the tree farm experience

Hubby went by himself to get our Christmas tree from Costco the weekend of Thanksgiving. Super festive, right? We did it that way last year too. The thought of tromping around a tree farm to find the perfect tree with a kook and babe just wasn't appealing. I'm really looking forward to when they can both hike through the trees with us and help find a tree but this year wasn't the year to start that tradition. Even though we weren't there to find the perfect tree, we still visited a local tree farm for the experience of it all. We visited the petting zoo, took a horse-drawn carriage ride, stepped into the gift shop for 3 minutes, let the kook carry a saw around and walked around looking at the trees. The kook was enamored with the tiny tree. The crazy photo of her is her "TA-DA!" proclamation. All things tiny are her favorite. We were there just long enough to enjoy the amazing California holiday weather and leave when the kook started to throw her attitude around. Yeah. That happens. It was at that moment that hubby and I were thankful that we weren't in the middle of trying to find a tree and that we took the easy Costco way out. Right before leaving we hit up a stranger to take our family photo and it's one of the best ones we've gotten minus the little man looking away. Yay for strangers that know how to use cameras! Because as we all know, if there are no pictures to prove it, it didn't happen.

the little man's FIRST HAIRCUT

Someone got his first haircut and someone gave her first haircut this week. We had a friend do family photos for us on Tuesday and I knew I had to trim the little man's shaggy hair before putting him in front of a camera. I was definitely nervous as it was my first time cutting anyone's hair- besides a very unfortunate extreme bang trimming when I was 6 or so. I set the little man up in a booster chair, got some tiny sharp crafting scissors and just started cutting. The little man was dodging every attempt so I grabbed him a spatula to chew on. I trimmed as much as I could in the 10 minutes he allowed me near his head before he started throwing the spatula on the ground and swiping at my scissors. It is by no means a pro job and I definitely won't be waving him around out in public and declaring my hair cutting brilliance, but the shag is gone and the little man seems pleased. 9 months and 2 weeks old and his hair is finally trimmed. He's a handsome little thing. Maybe someday the kook will have some hair to cut too. I'll probably be able to make a hair baby out of all of the little man's hair trimmings before that happens.

LATELY on instagram

(1.) Hubby's chalk portrait of the kook. (2.) The little man loves the wind in his hair. (3.) Shopping with the fam for my birthday. (4.) The duck fountain wasn't running so it became a toddler ride. (5.) I was living with the cracked, mute iPhone 4 for almost a year and finally got the iPhone 5! It's a whole new world. I can actually see what things look like on the screen now. (6.) The kook was scooting around on this giant rubber ducky at World Market while fanning herself with a pen fan and looking through a toy gun like a telescope, all the while making siren noises. I was cracking up. (7.) Our first baby-less date in 2 months! It was very much needed. (8.) The kook is constantly building things. She showed me this house she made and I was seriously impressed. (9.) The little man's squash face. (10.) Kale-Mango-Coconut Water smoothies at Whole Foods. We both loved them. (11.) "Don't worry mom. I'll put some on your face too." (12.) A gorgeous evening chasing cats and kicking a soccer ball. (13.) Little drummer boy. (14.) Building towers everywhere. (15.) Baby dedication at church. We dedicated both of the kiddos to the Lord and had our families there to support us. (16.) Waiting for dada to make dinner breakfast burritos. (17.) She's kind of cute sometimes. (18.) The little man pulled himself to standing this last week. Every time he does it I almost have a heart attack and hubby and I spot him until he's done. He's definitely not stable on his two feet yet. (19.) I did it. I decorated for Christmas. (20.) If she's not building, she's lining things up. This girl has a future in architecture.

THE KOOK TURNS TWO! (...6 months ago)

Adelaide turned 2! Well, 6 months ago. I asked my friend to take photos of the party because I'm such a frazzled host and after us both forgetting about the CDs any time we saw each other over these last 6 months, she handed them to me at her own daughter's 2nd birthday this past weekend. It was so fun looking at them and seeing how much the kook and our little man have grown and changed in the last 6 months.

After doing way too much for her 1st birthday party in the way of crafting decorations and favors, and baking a bunch of things, I decided I didn't want to bake or cook anything for this party. It was way too stressful last time and I also had a newborn this time around who was just recovering from a month of RSV (memories...). I bought junk food cereal, various milks (for the lactose tolerant and intolerant), tea, good coffee, and then the morning of hubby picked up a few dozen donuts (vegan and non). We had the party at 10 am and it was unusually gorgeous out for a morning in April. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm. It was the perfect day to have a little brunch with friends and family in our backyard. There's not much to tell you in the way of details, but what there is to tell, I'll share below.

INVITATIONS: designed by me
GARLAND: sewn by me- the fastest garland ever
2 POSTER: designed by hubby and printed at his work
PLATTERS: one was a gift from my cousin, a couple were cake platters, and I made the two tall skinny ones out of candlesticks and little plates
ANIMALS & PARTY HATS: the animals were from Michael's and I spent some time one evening making their little party hats
PLATES, TABLECLOTHES, PAPER LANTERNS: Target
FAVORS: mini cereal boxes and animal finger puppets from Target

P.S. Um... and don't mind our ghetto house. Yeah, I was a little embarrassed to put the table and decor in front of that wall that hasn't been painted over, but it was the best spot for everything. Remember how we live in a crooked shmooked house and remodeled the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad inside? Well, the outside is still that crooked shmooked house and hasn't been touched. Let's just say that I would be scared to walk up to our crazy little house. Luckily I live inside the house and rarely pay that much attention to how sad it looks on the outside. Maybe someday we'll do something to the outside? I don't know. We have so many other priorities. But all that to say, the outside of our house is not the beautiful backdrop for backyard parties that I want it to be, but we do live with a beautiful view of the country and friendly farm animals next door so I won't complain.

from THE CORNER

Sometimes I like to just sit in the corner of the kiddos' room and watch them play. And mediate. And listen to the kook "read" books and tell stories.

A story by Adelaide.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl and there was a little boy. There was a little girl! There was big girls. There was big ladies. There was a girl writing a story for reading a book. There was a story for someone reading a story for us."

.....and then she got distracted. Too bad. That story had potential. I was wondering what would happen to the big girls and big ladies.