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So yes, we are well into January...and visions of pink and red are on the horizon with the holiday of love just around the corner...but I'm just a wee bit in denial that the Christmas season is indeed over (we finally took our tree down and put away our Christmas records *insert sad tear here*). But as I mentioned here, I do love me a new year and am ready to embark on some great new journeys! The future looks bright my friends!
And that future is starting strong (and busy!) with some super fun illustration jobs, preparation for ALT - did I mention I'm speaking?! - and so much more. But as my blog is also a bit of a journal I feel I can't move forward without documenting just a bit from our joyous Christmas day.
I'm sure I probably feel this way as it is the most recent event, but for some reason, this last Christmas really felt like the best one yet. Just something about it was simply perfect. Perhaps it is because it was one of the few years where we actually awoke in our own home and celebrated the morning with just our own little family. Or perhaps it was because of our perfect new little addition, baby M. Or perhaps it was because all I really wanted in the world was to spend one perfect day just with my dear family, completely focused on spending time with one another. Probably a bit of all the above. But whatever the reason...it was...well...perfect.
We spent Christmas Eve with Jon's parents and didn't get back to our place till late that night, so the boys actually slept in on Christmas morning, which was perfect. Jon made an amazing sausage and egg baked dish to keep our tummy's happy while settling down to open our gifts. I was on top of things this past year and had been collecting gifts for the boys throughout the year and I even had a lot of it wrapped before Christmas Eve. A record for me. It was oh so nice to embark on December knowing that most of the shopping was done (and ended up being oh so necessary as RSV made it's ugly rounds throughout our household). I did however have a number of last minute things to do, such as hand stamp these long john's for the boys Christmas PJ's. I seriously made them on Christmas Eve morning, willing them to dry in time for me to wrap them so that they could open them later that evening. It somehow managed to work out perfectly. And I laughed when A squealed in delight when opening his after his brother...proclaiming "yes! they are different!". Good thing I made two different stamp motif's. Who knew it was so important?
This year was also really great because I feel like the boys really got into the spirit of giving this year. Not only did we pick out gifts for each other but I had the boys really get involved with selecting gifts for my brother's family (we had his name this year). This meant that they had to think of their cousings, go to a store, pick out gifts for them, buy them and go home with no toys for themselves. I was seriously worried about Little O on this one as he's incredibly in love with toys (he feels like they are his friends that he develops deep bonds with). But you know what? He was amazing. He was head over heals in love with this snugly puppy dog that he knew from the beginning was to be for his 2 year old cousin. So throughout the store he played with it, cuddled it and befriended it, but all with the plan of giving him away. And it worked! He loved the idea of him going to his cousins house. He actually understood that this was a special thing he was doing for his little cousin. It was a gift. Amazing (and serious mom sigh of relief here).
Above are the wrapped gifts that they gave to me and I love how excited they were to give. Such sweet boys. Jon let them pick anything they wanted to give me (within reason and budget of course) and A picked out some lip gloss and Little O picked out a brush. So sweet. And it turns outs, just exactly what I needed. I had them pick something for Jon as well so they chose an Angry Birds game for him to play on the IPad (which of course they wanted to play with as well). They also got a few toys for their baby sister.
And OK, I got just a wee bit excited to embark upon the collection of beautiful handmade dolls for baby M. Yes she won't appreciate it for a while yet but I love the idea of telling her the story of her first Christmas and the special doll that she received then. And in truth, she was my little Christmas doll. Our family's favorite gift from 2012.
2012 was a wonderful year for us and we are so excited to embark on a new year with our little family of five. So so many exciting things for our future and I feel incredibly blessed to share it with those that I love and with all of you!
Happy Happy New Year Friends! I don't know about you but I'm ready to clean the slate and start this new year off on the right foot! Don't get me wrong, 2012 was great, full of wonderful opportunities and new additions (such as our very favorite, this little bug shown here) but I just love me some time to reevaluate, make some changes and get pumped to start up again. Don't you? And to do so we always choose a theme as a family for the year. I like to do this so that if some of my specific goals fall through the cracks, say oh about a couple weeks after I make them, then I always have a simple theme to fall back on...one that is easy to remember the entire year through...and one that will hopefully guide us through until the end of December.
I'm also big on alliteration. I find this helps me remember my theme even when it's July and starting fresh and goal making is not so much at the forefront of my mind.
