life lately

So unfortunately we had a run in with the Grinch this week.  That's right.  The GRINCH.  We set up our {extra big} Christmas tree last weekend.  Here it is...minus the bow on top, because I hadn't made it yet:

And then on Monday, Will and I got home from a morning out to find this:

Uh...Oh...  Maybe this is partly my fault. I was the one who reeeeeally wanted the bigger tree when we found it for such a great price.  So we went ahead and used our tree stand from last year, which maybe was meant for about a 6 foot tree instead of 8.  Anyway, about 5 minutes after I took this picture and about 5 minutes before I was going to come address the leaning issue, it came CRASHING down.  :(  Ornaments shattered, water spilled, huge tree on the floor.  But with a new tree stand and a few new ornaments, the Christmas spirit won out after all.  Although we got THISCLOSE to throwing the whole tree out on the curb, it's back up!

{sorry...cameraphone took a prettier picture of the lights than the camera, but it's sorta blurry}

And after a few lovely days with a straight tree....today it's leaning a bit again, but we anchored it to the window {don't ask} and we'll address it this weekend.  We WILL keep this sucker up until Christmas!

Other fun stuff going on around here....Will did some painting this afternoon:

And then he totally cracked me up by putting Ernie under his shirt and telling me, "Ernie belly!"  Maybe because we've been talking about the babies in my belly?!  So funny!  I snapped a few pics on my phone:

And finally, we got a fun surprise in the mail!!  Nana got Will a subscription to National Geographic for Kids, and the first two magazines arrived today!  Will had a great time looking at all the pictures of animals and nature.  Thanks, Nana!!