I inadvertently chose the exact same outfits (except not; entirely new clothes!) as last year's holiday photos. Odd!

Today we went to the George Eastman House to take pictures and to gawk at the gingerbread house exhibit. It was pretty crowded. They were having a flute concert in the conservatoooory, which I was hoping to hear a bit of, but two children had other ideas. It would have probably been a pretty nice warm/fuzzy holiday experience on a quieter day.

The photos were kind of a bust, too. It hasn't snowed yet, and we were hard-pressed to find a decent appropriate backdrop, so this had to do. Oh well! Gotta get those cards out...

I've been totally Twitterized and only communicating in short, bite-sized bursts nowadays. It makes sense, considering there are only bite-sized things going on lately. Like, I finally ordered an Eames knockoff chair!

What else is going on? Well, Owen had the flu a couple of weeks ago, went to the ER with difficulty breathing, but he's ok now (still coughing, though, poor guy). I'm sick with something else currently, no biggie though. Everyone else is dandy. I'm getting geared up for the holidays, because I'm a giant nerd who sings along to Bing Crosby in the car and watches Rankin-Bass specials over and over again. I'm also fond of the holiday baking. We're supposed to get our tree the first week of December and I can't wait.

Aaaand, a baby just woke up.

Aaaah! How cute is this?!

Completely impractical, and way too small to be properly nostalgic. But I'm glad it exists.

Larkin vs. dim sum.

( Some more things about that baby: )

I know, I know - enough with the pictures of your kids, right? Sorry to be that person.
Really, though, it's either this or regaling you with tales like, 'I went to the craft store and bought nothing!' and 'I didn't have anything to eat but cheese so I made my husband bring home soup!'.

See? So here:



( Buy me a pony! )

It's not easy to get Owen to agree to photos these days. They'd just cut into his video game time, you know?
But look at this sweet kid! So pensive, so thoughtful, ( wouldn't hurt a fly... )

( Larkin finally had her birthday party: )

Is anyone here using Google Wave? The husband is and I'm trying to figure out how to get an invite. I don't even know when it's supposed to launch officially. O, technology!

So who wants to buy a Frank Lloyd Wright? Bonus: I will come over and help you decorate.

It's the Larkin Bee's birthday!
Her proper party was postponed a couple of weeks (so that family could find hotels nearby with available rooms), but today my mom took L and I out to lunch and then went nutsy cuckoo at Pottery Barn Kids with the spoiling of the Bee. I mean, check out this puffy dollhouse that opens up and has two floors! And Chloe doll with changeable clothes! And ooooohhhhhhh. How long have I been mooning over that chandelier/mobile?! And it was the last one.
That was just the spontaneous birthday extravaganza. She had already arrived with other toys, too! A fluffy adorable puppy, Golden books, a talking push-button phone...my kids are lucky kids. I'm a lucky mom (and daughter). I can't forget that.

It's snowing. Snowing!

Just hangin' out and bein' a bee.

( and stuff: )

Bullet points! Here's what's up:

- Went to physical therapy today and mostly talked about why I'm not feeling much better. It's almost certainly a herniated disc, and while I'm up and around, I'll turn or move slightly and feel like my leg is being torn apart. Today I drove with the L.Bee to the toy store in town (5 min away) and was ok until we got back in the car to go home. Commence growling and puffing and shrieking through the searing pain, gripping my leg with one hand and steering with the other. This sucks.

- The L.Bee turns one next week. No! Way! She helped me pick out some presents; I figure she'll forget about them by her birthday.

- The Owen Bean is just truckin' along in school. He's a really sensitive dude. We saw 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' and he spent most of the film hiding, curled in his seat. They're cartoon meatballs, dude! Ah, poor kid.

- It was our 7-year wedding anniversary on Monday. We had takeout sushi while sitting in bed and watching Nick Jr. with the kids. That's 7 years for you!

- Ohh, project runway is on.

I want to bring LJ back. Facebook has too many tiny universes to keep track of, Twitter's cute and fun, but a lousy conversationalist. Hey, winter's coming! What else are we going to do?

So, Halloween's coming. Owen was planning to be Ash Ketchum, an endeavor that was veering dangerously into obsessive cosplay territory. No, not the Ash from the original series, the newer one with the red and black hat. Not those gloves, the other ones. And the shoes...

Then, mercifully, he started playing a video game about tiny ninjas and decided a ninja costume would be acceptable as well. Done and done! Clearance costume from the mall, $10. Not spending every night for a week sourcing puffy vests and trucker caps - priceless.

And no, I did not yet tell him about the sweet-ass pretend katana set I bought him to wear with it. Would you want to be ninja attacked every morning for the next three weeks? Me neither.

Breaking the seal on autumn - first visit to the pumpkin patch.

( Two more: )

So I learned something about myself this morning - I learned that I am not only mildly claustrophobic, but intensely, acutely claustrophobic. I figured this out when tearfully begging to be let out of an MRI machine - an 'open' MRI machine! - at an appointment that was supposed to help me finally figure out what is wrong with my spine and why I'm laid up with intense back (and now leg) pain that has kept me from getting around normally or feeling ok for months.

I needed this. I had to fight to get an MRI, and now I can't even go through with it. My only hope is sedation, but I'm not sure that will be enough to keep me from feeling that I've been buried alive. Augh, health fail!

Edit: Oh! I wonder if I can get insurance to pay for this one!

First grade, b*tches! BRING IT!

A frog friend, schlorped onto our front door this evening. Nature everywhere! Horrible, horrible nature!

Sad woodchuck longs for the beach vacation he'll never have.

Enough of this food stuff. We got back late from the Children's Museum, so we ordered Chinese delivery.
Anyway, baby alert:



Four tooths total, and some crawling, and a lot of clapping. Yay, everything!

( One more: )