A baby shower tea to welcome Ezra!

On Saturday, family and friends gathered in Tallapoosa for a bridal shower tea to help my niece Cari (and hubby Blake) celebrate baby Ezra, who is expected to arrive later this month. He will be my first great-nephew, and I can't wait to meet him because it's been a while since we've had a baby in this family! Cari received lots of lovely gifts, but I must say that my favorite was the bandabibs, which are bandanna-style baby bibs for little boys. So cute!

My sister and I split the menu, which we have discovered makes things so easy for both of us. Rhonda made cucumber and pimiento cheese finger sandwiches, cheese straws, and mini cupcakes, and I made shortbread, chocolate-peanut butter truffles, mini quiches, and punch.

I thought her mini cupcakes were so cute!

And I finally got around to using a cookie stamp set that I bought a few years ago, and I used it to stamp the "Ezra" shortbread cookies.

Even though I brought loose tea and teapots, I had a feeling no one would want hot tea since it was nearly 100 degrees here on Saturday (and I was correct), but fortunately, the Peach Tea Punch (and even the Milo's Sweet Tea that I used to make it) met with everyone's approval.

Sliced strawberries and grapes were a hit as well, and I think it's always a good idea to have fruit on the tea table (plus it's pretty).

Watching Cari open all of those adorable baby outfits made it seem even more real that our little Ezra is about to join the family, and whether he prefers outfits with footballs or teddy bears or dinosaurs or Star Wars on them, I have a feeling this little guy is always going to be greeted with lots of love!