A twin baby shower

This weekend, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Barb, who is having twin girls in 6 weeks (or sooner!).  I love cooking and making things, so I was excited to spend my last bit of maternity leave working on a special day for a good friend!

The shower was at 10:30, so I decided to serve brunch.  I made sausage and cheese breakfast casseroles, banana bread, yogurt parfaits, fruit salad, mini chocolate cupcakes and chocolate dipped pretzels.  (Check back for future blogs about how I made the diaper cake and chocolate covered giraffe pretzels!)

I also had a "Cravings Corner" full of all the foods Barb has been craving.  Some of her cravings over the last 7 months have been...

Honey Bunches of Oats with raisins and 2% milk
Strawberries
Diet Caffeine Free Coke
Cheeseburgers
Donuts
Chips with Ranch Dip

It was a huge hit with Barb and the rest of the guests.  Who knew burgers went so well with brunch?

Since the party consisted of groups of people from lots of different "friend circles", I decided to make name tags.  Sticky-backed "My Name Is..." name tags wouldn't do, so I decided to make some tiny onesie tags for everyone to wear.

I drew a onesie on a piece of paper, cut it out, and traced the template onto three shades of pink paper.  Then I traced a slightly smaller version of the onesie on white paper and taped them on each other.  All that was left was writing names on them and hanging them on the clothesline!

I hung a line beside the cravings corner table with two newborn onesies and the name tags (held by clothespins) so everyone could find their tag as they came in.  They attached them to their tops using the clothespin!  Super cute.

We had a great time chatting, eating, opening presents, and making the soon-to-be family of four a "wish tree".  We made one of these at my friend Laci's baby shower, and I loved the idea.  Everyone writes things they're excited for the girls to experience as they grow up and/or wishes for them on leaves.  After they share with the group, we put them on a tree to go in their nursery!  We left a lot of room for other family members and friends to add experiences and wishes as well.

Check back for a later blog on how to make this!

Barb and Dave already hung it in their nursery!  Doesn't it look great?

The girls and their mamma were thoroughly celebrated and Barb even got to practice holding two babies, Owen and Alice (my friend Robyn's little girl, who was born 3 weeks after Owen).

Dave's mom made two beautiful blankets for the girls!

Who knew the belly would be a great baby holder?

Practicing a baby in each arm!  We just couldn't figure out how she'd put one of them down...

Everyone went home with a chocolate-dipped marshmallow rattle at the end of the shower!  (Again...check back for the how-to.)

I can't wait to meet these little girls!

Photo Booth Pictures from a Fun Wedding

Happy Friday!  I thought it would be fun to share some of the fun pictures from a recent wedding we went to for our friends Jenn and Sean.  The wedding reception was one of the most fun I've been to - fantastic food, great music, good friends, and my first experience with a photo booth at a wedding!  They had lots of props - boas, hats, glasses, masks, water guns...all the makings for some seriously silly pictures!

All of these pictures are from the photographer's website (with permission to share).  Check'em out if you get a chance!

As my friend Bailey's boyfriend says, "Quite silly...mmmmm?"

Here are some of the other fun things we did that weekend - the wedding & our hotel, Saratoga Springs, and Cooperstown NY!

Have you ever played in a photo booth before?

Some Fun Things Lately - Apple Picking, Ann's Party, Boston Globes, and Toby's New Friend

September was a crazy busy month for me.  I feel like we only had a handful of nights that we weren't off doing something, which made for a lot of fun...but has left me exhausted and fighting a cold!  I've told you about a lot of the fun things we did already, like visit the largest antique fair in the world and go to Saratoga Springs and Cooperstown, NY, but today thought I'd share a few snippits from other awesome things we did last month!

Ann's birthday was a few weeks ago, and our friend Betsy threw her a beautiful dinner party with a bunch of us girls.  It was SUCH a fun night.  I love hanging out with the husbands there, but there's something special about girl time.  Agreed?  We had a great time eating yummy food and hanging out all evening.  Betsy has a beautiful home and is an entertainer extraordinare.  Check out her beautiful fall appetizer display below - she used a large basket and layered wooden boxes to add height, tossed in some pumpkins, and even included some flowers and a cabbage.  I brought dessert: gluten free cupcakes and homemade nutella ice cream.  Happy birthday, dear friend!

Last week I shared my lasagna recipe that I made for a group of our friends after we went apple picking.  What I didn't share with you were any pictures from the first half of the day!

