Summer Wrap Up

Oh, you know it...summer wrap up here we come.  Always a little late as is my style. :)   I had attempted to start a personal blog (Sitting By the Creek) last year to write such posts, but it quickly became clear that not only could I NOT keep up with one blog, I definitely couldn't keep up with two blogs!  I've made the decision to stop posting there and just add a personal/seasonal post every so often here on my doll blog just to make life a little easier.

Below are some photos from our summer here in Upstate NY and I hope you enjoy!  

This year we celebrated Pumpkin Pie's 9th birthday!  She was only 5 when I started this blog and very much into dolls and toys.  Now she's a "big kid" and loves art, sports and music.  I can still catch her playing in the doll room once and in a while, but my little pumpkin pie is growing up!

Here's Pumpkin Pie and me on her birthday. :)  

She's such a wonderful, sweet, senstive girl and extremely creative!  

As you can see, after 20 yrs of coloring my hair, I'm letting my natural hair color grow out and it's pretty streaky with silver! 

Next we celebrated Little Button's graduation from Kindergarten.  The kids performed a bunch of cute songs and had a little "diploma ceremony" and it was so sweet.  I was a little emotional about it as she's "the baby" of the family and already all done with Kindergarten!  The time is flying, just like everyone told me it would.

Shortly after we celebrated Little Button's 6th birthday.  So many birthdays, so many celebrations!  So many tears from Mommy!  I'm a mush, it's bad.
Her big gift this year was a Fin Fun mermaid tail, which she adored.  I can't say I blame her as I would LOVED one of those tails when I was little.  Heck I would love one now! :D
This kid is an absolute joy and your typical "second child."  Funny, laid back and completely present in the moment.  I can't believe she's 6 already!!

In mid-summer we took our yearly family vacation to Long Lake, NY, which is a cozy little town in the Adirondacks.  My grandfather was born and raised there so my mom and her siblings have been going there every summer for ages!  I grew up going there and now my kids are growing up here as well.

It's a very special place for us to all get together and see my mom's side of the family that we don't see very often.

This was my nephew's first time joining us!  My brother and his wife shared a cabin with the girls and I (hubby stays home and enjoys a relaxing week to himself, haha) so it was lots of fun spending more time with this adorable child!

We always try to visit the neighboring lake, Lake Eaton as the water is really shallow and the scenery is stunning.

Even though it's always sad to leave the Adirondacks, it's wonderful to back to the farm.  That's one thing I love so much about living here.  It's never hard to come back.

Next up was fair season. 

Before we knew it, summer was over and the girls went back to school.  I'm ALWAYS sad to see summer go as I just don't feel like it's long enough, but we were quite spoiled with a gorgeous, sunny, hot summer this year so I feel like I can't even complain!

Autumn is in full swing now and life has picked up again.  I'm trying to find happiness in the little day-to-day things and relish the little pockets of time I can sneak away to myself.

I hope you all are having a great Autumn and looking forward to all of the cozy holidays up ahead.

xoxo Farrah 

Christmas Day (and Happy New Year!)

Today is the first day of the New Year!  Happy 2017, everyone!  I always have mixed feelings on New Year's Day..a little sad to say goodbye to 2016, but also excited for what the new year may bring.  In reality, it's just "the next day" so it's kind of funny how we make it more than what it really is.

Before I do my doll collecting goals post for the new year, I wanted to share a few photos of our Christmas Eve and day.

Little Button was Mary in her preschool Christmas pageant and it was the sweetest, cutest thing I have seen in ages!  All the little kids were so adorable in their costumes!

 Like mother like daughter

The girls each got camera's as their traditional Christmas Eve gift and were happily snapping photos of everyone that came over that night. Those mini Polaroid camera's are really cool!

We had a small crowd gathered at our house on Christmas Eve and we sat around the table eating many different snacks and drinking mulled wine, cider. and Baileys.  It was such a nice and relaxing evening.

I am always the last person awake on Christmas Eve and above is my traditional "house is quiet after Santa came" photo.  My sister and brother-in-law spent the night so all of their gifts and our family gifts were under the tree as well.

One of our traditions each year is that Santa puts Baby Jesus in the manger to signify his birth so we wake up on Christmas morning to find him there.  We had 2 mangers this year...this cute little Playmobil one for the kids to play with and then my other one that's been in my family since I was little.  :-) 

The girls both got Hatchimals this year, and luckily they have a "doll and toy savvy mom" (haha) that knew about these prior to "the craze!"  I bought mine the day they came out and I was so shocked to see what limited quantities they ended up having and how much people had to spend on eBay.  They definitely were NOT worth the crazy prices!  Neither of ours hatched correctly so they both had to have emergency C-sections (lol) to be released from their eggs.  Luckily, they like them MORE now that they are out of the eggs since the hatching phase was a big old FAIL!

Later that day we went to my Mom and step-dad's house for Christmas dinner. She always has the prettiest decorations and their log cabin is so very, very cozy at Christmastime!

So Christmas has come and gone.  It was a wonderful time, but I'm not going to lie..I usually like the day after Christmas so much more because we can sit home and relax and still enjoy the season.
I'll post a quick post of some of the dolls I got this year as well as a some collector goals for the future very soon!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve last night and a great celebration today of the new year to come.

Happy 2017!
xo Farrah 

Merry and Bright..Today is Christmas Eve!

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas Eve!
I just wanted to stop in for a quick post before my father-in-law stops over for lunch.  We've had a very festive and bright Christmas season this year and it's hard to believe it's Christmas Eve already!  This afternoon we're heading over to the Christmas Eve children's Mass and then will come back here to spend the festivities with my family.
I can't believe how fast this month went by!
I started a new position at work and it's been so incredibly busy and I've had to sign on again after the girls go to bed, just to catch up for the next day.  Hopefully it all evens out soon.

We ended up getting several small snowstorms, so unlike last year's 70 deg Christmas Eve, we will definitely have a white Christmas. :)

The girls are sooooo excited and looking forward to everything.  Pumpkin Pie lost her first top tooth this morning so we will have a visit from the Tooth Fairy as well!
Christmas is so magical again when you have little kids and I'm eating it all up. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with family, friends (and wine)!
From our house to yours, we are wishing you a beautiful and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza!  Happy Holidays to all.

Farrah, Hubby, Pumpkin Pie and Little Button
xoxo