Wheeeeeee! It turn out inviting every single person I saw for three weeks didn’t mean any of them wanted to drive out in a snowstorm to attend my Halloween party, so I didn’t end up with the huge crowd I was worried about anticipating. It also turns out all it takes to wear out my kids is running in circles for three hours (at least an hour of which was LITERAL running in circles – our first floor makes loop). Good to know, hard to replicate on a daily basis.

Most of the food was inspired by Pinterest, so check out my Halloween board here for details. I also used the free printables found here for some of the decoration and labels. I also FINALLY used the cookbook I got at The Creative Connection that had all the cute “gross” food in it. The rest of the stuff is a mish-mash of craft store decor and Target purchases that are probably not really worth listing. I’m going to force myself to limit the photos on this post to a reasonable semi-reasonable almost reasonable number, but check out the blog Facebook album for ALL the rest (probably only something you want to do if you were actually here and want pics of your kid.) They’re all kind of terrible, because the light in my house is terrible without sunshine – and we don’t get much sunshine during freak snow storms – but I can’t stop myself from putting them up anyways. It’s a sickness, really.

Pumpkin decorating station

The kids loved it, but next time maybe I won't set out so much glitter.

Spooky mantle decor

Little Evan's best friends are adorable

Hot dog mummies, dead fingers, ghost lollipops, zombie pizza (which was way cuter before it was cooked)

Clementine "pumpkin" pyramid

Sparkling cider & V-8 Fruit Fusion as spooky drinks, chocolate coverd rice crispie treats, mini donut eyeballs, ghost pretzel sticks

Sea monster veggie dip

Trifle with Death trifle

Penant banner & pumpkin lights

I don't think E was very happy I made him wear a costume

Too-dark photobooth was still a hit

Thanks for coming! Have a great night! Dinosaur rawr!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who came, and also HUGE apologies to anyone local who I didn’t invite in time. I passed them out at Stroller Strides a few different days but kept forgetting who had gotten them, so I promise you were SUPPOSED to be invited and I just suck. Next time I’ll just put a general party announcement on my Facebook and hope no creepy strangers show up. But YOU’RE not a creepy stranger, you’re a blog friend, so next time you’re invited too.

Whew. Now I’m going to spend a week cleaning my house and hiding from the thought that Caroline’s 1st birthday is in less than 7 weeks. Poor second child’s probably getting a store bought cake and a balloon.

I spent two hours yesterday trying to pick a family photo from our beach pictures to put on our Christmas cards. I was super excited to get them designed and ordered and maybe even addressed before Thanksgiving. I am On Top Of Things! I am Planning Ahead! I have 9 whole weeks to get this done! People will know I thought of them BEFORE January 1st! (Although last year’s late card can probably be excused due to the baby-having I was busy with the week before Christmas.)

Of course, after two hours staring at 300 practically identical photos I decided I didn’t like ANY of them and we’ll have to take a new one. I just can’t bring myself to put a photo of myself in a tank top on a Christmas card. OK FINE, so the real reason is I’ve lost 10 pounds since that trip and who wants to send every single person you know a picture where you’re fatter than you actually are? So “take a really awesome family photo” is on our list of things to do this week, right along with “clean entire house” and “knit a couple of sweaters”.

FORTUNATELY, Shutterfly makes the rest of the card super easy. Even more fortunately, they offered me free Christmas photo cards this year (although my beach photos were already all uploaded to their site, since I ordered an adorable photo book for Sara, the friend whose birthday we were celebrating) in exchange for telling you all which one I like best. How could I say no?

Pros: Lots of pictures, classic design, short and sweet

Cons: My family is never going to look that picture-perfect and I’m jealous

Pros: Cute and creative, I look good in blue

Cons: Not very Christmasy

Pros: I don’t have to write a separate Christmas letter!

Cons: I don’t think we did enough interesting stuff this year.

Pros: Fresh design, love the message, could use a black & white picture so our clothes don’t have to match

Cons: I CAN’T MAKE UP MY MIND!

Now here’s the best news of all: Shutterfly has given me three codes, each good for 25 free cards, to share with you.

Leave a comment below telling me about your holiday card tradition – do you skip them? do you write the BEST family newsletters? do you make your family wear matching pajamas and pose in front of the tree? – and I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner next week. You don’t have to be a blogger to win, just make sure you use an active email address when you leave your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck! Are you totally freaked out now, thinking about how Christmas is only 9 weeks away?

Sunday:

We enjoyed the nice weather (p.s. I do not live here)

And walked down the block to Easter services

Caroline enjoyed her Easter dress

And I enjoyed at least 7 of these scones

Monday:

Well, that's a new way to go down the slide

First swing! She looks underwhelmed.

Rushed the stupid dog to the vet because he ran in the street & got hit by a car. He's so totally fine the vet thought I was imagining things.

Tuesday:

Want to make a 2 year old go somewhere? Tell him there are kitties. KITTY! KIIIIIIIITTYYYYYYY!!!

Someone is excited about the spring weather.

60% off baby! I should have bought the whole box.

Wednesday:

Well, if you're that tired try sleeping later than 5:30. OKAY BABY?

Big boy reading in his big boy bed when I came to get him in the morning

The giant cart came in handy when we found the half price bunny. I put it (and the pink version) in a box for next Easter. AM GENIUS.

It's about time he earned his keep around here. I pay him in cereal.

WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SLEEPING IN?!?

Thursday:

Well, yes, that's sleeping. Technically.

OK, more sleeping. Except I took this at Stroller Strides so I was NOT sleeping.

Naked baby time while Mama stuffed diapers for the switch to cloth

Friday:

Yes, I watched the royal wedding but only because THE BABY wanted to get up. It's not like I set my alarm or something.

OK, so I set my alarm. But how could I miss THIS?!

New best toddler distraction ever: buckets & water.

Maybe I shouldn't whine so much about the sleeping.

Saturday:

CEREAL. MOOOOOORE!!! MORE CEREAAAAAAAL!!!!

I had a super healthy breakfast omlet so I wouldn't feel bad about the fried seafood at lunch. It worked.

Mystic Seaport. In the words of the toddler: BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT BOAT!

Days like this I am so happy we live in New England.

And now it’s Saturday afternoon and we’re home with 2 napping babies and plans to visit the hardware store (and hopefully I can talk E into some Chili’s for dinner). If we get REALLY fancy we might go dig up some rocks in the back yard. MY LIFE IS SO GLAMOROUS. And you know what? I totally think it’s awesome.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

You will only care about this post if
a) You are my kids looking back on their “baby book” someday
b) You are weirdly obsessed with boring pictures of children
c) You are my mother

Please enjoy.

Peanut butter egg pleeeez! (He actually didn't like it)

I hope your family had a happy Easter too!

Happy Holidays from The Davis Family! May you and yours enjoy the peace, joy and love this season brings and may your Christmas be as blessed as ours.

Under the tree

Look what Santa put in my stocking

Why do you do these things to me?

xoxo

Suzanne, Evan, Little Evan, Caroline
and Brutus-The-World’s-Most-Patient-Dog