Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Yesterday, my company had it's annual Children's Christmas Party at the local movie theatre. We got free tickets to Planet 51 and snacks, plus Ava got to see this guy.

She's telling him she wants a Princess Darby with gold and silver shoes and a mask and a stuffed puppy dog with a hairbow and earrings.

After she told him what she wanted, he gave her a candy cane. Ava doesn't like mint, but she always wants to try it. So we unwrapped it and she put a piece in her mouth, then promptly spit it out and told me it was too spicy.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to visit my parents and Ava got to play with all three of her cousin brothers. Ava said she was thankful for birthdays, but I know she's also thankful for cousin brothers. Almost everyday we're not with them she tells me how much she misses them.

Jamie is running at full speed in almost every photo I took of him.

After we all froze our buns outside, we went inside for hot chocolate and pie.

Look at this rascally guy. Can you tell his middle name is Danger?

Photo Party

We invited some friends over recently and had a professional photographer come and share tips on how to take better photos (especially of kids). She taught us things like how to get that cool blurred background (I'm still practicing this) and why you should never use flash or the automatic setting. So, of course, the next day my sister and I staged a photo shoot. It didn't hurt that our models were so adorable.

While the adults were upstairs improving our shutterbug skills, the kids were downstairs having a party of their own (with a babysitter to monitor sugar intake).

Stationery Design

I've been picking up a few design jobs for friends here and there. These are some of the pieces I've done lately.

Nick and Nicole wanted Ben's announcements to look like baseball cards, so I suggested adding a stick of gum and a little glassine envelope. The photo doesn't do them justice, the packets were so cute in a person!

Gayle needed an invite for her annual family Christmas party. She wanted something traditional, with a fun spin. I love polka dots.

And this one I designed as a baby gift for my friend Amy. After Ava was born, we never got around to sending out announcements, so I wanted to help Amy avoid the same fate.

I have so much fun designing stationery. I'm sure there will be more to share soon.

Book Sales

I love library book sales. They are probably most defintely one of my favorite weekend pastimes. This was a particularly good haul a couple weekends ago. I think all of this cost about $10.

But, I must not be the only one who loves book sales because there's a website devoted to finding them. It's fittingly called Book Sale Finder.

Halloween

I love all holidays, but the holidays this time of year are my favorite. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. I think it's something about the chill in the air that makes them just a bit more exciting. These photos are from some of our Halloween festivities this year. I'll post Thanksgiving photos next.

We were up north at my Grandparent's house and it actually snowed on Halloween, so we called Ava our Artic Mermaid.

Boo

Our first year in our home, our neighbors included us in a fun Halloween tradition called "Boo-ing" your neighbors. You leave a bag of goodies, a poem explaining the tradition, and a ghost to hang in the window and show they've been booed. Then they have to do the same to two other neighbors. Last year, no one started the booing, so this year we decided to be the first.

I found these cute tags online at the Blonde Designs Blog.

My lovely assistant (who insisted on being included in a photo).

After we filled the bags with goodies, my helpers dropped them on our neighbors doorsteps and ran away.