poppy fields

I love Christmas - the meaning, the gatherings, the decorations, the traditions...but when it comes to clothes, it's Spring that I love the most!

This sweet little ensemble, part of the Sweet Cate Collection from Pretty Me has me giddy with excitement thinking about Spring and some photo ideas I have up my sleeve. Just the perfect combination of sweet vintage inspired prints mixed with a bit of sassy in those chocolate brown zebra stripes. Come to think of it, that's just like the little pumpkin! Okay, make that a BIG dose of sassy these days :O

Merry Christmas!
Happy Spring!
*wink*

deck the halls

It sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! What, you don't wear your finest feather boa and Santa hat to decorate???? You should! It sure does make it a lot of fun! :)

Outdoor lights...CHECK! (Thanks hon! They look great!!)

Tree...CHECK!

Tree lights...1/2 CHECK! (We ran out??)

Front door...CHECK!

Vintage trees and houses...CHECK! Christmas cards...1/2 CHECK! (Why didn't I have our return address printed???)

Still need to work on decorating the mantle and putting the ornaments on the tree, but lots of progress this weekend! I love Christmas!

dear Santa

Another first around here...

...the little pumpkin "wrote" her first letter to Santa!

She's still not too sure if the jolly guy is okay or not in person, but on tv or in songs on the radio he's A-OK :)

Any project that starts off with glue - especially Dora purple disappearing glue - is FUN, FUN, FUN! Add stickers and you're guaranteed a good time! Always a mini spelling lesson thrown in just for fun... Drawing shapes for Santa And let's not forget to sign that letter! And what was on the letter? Well, here it goes:

Dear Santa:
I've been very good this year. I would love it if you would bring me THE PIG'S VERY LONG NOSE book. And TOYS. And A WAGON. And A BOY AND A GIRL. And A STRAWBERRY HAT.
Love, Grace

So excited! Good thing Santa can shop online because that book we've talked about at least 10x a day EVERY day for the past 3 weeks is nowhere to be found locally! Believe me, Santa's elves have been looking.

No clue about the wagon (she already has one) or the "boy and girl" except she also asked for babies later on and I just skipped right over that one (we've got our hands full as it is :). And the strawberry hat - I think she's thinking about her birthday party (that's my girl!)

Noonie~ this one is just for you! Grace saw me bringing the wrapping paper in and after saying how cute it was (pink snowmen), she asked me what it was for. Remember me asking you how come you and Santa had the same wrapping paper???? And you told me Santa had a room in his workshop where he had all the wrapping paper in the whole wide world and he would wait until the parents wrapped the gifts for their children and then he would match his to theirs? :) Ha, ha - not so easy the next year when I asked you why Santa's handwriting looked just like yours! :)

Oh, and I DID venture out on Black Friday! Crazy right? Well, it wasn't really all that bad. I guess since I didn't go at 3 am or whatever crazy time the stores opened, it really was just crowded, but I found everything I went looking for and I made 4 stops in 1 1/2 hours. Amazing how much faster it goes sans kiddos!

I DO remember getting up reaaaaally eaaaarrrrly one year while we were in college and dragging my friend Jammie with me all so we could line up to buy Yankee candles for like $12 (I think they were like $25 then). When the store opened people started running in all directions, Jammie and I got separated, and all I remember were candle jars crashing to the ground breaking, people fighting over scents, and people stealing each others' egg crates full of candles. HA, HA, HA, don't want to do it again but those were some fun memories!

I did read something really cute today. On Christmas Eve have the kiddos sprinkle oats and glitter on the front lawn so Santa can spot their house and the reindeer can have a little snack :) Childhood innocence...isn't it the best?

blessings big and small

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be grateful for... The love of family... Loving grandparents near and far... Cousins to play with... Lots of delicious, lovingly prepared food... Warm, cozy homes and generations of love... Curious minds and little hands... Healthy, happy babies... Loving teachers and fun projects... Safe places to rest our heads... And above all, an amazingly loving and forgiving God who makes it all possible!

Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!

5 months

Hudson - You are 5 months today!!!!! What are you up to these days?

You have 2 bottom teeth!!! You have been drooling nonstop FOREVER and then on 11/14/09, I spotted two tiny little teeth trying to make their way through your gums. And just a week later, they looked like this! I think you're trying to tell us you'd like a little more than just milk for Thanksgiving!
HA, HA, HA You weigh over 16 lbs, you're 25.5 inches tall, and wear a size 2 diaper.

You're not sleeping as good as you were (teeth?) but mostly you still wake up just once during the night.

You don't like to nap during the day. Usually just 15-20 minutes here and there. Unless you're in the car, then you LOVE to sleep :)

You like to rub your face with your lovies when you're falling asleep and you seem to really like your cow print lovie. You've been rolling for a while, but lately you've started rolling 2-3 times in a row. Can't leave you anywhere anymore!

I think you're going to be a thumb sucker. You hate pacis and refuse to take one, but you love sucking on your little fingers. Used to be your thumb was not enough, but now you're starting to show preference for your right thumb. You tried out the jumperoo for the first time! At first you weren't too sure what to make of it, but soon you figured it out and now you have fun bouncing and looking at the lights for 5 minutes or so at a time. You love to smile and your laugh is the cutest thing ever. A deep, throaty kind of laugh. Makes us all giggle! You are starting to "talk". All that jibberish is so funny. You can be really loud!

You like to pull hair. Hard. Enough said :) You were a tootsie roll for your first halloween (SO CUTE!) and you left your costume on all night. You didn't mind it at all! You made your first trip to see Santa and you were all smiles. I bet it'll be a lot different next year! Your eyes are now brown and your hair is starting to really grow in. You love bathtime and your new trick is to splash your legs really fast and really hard. We're still bathing you in your little tub on top of the kitchen island and we're soaking wet when finished!

You like to pull off the owl from your bouncy seat and you're really quick now. We velcro it right back and you just take it down right away. After a couple of times you get kinda frustrated like "here we go again" :)

You like to look in the mirror and see that baby looking back at you. You think he's pretty funny!

We've given you a little bit of rice cereal and you like it okay so long as it's not mama giving it to you! {but I don't think it makes you sleep any longer}

You are weaned :(

You are pretty much enamored by your big sister as she is with you. You love watching her and when we go in her room in the mornings she always smiles the biggest if we're holding you. Can't believe how big you've gotten in just five months. Pretty soon you'll be a whole 1/2 year old and you'll celebrate your first Christmas all in the same week. You are the sweetest little baby boy and I love being your mom! Slow down a bit, okay? I want to hold on to your "babyness" for as long as I can!

XOXO, Mama

ho ho ho...or not

Sit on Santa's lap????
Are you cRaZY???!!! We're going to go see who??? And I have to wear this girlie-looking outfit Daddy made fun of??? We had been talking about it for a couple of days and the little pumpkin was all excited about it, that is until she actually saw the jolly old fella in person...then she decided he was a little too much for her :)

Thankfully, I was prepared with a few little bribes treats just in case :) So when the photogs' curious george look-alike prop wasn't enough, I pulled out the giant peppermint lollie (pink and red, no less!) and asked Grace if she would give Hudson a little lick of it, sitting right next to Hudson on Santa's lap "to reach him". Of course, she thought that was hilarious cha-ching! and the little guy... well, he couldn't believe his luck! He went after that lollie like a little puppy dog, tongue just a going and baby drool running all over his little chin which just made the little pumpkin giggle even more. LoVE iT! Can't wait to see our Santa 2009 pics! Of course as we were leaving Grace remembered she was supposed to give Santa a few hints about what she might like for Christmas so at arms length, she yelled out "and I REALLY, REALLY like the pig's very long nose pig, OK Santa?" meaning THIS. Then when we were getting in the car I asked her what happened, why she didn't want to talk to Santa to which she replied, "Well, I shouldn't have to." HA, HA, HA She's something, isn't she? Love her!