Some past favorite themes have been:
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Relax (remember this one?! still a fond favorite)
- Creation and Compassion (tried to focus on creating more and consuming less and then reaching beyond myself and showing compassion to those around me)
- Friends, Family & Fun! (this one might seem like a no brainer but for a workaholic, creative hermit like myself I needed the reminder that the most important things in life are bonds you form with those around me. I needed the push to put my relationships in life first. And to have FUN doing it! Turned out really great.).
- Last year was all about Thriving...thinking this year might be a bit along those lines as well. Can't wait to nail it down!
What about you? Any resolutions? And what do you do to try to keep up on them after the will power to make it out the door to the gym subsides?
Hi Friends. Happy Cyber Monday. Have you been doing any online shopping?
I typically have a BOGO shop sale today but Baby M and are sitting here in the hospital as she has acquired a bad case of RSV so things have been a little stressful and shop sales are on hold for a bit. In the mean time I thought it might be fun, and a bit theraputic, to share with you a a gift guide that I've been dreaming up for our little darling girl.
It's full of fun finds from some of my favorite artisans and shops. Like this polar bear rug/blanket by my incredibly talented friend, Roxi Marj. I'm kind of obsessed with it and think that baby M has to have it as a tummy time/play mat. And once I discovered I was having a girl I knew that she would have to have a le train fantome Lumi doll as I've wanted one since...oh...like forever. But as this one will need to be a bit more of a keepsake, I think she'll also need a little Ozzie rabbit softee for her to snuggle and nibble on while she's still a wee babe. And of course she'll need a dollhouse and think this modern one will do the trick quite nicely. And I've wanted these geo blocks for like, forever. And well, I'm pretty sure baby M needs them. And I'm not sure whether or not she needs this sleep time hat more or if I do but either way...we both need to catch some zzz's. Here's hoping we're out of the hospital in the next day or so and in the clear...because we've got some holiday preparing to do!
a. sleepy time hat b. Ozzie the rabbit c. modern doll house d. roxi marj bear blanket e. lumi doll f. geo blocks
And for more holiday shopping fun check out Meta's gift guide for her daughter here. And for the rest of this week I'll be teaming up with One More Mushroom and Simply Radiant to share some of our wish lists for our kiddos as well as some of our favorite tried and true toys and gifts we own and love. So stay tuned!
I couldn't resist dressing up baby M this Halloween alongside her brothers. We decided that she also needed to be a creature of the night like her brothers so I made this simple "bat" costume (she was originally supposed to be a cat but I love hos this capelet looks like bat wings, so I had to go with that). I created the hood from the Oliver & S pattern and like the boys bunny hoods, I modified the ears. She of course slept the entire time her brothers were out trick-or-treating, but I'm happy we put together a costume of sorts none the less.
And now I'm off to see how I can help my east coast friends suffering from the aftermath of Sandy. My friend Mara shares a few ways we can pitch in and help out on her blog here. I'm still processing it all (as I'm sure everyone there is much much more) as I used to live in Red Hook where a lot of flooding occurred. Hope everyone stays safe and gets what they need.
I heart NYC.
Sweet Baby M turned three weeks today and we are all head-over-heels smitten with her. I was hoping to have her birth story up on the blog last week but with four-year-old birthday parties, sleepless nights and grade school coughs and sniffles, things have been a bit "congested" around here. I do however have plans to share it this week if all goes well. I also have a slew of costume round-ups from years pasts to share as well as more Halloween fun!
Hope you have all been enjoying one of the most magical yet fleeting times of year. We've managed to have a few romps through the fall leaves (bringing baby M along for the fun...what a trooper) and have plans for pumpkin patches and cider sipping nights. Can't wait.
happy monday!
(baby M pictured above in our DIY hand stamped swaddle blanket. It's been soo great!)
Did you guys see the adorable tutorial Liz put up for the this cute mini peplum top? You will die and want to make a closet full, like I do! There are so many cute options for this top. Thanks Liz!!
This past weekend baby girl and I were showered
with so much love! I feel so blessed to have been able to get to know so many incredible, talented and generous women this past year. Two such lovely women are Melissa Esplin and Stephanie Ford who threw this gorgeous affair (at Stephanie's utterly beautiful home).
The event started off with a delectable spread of amazing food. Spicy and regular California rolls (a HUGE pregnancy craving of mine), incredible salads, chocolate donuts, out of this world chocolate hazelnut cupcakes (thanks to Alison! I think I need one right now...) and yummy vanilla Italian sodas.
