This past weekend my mom and I hosted my sister’s baby shower. My sister is probably the last of all her close friends to have a baby so her circle of peeps has been to their fair share of baby showers. Baby and Bridal Showers in general carry the worst stigma ever. Most girls look forward to their own bridal and/or baby shower their whole lives yet most women complain about having to go. For some it’s 3 hours of ok food, cheesy games and small talk. For others it’s a reminder that they aren’t advancing in ways their friends are. And for others a baby shower is smack dead in the middle of the weekend they’ve been looking forward to since Monday morning.  Old people on the other hand, love them. I personally enjoy them/don’t really have any gripes about them.

Any who, when it came time to plan my sister’s baby shower I thought I’d try something different. First, I wasn’t sure who made the executive decision that showers needed to be from 12-4 or 1-5  so I threw that out the window and opted for a 5 pm shower. I wanted it to feel like happy hour. Then I thought what do the gals that don’t like showers want at a shower… They want booze and an excuse to wear a cute outfit. I decided to host the shower at my parents house and call it “Poppin bottles in the crib” …. A little play on words for “bottle” and “crib” (just in case that wasn’t clear). To take things one step further we added  “diapers, dudes and beer ” for my brother- in- law in the basement. We got beers, told the guys to bring diapers and let them watch sports. Let’s be honest, the guys need a little love to!

Then since my sister is a teacher and loves books we decided to run with the book theme. We started by making cocktails that coincided with classic Children’s book

• James and the Giant Peachtini
• Harold and the Purple Cocktail
• Johnny Crown Apple Seed
• If you Give a Mouse a Glass of Red
• Winnie The Pooh and a Glass of White too

We hired a bartender and he served up these drinks to the ladies.

Now food, the most important…

Appetizers, we planned pass hor d’oeuvres that had both a happy hour feel and an appetizer feel.

• Moon shaped sandwiches {Book: Goodnight moon}
• Flavored popcorn {Book: Hop on Pop}
• Lobster Mac and Cheese {Book: L is for Lobster}
• Swedish meatballs { Book: Cloudy with a chance of meatballs}

Dinner was in reference to one of of the most classic quotes from Where The Wild Things Are, “And into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him…and it was still hot”

• The Meal: Hot soup in a bread bowl

Dessert, My favorite

• Home made banana bread {Book: Curious George}
• Milk and Cookies { Book:If you give a mouse a cookie}
• Cake {Book: A very hungry caterpillar }
• Cupcakes {Book: Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus}

Favors were gummy words, AKA “Bookworms”

And a couple added touches:

This little baby my sister can have any day now will be the first niece or nephew for my siblings & the first grandchild for my parents. Needless to say we are all beyond excited for this little bundle too arrive. So excited to the point that as my sister and her husband were opening gifts the next afternoon we all snagged items and made piles for our own homes for when the baby stays with each of us. I mean my husband and I have already dedicated majority of our guest room to this baby. Basically the kid has 5 nurseries right now.

I’ve always pictured myself being the coolest aunt in the world as I’m sure everyone does. I have been excited for my sister to have kids for my whole life, literally. And now that she IS having a baby I feel like I’m having a baby too because I know how much that baby is going to mean to me and how much of my free time I will dedicate to him or her.

Because of this I never did picture myself crying at my sister’s baby shower. But I did. I cried a lot this weekend. And as a side affect, I ate even more. I ate my feelings beyond belief yesterday. This morning as my husband and I were walking to Starbucks on the way to work I told him I was actually sore from eating so much. I’m almost positive I finished an entire jumbo bag of red Swedish fish alone. The feelings of being insanely happy for my sister and insanely sad about my losses at the exact same time are hard to deal with, so every cupcake from that caterpillars body that I ate helped numb the turmoil inside me.

But this weekend reminded me that everyday is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. This book helps to introduce the fact that weather changes and people need to be prepared for the worst of times. And in extreme cases sometimes people must leave their homes because of dangerous weather conditions and in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, they show just that.  The town leaves Chewandswallow for a new land where they will be safe.

If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn’t it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you’d have no choice. What if you didn’t like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?

This is true in all aspects of life. We can be squashed by a giant pancake when we least expect it. But we must get up and find ways to make ourselves safe. Protect ourselves from any and everything that falls from the sky. We can either dance in the meatball rain or wait the storm.

I’m going to dance in the rain to the beat of being an Aunt. Now hurry up and Get here Baby R! I can’t wait to meet you!!!