So it was Christmas*

 

 Ah, Christmas. It was grand. And it seems so long ago.

Favorite moments:

Attending candlelight carol service on Christmas Eve in town with the family.

New Christmas pajamas 

Christmas morning at 7 a.m. (the advantages of having older children!)

Chocolate croissants, oranges, and hot chocolate

Watching the kids doing Just Dance 2. (Okay, and doing it myself. A-Punk is particularly awesome)

Dinner with Christmas crackers and soup in sourdough bowls.

Epic fireplace fires built and maintained by G and Sam

Pre-Christmas prep with G, who took a few days off so we shopped and lunched and walked and matinee-ed

Christmas weekend snowstorm & being snowed in for a day. On purpose.

Christmas Bounty

You know how, when you were young, you phoned up your best friend on Christmas morning and catalogued your favorite gifts? Well, that's what I'm going to do here. Please excuse the thing-ism. It's for posterity. Faves:

Lauren: Nook e-reader. Black dressy boots.

Maddy: A guitar. Yellow rain boots.

Sam: Snowshoes and a hiking backpack. Inception dvd. 

Greg: Snowshoes and a hiking backpack. A Minerva Teichert painting. Freaks and Geeks dvd. 

Annie: Winter running clothes galore. Maira Kalman book. Guilty pleasure White Nights dvd.

Family gift: An elliptical machine. Woot!

. . .

More catching up later... happy re-entry to routines and life! 

*props to Holly at Marathon Bird for this post title that I swiped from her. 

Outtakery

Just a few outtakes from this year's Christmas photo shoot...

Instead of my usual DIY self-timer method, I decided to splurge on having our photographer friend come and take them--especially since Lauren will be heading to college next year and we might not do it again for a while. 

What was especially wonderful? It was just a really fun afternoon spent laughing and playing--a nice family memory in itself. 

 ^We didn't want to drag the piano outside so we used piano music in a typewriter instead

And this one cracks me up every. single. time:  . . .

Chalkboards via Brooke at Playing Grown Up (but if you live near me, I'm happy to let you use mine) They have helpful little knobs on the back.

Photos by Nicole Barker

Week of firsts

Time is accelerating wildly as we all navigate this girl's last year of high school.

Just this week she experienced a whole slew of growing-up firsts, milestones whizzing by without much chance to stop and notice them for what they are.

First real job interview.

First submitted college application. 

Cap and gown measurements for graduation.

And first driver's license driving test*.

It's thrilling and daunting and bittersweet watching her take each step.

I guess it always has been, right from her very first one.

. . .

Listen: Everybody's Changing ~ Keane

. . .

All photos by Nicole Barker photography

*(It's a tad late but Massachusetts has a long process to acquiring the golden license. Add Lauren's busy schedule and all of the sudden she's 17.25 and just getting around to taking the test.  Our insurance bill has been breathing a sigh of relief & enjoying the delay, though.)

The big Eats

 

Lauren just returned from the Big E, New England's huge fair.  

She reports eating, in the course of the day:

• 2 48-piece mini doughnut orders (shared)
• maple cotton candy
• a baked potato
• fries
• 5 bottles of water
• 1/2 sausage sub
• 1/2 funnel cake
• ice cream sandwich
• fried dough
• fried veggies

Oh, to be 17.

. . .

We're having a girls' movie night so we're putting in Steel Magnolias

and popping popcorn (add that to the list).

I hope your weekend is divine!

Ready for her close up

Hello, senior year! If it's late August, it must be senior portrait season (our school requires them to be submitted the first 2 weeks of September). We're loving the sneak peeks of L's photo session from last week:

We lucked out with a new friend who moved here recently who's a fantastic photographer to boot. Thanks, Nicole! Every gal should have the experience of being treated like such a rock star. 

(If you're in the area, check her out! She's really wonderful.)