"Baby Shower / Come Visit Time"

    Several of our friends had commented about either a. or b. .  a.) was that they hadn't seen Byron and Cyndi since the Michigan Reception, and thus also had never seen Analyse (except via my posted pictures).  b.) was that they had seen them, but mainly only from glimpses when the kids were at church, but that they hadn't really talked to them, seeings how they were always surrounded by family (two of my (Cheryl's) siblings and all of their now grown children attend the same church).
   Just like we had done our own "Christmas" with our little family, it had been voted on to do our own "Easter" as well.  This year, Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) had been the selected date.
   Brian and I had decided that that weekend would also be the perfect opportunity to invite some of our friends to something, so that they could have a chance to both see and visit with our out of state kids. Seeings how before she was born, they had know Analyse was going to be a girl, most all of their infant stuff is "girlie". But this time they are having a boy, so we went with a baby shower as the basis of our get together.

    I made the invites myself. I sort of told about them  HERE.  I thought I'd show you what they looked like.

     Our 'plan' was to keep the party casual and simple.

     We kept the decorations simple by using my blue and white checkered table cloths on the main food table, a plastic pink table cloth on the dessert and beverage table, and a few pink and blue balloons here and there. (Analyse and Marly Jo [Kayla's niece who is two months younger than Analyse] found great enjoyment in playing with a few of the balloons!)
     In the middle of the main food table, we put a glass vase with silk off white football mums - Cyndi's favorite kind of flower ;-). Coming up out of the bouquet, was one pink and one blue balloon.
    
      Neither Cyndi nor I like shower games, for a multitude of reasons. But Kayla said that we had to have a game. Brian suggested just a simple answer the questions game, with some of the questions being about our kids, and others being silly questions thrown in just for the fun of it.  As I thought of them, I jotted them down. Here's what I came up with:
1.) Which of our sons is Cyndi married to?    [Byron]
2.) Which of our sons is Kayla engaged to?  [Brent]
3.) Which of our other two sons does Brian want Kate to marry?  [either  o;-p]
4.) What is Analyse's middle name?  [Christine]
5.) If a baby is born ON it's due date, from the time of conception, how long was the pregnancy?   [nine months]
6.) If the mother is carrying twins, is the pregnancy then twice as long?  [no, it just seems that way]
7.)  What children's TV character does Analyse get to watch an episode of before nap and bed time?   [Elmo]
8.) Where exactly do Byron and Cyndi live?  [_____]
9.) If 2 + 2 are 4 and 4 plus 4 are 8, what was it Little Miss Muffet' ate?  [curds and whey]
10.) What two words does this grandma often use when describing Analyse?  [adorable imp]
11.) If  o/~ I love you and you love me o/~  what kind of  o/~ fam-i-ly o/~  does that make us?  [happy]

    There were two winners. They both got a long shopping list / note pad, with a magnet on the back.
    Cyndi was suppose to get a T-shirt. Yes, 'suppose to'. I know it's in this house somewhere... it just wasn't where I was sure it was... 8-/   A-n-y-ways, it's a M+M's (TM) T-shirt, which states "I'm the nutty one".  I thought it would make a wonderful maternity shirt. ;-)

   Everybody was then instructed to help themselves to the food. Everybody all at once, no this person having to go first. However, once they got their food, they were to sit with somebody whom they either didn't know at all, or somebody they knew, but seldom got a chance to talk to. They did, and we heard later that many of them had enjoyed it. :-)

    What did we serve?  Here's the list.  I'll be doing postings down the road  for most of the items.
    ~ two (2) types of Cheese-Balls - the cheesier one was rolled in real bacon bits, the other in chopped pecans.  (By 'cheesier', I mean that it contained more cheese, not the other kind of 'cheesy'! o;-p)
    ~ Three (3) kinds of crackers: Town House (TM), Wheat Thins (TM) and Triscuit (TM).  (No recipes will be posted later for these  ;-p)
    ~ Fresh Veggies: Red and Green Pepper strips, Broccoli, Califlower, Carrots, Mushrooms, Green Onions.
    ~ My mom's recipe for Veggie Dip.
    ~ Fresh Fruits: Apples, Bananas, Musk Melon, Watermelon.
    ~ was suppose to be fruit dip, but I forgot to bring quite enough cream cheese along, so it was just marshmallow creme. 8-/
   ~  Veggie Pizza
   ~ Chocolate Cupcakes with a blue peanut M+M (TM) on top.
   ~ Unsweetened Ice Tea (with a bowl of sugar nearby) and Strawberry Lemonade.

     Here's a picture of some of the food.

     As instructed, our sons then arrived on the scene. After all, our friends wanted to see Byron too.  Together, Byron and Cyndi opened most of the gifts. But lots of our friends had brought gifts for Ms. Analyse as well, and they let her open those.

    All in all, it was a fun time. In the future, like once a year, or at the least every other year, we plan on hosting 'come visit with all of us' parties, so that our friends can 'see' our family.