Happy New Year!

It's out with the old...

...and in with the new!!!

The Help (the movie)

I finally saw The Help and loved it! It was the perfect hollywood version of the book. naturally that does not excuse anyone from not reading the book. The story is intricately wound in the book as it moves between the perspective of three different characters. Read it, THEN watch it.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Remember the t-shirts that we screen printed?

They were a smashing hit!!!

Especially with Max.

The kids with the completed gingerbread houses:

Have you ever seen santa and his crew water ski?

I have! Maybe it's hard to tell from these pictures but this is one of santa's elves water skiing!

And four of his reindeer kneeboarding!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Gingerbread Houses

After heading into the city to see the Iwo Jima Memorial...

and the national Christmas tree (which was a little bit oddly shaped this year)...

we made gingerbread houses!!!!!!!

Megan and I were very proud of the ice skaters we made:

Oh the joys of the holidays!

Donuts

Thanks to Emily's new donut maker, we have been enjoying fresh donuts whenever we want!

No complaints here.

Christmas is coming

Every year on Christmas eve my mother gives us each a new pair of pajamas to wear that night. This year she took it to the extreme and decided to design and print them herself. Megan and I stepped in to help with the project.

Here is Megan preparing the screen so that we could print the design we made.

The completed shirts. Christmas to the MAX! (remember, our dog's name is max - he is featured here on the shirt along with Max from The Grinch).

Happy Birthday Emily!

It turns out that dreams really do come true because to celebrate Emily's 10th birthday we went to the American Girl Place for dinner. We brought our dolls and they even gave Molly (Emily's doll) a birthday balloon to celebrate!

Megan, Samantha, Kirsten, me.

Each of the dolls had a special birthday crown.

With the birthday girl and her cake!

TWINS

In preparation for Emily's birthday I found my American Girl doll and matching dress from when I was 10.

Why must we grow up?

Much Ado in Cuba

Megan and I took a little trip to Cuba via William Shakespeare.

Here's the set for the play Much Ado About Nothing, which was set in Cuba.

It was excellent. At one point someone was swimming in that little fountain - just to give you a taste of how great it was.

Awesome to the Max

This is Max:

He is awesome.

It's official

We got the tree!

Christmas must be coming.

The Book Thief

I read this book in two sittings of 5 hours each on an airplane. The second I finished it, I wanted to start it over again. That is the sign of a good book.

Read it.

The Muppets

There is nothing better than a movie that leaves you pondering one of life's great questions. The Muppets is one such movie. I found myself greatly entertained, but also forced to discover my inner muppet.

Am I a man or a muppet? One of life's important questions.

The song reminded me of Flight of the Conchords, and with good reason - Bret McKenzie was a composer for the movie.

Coast to Coast

Last week we took a girl trip to the other coast to visit my grandma. We ate some good food and saw some great sites.

Outside of Powell's Books:

In heaven. I rediscovered the importance of reading Ernest when I came across the Hemingway section. I came away with several books including the complete collection of Hemingway's short stories.

Emily always knows how to have fun. Here we are taking turns fishing off of my grandma's deck. Rather than a hook, this fishing pole/cat toy had a mouse on the end of the line. We were getting a little too good at it and decided to stop before one of the neighbors noticed a mouse dropping past their window.

Looking at old photographs:

On Friday we spent the day with my aunt in Portland. To start off the day she gave us some warm socks to wear as we journeyed through the city.

We found what Emily would look like if she were an animal. Adorable as always.

Of course we stopped in at Voodoo donuts.

And Panera bread.

Delicious.

Annapolis

The fam:

We met up with some cousins for lunch.

Cute Emily with some very hot chocolate.

Dad with some very rich drinking chocolate.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

For lunch: cheese.

The apple pie.

The turkey.

Delicious.