on saturday we combined two of my favorite holidays by bringing the nutcracker ballet to our halloween party!

after all, we did have a snow storm here in DC on saturday.

happy halloweeeeeen!

love,

the toy soldier

the mouse king

the snow queen

and the cutest little sugar plum fairy you ever did see.

{the nutcracker.}

hope your weekend was great!

more photos to come...

pillows by poppy winners announced!

congratulations to our giveaway winners below::

congrats ladies!

please email me your contact info

so we can get your pillows in the mail!

naomi.megan{at}gmail.com

and, to jump start your holiday shopping,

my mom is offering 15% off all pillows

in her shop for today only!

enter HOLIDAYJUMPSTART at check out!

you can also follow poppy on facebook for weekly updates

and new product announcements.

and feel free to share on poppy's facebook page

any personal experience and quotes that will promote home

and inspire others to celebrate all that is good at home, too.

on the swing! down the slide! at the park! oh my!

i feel like it just keeps getting better and better....

this thing called parenthood.

{photos taken with instagram on my iphone earlier this week before winter showed up and it SNOOOOOOWWWWED.}

eleanor's first rock concert :: beirut.

earlier this summer, josh surprised me with tickets to see beirut! (ahhh!) after months of anticipation and excitement, so we drove down to richmond virginia on tuesday to see them perform.

we debated what to do with eleanor. leave her in d.c. with a sitter? no. how about with kingsley? no. maybe find a sitter in richmond? noooo. so.... what about taking her? and take her we did. i guess her little baby banz noise silencing headphones were comfy because she fell asleep before it even started and didn't wake up until the last song. somehow you can't take photos at the national theatre (where beirut performed) but i very quietly snapped these two during the last song anyway because i am a mother who wants to annoyingly document everything for my baby.... and also, this way i can kindly remind her when our taste in music clashes someday that once upon a time when she was 9 months old, she had really good taste in music and shows. ;)

rockstar giveaway! (closed)

Today we have a giveaway for you from one of my favorite people.... my mother! and her new shop, Pillows by Poppy™! My mom made a few pillows for Eleanor's nursery earlier this summer and after seeing them and persuading her all summer long, we finally got her to open up a shop! The detail work on these pillows are out of this world. I can't believe the creativity and time that go into each one. I am so proud of her and excited to share her shop with you!!

Pillows by Poppy™ is giving away a pillow of your choice to 2 lucky readers! Click here to see all of the pillow choices. Each pillow is hand sewn, one at a time by my mother (some take her hours to complete!)

(Here are my two favorites in Eleanor's nursery.)

I wanted to include these two little quotes from my mom shop because I feel they are so special:

"Pillows by Poppy™ celebrates all that is good at home. Each pillow is unique in beauty and individuality. They are expressed in varied designs, like different people from different homes. Poppy wants each pillow to remind us of our youth and those simple days of childlike faith when a bandage and kiss would take the away the hurt of an 'owie.' Poppy maintains that these pillows represent homes, not houses. She truly believes a home is a place one wants to return to. It is about family, birthday cake, and feeling safe. It is the laboratory for learning and practicing fundamental principles and useful life skills. Indeed, it is the best place on earth to learn charity.

"And what about those frayed, raw edges on Pillows by Poppy™? Poppy feels those frayed edges are kind of like us… imperfect people living in imperfect homes. Mistakes are made and apologies are expressed. Home is a place from where we can start all over again and try to do better next time."

To enter to win a pillow of your choice, please visit Pillows by Poppy™ and leave a comment below telling me which pillow you would choose. The winners will be drawn and announced this coming Friday.

Good luck!

Top photo by Josh.

