We Wish You A Merry Christmas

My aunt took a family photo for our Christmas card this year and for that, I am SO thankful! The photo shoot took a total of 15 minutes. Both girls were in a great mood and I've done enough photo shoots to know that when you've got the shot you should quit while you're ahead. No need to push everyone's limits by getting greedy, although when it comes to photos it's VERY hard for me not to want hundreds and hundreds. But we had a group shot, individual shots, and the two of them together - what more could I ask for? I definitely have plans for some enlargements of these!

Baking Extravaganza 2011

We came, we baked, we conquered!

Practicing with the self timer for our group shot. You see who the hard workers were ...

Adorable aprons courtesy of our fabulous hostess Francesca :)

Favorite Things

I love nice paper and stationary. I love the smell of rose water. I love Italy. Put it all together and I'd say you have an awesome gift. This week I assisted with a book signing at Saks to benefit the non-profit I work for. The author was incredibly kind and thanked me with a gift from Italy (she summers there). It's from the Santa Maria Novella pharmacy in Florence. The pharmacy is one of the oldest in the world, started in the 16th century and from the packaging, I'd say it's pretty amazing. She gave me a bag of their potpourri and a bottle of rose water. Doesn't sound like much but it is wonderful. The packaging was so pretty and fancy that I waited two days to open it - I enjoyed it so much I didn't want to mess it up. The boxes it came in were made of a fine linen paper - not your average box by any stretch of the imagination. It also came with a "menu" of products the pharmacy sells, also made of the same amazing paper. The products are also equally amazing and luxurious. This gift was a true testament of the fact that with gifts, it's all about presentation ... Now I need to plan another trip to Italy ;)

Baby Jesus Lives in a Gingerbread House

According to my daughter, baby Jesus lives in a gingerbread house. Towards the end of the week, I started asking Addison if she wanted to make a gingerbread house, to which she would enthusiastically reply "Yes, for baby Jesus!"

While making this today she told me we needed to open the door for Mary. I asked her who Mary was and she replied "Jesus' mommy. Baby Jesus is going to come out of his house and he's going to be so cute!"

She's a clever one and has quite the imagination. Well, baby Jesus has yet to make an appearance in our gingerbread house but I certainly had fun making this while Addison licked all of the candy and put it back :)

My Crazy Little Elf

I am torn between blogging, my to do list, and just sitting here enjoying the quiet. The babies are asleep, I am finally done with my ridiculous number of photo shoots to edit, the Christmas tree is up, I feel like I am starting to breath again. At the start of last week I was so worried I wasn't going to have time to stop and enjoy this season - much to my relief, I was wrong and this weekend was full of happy memories. Last week, work was insane to the point of me wanting to hide under my desk. We had just returned from our Thanksgiving trek to my parent's house - this road trip was much better than the summer trip, however, it still shocked me how different it is to travel with two little ones. Every time someone asked me how my "vacation" was, I wanted to roll my eyes. I had a great Thanksgiving but it wasn't a vacation. Ava's sleep schedule was waaaay off and both girls got up around 5 am each morning.

The big realization of how different life is now came during our attempt at our annual shopping day. It was somewhat of a failure, at the end of which I wondered who had kidnapped my 2 year old and replaced her with a crazed elf. My mom might tell you the trip was successful because we did purchase a lot of items but this was my version: Go to Banana Republic, Addison tells me she has to go potty. I pick her up and run halfway across the outlet mall to find a public restroom. She doesn't really have to go. Walk back across the mall in my uncomfortable boots (which I thought were comfy until I tried to run carrying a crazed elf in them). Back to the store, trade off kids. Feed Ava. Drive to other mall. Take Addison to ride the train. Go into a store and try to keep Addison from climbing all over the fitting room. Take Addison outside to play. Attempt to get her some lunch as she melts down and trys to hang upside down in my arms. Reposition her so that she can try to pull my earrings out. Give her lunch. Leave the mall and let both girls sleep on the way home (thank the Lord!!!)

And then she goes and acts all angelic while decorating the tree with her Nana. Don't be fooled, there's a crazed little elf in there somewhere and she'll pop out when you least expect it!