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.

My favorite part of the holidays so far this year has definitely been our playgroup Christmas party. Last Wednesday, we moms of the group got together and threw a big shindig (that was probably just as much fun for us as it was for the little ones). The lovely Molly hosted and everybody brought something to eat or drink and the result was the perfect way to celebrate the season with friends. I feel so lucky to have all of these folks in our life.

I thought I'd share some pics from our fete, including eats and crafts (we made snowglobes and "gingerbread" trees) and a visit by Santa to hand out gifts! If he looks familiar to you, it's probably because he shares a strong resemblance to somebody you see around these blog parts fairly frequently. But rest assured this was the real deal Santa. We have North Pole connections, you know.

Hope you make the most of this last weekend before the holiday! Click here for some local Christmas fun you might have missed.

Last Friday, our playgroup hosted a small Thanksgiving party, complete with turkey sandwiches, pumpkin muffins, and other seasonal goodies. As a part of it, we thought it would be fun for the kids to make a grateful chain, something I remember doing (and loving) several times when I was in elementary school. We cut strips of construction paper, asked all of the kids what they were grateful for, wrote it on the paper, and stapled them together into links to form a chain.

In case you are wondering what kinds of things 2-3 year olds are grateful for? Pizza and chips. Tigers. Ninjas. Legos. Caillou, princesses, iPads, and the song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Oh, and this little guy?

He was grateful for himself. He said it over and over again, his own name, every time we asked him. At first we thought maybe he didn't get the purpose of the exercise but you know what? I think he did. And I think it's very important to remember to appreciate the sheer miracle of your own existence from time to time. Only just 3, and Little C.'s already got this worked out.

Our chain grew and grew throughout the party as we moms added links to it (I confess that I got a little teary-eyed as I listed off my own thankfuls: healthy family. Missing cat returned. New house. Good friends.) By the end of the party our grateful chain was so long that it had been stepped on a few times and patched several more, thanks to a post-lunch surge of boisterousness. But we didn't mind. We're thankful the chance to run off a little steam, and especially for the midafternoon nap that's destined to follow.

What are you grateful for this year? I'm grateful for you readers, the ones who have been reading from the beginning and the ones who have only just stopped by. Thank you for being here!

I've been meaning to post about Lakewood Park for a long time now, but haven't because until recently, I never had the opportunity to take photos to go along with it -- every time I would whip my camera out, Anouk would try to strangle herself on the monkey bars or eat a handful of mulch. But with the challenges of Two also come a few added benefits, one being that she is now much more confident and sensible about appropriate park behavior, and I don't have to hover like a hawk like I used to.

So, finally, here is Lakewood Park. It's across the street from a nice library and also around the corner from Naa's Bakery, hooray! After our trip there a few weeks ago, Anne and I met up with our friends for a playdate under the twisted live oaks, to give the kids a chance to run off some sugar. There are some seriously old trees at Lakewood, gnarled and twisted and providing copious amounts of shade, which means that there is always a cool spot to sit, even on hot and humid summer days. Add in a picnic area and some age-appropriate playground equipment and you've got yourself a practically perfect park.

Did you know that Lakewood Park is also home to Norfolk's Dance and Music Center? Anouk has been asking for dance lessons a lot lately, so we're going to look into the Creative Movement classes for toddlers this winter and spring. If you've ever taken a class at Lakewood I would love to know -- or if you have a recommendation for elsewhere in the #HRVA area that offers toddler tap or ballet.

Hope you had a good weekend. Now get out there and enjoy this gorgeous weather before it's gone!

Ever since our Norfolk murals post -- and since we got to see some of AlchemyNFK's amazing artists working at First Friday a few weeks ago -- Anouk and I have been really into murals and thinking we'd like to try to make one of our own. So we asked our playgroup if they would like to pitch in. Molly generously offered her house to get all paintified -- we taped craft paper to the wall -- then we poured water-soluble paint into trays and let the kids get to it. The results were kind of awesome.

I think one of my favorite things was seeing how the kids worked together to build on each others' handiwork. One would use markers to scatter dots across the paper, then the next would come through and draw a line of finger paint between them. It was truly a collaborative process. I especially like how little Z. saw the other kids making handprints and then decided to add a border of his own all along the top of the mural.




This project is perfect for a group because you can pool your craft supplies -- the more types of paints/markers/brushes/stamps/crayons you have, the more you can put the little ones' creativity to work.

I think it looks so so cool. I'm really proud of our guys and I think they had a lot of fun. Plus, the finished product makes an awesome photo backdrop.

I've been meaning to post about the fondue party playgroup we hosted in honor of Anouk's birthday since it happened, all the way back in March. But somewhere along the way I misplaced my SD card with the party pictures on it and didn't find it again until this past weekend (in the bottom of my camera bag...like, who would ever look there?)

Fondue might just be one of the best kids' party foods out there. It keeps little hands occupied. It encourages children to see food in a fresh way, to try new things in different combinations. It's fun, it's novel, and it's yummy. I think you could even make an argument that it builds motor skills, using those pointy little fondue forks.