Honey Pot Hill Orchard is easily our favorite place to go apple picking in the Boston area.  It's about 45 minutes west of Boston and seems to have an endless amount of apple trees, hay rides, hedge mazes, farm animals, pumpkins, and yummy cider donuts.  All the makings of a perfect fall day!

The next day we had dinner with our neighbors, Paul and Ali.  We're so lucky to live next door to some of the coolest people.  Dinner was at their house and featured their homemade pesto that they made from their garden.  Seriously good!

After dinner, Ali got one of their guinea pigs (Bolt) out of the cage and we decided to see if Bolt and Toby would get along.  I was terrified Toby would think he was a toy, so we took things slowly.  Toby wasn't sure what Bolt was at first...he rarely sees animals smaller than him (besides squirrels)!  After checking him out from afar (picture number 1), Toby walked across the table and lightly "booped" Bolt on the top of the head.  Then Bolt licked Toby's face and they rubbed faces.  Success!!

We've played (and won) a lot of trivia lately.  Last week our team name was "The Intellectual Q-Tips"  to go with our head gear for the evening.  Poor Ann had to wear a head wrap to cover a 3 day electrode test, so Barb and I wrapped our heads in solidarity.  Laugh if they want....we won.  :)

The final random fun thing I wanted to share is one of the cool art installations happening in Boston right now.  There are 26 globes lining the Tremont Street edge of Boston Common that are part of the "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet" show that travels the world.  Each globe was designed by a different artist and covers a different green strategy or environment issue.

What fun things did you do in September?

Bachelorette Party at Plymouth, MA - wine tasting, food and fun

Happy Labor Day!  We spent the weekend at a wedding in upstate New York.  I thought it was only fitting to tell you about the bachelorette party for the bride of the weekend - our friend Jenn!

The daytime activities included a trip to Plymouth, MA for some wine tasting, food, and fun.  It was an awesome group - none of us knew each other (besides Jenn knowing everyone obviously) before the day began.  I actually love it when that happens - it's funny to see how "friends of friends" always seem to get along really well.  Everyone was really nice!

We decided to start at the Plymouth Bay Winery.  Plymouth Bay Winery is owned and managed by a husband/wife team, and all their wines are produced from native grapes and berries.  I'm not a wine fan (I know, I know...howwww!), but I had a good time watching everyone taste away.

I did enjoy tasting some of their jellies (made from their wines), and came home with a jar of their Widow's Walk.  I thought it was such a great idea that I also bought a bottle of Widows Walk wine as well, to make a marinade for a pork tenderloin (recipe coming soon)!  They were also nice enough to let us keep all of our purchases there at the store while we walked around town.  Then we were off!

While there, we realized there was a huge festival going on.  TONS of people everywhere, and Water Street was lined with white tents full of handmade crafts. Most of the group hadn't seen Plymouth Rock, so we thought it would be fun to explore some of the booths and make our way to the rock.

By this time it was mid afternoon and we were hungry.  The Blue-Eyed Crab had an appealing patio, so we decided to stop there for a late lunch.  The food was very good, but the service was very slow (especially since it was 3pm).  I had a small crab cake for an appetizer that had the most fantastic cream cheese sauce.  I also had the fish and chips - my FIRST fish and chips EVER.  I know...crazy huh?  I don't know how this compares to others, but this one was very good!  I'll be ordering it again.  I also took a picture of Jenn's meal because it looked so good.  She had a giant lobster roll and fried plantains.  YUM.

Once we finished eating, we had just enough time to hit one last winery before heading home.  The Plymouth Winery was just next door to the restaurant, and almost all of their wines have won multiple awards.  I'm not sure if it was the fact that everyone was tired, but most of the group weren't fans of these wines.  Oh well.  :)  My favorite part of this stop was the sweet chocolate lab that greeted everyone with a large lick on your feet.  I imagine he spent most of his time in the blue chair by the window, where you'll see him in a moment.

Before heading home, we stopped at a cute cupcake shop to get a little sugar kick.  I split a yummy vanilla cupcake with a strawberry filling.  The icing was sweet, light, and fluffy - perfect.  If I go back, I'll be getting their Boston Cream Pie Cupcake - omg...

Such a fun day celebrating our sweet friend Jenn - so happy for her!

Interested in what else there is to do in Plymouth?  Check out our last trip to the beautiful town.