Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Celebrations


For me, taking a close-up photo of a snowflake is a way of giving praise and thanks to the Creator for His marvelous snowflake handiwork.
A billion snowflakes fell today, without notice or praise. 
 This one...just happened to land sideways on the leaf of a potted primrose.


The sideways standing snowflake from a bit further away.
How I happened to notice it, I don't recall.  It was out on our deck, where I had placed the plant to catch some sunlight yesterday. 
I had forgot to bring it back inside before the snow began to fall.
Carelessness on my part served me well in this case.
In fact, a photographic celebration was in order!

A different kind of celebration happened on Sunday afternoon.
A marvelous creation is being made in a secret place...a child is being made and a place has been prepared for his care.

Thirty two years ago next week, another child was born. 
His birth announcement plaque now hangs above a rocking chair on the wall of his soon to be born son's nursery.

(Said now adult son added one item to the nursery decoration.  He felt the room needed a "guy" element.  Hardly anything is more "guy" than James Dean in cowboy attire).

For the celebrational event of a baby shower:
A banana pudding cheesecake.
Southern Living magazine always makes me race to the kitchen to try out another of their amazing recipes. 
This recipe...oh I wouldn't DARE make it for just the two of us.
It would be perfect to make to take to a party however.
I meant to slice and set aside a slice for Bernie to take home from the party...but the guests had devoured the whole thing before I remembered my plan!
Yes those are vanilla wafers around the edge and chopped up on top.  Bananas are mixed into the cheesecake batter and the crust is made from vanilla wafers, pecans and butter.

Banana pudding needs whipping cream too, right?
And a few more banana slices and vanilla wafers for garnish too.

The shower was held at our son's house...a crowd of over twenty meant their house worked best for the event hosted by friends who clearly know how to set a spread of goodies.
Mother-to-be Rachel looks relaxed and happy doesn't she?

Secretly I hope Luke arrives in March, like his father and grandmother have, so he will have daffodils as his birthflower.

Seeing daffodils in bloom have always meant birthday celebrations were afoot to our family!

Gifts, gifts and more gifts!





It was so sweet to see all the baby things being examined by the mother-to-be.



We all agreed that the soft textiles of babydom would be super nice if they could be found in grown up people sized blankets and such.
A special gift:  A professional pregnancy photo, taken at the start of the eighth month of prenancy.

A second photo session is scheduled for after Luke arrives.  The same pose will be taken again with the same top, only this time Rachel will be holding Luke in front of her tummy, instead of inside.

I think the photographer photographed her most gracefully. 

 
There was a consensus that everyone at the party wanted a whale bath faucet cover too.

Good to know for when one is stumped for a gift idea...


The doggie was a crib pal that lived in the crib at my parent's house.   The crib was taken down, under protest from Jeff, when he was four years old.  He DID remember the yellow pup!

A single shower game:  Rachel was invited to match up baby pictures of her guests.
There were a couple of "ringers" who were not actually present...and more than half of the guests were not able to bring a photo at all, which made guessing actually more difficult.

Go ahead and guess which of the photos is of me, which is of my mom, and which is a photo of Jeff and which is Rachel...
+
+
+
  +_



#3 is me

#4 is Jeff

#5 is Rachel

#11 is my mom.

Don't you love the Dad in picture #9?
Very Magnum, PI don't you think???

13 comments:

ellen b. said...

Well I guessed your mom correctly. Looks like a very lovely shower and that baby got some great gifts. Love the pregnancy shots and the idea of taking another after baby comes...cool.

Vee said...

Okay, first of all, that snowflake...wowzer!

I don't know who any of you are, though if I didn't know better, I'd say that #6 was my daughter. Ha!

What a wonderful party! Everyone worked hard to create a good time with generous gifts, delicious food, and good company. This child is going to be one blessed little boy who will surely be born in March. Surely!

Pondside said...

That cake - oh my goodness, but it sounds decadent to me, even though I have no idea what such a banana pudding would taste like. The shower looks like it was a lot of fun- and what a pretty DIL you have!

Vicki said...

Rachel looks gorgeous! Young Luke's new room looks sweet, ready for all those new gifts and for its new occupant. (March 29th is a very special birthday to a little guy who'd love to share it with another special little guy!)

Amazing photo of that snowflake!!

Banana pudding cheesecake? Did I overlook that recipe? I'll have to make sure our cheesecake specialist gets that recipe...and perhaps we'll get to try it later this month. :)

Kathie said...

Fun!! Thanks for the baby shower game idea - we're having a shower for Kathleen on Mar 11th and I was trying to think of some fun activities to do.

Love the banana pudding dessert too!

And the snowflake shot - what lens did you use Jill? I'd like to try that too.

xo

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

You saw that snowflake because it was waving at you with it's little snowflake arms up in the air and saying "over here, over here" in its little snowflake voice! I can see it doing just that in the photos.

Looks like baby is well stocked now for his arrival. Rachel is beautiful.

So is that cake ;-)

Lorrie said...

The snowflake, yummy food, the baby! All such wonderful gifts from God! I bet you can hardly wait to hold that sweet little one in your arms.

Kathy said...

God's creations...each unique, From snowflakes to a precious child....God our creator always amazes me. I'm delighted for you Jill...soon to be grandma.

Julie said...

Congratulations, Jill... I love your snowflake photos .. pristine!
And a precious little bundle of joy to join your family ! Such a miracle!

Raghavendra said...

wow, very nice.
told the story through pictures!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

The snowflake looked like a beautiful necklace pendant! It was so large and shiny.

The banana cream cheesecake looks scrumptious! I shall have to see if that recipe is online.

Your daughter-in-law is absolutely glowing! How exciting it is to be close to welcoming your grandson into the world. Best wishes to all!

Dawn said...

Jill~
So happy that the time is drawing closer to the day when you welcome that first grand baby!
Nothing like it!
My first grandson was born on April 1st. No foolin'. Poor guy endures that joke every year! :P
Must tell you that we also had a Cabbage Patch kid named Leland!
My twinnie boys each had one and Jessica had two of them.
Good memories.
Now...my littles play with the CP Kids.
Your Rachel is just lovely.
Looks like a wonderful celebration.
D :)

Marg said...

What a wonderful post...
Looks like the big day is coming soon and you will join the ranks of some of us others.
And we have no control over that, it just grows on us...in more than one way.
How exciting...but that snowflake still has me puzzled. Some great shots.