Entering the Woodlands

My cousin, Wendy, and I hosted my sister's family shower at Wendy's house this past weekend.  To be honest, (besides desserts) all I had to do was show up.  Wendy is a wonderful party planner and it is always a joy to be in her home.  She had the place decked out and you really felt like you were entering woodlands when you arrived.

Glittered toadstools adorned tables.

This is my granny's "hutch-a-ma-call-it" in the background.  I think it looks lovely in Wendy's dining room and it always makes me reminiscent when I see it.

Isn't the glittered gnomie cute?  My sister really loves glitter even though her husband practically forbids it in their house... so it was so nice of Wendy to "sacrifice" and decorate with glitter for Elisabeth's shower. ;)

Then there was the food: yum!  Whenever Wendy and her husband, Jason cook it's a wonderful treat.

There was a southern shrimp dip, roast beef in spinach tortilla rolls (with pepper jelly), and a crab souffle that was scrumptious!

We were also lucky enough to talk my cousin, Emily into bringing her spinach pesto... one of these days we're going to talk her into blogging about it!

Okay, desserts.  I had a hard time making up my mind and then I decided one may not be enough so I made a few things.

Pine cone cakes: Orange almond cakes drizzled with chocolate ganache and covered with toasted almonds.

Mint Chocolate Ice-cream Log Roll: broken chocolate pieces created a bark and then I embellished it with the leaves Diego and I worked on last week.

And Meringue Mushrooms: In a basket this time... to eat as candy.

I think Elisabeth enjoyed the food.

This pictures is especially for Angie, who has been asking for a belly picture for a while.  (Elisabeth's belly is cute and smaller than mine... I've been asked several times if I'm farther along.  I'm not.  She's due 3 months before me.  Such is my life.)

Elisabeth walked away with a lot of great gifts... we have such generous and loving family and friends.  We are very blessed to be a part of family who we also consider to be some of our best friends!

Elisabeth received lots of diapers... of the disposable variety.  (Praise God!)

Boudreaux's Butt Paste... which is as much about the packaging (to my graphic designer sister) as it is the actual paste.

A sweet panda sweater from our sister-in-law, Jessica, who lives in Florida and couldn't be with us.

A fun little hedgehog puppet from our momma.

And did you guess right?  I had to purchase the mushroom rattle for Baby Owens... it was too cute!

But the best part of the day was being surrounded with so many ones we love!

Here's my cousin, Emily with her little one, Evie, and her mama, Lesa.  I'm always struck by the remarkable similarities between the three generations when I see them together.  They are just beautiful!

Eliana was in the middle of everything and demanded to inspect each gift for quality.

My cousin and hostess, Wendy, my aunt, Andrea, Elisabeth, my aunt, Nine (Diane to the rest of the world) and her grand daughter, Nataleigh. 

What a blessing it was to be with everyone and to spend so much time laughing and enjoying each others company.  Thank you to all who came to be a part of Elisabeth's special day!