1. nifty fifty in the am, 2. pinecone elves, 3. lamp, 4. Christmas in pastels, 5. Decking the halls is so much more fun when you have a friend!!, 6. Christmas ornament, 7. red in progress, 8. christmas game, 9. Sven-Anita & Agnes, 10. Stylist Anna Richardson, 11. number 13, 12. These are a few of my favorite Tins………, 13. Boopsie Pose Dolls!, 14. happy friday!!!, 15. Untitled, 16. Hoots holiday!, 17. Hero in a half shell…, 18. holiday flickr favorites, 19. Untitled, 20. IMG_8624, 21. playing, 22. stacked, 23. Untitled, 24. joy, 25. in the window, 26. Russas, 27. It’s Time!, 28. Simple Pleasures (10-12-09), 29. Elfin, 30. goods by atlantic treefox, 31. the guardian of the forest, 32. Gnome’s House Hand Bag, 33. mid-century modern furniture hoops, 34. Oldschool/retro toys, 35. rice dk aw09, 36. sofia’s room

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season!  I’m busy making gingerbread cookies, eggnog, and Christmas presents; watching Christmas specials on TV; building towers with Mega blocks; and dancing around the living room like Tinkerbell.  All of which I highly recommend.

I love Christmas time, but some years it really sneaks up on me.  So I’m repeating yesterday’s mantra.  Surely everything will get done.  The children will have presents to open.  Cookies will be eaten.  The earth will continue to turn.

Meanwhile, the tree is decorated!

EDIT: Our furnace was fixed yesterday.  And someone came to see our house!  It turned out to be a good day.  Good thing I didn’t panic. ;)

Behold: The Emily Bear in 2008 and 2009.  She’ll probably be a princess tonight, but she wanted to dress up in the bear costume first.  Last year’s bear adventure just might be my favorite blog post of all time.

And Jacob was a peapod last year.  A tiny, six-month-old peapod.  This year, he will probably be The Jacob Bear.  He’s a furry, roaring, hugging, mildly destructive mammal, so this feels appropriate.

I just have to tell you that this week has been a bit crazy.  Emily has given up naps (Yikes!) and proven that she needs to be busy in the afternoons.

And perhaps needs her walls painted in chalkboard paint.

As we work out our new schedule, I think the afternoon will be more peaceful, and we’ll all be more content and productive.  I hope!

On the upside: Emily is potty-trained!  This morning, I heard her taking off her diaper in her room and having a conversation with herself: It’s panty time!  Alright!  How about Dora panties?  Okay.  That’s fine.

But I digress.

Happy Halloween!!!

Cake toppers (not my original idea).

Emily requested chocolate cupcakes.  I used this recipe from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

And I used this chocolate frosting recipe.  Warning: This much chocolate requires a healthy dose of milk… which we had.

I made Emily a special birthday skirt (and a matching one for her doll… who she named “Aurora,” by the way), and I appliqued a shirt for her.

Her party was at the dance studio where she takes “pre-dance” class.  And with plenty of friends, dancing, laughing, cupcake-eating, fancy-necklace-wearing, scarf-waving, and tip-toe-walking, I’d say it was a success!

Baby Emily.

Emily at 1.

Emily at 2 (on her birthday last year… she was sick).

And Emily (today) at 3.

Things you love right now:

• trying on all of Jacob’s clothes at naptime
• The P. Bears
• stickers & all art supplies
• things that are “so pretty”…
• such as Ariel and Belle and Aurora and Mommy’s earrings
• getting into Mommy’s makeup and trying on Mommy’s glasses (and attempting to paint your own toenails… even with a carrot stick)
• Feist
• parks
• libraries
• going over bridges
• dance class
• Where the Wild Things Are and Olivia and Eloise and anything by Eric Carle
• Mommy and Daddy and Brother and everyone else in the family

You’re pretty great.

who turns 3 quite soon.

On her birthday wishlist:

• cupcakes
• a BIG bag with Elmo on it for her tea set
• drawing pad and pencils
• this doll that she saw on Nick Jr. during commercials
• stickers

What else do you think a 3 year old would love?

Whew, it was great being spoiled for a day!  Church, lunch at Jason’s Deli, thrifting alone, lasagna & carrot cake, and a book & card…  My family rocks.

Emily chose the card; Evan chose the book.  And Emily signed the card with her signature “happy faces.”  Do you see them?

While at the thrift store, I found this amazing dress for $8.98.  That seemed a little steep.  I finally decided (after consulting  Evan) to take the plunge.  But then the kind cashier at the shop only charged me $5!  So that was a nice Mother’s Day gift too. :)

It looks a little maternity, but I might wear it to the VT graduation on Saturday anyway.

Later in the evening, I was relieved of all duties so I could sew.

I never blogged about this, but you may have seen this image in my Flickr photostream:

Note the Orla Kiely dishtowel from Target.  First time I sprayed chocolate cake batter on it, I knew this wasn’t going to work.

So after much deliberation, this is what I came up with.

Yep.  You’ve seen them all over blogland (because they’re awesome!), and now you’ve seen one here.   A dishtowel purse.  (Very Sound of Music, don’t you think?)  I was inspired by this dress designed by Orla, which felt appropriate. :)

So I’d say Mother’s Day was better than I could have hoped.  Lots of mommy-spoiling action from the awesomest people I know.

Thank you, sweet family!

Here’s the crafted gang from last year.  And here’s sweet Emily (and Jacob) last year:

We’ll probably be celebrating on another day due to health issues.  But I hope you all have a blessed Easter!