Back in the fall of 2020, when our preschool opened back up, we met two of our dear family friends. The preschool opened up with more limited hours, and so the three of us all suddenly picked up at the same time. After a distanced summer, we were hungry for even casual interactions with strangers – which is what this started out as, as our children ran and played outside the school for a few minutes before loading into cars. Day after day, strangers grew into acquaintances who grew into friends. By piggybacking off our kiddos, we were able to “hack” one of the oldest tricks in the book: making new friends at school – except this time, it was our kids’ school, not our own. This allowed us to quickly up the time quotient of the friendship equation, which can be hard to do post-graduation. Casual interactions, swapped stories, and frequent check-ins piled on top of another until one day, I realized these new friends were as close as many old ones. We swapped phone numbers. We met up at a park. And then, after many months, we took a big step forward: one of the families hosted a weekend dinner. There’s just something about being in someone’s home that’s a huge leap forward for relationships, don’t you think? We had a lovely evening, and then several months later, the other family hosted us all at their home. As we pulled out of the driveway, John and I chatted about how it was our turn to host, but that we wished our home was more conducive to having multiple families with kids over. (Our house is wonderful for our own family with young kids – the open plan makes it easy to interact while I’m cooking and they’re playing,

Earlier this year (probably a few weeks after we realized we were having babies two weeks apart!) I floated the idea of hosting a joint garden party to Nancy. I wasn’t picturing a baby shower per se – certainly not in the traditional sense of a guest of honor, gifts, and games – but the opportunity just seemed ripe to celebrate spring, new babies, access to vaccines, and a new season of life with COVID on the wane here! Nancy was game, and we quickly roped in our friend Sam, too. She completed the pregnant hostess triumvirate: three summer babies in six weeks! After much back-and-forth on dates, we eventually settled on a Wednesday in early June. We were aiming for a weekend night, but I’m actually happy we landed midweek – I think we got a lot more “yes” RSVPs that way, and it was something special to look forward to! Nancy agreed to host us in her backyard, and I happily took the lead on all things planning: after a year and a half with no group celebrations, I was thrilled to have an excuse to put together an inspiration board and pull together details. Of course, John’s injury threatened to throw a wrench in the plans, but thanks to keeping things as simple as possible and lots of help from my parents on the home front, we pulled it off! We ended up having the sweetest evening, and I’d love to share a few photos and details, if you’d like to see. After choosing a date, our first order of business was putting together a guest list. This was one of my very favorite parts of the whole celebration: with three hostesses, we invited three interlocking friend groups whose edges were blurred in the most delightful way

Over the last few years, the Kirk and Thomas families have developed a tradition of attending our town’s Fourth of July parade together. It’s pretty much guaranteed to be outrageously hot and charmingly old-fashioned :) This year, of course, the parade is cancelled, but Lisa came up with the idea to make a bit of our own Fourth fun – and I was immediately on board! Whether you’ll be celebrating at home alone this weekend or socially-distanced with another family, we hope these ideas inspire you to have a little fun and get a little fancy! After months of leggings and jean shorts, it felt wonderful to wear a dress while toasting to silver linings, friendship, and our magnificent country. A little background: you may recall that Lisa and I spent several years together criss-crossing the South creating editorial photo shoots for Southern Weddings. Though this most recent collaboration was hardly a professional production, we had fun brainstorming over Zoom and then bringing our ideas to life! And though our details were far more casual than our wedding days, we were very lucky to have professional photography on hand to capture them – thank you, Christen, for coming out to snap a few photos!! They turned out beautifully! Even if it’s just your family around the table on Saturday, here is your permission to break out your favorite tablecloth, pour a cocktail, and try something new for dinner. About the food: though I love a good modern spin on a charcuterie board (always and forever inspired by my friend Kayte!), we wanted to style an option that might feel more comfortable in the age of COVID. Instead of everyone sharing from a central platter, we made individual “boards,” complete with tomato, watermelon, and feta salad, cheese and crackers, summer fruit,