This weekend I went to a baby shower for a very special young woman.  When she was in college, she used to babysit for my kids, who adored her.  And now she’s having a baby of her own, and maybe next summer when my daughter is home from college she will babysit for her child.  (UPDATE:  She did.)  I felt like “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King should have been softly playing in the background.

 Beautiful baby mama

The women that hosted the shower make my crafting skills look like those of a kindergartener. Look at this fabulous tower of baby blocks:

Garlands graced the windows and fireplace:

And giant paper pinwheels decorated another fireplace:

There was a cute game, where you had to match candy bars to various pregnancy-related things, such as “Delivery Doctor (Butterfinger)” and “The Conception (Skor).”

But my favorite thing was the Make a Onesie table.  There were piles of new white onesies, in sizes ranging from 3 months to 1 year, and paints, stencils, and markers to create your own masterpiece for the new prince or princess (they chose not to find out the baby’s sex) (UPDATE:  It’s a boy!!):

As the onesies were completed, they were displayed on a clothesline:

My neighbor’s crab and my sheep

The creativity was evident in the food as well.  There were bowls of blue punch and pink punch:

Little paper cones tied with pink and blue ribbons to hold snack mixes (couldn’t stay away from the puppy chow mix):

There were, of course, cake pops:

Individual dirt cups:

Little glass votives holding individual portions of ranch dip and veggies:

Watermelon bassinette:

And these beautiful stuffed tomato tulips:

I dub these “Best Baby Shower Favor Ever” — cookie mix in a jar, made with pastel M&Ms, beribboned, with a pacifier glued on top:

It was a fabulous shower, and the mother-to-be received a lot of great gifts.  I was thrilled to be included, and am eagerly looking forward to the news of the delivery.  Having seen her kindness and patience with my children (her husband too, who helped out babysitting on one occasion and has a permanent place in my daughter’s heart), I know she is going to be a wonderful mom.  (UPDATE:  She is.)