family pics

tom's sister wanted to give their mom some updated family photos for christmas, so we all headed up to trolley square for an afternoon.

jenn was able to snap a couple of just our little family and i thought i'd share!

{i snatched these off of her facebook page}

christmas catch-up

a quick run down of christmas... not a lot of good pictures. too busy!

neighbor gifts.

i made rolls from scratch and then gave them out while they were still nice and warm.



christmas morning.

my parents came over to watch the girls open their presents and to eat breakfast with us.

the traditional "line-up"









the pinata.

the kids loved it!



oh, and i also took a swing at it...



p.s. to my family. i could NOT see!

christmas program

miss had her preschool christmas program this morning and she did awesome! it was the first program she's ever participated in where she ACTUALLY sang. she usually just stands there like a big nerd, so i was super proud of her.

sorry, lame picture... i had the video camera out the rest of the time!



and behold, the drooliest (and dare i say, cutest) baby in history...





seriously, this kid is soggy 24/7!

weirdo

a word i would use to describe elli lately. her favorite new thing to do is to grab any pillow or blanket she can find, haul it into my bathroom and gaze at herself in the mirror.

baby boys

this little weasel is 4 months old today! (yes, missy, i call my kids weasels, thanks to you!)



also, my brother and his girilfriend had a baby boy yesterday!



balian ash simon! isn't he adorable! we're SO glad he's finally here and healthy!

and finally, i gotta give a little "happy birthday" shout-out to my sister-in-law (who also happens to be the best boss in the world). darby turns 28 today and she's also expecting their second boy next year! yeah!

the power of negotiating

i haven't posted in awhile, so i thought i'd share my fun mirror i got!

i've been on the lookout for a big mirror ever since we moved into our house because there's a huge wall over the stairwell. however, the mirrors in the size i wanted were waaaaaaay out of my price range.

until i found this one!



the original price for it was $225 but the store was having a 50% off sale, and i noticed that it had a little nick on the bottom of the frame so my mom, sister and i haggled the sales lady down to $75! and then i just filled in the nick with a black sharpie!

i learned from a very young age that prices are usually negotiable and that you can talk just about anyone down. i remember if my mom wanted something from a store that had a male sales associate, she'd call my sister up and make her go in and talk to him so he'd give her a "pretty girl discount", and yes, it worked everytime! (we have no shame. and notice she never called me to get the "pretty girl discount" for her... what up with that, mom?)

anyway, the point of this post is that you shouldn't be afraid to try and get a better price on things you really want, cause you'll usually end up coming out with a great deal!

navy blue

is the only word i can use to describe those eyes!

{swoon}

does somebody want to buy me these?



you can find them here

seriously. my birthday is in two weeks.

i'm not joking people.

please?

no? okay, fine. whatever.

check out martha's collection.

SO JEALOUS.



i have dreams of my unfinished storage room looking like this one day. complete with the neatly labeled shelves {of course!}

honey, what do you think? can you make it happen?