, and also supply the punch cups and eating utensils. Others would provide BBQ meatballs, a vegetable tray, punch, meat and cheese tray, plates and the home for the party! Tammy was going to make cupcakes that were actually part of the cute cake. The detailed top of the cake was ordered from a lady that has a cake-making business out of her home. And she's quite reasonable for what we requested! I ended up being in charge of finding a person to make it. Mission accomplished.....
Last week on Monday, Tammy and I got together here at my house and we made cream cheese mints. We were well behaved and didn't eat more than a couple each during the entire process. I was proud of us.
We had it at my friend Brenda's house. She has lots of space and we were only expecting about 20 people. That morning I went to pick up the cake. The lady that made it, Carol Smolsky, only lives about 6 blocks from Brenda's house. It was awesome to be so close and very convenient. Less chance of something happening en route during delivery of the cake! I took it to Brenda's house and put it in the fridge. It had fondant on it and would start to melt if left out too long. Then I went home to finish my goodies that I had started earlier that morning. I still needed to cut up the bread and make the bread bowl. Then I just had to load everything that I had gathered together, into a box for transporting and get ready for the party.
After arriving at Brenda's house about an hour early, we set up the cake and cupcakes. I had brought with me a 2 tiered glass-plated stand for the mints. It was put together and the mints were loaded onto the plates. They were colored to match the cake and cupcakes. Baby blue, white and red. The cupcakes were chocolate and red velvet. The top of the cake was chocolate.
Brenda made the punch; it consisted of pineapple juice, Seven-Up and Pineapple sherbet. She sliced up a pineapple and placed them around the top of the bowl for garnish. Very refreshing, very easy and so delicious! Everything else just needed to be placed on the counter and then we'd be ready for the party to begin.
During the shower, we played a couple of games. One of them had our guests and Dee herself, draw a picture of a baby on a paper plate. However, they had to do the drawing while they held the plate on top of their head! No peaking! Then Dee got to look through them and decide which one was the best.

Here is Dee trying her best to sketch out her rendition of a baby.

Enjoying all the goodies.

Brenda in her kitchen. We took over with all the preparations! The mints are on the left and next to that is the bread bowl that I made. The punch bowl didn't have the pineapple slices on it yet, obviously.

And last but not least, the cute little cake top!

Here is the entire set up.

After everyone loaded up a plate of food, we played the games and then had Dee open her gifts. The five of us girls went in together and bought from the registration list at Baby's" R" Us, a bassinet that Chris and Dee had picked out. They received lots of cute little outfits and necessities as well.

We've seen the ultra-sound pictures of Ian. It's amazing how clear the pictures are. We can actually see his face and features! He looks like his Daddy! I can't wait to meet him in person!

Even though the weather on Saturday started out very dreary and rainy, before we went home, it was a beautiful sunny evening and the temps had warmed up considerably. Perfect.

Raging Skies

The weather here in Omaha is strange. One hour it's a gorgeous sunny day and just a few hours later storm clouds are rolling in and people are being warned of the impending dangerous weather! But I can't remember having a severe thunderstorm warning in September in years past. It's typically a bit more calm at this time of year.
But tonight, the TV was beeping every few minutes to get the attention of its viewers and warning everyone of the fury of Mother Nature that was sure to arrive. I had just been out on my deck enjoying the warm evening air, grilling my steaks and looking forward to the season finale of "Big Brother" and the season premier of "Survivor: Nicaragua" when the alerts were popping up on the TV screen.
I checked the skies towards the northwest and sure enough, the clouds were off in the distance and very dark in color. The breeze had settled into complete stillness. You could here every bird chirping, kids playing in the distance and cars on streets that I wouldn't normally notice.

As I stood in my front yard taking pictures, I saw other neighbors standing outside their homes checking the sky as well. The storm clouds were moving in very quickly and if I just stood and watched them, I could literally see them rolling and drifting ever closer to my area. The sky appeared to be on fire. The sun was setting behind the clouds and as they moved eastward and away from the horizon, the sun lit them up like a torch. It seemed as if a fire was burning somewhere and the flames were reflecting off the clouds above. Within seconds, a breeze began to blow and the sounds of it moving through trees was getting louder. At this point, I decided to take down hanging decor from or around my house; such as my wind chimes and the items that had been adorning my railing. Before I had it all done, the wind was pretty strong.

The clouds are moving in.




It got dark so quickly that the street lights came on.

The sky appears to be on fire over my neighbor's home!

Beautiful....

Here it comes!! The clouds were hanging very low.

There had been reports from communities just to the west of Omaha, that the wind had been blowing at 65 MPH. It must have settled considerably before it hit my house. It was windy but it wasn't nearly that bad! It also passed through as fast as it arrived. Before I knew it, the skies were clear. And even though it was dark, I was able to go out and put things back where they were. The temperature dropped a little bit as well. But that's to be expected after a thunderstorm. One thing's for sure......Omaha never has a dull moment where the weather is concerned!