teacher gifts...

this is the first year we had teacher gifts to buy- it was tricky deciding what to get! i didn't want to do a traditional christmas cookie plate. 14 students x 4 preschool classes = a looooot of cookies.
so me and another mom got these cute mercury glass vases from tai pan, added some ribbon candy and giant candy canes and tied them up with some thick bakers twine, cellophane and vintage gift tags.  the candy is just to display in the vase, not to eat (unless you really want to). they were so cute i kept one for myself!  plus i think they made darling gifts for about $15 a piece. our boys have three teachers, so we went halfsies. =)

oh christmas tree...

we were a little sad that we didn't get to cut down our own tree in island park like last year, but the christmas tree lot didn't disappoint! we went with our neighbors the sorias and the kids had lots of fun finding the perfect tree.

little besties

 our tree! max was thrilled to be posing for a photo, obviously.

the soria tree! sid picked it out himself, which was a big deal. he was raised jewish so this was his first experience picking out a live tree... we were so proud of him. haha! 

clark w. griswald drives home from the tree lot, and our other family picture! heather decided she needed to be in it with us too. so funny! max forced himself into one of their family pictures earlier, i swear our kids probably don't know for sure who their real parents are. we always joke that we live in a commune with the sorias!

oh, and if you're wondering where lucy is, she slept in her car seat the whole time. she's a thrill a minute, that girl.

my lucy, 4 (and a half) months.

four months already? i could just die. time is going so quickly with the second, it's not fair! lucy is so sweet and happy, nothing beats a good snuggle with her. baby girl, you are just perfect and we can't imagine life without you! here are a few little things to remember about lucille this month:

- she discovered her toes and is constantly grabbing them.
-her first giggle was at mommy last week, it was the most adorable sound! her laugh reminds me of max's, isn't it funny how siblings sound alike, even as babies?
-she's all about the boob. she takes a bottle, but isn't too happy about it.
-she has been fussy the last couple times i've been gone for work/church duties, and to be honest, it secretly makes me a little happy that she misses me. =) i can't wait to get back and squeeze her whenever i'm gone!
- she is chunk-a-licious. rolls upon rolls on those thighs. i can't get enough of them!
-she's as smiley as they come, always winning over strangers with that big, open mouthed baby grin.
she sucks her fingers alllll the time- it's so cute, not to mention convenient! she usually likes a few fingers at a time, she's not too particular about which ones though.
-she's still a good sleeper, but she does wake up a little more than she used to though...? i think? the truth is, i just pull her into bed with me and feed her when she wakes up, and usually i'm not coherent enough to know what time it is. haha!


here are a few photos i took of lucy for the SASSY BABIES ad. one of the pics should run in the january home town values. yea, she's big time around here. haha! hat and diaper cover available at sassy babies in bountiful and gardener village.

and of course, one with max. who hates getting his photo, but can't let lucy have a shoot without him. ;)

a rands thanksgiving

how could i not lead with this picture? i about died right after i took it, doesn't it look exactly like a martha stewart cookbook cover from the late 90's? not that you look like the 90's mom. just the pose and the turkey and such. 

anyway, it was our year for thanksgiving in seattle, and of course, we had a ball. i was there for a full week but no matter how long i stay, i always think my trip needs to be 3 days longer. ALWAYS. it snowed a LOT (a LOT in seattle is like 3 inches FYI) while i was there and so we did a lot of relaxing at home and watching movies by the fire... it was perfect. plus because of ALLLL the snow, mackenzie's school was cancelled an extra two days. yay! not that i didn't make sure to hit up my usual favorite spots- a seattle trip just isn't a seattle trip without visiting u-village and eating all kinds of thai food, teriyaki and yummy treats. anyway, here are a bunch of pictures. as usual.

lucy- aka paris hilton's chihuahua? i came home from shooting an engagement session to find that my mom had been preparing for thanksgiving guests while toting miss lu around in her PURSE. they had just gotten in from a walk to the neighbor's when i got home.  i died laughing!! i promised mom i would teach her how to use the moby wrap after this.

kenz entertains my kids about 90% of the time i'm in seattle. and i love it. and they LOVE her!!

