a baby bash!

last night we hosted a double baby shower in the backyard for cassy tenney and rebecca cope, who are both expecting little ones soon. in fact, cassy is due any day now, so we had fingers crossed that her little boy would hold out long enough so she could attend. 

chris pressure washed the back porch and then hung lights over the yard last weekend. we have lights wrapped around the porch year round because it makes me happy, so he didn't have to add too many to really make things sparkle and glow for the party! he did so much to help me prepare for the bash and it made me happy to know that I'm married to someone who helps me accomplish things (even little things like a baby shower) that are important to me. anyways, here are some pictures!

it was an open house with a dessert bar. 

we had dark chocolate cake w/ dark chocolate frosting, salted caramel rice crispy treats, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, berries and cream cups, frosted sugar cookies, oreo truffles, chocolate chip cookies, and an apple brown sugar bundt cake with caramel cream cheese frosting. that apple cake was a big hit, but it almost didn't make it on the table! in fact, it almost didn't make it out of the pan. everything else was baked and frozen over the last 2 weeks so that i didn't have to worry about the food so much the day of. but i had never made the apple bundt cake before and i didn't know how it would do frozen, so i made it the morning of. 

i did not want it to stick in the pan, but i also didn't want it to be covered in flour on the outside because thats just ugly to look at. so i sprayed the pan a little more than normal and hoped it would work. it didn't. so the lesson is, don't try to hide something ugly because it will only end up worse :)

after texting the professionals (my mom and sisters), i decided not to scrap it, but to try covering it with thick frosting and a caramel drizzle.... of course, i ran out of frosting in the back, but at that point i was over it and didn't care anymore, so on the table it went and everyone that tried it said they loved it. here is the finished cake, from a distance its not too bad ;)

the party from 7:30-8:30, and i was surprised when i looked at my watch and it was 10 with people still there chatting. i think everyone had a great time and I'm glad i could help rebecca and cassy have a fun girls night before their babies arrive.

my favorite part of the evening was the clean up at 10:30. maybe it was because the stress was over, but i think it was the combination of coldplay serenading us in the background while the kids ran as fast as their legs could carry them under a sky full of twinkling lights, laughing so hard with their heads thrown back. i hope they remember their late night forever because it was magical for me.