This past weekend, 25 6- and 7-year old girls joined us for an early Saturday evening "party in your pj's" bash.  Freeze Dance (led by the daddies) was a hit, as were the pinata, silly string, headband decorating, and pizza making.  Whew.  

The big presents are easy - puppies, dollhouses, Lucy & Michael playtents (!). What's challenging for us is finding all those little gifts to stuff thier stockings or to open each night of Hanukkah. In the spirit of keeping things simple and old-school, here are a few ideas that we're actually using ourselves this year. We think they'll be fun to open and provide some great opportunities for family fun over the holidays.

It's definitely fall. The season always puts us in an in-the-kitchen kind of mood. Wanting to cook a little more, to warm everything up (just a little - remember, we're in Houston) to fill the house with yummy smells. All of which has just this year brought us to a realization. An obvious but, to us, pretty profound realization. The realization that, really, it all happens here, in the kitchen.

Two days before Halloween, and we're in a spooky mood. The beautiful handmade Lucy & Michael BOO! banners are hanging right next to the creepy (and very plastic) moaning ghosts, the costumes have been worn already to a pre-Halloween party and are ready to go again, and the candy is waiting (in unopened bags, thank goodness!) at the door. We've got pumpkins coming out of our pumpkins. Literally. Take a look at this fantastic "Pumpkin Man" our 5-year-old came up with. (We have to be creative here in Texas with no snow for snowmen.)

We are so glad you've come to hang out a bit. We're not really in-the-know bloggers (is that a word?), and we're not sure we get this whole concept, but here we are anyway in hopes that we can share a little fun.