And as if that wasn't incredible enough, throw in a group of magnificent, crazy talented and admirable women, and a perfect shower you have. So many dear friends that I've been able to make since we have moved here were able to attend. I have to confess, I can tend to be a hermit/homebody at times (OK, maybe most of the time) but I have seen the benefits of putting myself out there more and opening myself up more (something that is not always easy for me) for many more to get to know me. (It's one thing to open up on the blog...behind the computer...but it's an entirely different thing to let so many into to my real day to day life). It doesn't help that I'm so busy I feel like I never really have time for friends! But putting myself out there has been worth it and I've been so thankful to have met and made so many friends that have touched my life in some way or another. Many friends which you probably already know and love as much as I do, such as Sarah Jane, Meta, Amy, Alison, Meg, Michelle, Jen, Annie, Liz, Nicole, Sarah, Danielle, Heather, Amelia, Caroline...
...and of course the lovely ladies behind the event, the amazing Stephanie (Sycamore Street stationary designer) and Melissa.
They added so many touches that made this all so meaningful to me.
Such as this chalkboard drawing. Do you recognize the illustration from the Father's day plate I created with the boys? I just love that Stephanie drew this and then added the darling origami dress to the little girl on the way! So perfect! (and can we take a minute to think about the time that went into making all those little dresses for this garland! I love them so much, I've framed a few for the nursery).
And I think I'll have to do another post just on the incredible gifts these ladies shared with baby girl and I.
Can I just say that we have some serious vintage scouts here with quite the eye?! I need them to take me thrift shopping!
...and the hand made, thoughtful, creative and beautiful gifts were almost more than I could handle. (almost ;)).
We are some lucky ladies.
I can't think of a better way to welcome a little girl in the world than by sharing with her the
joy of womanhood through friendship. So thanks ladies! 
Oh yes, and I can't forget the gents too...Brett Merritt, Jon's acting friend, and husband to Amelia was so kind to stop by as well (and we discovered a theme of geeky glasses going on here). And Larry, Stephanie's husband was SO kind in watching my boys (and then some) throughout the duration of the shower, as Jon was in a performance.
Needless to say I feel so grateful and so much more ready to welcome a new life to this earth and to our family. And Oh my, is it true that I only have one more week to go?! Eeek! (Well...I guess I do look ready to pop... :)
*(many of the photos shown here were taken by Melissa).
I can't believe it's less than two months before baby girl will be here! Where has the time gone to? I feel like I'm not even close to being ready, in so many ways. And for a while there, I felt like I had nothing for her to really wear when she finally did arrive!!
But thanks to some of my favorite clothing lines, I've been able to gradually stock up on a great selection of statements and staples for our little baby girl on the way. Polarn O Pyret, just happens to be one of those clothing lines that I just can't get enough of. Can I just say that I'm am slightly obsessed with their clothing? They are so darling and equally durable.
I really love the brightly colored and patterned scandinavian flair that they have to a lot of their clothing. I also love how so many of their uni clothing items can easily swap between boys and girls, making these that much easier for us moms. In fact, one of my all time favorite shirts that I have from Polarn was initially purchased for my boys. You can see it here in our Christmas book advent calendar post. I can't tell you how many inquiries I've received about this shirt. I'm so in love with it and now that neither of my boys really fit it anymore, I can't wait to pass it on down to my little lady someday!
My dear friend Meta (who shot these adorable pics) is also a big fan of Polarn O. Pyret and so we decided to pool together a selection of girl clothes from them for this little photo shoot. And of course kid's clothing is just so much more adorable on cute little bodies, so we pulled in a few of our little friends, including Meta's daughter, to show these fun and colorful staples off.
Another versatile aspect of Polarn clothing, is it's sizing. Just look at how this darling turquoise polka-dotted dress (worn by a four year old in the top pics) transitions right into a shirt for a six year old.
Perfectly brilliant.
And the last thing about Polarn that I'm super into is their really great sales! Who doesn't love a killer sale, right? I think I need a few more back-to-school items for the boys and this 70% off summer clearance sale looks like just the ticket.
And speaking of back-to-school...are you even ready yet? I took Little O to his preschool Meet-the-Teacher day today and I just about cried (both out of how big my little guys is getting and because the place is just so darn cute...and I'm sure being pregnant had something to do with it). I still feel like I have so much to do before school starts, but ready or not, it's coming!
(*photo credit Meta Coleman of One More Mushroom).
Little O is going to preschool this year (he has an October birthday so he'll be one of the older ones) and we have been trying to get him geared up and ready. He's known his shapes for some time but I wanted to push him a bit further in this area. And these simple printable dominoes are just the thing!
To print out your own dominoes, head on over to Handmade Charlotte for the templates and game play instructions. It's so quick and simple, you'll be able to print them out just in time for your weekend camping trip!
(I also love that these can double up as great black and white baby
flash cards for when little sister arrives! Maybe we'll make a mobile or
something out of them...).
 Bit by bit I've been trying to stock up on a wardrobe for baby girl (Due Oct. 4). With my two boys, I had it down as to how I dressed baby: soft knit kimono tops paired with knit pants or the occasional skinny jean. Simple soft soled shoes that came on and off easily. Onsies, and pjs with the occasional statement shirt, jacket or suspenders. Then as they got older, I could really get into the more fun fashions wit a bit more structure.
This will be my first girl but I still think I'll follow the same sort of philosophy: comfortable, cuddly, easy with a few pops of WOW! (and of course dresses, dresses, dresses!). Or in other words, I'm stocking up on an assortment of staples with a sprinkling of fun statement pieces. And one of my favorite go-to clothing lines to do just that is Tea.  I can remember the first time I heard about Tea. I was pregnant with A (so 6 years ago!) and was shopping at one of my favorite kids stores in Ft. Collins, Co, The Clothes Pony. The clerk noticed that I was expecting and rushed up to me so excited to share news of this new line that she was in love with. She proceeded to tell me about Tea clothing, about how soft and organic it was and more importantly, that it was Julia Robert's first choice for her baby. I couldn't help but laugh to myself about the use of a celebrity as a selling point (something I'm not really big into). Well I was skeptical and was now about 80% convinced that I didn't need it just because Julia Roberts did. And then I saw the clothing for myself. I was immediately in love with the simple, graphic and tasteful patterns used. And when I felt the fabrics, how soft and high quality they were, well...I was sold. The clothing didn't need anything to back it up. It spoke for itself. And I've been in love with Tea ever since. So of course this was one of my first stops for baby girl and I've been so happy with what I've ordered so far. I still adore their simple and soft graphic layette options so I had to snatch a few of these up. And for a statement, well I had to snatch up this darling pale grey and
purple ikat blouse (pictured first in the post). And paired with these
darling purple leggings, well...I can hardly stand the cuteness. I'm also drawn to their adorable little rompers and I can just picture my future little lady crawling and toddling around in these. Such a great assortment to start out with! 
I have more favorite layette options to you share with you from Polarn O. Pyret. Another fabulous line to acquire a great selection of staples and statements. So stay tuned!
And if you want to know what is inspiring me for kids clothes these days take a look at my Little Style pin boards for both his and hers (back to school is just around the corner!).
 Hope you all had a fun filled and pleasant weekend! I just wanted to drop in and and let you know that I will be writing for Alpha Mom and all about baby food! This couldn't be more perfect timing as I'm expecting our little girl in a little less than three months (wowza!) and I've wanted to really delve into making my own baby food for some time. So now I've done just that and am sharing all my know how with you.
Take a look at my first post: Introducing Solid Foods (Fruits and Veggies) to your Baby. It's jam packed with great info. And if you have any insight on what you like to prepare for your baby, I'd love to hear it!
 So if you didn't catch my very subtle announcement at the end of this post we are expecting!! And we couldn't be happier. The baby is due Oct. 4th and... 
   And we couldn't be more thrilled! The boys and I are over the moon to welcome a new little lady into our home.
And although I'll be sure to keep up with the "boy" aesthetic and gender neutral crafts that you've all grown to love from Mer Mag, I can't deny that I might throw in a bit more femininity here and there. I think it will only broaden the range of fun stuff we can do, right!?
We're having fun thinking of names, nesting, rearranging things, trying to figure out how she will fit in our little home while already making a place for her to fit into our hearts. A swears he will "change her diapers" (we'll see how that one will go, I'm happy if he ends up being willing to throw them out for me). Little O is so excited and talks about how cute she will be. He's quick to point out every little baby he sees. Once he squealed when he saw a little baby girl and loudly proclaimed "Mom! Look they have a baby girl and she already came out!". And I dare say, I think Jon just might be the most excited of us all. He's sworn she'll never touch her crib (he'll be holding her so much) and he's even started a pin board for little girl clothing which just blows me away. It's pretty adorable to see really. And me, well I'm just looking forward to meeting her, learning about her personality and trying really hard not to impose all my girly dreams on her :). So yeah, I have a plethora of pin board ideas as well and I'm pumped to start sewing, sewing, sewing!!!
So any advice from transitioning from two to three kids? I'm a little nervous, I have to admit. And what about having a girl? This is all new territory for me! I'd love to hear your thoughts and stories!
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