We had a great Christmas and when I have time to pour through my 300+ pictures (truly), I'll be sure to post some of the gems.

I worked this week, Ellen was at school and Erik had the week off ... he seems to be getting the hang of being a house-husband and has crossed quite a few things off the (neverending) to-do list. Bravo!

However ... I wanted to take a little detour to share something I heard on NPR today that I think is pretty inspiring as we all look forward to 2012. I love, love, love me some NPR and it is one of the best things about my job - I spend 4+ hours in the car each week traveling to and fro and can catch up on the world around me. If I'm lucky, I'm in the car at 3pm to catch Fresh Air with Terry Gross. This week they have been playing clips of the best interviews of 2011 and the interview that received the most comments was the one with Maurice Sendak.

I'm sure we've all read Sendak books, but I really didn't know anything about him as a man. This was so moving and I had tears (the good kind) running down my face by the end. Don't just read it - you have to listen to his voice in the interview. Take 20 minutes and do this good thing for yourself ...

This Pig Wants to Party: Maurice Sendak's Latest

Happy 2012! Let's all plan to Live Our Life, ok?

Ellen and I made our semi-regular trip to Trader Joe's and we came across this cute little gingerbread man kit. For $4, it seemed like a pretty good (and delicious!) time filler for a day at home.

We had a morning full of errands and Ells kept asking and asking and asking when she could decorate it. Our last stop was the grocery store, so I bribed her with picking out one kind of candy to add to her decorations and she agreed to be patient.

Happy girl ...

Just one little taste before we get started ...

Oh, and a few more. "It's hair, Mom."

And then to the decorating. The kit came with a little bag of icing, a few M&M type candies and some sprinkles. Ellen chose the little pastel mint meltaways at the store as her decoration, which was fortunate/unfortunate because I LOVE those things.

One for me, one for the gingerbread man ...

I don't know why I got a bee in my bonnet to make these orange pomanders, but I did. I guess I probably saw them on some blog or on Pinterest, but they also fit nicely with my 'Thrifty Holiday' theme. :)

I got a bag of oranges at Trader Joe's, three little 99 cent bottles of cloves from the grocery store, and a pointy bamboo skewer. I cut an orange up for Ellen to eat and just watch me ...

She asked to participate, so I thought I should probably let her try. First, stab the orange.

Then, concentrate really hard and put a clove in the little hole.

Repeat over and over and over. (And over, and over, and over ...). The more cloves the better! Smell = YUM.

We finally (or, I finally) got all of the Christmas decorations up. Wanna take a peek?

We have two fireplaces, though this one does not have a mantle (a project for another time). Good place for our (2) stockings, though.

Also, I'm pretty proud of these logs! Faux bois, as Martha would say. I really wanted to do this plaster of paris faux log project from Design Sponge, alas I had no cardboard and no plaster of paris. So ... plan #2 ... google "faux bois paper" and Paper Source to the rescue! I wrapped the paper around random tubes and bubble wrap and smushed it up. Kinda cute?

Crafty project numero dos: felt garland! I saw this on Pinterest via Etsy and thought I could probably give it a go. I made the wreath last year and had felt leftover, so one random day last week I was off work and Ellen was at school. I sat down and cut all those little circles by hand and fed them right through my sewing machine. It was much faster than it sounds and, I think, kind of festive! (I also MacGyvered four draft blockers for my doors out of old fabric, 50 lbs. of rice, 16 lbs. of pinto beans and a greeting card. It was a productive day.)

And, crafty project 3!! (Do you catch my theme? It's "Thrifty Holiday") I also saw this on Pinterest via Better Homes and Gardens. (As an aside, my Pinterest feed is broken somehow and I get almost no new posts. It is terrible. Don't you hate it when you become addicted to something that you never knew existed and then you can't have it? Gah.) I made 4 of these card wreaths for the two sets of french doors. Yes, I am the person that saves every Christmas card for the last 5+ years. "Why?" Erik asks .... well, duh ... this is why. I did not cut these by hand, in case you really thought I was that crazy.

This crafty project I cannot take credit for. It is a Caroline and Betsy special from a few years ago, courtesy of Ms. Stewart. Super cute, if not a little melty and crusty in places. It is a full time job keeping Ellen away from these. (There are 3 more in the family room - what was I thinking?)

I finally thought this was the year to put our big tree up, last seen in 2007. Ellen has been very good and hardly touches it. I let her decorate the lower foot with non-breakables and everyone is happy.

Well, hello, Nicholas the Elf. Nice to see you here. (Yesterday he was hanging out on the stove cooking and the day before he was up late reading Ellen's library books.)

Bright? Yes. Calm? Well, that one may be a lie.

Can't forget the outside! We aren't big lights-on-the-house type people. (To clarify: I love looking at other people's, I'm just too lazy to do my own.) This is a smidge of a hodge podge effect, but the best I could do with what was on hand. If I was really smart I would try to find something nice on clearance after the holidays for next year. I'm probably not that smart. Is it painful to anyone else to spend money after December 25th, even if it is the deal of the century?

Happy Holidays to you and yours. Bring on the festivities!

A birthday is really just another excuse for me to take pictures of my child with props.

Behold:

And, the obligatory family shot ... where are our hats?

Here are a few little party details. It was nothing elaborate - our same family group / might-as-well-be-family group from last year, though that does turn out to be about 20 people.

