our newest house guest...

we recently set out on a cold, cold day

in search of the perfect tree

our first Christmas tree as a family, believe it or not

and my first real tree...ever (sad, but true)

*fun fact* #1:  this is the second time since we got married that a tree actually got put up

and it's not because we don't like Christmas

or decorations

or sparkly lights

all of that stuff is super fun, but i'm also super lazy...or busy...or something like that

and i struggle with saying no to all the Christmas happenings

in order to say yes to things like decorating

(plus that whole travelling every other Christmas thing...)

anyway, doesn't matter why we haven't decorated in past years

point is, we're trying to get better at it

because *fun fact* #2:  Christmas (and Easter, and birthdays, and any reason to celebrate, really)

is exponentially more exciting / fun / magical / awesome when there's kids involved

so we started at a garden center, 

but quickly realized that we weren't going to find the tree for us there

(without breaking the bank!)

we decided it would be way more fun anyway to head out to a farm

despite the glorious sun that broke through the clouds on our way over,

the air was crisp when we arrived

(which is a nice way of saying we couldn't feel our fingers, toes or noses

...or most of our faces, for that matter)

but we quickly forgot about the limbs we were losing to the cold

while playing hide and seek between the trees, 

discussing what types of leaves were our favorite,

running through the open space,

crunching through the frost with every step, 

and talking the girlies out of the ridiculously tiny trees

 as well as the gigantic trees that they were picking

(it was one extreme or the other - that is how they roll, after all)

we searched and searched

pointed out what we liked about each tree

aaaaand what we weren't so keen on

this was serious business, folks

then, finally, we saw it

the perfect tree for us

not too big

not too small

not too "bald"

not too thin

not too full

just right

so we cheered (first things first ;) )

and watched as Daniel chopped it down

then cheered again (because, why not?)

and finally, took our prize tree home!

such a fun adventure!

oh, and we named the tree bob
after Bob Ross
we like to think he is a happy little tree
so it seemed like a logical choice

what about you? 

Are you on the ball about Christmas decorating?  

tell me all your secrets!  don't leave anything out!  :)

saturday bloggin' aka photo vomit

i don't normally blog on saturdays

but yesterday we got together with friends

and made tie dye shirts

then we had to wait 24 hours to unveil the final product

and i went a little camera happy

because tie dye

and toddlers

let's just say, i think this will be the first of many tie dye adventures

now on to the photo vomit part...

p.s. if this has inspired you to do some tie dying with your littles, 

here are some "resources" / what we used:

* how to & inspiration courtesy of sheena's first and second tie dye extravaganzas

* this tulip brand tie dye kit 

(except i hit up my local michaels store and used a 40% coupon so it only cost me $10ish)

* $3 t-shirts from good ol' walmart

* dollar store tablecloths left over from the girlies' birthday party:  

...one to do all the dyeing on, so that once we were all done, we could wrap up all the bits and pieces in it and chuck it

...and one more to lay our (still pretty wet) shirts on when we unwrapped them, once again so that we could contain the mess then wrap up and get rid of it easily

the girls still haven't tried them on yet (you have to wash them before you wear them), 

but they're pretty stoked about them, and it was a super fun process!

hello kitty birthday party (for my THREE year old girlies)

my baby girls turned three last week

so we celebrated with family on the actual day

then, once the weekend rolled around, we threw a hello kitty party for them

that was dreamt up, planned out and executed from beginning to end in six days total

yep, you read that right.

i totally dropped the planning ball this year

but our family is awesome and they blessed us with so much help in order to pull it off

some highlights from the party:

- the dark chocolate coconut cake topped with coconut buttercream + shredded coconut
(best cake i've ever made, hands down)

- lemon yogurt cupcakes topped with raspberry buttercream

(a big thank you to my sister-in-law for that flavor combination tip!)

- PINK foods 

(because, when you have three year old girls, a good chunk of your life is dedicated to the color pink)

- a crazy addicting sweet n salty popcorn concoction

- a laughter-filled game of pin the bow on the kitty

aaaaand it wouldn't have been as sweet without all the wonderful people

who gave up their Saturday morning to help us celebrate

so thank you family,

and thank you friends
my girlies are well loved, that's for sure

so, without further ado, some (err--lots of) photos: