my niece nora had a first birthday while we were in nj last week.
she is so darn cute and sweet and we were glad to be there.
my sister made her this three-tiered cake of nothing but basically
banana and applesauce and, you know, healthy stuff. nora loved digging into it.
my sister, brother in law, and nora… trying on her new shoes!
my friend kelly and i walking downtown where we grew up, both with our own kids.
she’s one of my oldest + dearest friends (we went to the same school beginning in… first grade, was it kel?)
so it’s both incredibly fun and crazy to be strolling the streets we used to as grown ups who now have kids!
also while in nj, steve and my dad were watching football and, unbeknownst to us, parker
was paying close attention. and then started doing what you see above, and then
getting up and running with a football. nathaniel taught him to also say, “blue 42! hike!”
wearing my dad’s ooooold fire helmet and too cool to even smile for the picture.
on another note, doesn’t william have great hair?
we tell him that all the time and hopefully aren’t turning him into a narcissist in the meantime.
liiiiiights everywhere. though, sadly, these aren’t up anymore because after william began he discovered the strands were way too long. i’m thinking about patenting a retractable light strand
that is EXACTLY how long you want it. not sure the science behind it yet, but bear with me.
little wooden masks, $1 at michael’s. craft tiiiiiiiime.
one of my new sponsors, fabuloos dreams, sent parker this book that’s personalized.
after he got over the initial shock of, “woah, that’s me, in a book?” he LOVED it.
it is really so cute. sometimes books like that lack an actual fun story or the graphics
are meh, but i genuinely like this one. good christmas present!
live garlands are possibly my faaaavorite thing to decorate with. a note if you choose to also do so with fuzzy socks on: the needles that fall WILL stick to the bottom of your socks.
since we were traveling last weekend, we haven’t had a chance to really decorate the house yet. that’s this weekend and we couldn’t be more excited. i mean, we even name it the “christmas extravaganza.” that’s how seriously we take it. i’ve got a big tub of trader joes popcorn (you remember) and sparkling cider for the kids and christmas movies to choose from. it’s going to be great. now i hope massachusetts will turn this rain to snow and then it will be juuuuuuust right.
have a good weekend, everyone!
Love. And if this rain could turn into snow, oh man. Things would be magical. Can you just IMAGINE the instagram feeds?!
seriously. there's snow in so many places too, showing us up! come on boston!
Have I mentioned how much I love your blog? Just such real, beautiful posts.
gosh, thank you so much!
Would your sister share her cake recipe? Looking for a healthy, non-dairy cake for my son's first birthday! Love your blog – so sweet.
still waiting on my sister's reply here, stay tuned, jen!
I love these, so much holiday spirit! That cake looks fantastic too!
I LOVE the picture of your husband and parker! So stinkin' cute!
I've been following you for a long time, by the way, but just never posted a comment..I figured it's about time I do that.
SO DO I.
and hi!
we're decorating for the holidays this weekend too! i can't wait to see the look on my son's face when the tree is lit up!!
http://semiweeklyeats.blogspot.com/2013/12/little-cozy-coupe.html
Your christmas extravaganza has me excited!! We did our tree last weekend but that it about it…we want to decorate the outside but alaska is one big ice rink at the moment.
So cute! I love this set
Awesome that you've had (literally) a lifelong friend! That's a rare gem. Parker is so sweet pretending to play football. And I'm the same, I love fresh garlands–they smell so great! Happy weekend 🙂
i love how festive this collection of photos is 🙂