How is your January going? At the calendar marking the 17th, it is an "already" and "only" more then half way through the first month of the year. We've had a few birthdays ( year end and year start are some busy times for us) , greeted the New Year and what comes with it, celebrated Christmas again ( Orthodox Christmas is in January , and no presents ) , had some dear friends visit ( and i can't believe i have ZERO pictures of them), dealt with flu ( no fun at all), and are up and running with the K12 schooling system.
Here is a little instagram recap of details:
^^ a little change for a tree topper this year is , i believe , my favorite part of the tree decor ^^ 
^^ a little helper at the mielle candy shop helping mama prep for one of the birthdays we had last month * i fell in love with this little place. so very highly recommend! * ^^
^^ the birthday boy's morning and a little box of macaroons. a little less nutritious breakfast then i prefer , but birthdays are once a years, so why not , right? ^^ 
^^ decisions, decisions... we took a new approach to the birthday cake this year ( upon kids' request and SO happily approved by this mama: instead of baking a cake, they decided to go for a slice from a bakery. we figured that each would get 2 slices if we baked a cake ourselves, so we went to the total of eight bakeries to find 8 different cakes that they liked which spread over the course of 2 weeks. let me tell you - i loved it. not only did i not have to cut out 2 or so hours from my already way-too-overbooked schedule to make the cake, but the fun of going around, picking-choosing and then sharing bites and spreading the birthday fun over several days vs just one has been so great that I am thinking of making it a permanent tradition in our non-traditional family. fitting too, right? ^^ 
^^ but we are not immune to traditional stuff: like a "nutcracker" or a fussy baby and a super tired mama ( aka THE crabby pants ) ^^
^^ the 2014 midnight picture. considering the "numbers" of people in this "little" family of ours, i am just happy the two of US are looking in the camera, even if it is too dark and waaay to grainy of a shot. on another note , i have noticed a nice side-effect of having a lot of kids: by the time you get to your food, it is typically 80% gone, so here is to never being afraid to try new and delicious things. if you like it, they will like it too, so no danger of overindulging here. ^^
^^ when you wait for Grandfather Frost to some (* Grandfather Frost = Santa, but on New Year, cultural fun thing from my childhood that we keep in our family for our kids to experience too) ^^ 
^^ arabian shade-dance , or side-effect of loving the nutcracker too much ^^
^^ new year's day explorations in little italy and finding our destination. he thought we should go right. we went left because the google map on my iphone said so. ^^ 
^^ turns out technology does not know everything ^^ 
^^ a GREAT benefit of exploring new things on a holiday: you get an entire trolley bus to yourselves ^^ 
^^ and the little man slept... ^^ 
^^ ... and smiled . just the way i like it ^^ 
^^ the best personal christmas card in the world : from our family to yours, five kids and hair-do's included ^^ 
^^ christmas eve service ^^ 
^^ between the two shots we've got a family picture ^^ 
^^ one more reason why i love the bassinet so much: off and up the SLEEPING baby goes ^^ 
^^ a little surprise E prepared for us on one of our starbucks' nights. he doesn't pull himself to sitting just yet, but he will surely sit ( and refuse to lay down too) when he is awake. and considering that he's got at least 5 people run to him at his slightest sound, no wonder E is not in a hurry of doing everything by himself ^^ 
^^ a little expresso and a fine cocoabella chocolate to celebrate the first weekend of the 2014 ^^ 
^^ i love unexpectedly running into people i know. even if one of them is pouting ^^ 
^^ face-making is her second nature ^^ 
^^ and here is what happens when you get too involved in animated reading and don't pay attention to your most important person in your lap : ^^ 
^^ he spits all over you. ^^ps: i love having a pre-teen who snaps pics non-stop. 
^^ the best seat on the trolley ^^ ( i have suspicions that it was THE trolley that awarded us with the flu ) 
^^ i wish that deciding on a good vitamin was as easy as deciding on a great stroller ^^
^^ self-dressed and ready to go have fun ^^
^^ this is that moment when you forget how actually hard it is to have 2 little ones less then 2 years apart ^^
^^ and this is the moment when you forget that you haven't really slept for the last ... umm ... 10 years in my case ...^^ 
^^ attempt 1157 in trying to get a good picture with self-timer. it was all worth it ^^ 
* pictures are taken with the iphone 5s. vsco cam is used to edit when desired
what to peek more into our life? instagram knows it all!
