I have so many posts that involve Miss June in the queue! Posts about her birth, her nursery, books I read while pregnant, the first six weeks, and her newborn photos are all in various stages of completion… but today, since I’m definitely not going in chronological order, I wanted to share the photos from my North Carolina baby shower!

Before I do, however, I have to mention that I also had a wonderful baby shower in Connecticut, hosted by my sisters-in-law, Natalie and Marget. This one was much larger – maybe 40 guests, including extended family, childhood friends, high school friends, college friends, and my Mom’s friends :) It was in a cozy room with a fireplace at the Norwich Inn & Spa, and the favors were the adorable sugar cookies below! Even though I don’t have too many photos from it, I treasured this day, and the chance to see so many New England loved ones, SO much. The thoughtful details by my two main Thomas squeezes were just the icing on the cake!

My second shower, in North Carolina, I DO have photos from – mainly because a talented photographer was the co-hostess. You may recall that I co-hosted a woodland-themed baby shower for sweet Nancy back in the spring, and I was tickled that she volunteered to team up with my sisters and return the favor a few months later!

My younger sister Kim and Nancy took the lead on organizing everything, and they did an amazing job. They decided on a “blueberry” theme, a nod to our nickname for June while I was pregnant. There were SO many sweet details – here’s a peek!

My older sister Kate unleashed all of her pent up miniature food recipes on this gathering, and it was glorious. Treats included mini Caesar salads in parmesan cups, mini pulled pork tacos, mini cups of mac and cheese, mini stuffed peppers, and cucumber tea sandwiches. Ashley Cakes contributed adorable sweets, including mini cupcakes and hand-painted cookies!

Finally, the gals thought up the cutest shower activity. Since June’s nursery has a light horse theme, they provided a little plastic horse for each guest to paint. I know she (or at the very least, I) will love playing with them in a few years!!

For more photos from the shower and for Nancy’s perspective, take a peek at our feature on The Little Umbrella! Big hugs again to these ladies for arranging this special day for me!

P.S. My little niece below – ha!!

Photography: Nancy Ray | Invitations: Minted | Bonjour Blueberry print: Maison Everett | Flowers: English Garden Raleigh | Sweets: Ashley Cakes

I loved our five Christmas card finalists so much that I would have been thrilled to send out any of them, but in the end, we went with the design that y’all loved best, and that was so undeniably perfect for our upcoming year:

It’s the Wonder Filled design by Baumbirdy from the geniuses at Minted. Our photo was taken by the talented Perry Vaile!

Since our card design was simple and black and white, we didn’t add any color to the newsletter, either. It’s crazy to think of all the milestones we’ll have to squeeze onto the 2016 version!!

I love that many of our news items aren’t news to y’all, like our dativersary, Articles Club, pumpkin and soup night, and of course, our trip to France! It really is a joy to share with and learn from you all, and, in turn, to be invited into your lives! Which brings me to your very own handwritten note, because no Thomas Christmas card would be complete without one:

Thomas Christmas cards are also not complete without recognition of why we send cards at Christmas in the first place. Though sometimes it seems unavoidable, we don’t want our cards to be all about us. We send them out at Christmas to share our joy at the birth of our Savior with the people we love the most, and we want to remind people of that in a personal way. So, we’ve taken to including a few thoughts on what Christmas means to us, and a favorite piece of scripture. We went with a classic this year :)

I’m not sure if I’ll be back between now and my annual year in review, as we have lots of family arriving shortly for an extended visit (YAY!). But, I’m already so excited to share a look back and a look forward to what should be a very interesting year… I’ve been working on my goals with the PowerSheets, and I can’t wait to discuss!

P.S. Our cards from 2014, 2013, and 2012!

Update: We have a winner! Congratulations to Breanne, commenter number 47!

For as long as I can remember, Christmas cards have been a treasured part of my Decembers. I love the whole process — browsing potential designs, choosing a favorite, writing notes, receiving cards from loved ones, and displaying them in our home. I love that with so much sadness and darkness in the world, Christmas cards are a small reminder of the true light of the world. In fact, we still have Christmas 2014 cards pinned up in our kitchen because they make me so happy!

