all is calm. all wasn't bright, but now it is.

3 foam core poster boards

+

1 set of LED lights (so they don't get hot or waste your power)

+

a kitchen hole-poker (aka pointy knife)

+

lots of packing tape

+

some fabric in whatever color you find in your pile of fabric

+

an extension cord to make it to the outlet

=

magic (Max even came down from his nap and said "whoah")

p.s. if you have x-ray vision and you are Lily's friend or my sister please look away or you'll spoil your Christmas gift surprise

p.p.s. did you spy Buddy?

p.p.p.s. did you spy Buddy?

he is our elf on the shelf

spying on my kids

that's a haiku.

stuff we eat

I was talking to my mom and sister earlier this week about gathering up recipes that mean something to our family. I logged on to Shutterfly to see what deals they had going (first I'll say sorry it's ending tomorrow) and it was perfect. Buy one book and get duplicates for half off. Whoah! I have 4 sisters so that's quite a few 45 page books. After Thanksgiving I got a-cracking and just finished it. It's a To: daughters From: Mom present for Christmas and I love it. Not just because it's been my last 2 solid days gathering and photoshopping, but because it's all the things we remember eating as kids. Lots of cookies. Fancy Louisiana stuff my dad's perfected from a vacation there. Things from grandmas and aunts and church ladies. Things we've started making as grown-ups that we create together. And an 8-step page of instructions for making ramen (haha).

Click here to view this photo book larger

the word cute only has 3 letters

M

A

X

cute is also not into looking at the camera these days. but if he'll continue to put up with mini fisherman sweaters I'll probably let it slide.