don't tell Jackson but Cade got to eat that giant lollipop.

 

Some outtakes from the Giant Advent Calendar I did for Oh Happy Day. Thankful that Cade has overcome his band-aid addiction for the moment (wouldn't let us take it off for about a week, even for a picture).

how to make your own child's tie from a grown-up tie

Check out Jackson on Mint this morning :)

I did a post on how to make your own child's tie (so easy).  Jackson is the cutest model, in my humble, un-biased opinion.

The photo is Jackson’s school photo, taken by the amazing photographer Dennis Kleiman of Stomping Ground – a company on a mission to reinvent the school picture. They took the BEST photos.  

new contributing blogger job

I'm so thrilled to announce that I'll be contributing at the beautiful blog Mint once a month from now on.  Check out my first post here!




Scroll down to see me - and Baby Cade - here.

Yay!

don't forget to check out my latest post on Oh Happy Day!

Don't forget to check out my latest post on Oh Happy Day! Photographed by the oh-so-talented Kate!

I'm guest blogging at Oh Happy Day!

Friends - I'm so happy to be able to share some exciting news for me - I'm guest blogging on one of my favorite blogs today.

I've been reading Oh Happy Day for several years and have always been inspired and delighted by what I see there. Not to mention the author has two boys Jackson and Cade's ages and has moved her family to Paris for the year. Very cool.  

I made a Thanksgiving Pie Topper - you can see it here. Or go the the home page and scroll down. Feel free to share or leave a comment!

Here are some pictures that didn't make the cut: 

With Cade now in school two days, I actually have a few hours to myself. No one is needing, wanting, asking, or crying for me. Aaahhhh. And conceptualizing, crafting, making, doing, photographing and editing makes me so happy.

I hope you like it!

P.S. Thank you Jon for all your help. I'm glad you got some pie out of it! And thank you Kate for the pie pan!

Papi's House - Florida - by guest blogger Jon Milott

We went to Papi's house! It started out great.
Cade's flying skills improved substantially as he entertained himself with applying stickers EVERYWHERE!

The boys swam in Papi's pool, bounced in the bouncy house, slid on the slipNslide and celebrated Jackson's birthday.

Then he woke up on the second day and barfed. On the third day we went to the clinic.

We still had a ton of fun being with Bebe, Papi, Nikki, Darin, and Sammy.

plane ride - by guest blogger Jon Milott

this is Cade being good, but there are some funny things to note:
you can see Chiara is actually restraining him. 
he finally wiggles away at the end. 
he has a huge dried mango in his mouth. 
Look at how unhappy chiara is. 
Jackson is sitting peacefully content in the foreground.
He starts pushing the buttons at the end.
Imagine 4 hours of this along with screaming, crying, eating, drinking and a poopy diaper
change in the plane bathroom.

Yay! Good times!

INTREPID - by guest blogger Jon Milott

On Saturday, we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum.
Quick recap:
Jackson's favorite plane was the blue one.
He crashed in the flight simulator - multiple times.
He synchronized dance piloted a helicopter with Cade.
The Concord was a little anticlimactic with the cockpit blocked off.
He learned that a failed landing attempt on an aircraft carrier is called a "bolter."
Next week apple picking - there better be a tractor.

cue horror music now

From guest blogger Uncle Darin, an account of one night from our family vacation in Rhode Island:

So I decided to sleep on the couch downstairs. Since, in our small family, two separate houses and nineteen bedrooms is not nearly enough room for each adult to secure a bed. Actually I had a bed but my bunkmate [Jackson) had already turned in for the night, and my alarm was set for 5:45 am. Not wanting to awaken my fine nephew early, I retreated to the couch, CNN and a budlight.

I awoke 2 minutes before my alarm went off. It was one of those deepest of sleeps, interrupted by instant eye opening full awake-ness at 5:43 am. I open my eyes and there is Jackson standing at the foot of the couch staring intensely at me. I stopped breathing and within a moment my heart started beating again. It was like a bad scene out of "The Sixth Sense", but instead of dead people "I see Jackson".

Thanks, Uncle Darin. Hopefully something like that will never happen again.

gone fishin'- by guest blogger Jon Milott

We were at docks (Red Hook). Jackson saw people fishing so we said he can fish at
papi's. Then he kept saying he wanted to go to papi's and that he
liked papi's house. Attached is a sound recording of it.  

NOT WORKING. MAYBE GUEST BLOGGER CAN FIX FOR ME.

{Vintage fishing pole here). 

guest blogger - Jon Milott

Cold weather styrofoam pool‏.

Tugboat Battle Royal! - by Guest Blogger Jon Milott

We didn't get a picture, but the losing tugboat usually explodes.
Jackson loved watching the boat battles so much we literally had to
drag him away to get to the Shake Shack before it got too late.  We
had some great burgers, fries and shakes after only about 30 minutes
in line. Jackson threw some pennies in the fountain on the way to the
playground in the park where Cade fought off the cute compliments.
The best part about doing things in the city on big holiday weekends
is no traffic. We whizzed around to all our activities and found
parking spaces too! Family fun day = success.

Guest blogger - Jon Milott

Hey all
We had a fun long day. Jackson even skipped his nap. He got a little delirious towards the end and tried to go to sleep on a bench. He looked like a mini hobo.
First we went to a concert. It was a benefit for the Children's Museum. Chiara's brother got us tickets, since he works there. We didn't know what to expect but were happy to hear Sammy's favorite song, "5 4 3 2 1 Blast off." We wish Sammy had been there with us.
After the concert we stepped outside expecting crappy weather but were happy to find a beautiful sunny day. Since we were by Central Park, we decided to walk through it and of course we stumbled upon an amazing playground. After some fun in the biggest sandbox in the world, we watched some horses go by. Jackson waved at them all and there were a lot of them.
From there we went to this famous burger joint called.... "the burger joint." It's this funny little place that only serves burgers, fries and beer. Darin would love it. It's tucked away inside a fancy hotel but its not fancy and a total mad scene even at 4 in the afternoon. At this point we were exhausted and were sure Jackson would pass out on the subway, but he was too excited to ride the train. He calls it "choo, choo". Then back in Brooklyn we had to go to the park again. That last picture is Jackson dancing on a huge metal box, since that is what kids play on in the city.


Love JON