And later at home... A little someone is in love with Petunia the Pig. She just can't help herself :) So if Petunia has any hope of making it to Christmas... ...she had to move on up! Petunia is now residing on higher ground...right on top of Grace's armoire where she can be admired from afar :)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Tomorrow we're taking Grace and Hudson to have pics with the jolly old fella, so of course we had to do a little dress rehearsal to pick out a sweet brother/sister ensemble. I couldn't help but snap a few pics along the way of this little guy that has stolen my heart... Okay, I thought I liked this red "chair" but I didn't know it rocked - now I'm not so sure?! (I'm so sad that I cut off his little toes all curled up!!! Those little tootsies are my favorite!!!) Ooooh, that's better! Thanks for keeping it still, mama! Before I had Hudson I worried - as I'm sure a lot of other moms have - that I somehow wouldn't love this baby as much as I love Grace, after all the little pumpkin MADE me a mom and the bond between mother/daughter/first child is one that knows no boundaries. Well, I worried in vain, for it is so very true that your heart just grows exponentially with every baby God blesses you with. When I'm rocking Hudson to sleep and he places his little hand on my chest I honestly feel my heart swell to its limits, swell with the kind of love for which there are no words to describe... Every good and perfect gift is indeed from above! I love you Hudson!

hold my hand and never let go

I want to capture Hudson's little handprint on his first Christmas. I like the idea of the traditional Cookies for Santa plate with his and Grace's prints, but when I found this well, it was just love at first sight! Much like the moment I first saw both of my babies little wrinkly faces staring back at me for the first time.

Love, love, love the nostalgic appeal of this Hand Embroidered Hand Print from Tiny Sprouts. You just trace your little one's hand and send the handprint in to Tracey and she embroiders it on a khaki linen in your color of thread. Such a sweet keepsake. You can find it HERE. Better go so I can trace those sweet little chubby hands!

the long nosed pig

I know what you must be thinking after yesterday's post...another pig? But this one is completely different :) Have you read this book to your preschooler? We just stumbled upon it this past Friday during "library week" at Gymboree and Grace LOVED it! She held onto it the entire class. Getting her to leave it there was a MAJOR undertaking.

In short, it's a story about the first pig ever who had a verrrrrry long nose (think: elephant) and walked around comparing it to other animals with long noses. Of course, he felt his was a much better nose and so he walked with it way up in the air. So much so that one day he ran into a tree and WHAM! his beautiful long nose was reduced to a wrinkly little snout and all he could say was OINK, OINK, OINK.

You can see why a toddler would love it and I must say the pop-up illustrations are really vibrant and dynamic. So if you have a toddler on your shopping list this Christmas, this is a cute book to get!

Grace talked about it all day Friday and Saturday and we tried to find it at Barnes & Noble on Sunday but couldn't. We did find the companion book, The Wide-Mouthed Frog, but it's not as good as the pig one. Just a hint :)

We love books at our house, so if you know of a particularly good one, will you drop me a line and tell me about it? I love to get good book recommendations!

I heart bottle-brush trees

I love, love, love my little vintage bottle brush tree collection! See more of them HERE. I try to add one every year. Last year I added a pink one for Grace's room and I can't wait to find the perfect one for Hudson's room. But in the meantime...

Isn't PeTuNIa tHe PIg the cutest???!!!!!! I LoVE her! She's a vintage planter and she's carrying the sweetest little bottle brush tree, complete with a sprinkin' of vintage ornaments. She's my little treat to myself this year :) I said after the fundraiser if she was still available, I would bring her home - ha, ha, ha - and she was, so now she has a new place to call home.

So two little questions:
1. Do you collect anything for Christmas? How did your collection start?
2. I'm thinking of doing a cookie swap for Christmas. Any tips?

Have I mentioned I love Christmas...and all things vintage? :)