SO LONG, 2012: PART ONE

So long, 2012. Hello, 2013! 

This year has been very good to us. We're kind of sad to see it go but are really excited for this coming year. We have a lot of plans for both Ardor as well as in the shop and in our personal lives. Here is a little re-cap of the first half of 2012. Thank you so much for reading, we look forward to sharing 2013 with you!

 One of my favorite DIYs of the year, these surprise ball valentines and printables.  

  Elliott turned 3 and we had his horse party.

   My mom came for a visit and we played hard at central park.

 And we explored brooklyn and had a grand time.

I made some new business cards...

 And kept up the watercolor trend with these DIY mirrors.

Elliott became more of a ham and we loved every minute!

 I made Elliott a new scalloped pillowcase.

 We hit up the bronx zoo with some friends.

And had our flower party popper boutonnieres in styled .

 This boy just kept growing and surprising us.

 We enjoyed earth day with these spring grass glasses.

 For cinco de mayo I made these mini pinatas for some little friends.

 2012 was the year for painting. We painted an awful lot.

 We got lots of visitors and took them to the park...

 And ate great food.

 I made these monogram napkin rings .

 In the warmer months, Elliott slipped on his shorts and was constantly wet.

 We made a table top puppet theater. Oh, and remember when I shaved my kid's head? Ugg.

 And did some exploring with these binoculars.

 We took on potty training and won!

 Then we suddenly made the decision to leave the NYC area and moved out west.

Phew! And that was just the first half of the year. Part two of 2012 is coming soon!

OUR LITTLE CHRISTMAS

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. We sure did! Elliott was more into this year than in years past. He was the best to watch open presents. With every gift (even boring clothes!) he gasped and said something along the lines of "Oh, wow! That's so cool!" What a champ. We had a great time in the morning as just our little family. In the afternoon we headed out to spend the rest of the day with family and had a wonderful time. This year we made a few gifts, bought a few gifts and were gifted a muppet! Our dear friend sent us this muppet for our whole family to enjoy and we definitely have been! We made sure to include all of our traditions from previous years including our sausage in a blanket breakfast and watching "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas eve. Christmas is such a magical time and this year was the magical-est (not a word - I know). Merry Christmas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

We are taking the next few days to get our Christmas on. Some last minute holiday shopping, going to see Santa (help!), making cookies and rocking out to Christmas music. I didn't get around to sending out our cards - though we have had the same ones on hand to send out for the last 3 years! Here is our virtual card. It was an incredible struggle trying to get Elliott to pose the way we wanted. In the end, this is what he wanted to do so we went with it. We sincerely wish you all the merriest Christmas filled with loved ones and warm memories and a whole lot of fun. Happy Christmas!

R.I.P. CHRISTMAS TREE

Yep. Our Christmas tree died. With less than a week to go before the big day! We loved that tree. I don't know what came over me, but I became pretty depressed when I realized our tree was dead. It was like a bad omen for our Christmas!  

We tried sawing it off a little at the bottom, in case it was just a matter of it "sapping" over and sealing the bottom from drinking. But to no avail.

It was pretty depressing, and I couldn't stand it! I wasn't alone either. Elliott was crying and asking for the tree to come back. How can you say no to that?

So we went and got a new one. Preston indulged me and thankfully they still had some trees left. But only one that wasn't already turning brown! The tree was on super discount, so that helped a little bit. 

And this one better make it till after the first of the year! It just wouldn't be Christmas without the tree. I hope your trees are thriving and staying alive for the big day!

TUSCON AND BACK

Last week we went down to Tuscon to visit some family and we had an absolute blast. As it turns out, Arizona actually has some pretty parts! We went hiking, went to the zoo (fed a giraffe!) and had some birthday fun. Elliott really loved meeting and getting to know some of his other cousins. And true to form, he busted his lip. It has to be something, right?  We'll definitely be heading down again soon. Maybe for a mid-winter escape? That sounds about right.