Holiday Cards

I think like it's safe to say that all of our family & friends have received their Christmas cards by now (hehe).  So here are the 2012 Starzl family Christmas cards for your viewing pleasure!  (This is the first time that the card hasn't been all about Grady...he's the one most people care about seeing after all!)  I thought it turned out pretty cute, even with our mugs on there as well...

(front on left, back on right)

And a look back at the last few years of holiday cards...

2011 (front on top, back on bottom)

2010

2009 (front/back on top, inside on bottom)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago we had family pictures taken by one of my very talented high school friends.  I'm embarrassed to say that Grady is 3.5 years old & this is the first time we've done formal family pictures.  Yikes!

I came up with the idea to do a shoot at a local tree farm while we chose & cut down our tree.  I had made a quilt, bought an awesome vintage thermos & some old mugs, stayed up late the night before making homemade marshmallows, & made 2 strings of garland to hang from the trees.  We ended up using none of it - wopwop.  The morning was cold, we weren't dressed that warm, & Grady was WILD.  (Most likely due to the fact that he was freezing.)

That being said, I was worried that the whole session would be a giant flop.  I really was just hoping for one useable picture for our Christmas cards.  I should have given more credit to Lindsey.  She was able to work her magic & got several beautiful shots of Mr. Crabbypants.  It might not have turned out exactly as I had envisioned, but I'm in love with the shots we got!

I'll share my Christmas card design next week after they've all arrived at their destinations!

Trimming the Tree

This past weekend we finally put up our (big) Christmas tree.  I'm typically a day after Thanksgiving decorator, but this year we were getting a real tree & had to wait until after our family pictures on the 3rd to do it!  (I'll share those tomorrow!)

Grady was all aboard helping decorate this year.  He helped with everything from stringing up the Christmas lights to perfectly placing each little ornament.

In years past I've gone with kind of a rustic "theme"...plaid/flannel ribbon, lots of flowers and cattails, woodsy animals, & rustic wooden stars.  This year I wanted to change it up some without having to go out & buy all new ornaments.  I told Grady we could only use ornaments & flowers that were green, white, or brown.  I'm really loving how it's a little more simplistic this year!  Although my tree skirt doesn't match...maybe I'll have to make a new one this weekend....hmmm...

I made the flower pom-pom garland after reading this tutorial...it was super easy, but kind of time consuming.  I'll for sure do it again in the future though!

He's so focused!  Gotta get it in there perfectly - wonder where he gets that from?  :)

And just for reference...here's what our tree has looked like the past few years.  And yes, that is our elf on the shelf zip-lining to the tree!  (Excuse the photo quality...the photos below were taken on my iphone.)

I do still like the old tree...but I'm really loving the simple color scheme of the new one.  There's also something fun about having a real tree!  Even though I get a little sad every time I see a tree get cut down.  I also have a hard time cutting flowers out of the garden myself...I just feel like I'm hurting the plant...I know, it's silly & I'm weird.  :)

The Most Handsome Ringbearer You've Ever Seen

Get ready for some cuteness overload...this little dude got dapper this weekend as the ring bearer in one of Eli's best friends' weddings.

He did such a good job at the wedding despite a long night the night before.

And getting some questionable advice from the groom & one of his men.  It looks like it was serious...maybe how to make a good impression on the flower girl?

It must have worked, too, because he got that dance!  Dancing his pants off at the reception...although he told me he wanted to keep his pants on...good choice, son!

 Luckily, we were staying in the hotel that was connected to the reception venue, so Grady & I were able to duck out & go to bed early (well, earlier than dad) when the festivities got to be too much for him to handle that late at night & after no nap (yikes!).

Late night fun in the hotel room mirror.

Congrats to the beautiful couple!  We're so happy that you found each other & that we were able to help you celebrate your love!