Ellen's favorite color is purple these days, and I just randomly decided "golden birthday" would work as our (easy) theme.

Pop-up card idea, and #3 balloon idea, courtesy of Oh Happy Day. Fortuitously, my circus birthday banner from last year was on gold ribbon, so it worked perfectly!

And then I just grabbed some gold decorations from US Toy ... crowns? streamers? Sure! I was also wanting to get some little buckets for all of Ellen's colors and found these in the $1 aisle at Target. Worked great for party games, though actually mostly it was "chase around the house".

I love party balloons, but why is helium so expensive? Especially in the cold weather, those balloons last about 36 hours. Use your own breath, hang them upside down on a thread, and no one is the wiser (courtesy of A Girl and A Boy via Pinterest).

The gift opening was pretty much a hit, can you tell?

We had mac & cheese (Mark Bittman's recipe which seemed healthy-ish), salad, fruit and veggies and The Best Ever Chocolate Cake. Seriously, that is the name of the recipe (Erik's family favorite) and it lives up to the hype.

Our nice friends invited us again to their annual Santa party and cookie exchange, which just happened to be on Ellen's birthday! She couldn't have been happier to have a visit from Santa and a table full of cookies all in her honor. :)

Last year, Santa was a hit and Ellen continued to talk about him and the party at Will's house all year long. I wondered if our friends would be crazy, err, nice enough to host again. Yes! (thank goodness!)

I think you can sense Ellen's excitement here. Mrs. Claus was so sweet to her - she said, "Oh! You've grown so much since last year!"

I think there were seriously like 35 kids at this party from bitty baby to about age 5. It was pandemonium (in the best, Christmas-cheer, sort of way). Very few tears, which was impressive. Ellen was ALL ABOUT IT.

I got her a game and was somewhat worried that she wouldn't be happy with Santa after she saw lots of other girls open dolls and Barbies. No issues, though, and she was a happy camper with Santa's choice. (Santa thought about bringing a jar of 500 pop beads, then thought better of it).

We went out for a little family dinner, just the 3 of us, and came home to a rousing game of Uno Moo. It was pretty much the best birthday ever.

Contrary to our expectation, the Christmas Sing at school was not a huge success in the participation department.

Our little donkey .... (as Betsy said, in the most loving way, "your daughter is an ass")

Yes, mass chaos. Cute, but chaos. Can't remember if the kids were singing here or not.

Kids definitely singing here. Ellen definitely not participating.


She has been singing "Mary, riding on a donkey ..." at nap time ever since, so I guess it wasn't a total bust.

The party and, really, the cake (who are we kidding) were a big success. Happy Golden Birthday! More to come ...

p.s. I was only going to make a big chocolate sheet cake until Ellen INSISTED that her teacher told her she could have a CUPCAKE for her birthday. Ok, cupcake it is.

p.p.s. Thanks, Aunt Betsy, for photo duty!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!

It's her 'Golden Birthday' - do you celebrate this tradition? Turning 3 on the 3rd! We'll have a nice little party tomorrow, more to come.

Otherwise, in keeping with tradition, here is the hat! (See ONE, TWO)

(blowing out her candles)(Ellen, I need a nice smile, I said. You can see it here, right??)
Otherwise, she was up early this morning (before her cow clock was dancing), but I told her she got a pass for her birthday. "Well, Mom. Where is the pass and when can I see it?"

So far, three is pretty entertaining.

(You can see my sappy Mom-blog post here if you are so inclined).

Pretty typical stuff around dinner time ...




Yes, she calls her belly her "little home for food". No idea where that came from.

Yes, she is practicing for the school Christmas music show. Should be good times!

One of our crafty friends sent us some 'thankful' cards at the start of November for Ellen to keep track of what she was thankful for each day. In case you were wondering ...
My mommy, This peanut butter, This dinner, The iPad (and chocolate), Chips, This mustard, Polka dot blankie, My favorite big doggie, People, (gummy) Worms, Treats, Sleeping, People, Hugs, Treats, Everything, People, Bracelets, Mommys Daddys gloves hats and boots, Fireman people, Snack, School, Snacks, Soup (aka gravy)

We had such a nice Thanksgiving, and a very busy weekend of house-to-do's and losing football games. We had lunch in Lawrence with my family and dinner with Erik's family. And, by lunch I mean eating at about 1:45pm, and by dinner I mean eating at about 5:45pm. I'm still squeezing through the doorways.

Ellen's favorite part of our day in Lawrence was: 1. Tire 2. Soup (gravy) 3. Lights (xmas lights)

This tire swing was a HUGE hit and we were lucky enough to have the most gorgeous Thanksgiving day in recent memory in which to share it with our sweet little cousins.

Onward to December! With birthdays / holiday parties / Santa ... oh boy ... the 25th will be here before you know it!

This is perhaps not super appropriate for work viewing (or viewing with children), but great nonetheless. I think it's my new mantra - "Just put the F*cking Turkey in the Oven". I bet you can use it in a lot of situations.

Also another expression, courtesy of my girls weekend at the Lake, in lieu of "that's life!" - "dems da berries!". Use it. You'll like it.



I'm thankful today for the reminder that nothing is as bad as it may seem, especially as it relates to turkey. And, I'm making the cranberries - just sayin'.

Take a look at our days ....

Hiding in a cave? Yes.

Serving dinner to a big group? Yes.

And dessert? You betcha.