For the third year in a row we’ll be sending a Minted design, and I would love your help choosing a favorite!

1. Joy to the World Starbursts | 2. Wonder Filled | 3. More Joy | 4. Winter Brush Foil-Pressed | 5. Peaceful Pines

The wonderful Perry Vaile took a few photos of us for a Southern Weddings project earlier this year, and we’re so happy to have her talents gracing our card! The fall hues in the background lend themselves well to some of Minted’s mustard-y options this year — unexpected, but I like it!

I’m sure y’all are well aware of how amazing Minted’s offerings are. With their sophisticated design software, you can easily adjust your photo as well as the placement of all text elements, fonts, colors, and sizing. They also offer the most perfectly coordinated envelope designs, free envelope addressing, extra-thick stock, and custom card shapes!

BUT the thing I most wanted to highlight from Minted this year is their new completely custom art options! For example, send them your child’s drawing and they’ll print it either in letterpress or foil — what an amazing gift for grandparents!! I’ve said it before (here when they debuted their custom fabric), but this company continues to amaze me with their creativity and commitment to excellence. I am a forever fan for sure!

Now for the extra-fun part: I have a $200 Minted gift certificate to give away!! To enter, just comment below with either your favorite option from our Christmas card finalists, or the Minted design you’d most like to order for your family! (Or both!) I’ll randomly choose a winner next Monday! If you’re ready to get started, you can use code FOIL for a free foil upgrade or code JOY for 10% off orders of $100+.

P.S. Yes, our newsletter will be back! I’ve gotten many emails about this, so I wanted to say it here: I’m opening up three spots to design similar newsletters! $100 for a ready-to-print file, customized with your family’s stats and news. Email me at em (at) emformarvelous.com to reserve your spot or ask more questions!

Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my own! I have loved everything about Minted — especially their crowd-sourced designs — for many years, and I love sharing what they’re up to with y’all.

Growing up, my family hosted a “scarecrow party” at our home every year. A dozen or so families joined us for a night of scarecrow assembling, chili eating, and ghost-in-the-graveyard playing (home base was always the bed of my Dad’s pick-up truck!). To me, this night was even better than Halloween.

When John and I moved into our house three years ago, I was excited to kick-off some new traditions around entertaining and hosting. Likely due to my scarecrow-making past, our first (and most successful) tradition is also fall themed: a soup and pumpkin carving night! Since we just celebrated our third annual event, I thought I’d share a few tips.

— Since ours is an indoor event, we’ve found that keeping the guest list to three couples works out well. That way, we can still fit everyone around the table (with extra leaves in place) for carving and eating.
— We provide two soups and guests help with the extras. This year, one brought a salad, one brought some drinks and dessert, and we added cheesy bread and more drinks.
— Since our event is on a weeknight, prep work the night before is key. John made one pot of soup and prepped ingredients for the second the night before, then heated the already-made soup in the crockpot and assembled the second on party day as soon as he got home from work.
— A few crowd-favorite soup recipes we’ve used in the past: Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeno, Award-Winning Chili, Potato Leek Soup, Tortilla Soup, and Hunter’s Minestrone.

— We try to be mindful of everyone’s time (especially since many have little ones now!) and have dinner ready to go when guests arrive (usually around 6:30). The first hour is taken up with chatting and eating, and the second with chatting and carving.
— Some couples carve one family pumpkin, and some carve two individual ones.
— I protect our table with a length of kraft paper. Pumpkin guts go in a big bucket in the middle after dinner. The only other tools required are a selection of kitchen knives for carving and writing utensils for sketching (bonus: the kraft runner doubles as a sketch pad!).
— May I suggest my Cozy Fall playlist for background music?
— Before folks leave, we take group portraits with each family’s masterpiece!

Do y’all have any hosting traditions to share? I’ve been thinking about adding a Christmas card addressing afternoon this year :)