A Little Pumpkin Is On The Way!

we are looking forward to a little one joining our family. margo and andrew are expecting a baby in december and the whole lot of us couldn't be more excited!

this sweet little baby will welcome margo to motherhood, make me a grandmother and promote my mother to great grandmother status!

to prepare for and get the celebrations started,

gabi and maddi organized a baby shower scheduled for the 14th of october.

the theme was:

A LITTLE PUMPKIN IS ON THE WAY

the venue

when one of us gets set on a theme, there is no stopping the creativity!

the invitations were too adorable and set the color scheme of pumpkin white (a made up color that made perfect sense). it took a bit of communicating to figure out the venue for the baby shower as margo and andrew live in california and family and friends live around the country. it was finally decided that utah should be the state as most family lives there but provo or salt lake city? gabi's mother-in-law lindie and her husband jim have just completed a beautiful home renovation with the goal of creating a space for parties and events - it's beautiful! lindie and jim graciously offered to open their gorgeous home for this event. another plus is that my mother lives just five minutes away!

the invitations were sent out to family as well as margo's very first best friend, amarlie. while we were living in sydney, australia, dark curly-haired margo and blonde, cheerful amarlie met when they were three years old. at the time, each tagged along with their moms, me and margaret, as their older sibling, nicole in margo's case, was dropped off and picked up from kindergarten. margo and amarlie quickly gravitated towards each other, began sharing playdates continuing through high school. they have stayed in contact all through the years wherever they have lived around the world

- and here they are together again, thirty years later. thank you for coming, amarlie.

the food

with autumn being margo's favorite season and pumpkin-spice-everything the flavor of the month, the food was easy to plan to theme. we started the menu with a meyer family favorite butternut squash soup recipe (modeled by nicole below) handed down from grandma mervyl, who has recently passed away. we all felt her presence at this celebration of her would-be eighth great grandchild. on one serving table the soup, served in our family's pet turkey tureen, was accompanied by aunt alisa's should-be-famous homemade croutons and a pear and pecan salad, another family favorite dish featured at holiday dinners and other special feasts.

thank you nicole, for suggesting to include family touches like the turkey tureen and family recipes - it adds such depth and meaning to occasions.

lovely idea, nicole.

on a long buffet counter, a couple of gorgeous charcuterie boards filled with autumnal delights, meats and cheeses were served alongside crackers, fresh bread selections, croissants and wholewheat rolls. serve-yourself drink dispensers were set up at the end of the counter. naturally beautiful, one was filled with whole cut red apples in fresh apple juice and the other served water infused with green apples, blackberries and fresh rosemary. at the stove, warm apple cider was ladled into adorable autumn puppy thermal cups and iced bottles of single serve martinelli's apple juice were nestled in a white bowl amongst shiny, ripe red apples.

the desserts

sweets featured miniature whipped cream-topped pumpkin pies, pumpkin biscotti, a batch of pumpkin cookies my mother brought made from a generational recipe on my side of the family. my mom made these cookies for me and my siblings, i made the recipe for my children and they now make these cookies at halloween each year. and we are not done yet - don't forget the pumpkin spice sandwich cookies, pirouettes and trader joe's seasonal and absolutely divine apple cider doughnuts. wowza!

the help

paul and jim worked behind the scenes to make sure everything was running smoothly, the food was staying warm and platters stayed full while the rest of us relaxed enjoying being together and catching up. as you can see above, paul and jim also had the world cup rugby on in the background. so everyone was happy, joking and having a wonderful afternoon, including maddi and fluffy, sweet scout above.

the games

gabi was in charge of the games and handed each of us a tiny plastic baby we had to hold or someone else could take it. the person with the most plastic babies at the end of an hour wins.

maddi felt the best idea was to hang her little baby from her earring so her hands could be free. but this game got competitive and one guest saw her baby, reached for her ear and began working it free from her earring to claim it. all maddi could do was to hold still and let her take it so she wouldn't get hurt!

tough crowd.

gabi had also put together a guessing jar filled with candy pumpkins. margo's mother-in-law, who flew in all the way from virginia to attend, won this game guessing the exact number of pumpkins - you're good, anita!

the next game was a quiz about margo & andrew.

the questions were tough going all the way back to when they first met:

- how soon after their first kiss did andrew say, i love you?

-what animal did mom say was in the backyard as a way to encourage margo to go outside and look because andrew was secretly waiting by the stream to propose? (he had just driven 8 hours from utah)

a bear - i did get this answer right.

i think margo's cousin jenny won that game, she is very clever.

the gifts

then it was time for margo to open the generous and thoughtful gifts everyone brought.

there were tears,

there was raucous laughter, there were ooooos and awwwws,

and so much love and well wishing. it was lovely.

while everyone was seated together, maddi handed out little cards for each of us to share advice, suggestions, well wishes and loving thoughts for margo and andrew as they begin this

exciting and beautiful chapter in their lives.

maddi collected the notes in a book with photos and memories

gifting it with love to the soon-to-be parents.

lovely idea, maddi.