All other pillow photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.

pancake morning.

on saturday morning we both woke up craving pancakes

so we made blueberry for me and plain for husband.

it was my favorite part of our weekend.

whipping up pancakes together in the kitchen in our pj's.

listening to music and singing along for eleanor in her high chair

(she still *thinks* we are the best singers ever...bless her)

it's moments spent like this with my family

that make me feel pretty darn lucky.

spending happy moments with my two people (and the king)

are always a pleasure.

also, eleanor tried her first mini pancake and... loved it.

life lately, according to my iphone pictures.

shopping for frames at ikea. a gelato date with papa.

a friend's birthday picnic. our pumpkin-watching-guard-dog.

naps on mama {mama's favorite thing in this world}.

chinese take-out on the floor because sometimes that's more fun than the kitchen table.

halloweeeeeen costume time!

halloween is coming up (hooray! it's about time, right? i've already started listening to christmas music so...) and i can't wait. probably because this year i not only have a bulldog to dress up (his birthday is on halloween after all), but i have a baby to dress up too. needless to say, it's a happy time in my life.

last year kingsley was a little devil. considering he's already chewed off the pumpkin stems on our front porch pumpkins, i'd say we could roll with that theme again. but this year i sorta wanna do a family themed costume idea i have in mind, so i think we'll be skipping the devil horns.

are you dressing up this year?

photo via pinterest.

eleanor goes fishing with papa.

...

here's to happiness {by katie}

10 things that make katie terribly happy:

1. my adorable new apartment in berlin... especially my tiny kitchen (lots and lots of cooking and baking!)
2. the love of a wonderful man
3. writing and receiving letters
4. learning and speaking german every day
5. the bright orange pumpkin sitting on my desk
6. fall colours, smells, clothes.
7. the cobblestones that line my little street
8. finding love letters among the vintage postcards at the flea market
9. chatting with my family and friends as if there's not an ocean between us
10. enjoying a nice cup of tea with my boyfriend on our sunny balcony

thanks for sharing, katie!

photo found on e liron.

here's to happiness {by astrid}

10 things that make astrid terribly happy:

1. fall - all the pretty colours outside
2. crafting - a bit obsessed with printing right now
3. unexpected hugs
4. the giddy feeling you have before a tour starts
5. laughing till my tummy hurts
6. family time
7. the smell of cookies baking in the oven
8. booking flights and train tickets
9. lipstick
10. celebrating the good and the tough times together

thanks for sharing, astrid!

photos by me from last autumn on capitol hill.

diary by kingsley: i made a video.

"hi friends,

it's me. kingsley. i hope you enjoy this video i made for eleanor. mom helped with the typing ...and everything else. i pretty much just directed. the music is by my current favorite band, the black keys.

bye!

-kingsley"

read more diary entries from me here.

apple picking!

on saturday we drove out to the homestead farm in maryland and picked apples and pumpkins together. while eleanor hasn't been a big fan of applesauce (gosh darn those solid foods, we'll have a break through moment one of these days i sure do pray and hope) she was in complete heaven chomping on apples the entire time in the back of our wheel barrow. :)

and now, let the sharing of apple recipes begin!

rockstar giveaway! (closed)

we have a number of fun giveaways lined up for you today from our sponsors!

the first comes from our sponsor bonlook! bonlook is offering one lucky reader a pair of prescription glasses of their choice (a $99 value)! also, if you're in the market for new specs, the 13th of this month is a great day to grab a pair as bonlook is donating $25 for every pair sold to ChildSight. how cool is that?

our sponsor back yard baby is giving away a $100 gift certificate towards their online shop! back yard baby creates children's personalized tees and more that look cute and play hard!

our sponsor nicole's classes is offering three photo card templates of your choice from their new holiday photo card template line!

and our sponsor shabby apple is giving away a dress of your choice from their new sidesaddle dress line! (see all the options here.)

to enter to win, please visit our sponsors shops above and comment below telling us what item you'd love to win and why. the winners will be drawn at random and announced friday, october 14th!

good luck!

...

update// 10/14:: congrats to our winners below!

please email me your contact info. naomi.megan{at}gmail.com

free pair of bonlook glasses:

back yard baby $100 gift card:

free holiday card template:

shabby apple dress:

...

clothes for sale.

went through a bunch of my clothing the other day

and decided to put a few things up for sale over on ebay...

go here if you'd like to take a look.

thanks!