Lauren & Brendan's Baby Shower in Boston

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I'm so excited to write this post about my sister, Lauren, and her husband, Brendan, who have their first baby on the way!

The grandparents-to-be of Baby Bean threw a "Jack & Jill" (co-ed) baby shower at Lauren & Brendan's condo in the North End. The gender of the baby is unknown as Lauren & Brendan want it to be a surprise when the little one arrives on or around April 20th.  (In the meantime, they have nicknamed the baby "Bean" since they live in Boston "beantown" Massachusetts.)  I helped with these invitations, which I based off of this Woolrich baby bedding that Lauren was considering for the baby's room.

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I flew from San Francisco to New York a day before the shower.  My parents and I loaded up the car with food, presents, and cake and drove up to Boston the day of the shower.

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We had a few hours to just hang out in Lauren & Brendan's cozy place...

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...which now has a very adorable nursery!

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For the baby shower dinner, my parents planned a "down home/comfort food" menu.  My dad made smoked ribs, cole slaw, corn bread, and baked beans.  I made teriyaki wings, hot wings, and a 3-cheese mac-n-cheese.  I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed the food.

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But let's cut right to the chase here and get to the desserts.  Karen (Bren's mom) made her famous "grommy pie" - a cranberry-apple tart.

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I made Homemade Samoas.

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For the Baby Shower cake, my mom made chocolate cake with vanilla frosting covered with fondant and decorated with Beatrix Potter characters (Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Rabbit, Jemina Puddle-Duck, and Mr. Jeremy Fisher) sitting on a little blanket with a picnic basket full of carrots.

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My mom fell in love with the Beatrix Potter figures she saw on cupcakes made by Lorinda Seto (who is a master in cake  decorating and has some extremely beautiful work on her site) and duplicated them for them for Lauren's cake.   The flowers on the side of the cake were inspired by a really cute Hedgehog Cake that I saw on a website called House of the Rising Cake.

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My mom's cakes aren't just pretty.  They are yummm-y.

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My mom also made Strawberry cupcakes.

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If you serve enough food, everyone starts to feel pregnant.   Show me your best Food Baby!

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My mom sent everyone these little advice cards and book placards, which were designed by Carli from Dimple Prints, who my mom found on Etsy, and Fine Stationary (respectively).

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Everyone wrote really nice little notes that made my emotional sister bawl her eyes out (seriously) and also helped build Baby Endicott a sweet library of some of their favorite children's books.

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Bean got some ridiculously cute gifts.

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For example, this Boston Red Sox Hand-Knit Sweater made by Brendan's mom, Karen.

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Look at this little New England baby. I can already hear it's accent.  "Mah, where's my bahtle?"

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My mom also made everyone a salted caramel cupcake to go in these cute little boxes.

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Lauren & Brendan have some amazing friends. (Oh, and yes, Lauren's friend Jimmy is wearing Jumpin' Jammer'z feetie pajamas.)

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We're so happy for Lauren and Brendan and can't wait to meet little Bean!

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