There was cooking, chopping, stirring, baking (fueled by coffee) and then eating, sipping champagne and wine, cards, an awards ceremony (I won the coveted Most Successful) and of course, a big fireworks show on the frozen pond. I am thankful for many things - but today I am extra thankful that my kids get to grow up having this lovely tradition.
Both of my kids easily slip into country life in Wisconsin. E has hardly gotten off the four-wheeler while Em is content to wobble around the yard.
I am a Starbucks sucker. I am definitely the demographic they market to and they do it really, really well. I consider myself knowledgeable about marketing and consumer influence and try to teach my kids not to want things simply because a commercial makes them look good, but then I walk into my Starbucks and thought goes out the window. It's not a crisis situation - I live within my means, but I totally fall for the holiday blends.
E jumped out of bed this morning when he heard the magic phrase, "It's book fair day." He got to pick out whatever book he wanted with no comment by me on quality or subject (a hard task for a librarian). He settled on an Indiana Jones early reader and practically danced to his classroom.
He quickly convened a boy conference to examine the pictures.
It's started to get a little cold in pdx - cold is relative to our West Coast home but we started pulling on wool hats and legwarmers. Em doesn't care for hats so I replace it on her head about 50 times a day but she doesn't mind the legwarmers. We've been heading to the school park near our house to burn some energy before bed.
The new Martha Stewart Living is GORGEOUS! If only my Christmas dinner cookie platter could look as good as this. I've been chatting with my cookie exchange peeps and after seeing this issue, I now realize they are going to need to step up their baking to help me reach this nirvana. There is no way I can get it done myself.
I quickly finished two hats for Knit One, Save One - a campaign to save millions of babies. My last steps are to attach a note on each hat to the mother and child who will receive the hat. When I heard about this campaign, I was immediately struck by what I often feel when I snuggle with my own kidlets, "I wish every child in the world could be loved just as much as my children are." That might sound sappy but it's an overwhelming feeling I never could have predicted until I had E and Em.
I've officially become a slack blogger these past weeks. I blame it mostly on Facebook - it's too much fun. And I haven't been snapping pictures quite as frequently - but today we have excellent news to report - Miss Em made it the whole night in her crib. This has maybe happened once or twice before. We hope to keep it going for a nice long run because it means we sleep through the whole night too.
We are already in count down mode for our Wisconsin vacation. The kids are decked out in their Badger gear and I've started my book and movie pile. Next up, filling the travel wine box!
Em's in love with going for walks. She grabs her own jacket or shoes and grunts at the front door. We typically walk up the street to our next door neighbors, who she adores. Em climbs up their driveway, saying, "hi, hi, hi" the whole way. Sometimes it's an appropriate time to day to actually knock on the door and say Hi and other times we have to just pretend. 
Even the dead have been unearthed to vote for Obama in Portland. Way to go canvassers!
Em HATED putting on her Yoda costume for Halloween. All of our getting ready to trick or treat pictures featured Yoda screaming. We found solace in hearing from our neighbor that their one-year-old also screamed putting on her costume. E embraced the young Anakin Skywalker fully - he had been in costume since after lunch with the whole afternoon at school devoted to partying.
Things got better for Yoda once Papa - aka Princess Leia - held her. Nana brought out the authentic cinnamon buns from a bakery in Wisconsin and they'd been drying out all week. I hot glue gunned them to a homemade headband which stayed on all night. The same cannot be said for the tinfoil belt.
Everyone was happy after some treating up and down the street. Luckily, Em hasn't figured out what candy is yet so she just took pieces out of one pumpkin and put them in another, clapping for herself each time. We all survived and happily fell into November with a long night of sleep.
Don't mess with me. I have learned the word "NO" and I am not afraid to use it!
Yarn - Regia DK, 3 skeins 
I am so excited about this campaign - knitters from around the world making newborn hats and raising funds to provide antibiotics to fight infections, immunizations against tetanus, breastfeeding education and training for skilled birth attendants. One of the strongest maternal
We spent the weekend at the beach and lucked out with 60 degrees and sunshine on both days. It was Em's first beach trip since she started walking and she loved running on the sand and meeting all of the dogs out for strolls. The biggest excitement of the weekend was while we were helping E explore some tide pools, a sneaker wave took his shoes out into the ocean. They were long gone within a minute - so we had an unexpected trip to the shoe store. We had a bonfire with smores, made a big sandcastle and watched the night sky for satellites. I can't wait to go back.
E finally lost his first tooth. It's been wiggly and hanging around for weeks - E was not tempted to twist and pull the way I used to. He's got a lovely gap on the bottom row and is delighting in the 1972 silver dollar (given to me by my Papa) that he found under his pillow. I am tempted to save his teeth. Is that creepy? No comment unless you have a child because I am sure the idea sounds creepy if you aren't a parent.
E's been missing his best friends from preschool. He still hasn't met replacements for his amigos. We were talking about the similarities between his preschool and elementary school. E said, "elementary school is just like preschool, except without the friends." My heart hurt a little at hearing this but I know friends will come in time.
When we were back in Boston for my brother-in-law's wedding, part of the bachlorette party was designing our own purse at a super trendy little shop on Newbery Street. OH MY! It finally arrived today and I am in love! I've been gazing longingly at my friends' purses for months now, wanting something more girlie and fashion-y than my very utilitarian messenger bag. Here it is.
I love so much about the bag, but what I think I love most is that it's reversible. I am definitely matching my outfits to the bag from now on.
I love love love Project Runway. I never miss an episode and often rewatch episodes while cooking on the weekends - Bravo loves to replay themover and over . . . last night I roped Tall House, Double Cup into watching the pre-finale with me and just a few minutes into it, he realized that one of the finalists (LeAnn) was the person who won the Mercury's Fashion show that he was in last year with his Safe Sax bags. He spent the rest of the show hope hope hoping LeAnn would mention Safe Sax - one shout out on Perez Hilton drove sales for a month this summer. Alas, LeAnn did not drop any hints of how fabulous my husband's side project is, but he still glowed in the six degrees of project runway . . .
It's been 277 days since I had a diet coke (and since Jonesie has had a cigarette - yes!). I am definitely going to make it the entire year. I haven't given up diet pop completely - just my beloved D.C. I do long for it on an every other day basis - and during one of my D.C. daydreams, I came up with a total million dollar idea!
Every Friday on my way to work, I treat myself to a venti iced decaf americano, extra ice, no room at Starbucks. Here is the part that will creep many of you out. I leave the last inch of coffee in the ice and then add diet coke (this year it's diet dr. pepper). The combination of espresso and icy cold pop is heaven - true heaven. And I can't be the only one who thinks so. So I came up with the idea of Diet Coke Coffee pop! They've done lime, lemon and black cherry D.C., so why not coffee.
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