to end the year...

a list of randoms.

- i keep finding things to post about, then i don't have enough to say (hence, the list)
- i've been watching six feet under on netflix and just finished yesterday. awesome.  i think my sister-in-law kathy would love it.  it's all about death, and she's very comfortable/knowledgeable on the subject
- liam caught something somewhere and has had high fevers for the past two days
- bryan's working all day every day, so i made sure i knew what to do if (for some freak reason) he had a febrile seizure.
- turns out, if it doesn't last too long, it's nothing.  how's that for a kick in the pants?
- i shouldn't be so dramatic
- ingrid michaelson on pandora is a wonderful thing
- yesterday, my best friend told me, "i think my heaven is a room filled with chocolate and movies made from classic literature."  i told her i'd join her there
- we had a freezing thunderstorm last night.  i didn't even know there was such a thing
- i'm really looking forward to my acupuncture appointment today because, even though i will have needles stuck in me, i will have approximately 1 hour to myself. silence.  and a nap. aaaaahhhhh......
- my good friend, jane, has a great way to make your resolutions pretty. go here to print!
- i haven't figured out my resolutions yet, but i know my first one, carried over from last year, is to find a church.  apparently, it was too big of a task for 2010.
- the boys go back to school on tuesday.  i can't wait, but i'm predicting by then, finn will have caught what liam currently has and will have to stay home.  bugger.
- which means that our goal of purging our whole house into trash bags full of stuff to donate might have to wait.  positive thoughts, positive thoughts...
- must get to see my chinese miracle worker, who will no doubt tell me i look very tired.  oh, how i love him.
- happy new year!

what a zoo it was...

you don't really realize that even though you just invite your immediate families, that means 20 people.  it was a zoo, but stayed well with the theme.  and after christmas the day before, this mama bear is ready for a break.  i didn't get a chance to get many photos, although i did video them eating their cupcakes.  just like last year, liam was literally face in the cake, while finn picked pieces of frosting off one by one before he decided he really wanted to eat it.  kathy had the great idea of circus/zoo food, so we did peanuts, popcorn, kettle corn (which someone is going to need to take away from me, and soon), bananas, pigs in a blanket, caramel apples, and a sad veggie tray for good measure.  bryan's family came in early to help with the set-up and lisa beautifully decorated about half of the cupcakes as zoo animals.  these were a huge hit.  the other half, i had her do some bright colors, so i could use the animal toppers that inspired the theme.  because i was too busy eating running around to take pictures, here are a few of the famous cupcakes.  

and the birthday boys...

can anyone tell me how it is i already have two year-olds?

and how i'm going to survive this stage??

too cute.

a pit-stop on the way to night-night...

whoa.

every year, i'll pull this out, and every year, i'll get extremely emotional.  for two reasons: one - they were that little.  and two - our dog, ellie, ate finn's ornament.  this one is liam's; they were made by a nurse in the NICU when they were calling it home for the first 2 1/2 weeks of their lives.  and now they're going to be two.  whoa.

the invite

i always wonder how i'm going to come up with a new design for each piece i make, whether it's for a wedding invitation or a business card.  i think this font was my inspiration for this year's birthday party invite.  and the animal parade cupcake papers/toppers.  i put these in the mail yesterday, so i thought i'd now share them with the world wide web.

two weddings (and all the paper paraphernalia that accompanies them), christmas, their birthday, and all of life's other goings-on are taking up pretty much all of my time, so i'll try to post more details of the party, but at this rate, who knows if there will even be more than cake?

winter wonderland...

in a cookie jar, a la martha stewart - who else?

this was super easy, i can finally say i started and completed something during naptime.  my only issue was all the stickiness...  i'm not completely OCD like a certain sister i have, but i have a few things:  i don't like christmas lights that blink, i prefer for two light switches on a switch-plate to be going the same direction when turned off, and i don't like my hands to be sticky.  what i'm about to tell you may cause you to judge me just a bit, but that's ok:  i used to hold raisins in my hands and smoosh them all around, just so i could wash my hands.  yeah, i told you it was bad.  go ahead, judge.  so for this project, i kept a wet washcloth close by for emergencies.  however, it caused all the jimmies and sprinkles to lose their color.  ergo, i had to deal.  with all the gumdrop sticky.  

i survived.

p.s. i'm pretty sure there are a lot more things to add to that 'i'm not OCD, but here's my list' list, but i didn't want to wander.  i'm pretty good at that.

ho-ho was a no go

we didn't do santa last year - i think we didn't do it as kids, so i guess i wasn't thinking it was super important.  it was pretty adorable, though.  the boys have been saying 'ho, ho, ho' when we ask them what santa claus says, so i guess i thought they might be ok with sitting on his lap.  not so much.  as you can see, liam wasn't into it from the start, and finn was a little shell-shocked.  classic finn.  

 is he a great santa or what?  no beef and cheese here...

so we opted for a family pic.  if you're wondering why there are giant crayons behind us, we were at crown center's crayola land... a great discovery made yesterday.  lots of soft things to climb on, slides, houses to walk through, all small human-sized.  the boys loved it!  when santa asked liam what he wanted for christmas, he said, "bye-bye, ho-ho-ho."  does that mean we don't have to get him anything?

if i had a list of favorite things...

this would most definitely be on it.  i don't have a list because i'm impulsive and impatient, two things that don't really go together when shopping.  especially online shopping!  i do have a bit of common sense, though, so it all balances out. (my husband might beg to differ).  i spotted this orla kiely silk scarf in my latest garnet hill catalog, another fave of mine.  i think the reason it's still on my list and not on its way to my house is because i saw it in a catalog - if i wanted it, then i have to get up from bed, get my wallet, go to the computer, and order it.  did i mention i'm also a bit lazy?  so, no scarf and i'm still drooling over it.  i know i'm a bit behind the times that i don't really know who this orla kiely girl is, but i think i'm in love with her.

happy december!

 here we were last year at this time...

and here we are this year!

we think we see a trend..  our mom might have a bit of an obsession with stripes.