We had a great day for a baby shower in Nederland! This was a COED party and a good crowd of folks showed up to help celebrate the soon coming of little Phoenix (special thanks to our hostess Kelly, who appears in the red sweater).
Our good friends (Dan and Mary - not pictured... had to leave before the camera was unleashed) are the owners of Redstone Catering and they provided a FAT spread of grub for the day... as you can see in the first photo, the chicken/artichoke skewers are nearly gone... if only we had a photo of the entire spread.
Of course, we had a 5 gallon keg of New Belgium 2-Below winter ale on tap and some vino for the drinkers of the red & white stuff.
...that reminds me, if you don't see a photo of yourself, don't be offended... the beer contributed to a slight level of fuzziness that seemed to transfer into most photos taken that day.
One of our favorite things about the shower was the
CANDLE BLESSING ...
Each couple or individual painted a candle with a special blessing for Phoenix. They then gave us the blessing out loud and lit the candle. This was really cool.
Ms. Holly with a blessing of the shooting star (Hale-Bopp specific)
Olga's candle holds a blessing of love, sharing, flexibility and openness
...and Captain Bly provides a heartfelt blessing for all digits... with an emphasis on opposable thumbs. Very nice.
At the end of the blessings, I gave a "thank you" kindofa closing prayer and then Tina and I blew them all out to seal in good mojo for a later date.
The candles will be relit when we go into labor so that we are reminded of each blessing for Phoenix who will be blessing us very shortly!
Many photos, double click on each to getta larger image. Scroll on down...
Jana... the never ending giver of gifts. She wasn't allowed to bring anything to the shower, but she ignored us 
Leyla, providing a full on blessing for the entire family
Right to left: Erin, Mary and Gary... 
INTUITION: Sorry to interrupt you Tina, but is there a beer (Jeff) hovering over my head? 
Hmmmmmm... tastes alot like chicken 
Presentation of the gift of flight from Tony and Holly
Ooooooo... Lemme touch it, lemme TOUCH IT! 
Matt and Jill... and the Bear, and Kevin, and Russell (our beheaded host) 
Kim comes through with The Blessing of the BOOBS. Thank you Heller!! 
"Give Peas a Chance" ... words to live by!