that's right.  i was spoiled for Christmas.  on top of numerous other things, the hubs, my in-laws and my bonus check all pitched in to get me what i've been patiently awaiting for a long, long time.



meet my Pentax K-x.  she obviously needs a name, and i haven't come up with one yet, but i am now accepting suggestions.  my initial thought is louann.



the hubs, doing what he does best (call of duty).

 


i can't believe how good our 5-month-old puppy is with our friends' baby, emmett.  at one point, titan snuggled up to the little guy and laid his head in his lap.



eric was making him laugh.  precious.





it's painfully obvious how much these two love each other.

 there is no better way to end a monday than with good friends and family in our happy little home.


shut up.

etsy, just when i thought i had seen your whole hand, you go and trump me.

UmeCrafts has got to be the cutest thing i've ever seen.


all felt...amazing



anyone for a little ice cream shop?

 

or a trip to the movie?

 

this is where the shut up comes from...sushi.  i'm officially in awe.

 

and my favorite, a tea set complete with tea bag.



and what would a tea party be without chocolate covered strawberries, chocolates, cupcakes and finger sandwiches?


the best part, as far as i'm concerned?  they're patterns.  this is a crafter's dream.  i am seriously inspired. 

at only a $5 average per pattern, i plan on snatching a few of these up to make some amazing, inexpensive christmas gifts.  because i don't care what home you grow up in, play food is awesome.

today was a much-needed day.  do you ever get so caught up in the things that are going on in your life that you don't even realize how far out of touch you've become with those you're closest with?  i definitely got to that point recently with my best friend, who also happens to be my cousin, falynne.  well, last week she called me out on this fact, and i'm glad she did.  i didn't realize until i was forced to stop and think about it that i hadn't seen her in four months.  and the last two times i've seen her, it's been in a party setting with almost no one-on-one time.  this is a long way from college days when i used to randomly make the 45 minute drive to her old place to hang out and make let her feed and entertain me.

so today i made the now two-hour drive and we got some quality time in.  we went to a craft show (i know, this is becoming a theme in my life), we had lunch, we caught up.  and at the end of the day, i was sad to leave.  although we are such completely different people, there's something about our friendship that just works.

oh, and not to mention her little boy owen is so cute and fun and just at the absolute perfect age.  he is still a little clumsy on his feet, which is precious to watch, but he is also starting to comprehend so much; when falynne asks if she can put his shoes on, he backs up to her and plops on the floor, he knows all of his books that have kitties in them, and at times, you can just see the wheels turning when you look at him.

sometimes when i really step back and think about it, our relationship with our dogs might not be normal.

since the day we brought lily home, eric has referred to me as mommy, and i to him as daddy.  if i say to her, "where's daddy?" she will run straight to him, but "where's eric?" would just lead to a blank stare.  and if i ask titan anything, he just cocks his head to the side and looks confused.  you'll get there, buddy.  it just takes time.

when people talk about their children, i find myself relating to them with stories about our dogs.  seriously, lauren, people don't want to hear that their children are like dogs.

eric and i lovingly refer to lily as our little "turd muffin" and titan as our "poopsicle".  i have no idea how or why this started, but it's the picture of mature parenting.  i can only imagine the names we'll come up with for our kids someday.

and my ultimate low as a puppy-mama:  two weekends ago, eric and i stayed in to watch a movie.  at one point, i looked over and saw titan and lily sleeping on their huge dog bed (seriously, this thing takes up about a quarter of our living room).  they looked quite content and i decided to join them for some snuggle time.  i ended up falling asleep, and when i woke up, eric and the dogs were gone, it was 7 am, and i had slept all night on a dog bed.  oy vey...

but seriously, who wouldn't want to snuggle up to these monsters?

on a side note, for more of titan and lily's story, i've created a page just for them.

when eric and i got married in august 2009, we decided to wait anywhere from three to five years to start trying for a baby.  immediately, i had some co-workers at my old job who i swear set up a pool as to how long it would take us to conceive. i know none of them had us lasting more than a year.  and then there's my mom, who will say to us that we should wait until we're ready, but will tell anyone who is willing to listen that she is ready to be a grandma now yesterday. 

well, here we are 14 months later, still standing our ground.  or, at least one of us is.  in fact, eric is clinging to that ground.  and me, well, the baby bug is taking over a bit.  not enough to say, "let's go for it," but definitely enough to make me seek out cute little pinchable baby cheeks in others' blogs and daydream about the perfect nursery (fyi, i'm already 100% set if we have a girl).  and then there's the fact that everyone and their brother sister around us is having babies.  literally...one of my best fort wayne friends, katie, had a baby on easter, not even two months after her sister had a baby on valentines day.

so, just to remind me why we're waiting so maybe i can convince myself that i won't die if we wait another two years:

• student loans...seriously, will those things ever go away??
• i want to be able to stay home when we have our first kiddo
• we've only been together (dating included) for just under 2 1/2 years.  do we really want a baby when our relationship is still a toddler?
• we already have a ton of kids.  true, it would be awkward if we pinched the cheeks of our high schoolers in young life, but they're still cute and we love them just the same.
• i love sleep.
• two puppies + baby = ??!!!?

now i just need to stop torturing myself by looking at adorable chunkers like this one:

seriously...is death by cutenss possible?  if so, i'm gone.

(credit to my amazing wedding photographer, mandy, for capturing this little punkin. seriously, she's wonderful, and not just because that picture of eric and i at the top of her blog is also hanging in her studio and her new wedding boutique.  but seriously, it doesn't hurt her case.)