May is my favorite month of all, so this was a fun day to capture. Head over to No Monsters in My Bed and Not-So-SAHM to see what their days were like!




8:00 AM: Morning play dough and coffee.




8:30 AM: "Take a picture of my outfit, Mom. It's an ENSEMBLE." (Thanks Fancy Nancy.)



9:30 AM: Part of my mother's day present from Anouk: a wind chime made at school and watermelon plants for our garden (how apropos)



11:00 AM: Playdate at friend M.'s house! The moms work on various sewing projects and the kids practice yoga?




1:30 PM: A. and I spend so much of our time fighting over our new hammock. Today she won.




2:00 PM: After lunch snack.



3:30 PM: My mom watches Anouk while I take Hank cat to the vet. He does NOT like shots.



5:00 PM: The best part about doing laundry: finding the random things Anouk has stashed in the pockets.



7:00 PM: family walk/bike ride before bed. Don't you wish you had someone to carry you across the street?



7:15 PM: 97% of the dandelions in the neighborhood are directly the result of Anouk. Sorry, neighbors.

James was away on a hiking/camping trip the weekend of the 12th, and since we're a one-car family, that meant Anouk and I were pretty much stuck at home for two days and I didn't mind at all. It was a nice break from all of the running around we did over Easter and spring break and we enjoyed it very much, even my little extrovert.

Be sure to stop by Not-So-SAHM to see how our friends spent their day!





8:30 AM: Some early morning ball.



9:00 AM: What? You don't eat your bananas with a side of mustard?

 10:30 AM: Hank takes it easy and Anouk has a dance party while Mama sews and listens to RadioLab.



12:00 PM: Some sewing projects involve hammers and thats pretty cool.



2:00 PM: We spend a couple of hours getting our garden ready to plant next week. I have a pretty cute helper, no?



3:00 PM: A. always gets a little tired of photos on 12 in 12 days.



5:00 PM: Daddy's home and he brought his big backpack with him!

5:30 PM: He also brought some presents (magnet obsession!) and promised to take us out for a sushi dinner. Hooray for not cooking!



7:45 PM: "Mom, will you hold my heart for me?" Always.

February 12 this year featured some of my favorite things in the world: food, friends, and snow!! Behold.



10:00 AM: Early playdate with M. and B. The girls make Valentine picture frames, so cute, and then the girls make "dessert" for the dog.



12:30 PM: We make our sesame peanut butter noodles for lunch (from this recipe). It's our fave!



3:00 PM: Working on Valentines throughout the afternoon. We have already done several batches. Anouk might be a little tired of it.



 5:00 PM: Snow! A few flurries flutter by as we're leaving to go out to dinner.



6:30: Kids eat free at Guad's every Thursday and it's a little crazy with balloon animals and face paint galore. We meet up with some friends and let the kids run wild while the moms talk.



9:00 PM: Books are read, Anouk is in bed, so it's time for me and J. to watch the Americans and while we do, I work on my latest project. I re-taught myself to knit over the new year and it's a lot more slow-going than I remember.  This may eventually be a blanket. 

January 12 was a gross cold and rainy, the kind of day in which you don't do anything much but still end up feeling very busy? I chalk it up to cleaning up after the holidays, settling back into the school routine, and the fact that January 12 was a Monday, which just generally multiplies the chicken-with-its-head-cut-off feeling.

Stop by Darcy and Rebecca's blogs to see how their 12ths went!



7:45 AM: James very awesomely got me a Canon 6D for Christmas (and my birthday) and I looooove it. This is my first time shooting 12 in 12 with it, and I'm still kind of getting used to the new lens and controls. Bear with me... (P.S. I made my bed for you, blogland!)



8:30 AM: Barbie fashion show after breakfast but before the frenzied rush to get ready for school.



10:00 AM: Cleaning. I just finished The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and while I laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of some parts, I have to admit that it has made a huge difference in how I clean (and how clean our house stays). My favorite part? Folding our clothes to make more space in our drawers.



11:00 AM: I mentioned last month that I finished piecing my first quilt. Now on to the binding, which is tricky but a relief after the actual quilting process.



12:30 PM: Miri comes to play after lunch. After dress up and play dough, the girls succumb to the siren song of the iPad. And I succumb to letting them succumb.



3:30 PM: A bright and materialistic spot in the gray afternoon -- my ThredUp box arrived! I was really excited about this bcbg black and white sweater but sadly the hem is kind of wonky so it's going back.



4:45 PM: Time to leave for dance. A. is in the Tiny Tots ballet/tap combo and it is just as adorable as you imagine.



6:30 PM: I was really excited to make our own hamburger rolls to go with tonight's sloppy joe's. The rolls turned out kind of puny but still tasted good.





7:45 PM: We have found some great thrift-store books lately, including Danny the Dinosaur and a couple from the Let's Read and Find Out science series. We now all know how tornados are formed and why frogs are wet, what a relief as we were wondering! (For those in the #HRVA area, Good Mojo on Granby has 10 cent kids books and a great selection.)



9:00 PM: Watching Broad City with James (he is Abbi, I'm Ilana).

Oops! I forgot to take photos for 12 in 12 on Friday the 12th, so these pictures are from our playgroup Christmas party, which we held yesterday. Our playgroup tries to have a party every year...the first year it was just me and Molly and our three kids. This year is our 3rd annual party, and since our little group has grown so much, it was kind of a blowout. Things get bigger (and better) every year. Next year, I fully expect we're going to have to rent a hall or something to contain the festivities.

Head over to No Monsters in My Bed and Not-So-SAHM to see how Darcy and Rebecca spent their days!




2:30 PM: The party started promptly at 2:00, and the first order of business is to get our craft on. We're making wooden ornaments here, and also clear plastic ones that we filled with buffalo snow, confetti, and beads. Lots and lots of beads. Everywhere.



 3:00 PM: The weather has been rainy but luckily clears enough for the kids to have a candy cane hunt in the backyard. 120 candy canes hidden and they found them in less than five minutes. In the true spirit of Christmas, the big kids even decide to help the little ones find candy. It's a playgroup Christmas miracle!

3:30 PM: Making holiday chocolates! Thanks for setting this up, Kelly!



4:00 PM: Santa arrives to hand out presents! Everyone is really happy to see him and give him their final lists of what they want to see on Christmas morning.

4:30 PM: Except for maybe Baby T., who is dubious.



5:00 to 7:00 PM: By now, all of the food (Sue's lumpia! pumpkin bread! cupcakes!) has been eaten and the kids have completely lost it in a sugar haze and are destroying the playroom. Do the adults care? No, we are far too merry for that.

The house is a mess, we all ate 3,000 calories apiece (at least), there is buffalo snow sparkling underfoot in every room, but we are ready for Christmas and so happy to have so many wonderful friends to celebrate with.

To see photos from our playgroup Christmas last year (look how everyone's grown!), click here.