our holiday card

i didn't get too crafty with our card this year (although it's still pretty sweet),
but this is the picture we'll be using...

out of the 7000 we took :)

we're gonna need a bigger boat...

or another letter... but what will we do when we have another baby??? maybe we'll have to sacrifice our letters for the children. the stocking hangers are empty at the moment because i'm working on hand-making some new stockings for all of us... sewing to be exact. i don't really sew. but i've asked for a sewing machine for christmas (which i know i'm getting because i saw santa my mom buy it) and jane has turned me onto the purl bee, which is where i got the pattern for what looks like pretty simple stockings. crossing my fingers it's not a lie...

christmastime with poppy

every year from the day after thanksgiving to christmas eve, my dad plays the piano at halls, a fancy schmancy department store on the plaza. you can find him at the bottom of the main escalators, playing and sometimes singing while shoppers pass by with their goodies... and don't worry, you don't have to wait for him to stop playing if you'd like to talk- he can do both at the same time. i know, so cool. it's the perfect time of day for us to visit, so i decided to take the babes down to hear him play. it's the first really cold day of the winter, and i just bought their coats. naturally, i want them to last all winter. needless to say, they're a tad big. :)

jingle bells...

so much to look at

mom, seriously, will you at least take this off while we're inside???!?

my studio!

if you can call it that. yes, you can. it's a work in progress, but when we moved in a little over a year ago, it was a guest bedroom. it was nice, our old bed became the guest bed, while we moved on to bigger (for my laarrge belly) and better things : a king-size bed! how did we ever sleep in a queen-sized bed comfortably?? i know, it can be done, and it was for almost 4 years, but it is definitely luxurious to be in a king.. i digress. a few months ago, i realized this room had only been used a couple of times. meanwhile, our "office" housed our computer desk, my work table, bookshelves, paper cutter, printer, etcera, etcera, etcera... the logical choice was made, and bam!, four or five months later, it is my studio. yay!! my workspace, my place where i can be by myself. as of right now, i'm not in there a lot, partly because i'm used to using other areas of the house for my projects- i'm a very visual person who needs to have everything spread out in front of her to be able to function... organized chaos, maybe? also because there's kind of been a lull in business for the past few weeks. and i need a good work chair. just a few reasons... i'm very lucky to be able to have a whole room! just for me, and i'm very proud of it. i'm in love with the color on the wall, and i wish you could see what it actually is. it's a yummy golden yellow with a hint of mustard... that makes perfect sense, right? bryan put up some cork squares on one wall, there's a collage of the babies as newborns on one, and the other is waiting on something. maybe a big overgrown plant. nah... built-in bookshelves that are sa-weet are on the other, and this is where most of my supplies are. i'm hoping to fill the corkboard with inspiration, pictures, cut-outs from magazines, and tons of quotes. i'm a tad obsessed with quotes. so here it is. sorry for the blurriness of the pictures, i wanted to try to take them without the flash so the color was as accurate as it could be...

a comfy chair i found at a used furniture store

(no bed bugs)

the desk/shelf bryan made for our fifth anniversary

(wood is the traditional present- he's so good)

ridin' in style..

in my attempt to revive this blog, i've been downloaded pictures like mad trying to organize all the crazy ideas running around in my head... and i will admit, i forgot about a few. i will tell you that i did not want to post these (well, the one of my husband is fine, but don't even get me started on the one of me). but i had to. i had to show you these super cute bjorn covers jane sewed for us. they definitely razz up these carriers, no?

who am i kidding, no one's looking at me, right?

liam, enjoying being super-stylish...

finn, trying to be cool about how cute he looks

i'm back!

wow, it's really hard to live up to all this pressure... just kidding, there's no pressure. maybe only from myself... you know how it goes, life gets busy, a few days go by and no new blog posts, a few more days go by, and you keep telling yourself 'the last thing you posted was about halloween, you better get on the stick!', and pretty soon, it's almost a month later and you've become one of those bloggers. the ones who really want to post about a lot of things, but just can't make time for it. the ones who drool over many many blogs every day, but can't ever seem to think anything she has to say will be worth reading... well, that's the end of that. i am going to make an effort to not write this for anyone but me. it doesn't just have to be about the babies (who, in my defense, do take up a LOT of time) :), it's going to be about me, my family, my non-existent business, our life. i hope you'll forgive me for my hiatus, all of you 3 people who check on a regular basis. :) as of right now, i am back. wish me luck, as i think i'm about to enter one of the busiest times of my life: the holiday season. with almost one-year old twins. oy.

nigiri anyone?

i've never been a big halloween person. i do not like scary movies, don't like being scared, and i really think that too many people use it as an excuse to be skanky. well, i think i'm comin' around... obviously, we participated this year- and had a blast! of course, there's not much to do with 10-month olds who can't seem to understand why this darn pillow is velcro'ed to their backs! but we took a trip up to the hospital to see bryan's co-workers and then down to our little outdoor shopping center for some "trick-or-treating". made me so excited for the years to come, when they know what's going on...

my sister found this idea in parents magazine and as someone who wanted to go all out with hand-making costumes, also someone who doesn't really know how to sew, this was a perfect alternative. so easy, and so so yummy. wish i had gotten more pictures, particularly of liam, but he's a pretty active fishy.

salmon with a side of wasabi

yummy nigiri :)

fatty tuna with ginger

(who you callin' fatty?)