T H A N K S G I V I N G 

 i swear to you on all that's holy, my mom made the BEST TURKEY ON THE PLANET. (clearly, dad and jordan agreed). it was insanely juicy and delicious, i honestly have never had a turkey even close to as good as this one in my life! all the food was to die for. in case you didn't know, my mom is a gourmet chef. seriously, her food is out of this world, everything she made is 100% from scratch and delicious. we only had one problem, the mashed potatoes went gluey. causing mom and i BOTH to have a near nervous breakdown. i'm only kind-of kidding. we were beside ourselves.

me, pretending that i had been helping the whole time. ;)

mom and lucy enjoying dinner

grandma and grandpa rands

jordan taking pictures of himself.

and of course, my two little butterballs. ;)

i love these two.

lucy + mac

what can i say?

the four kettles

nana and bapa and their two youngest children  grandchildren. sometimes i think they forget. haha!

they LOVE their nana!

me and my little lady.

our whole clan. my parents, grandparents, sibs, kiddies, husband, and peruvian imported sister, who's facebook profile pic i secretly switched to this picture.... 

i love the holidays.

i have a few more to post, but they're on my little camera, which isn't working with my card reader for some reason. shall we take a bet and see if i ever post them? HA.

lucy, blessed.

or according to max, "woothy's birt-day!"

we blessed lucille mackenzie kettle on november 7th at our home.  it was such a special day and we felt so loved to be surrounded by so many of our close friends and family.

the blessing was performed by danny and we had approximately a billion people in the circle. haha! and we wouldn't have had it any other way! danny's blessing was beautiful and luckily celeste did an audio recording of it, otherwise i would have basically missed the whole thing! i was busy trying to keep max quiet. not that i did a good job, toward the end of the blessing he slipped past me and in between the legs of someone in the circle- so lucy was blessed with her big brother standing directly underneath her. she truly was surrounded by all the men in her life who love her most!

the men who were there to bless her. what a handsome bunch!

of course a family function is never complete with out some serious food going on- i was so lucky my mom was there to cook practically everything help me prepare a yummy lunch afterward! and a HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to my amazing friends and family who brought delicious food, helped me put together all the decorations, loaned my serving platters and traveled long distances to be there! i honestly felt so special and so loved to have received so much help and support on lucy's special day, and i'm sure if lucy hadn't slept through the whole thing she would have felt the same way! ;) i honestly could not have done it without you!!

our menu:

my mom's tomato bisque and butternut squash soup, zupa toscana (from kate!!)

mini grilled cheese sandwiches with provolone and havarti cheese (YUM!)

an assortment of green salads from our friends and family

kathy's famous spinach artichoke dip (made by kesha!)

lots of AMAZING cupcakes!

we made strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting, celeste made coconut cupcakes and 

tessa made these insane chocolate caramel pretzel cupcakes and the mini chocolate raspberry ones. 

i. was. in. heaven.

again, thank you thank you thank you for all the help!! i have some seriously talented friends and family.

i wish i had some time to get better pictures of all the little decorations and food, but we were in a rush so  i missed a lot of pics. i know, i know, you're feeling so deprived. hahahaha...

i'm literally drooling right now. also, the fabric we used for the table runner was $1/yard at wal mart!! i'm kinda obsessed with it-  it may just turn up as curtain's in L's room not long from now!

i wish i had  a better picture of her little banners- they were so cute and the pictures do it no justice. the little doily and flower garlands were borrowed from caroline- i just loved them! the LUCY banner is just chip board letters covered in paper. 

because i'm a procrastinator, i printed lucy's birth announcements right before the blessing and handed them out that day. i thought they looked pretty darn cute in her little vintage suitcase! plus i saved time and money addressing and mailing them all!

lucy with her great grandma davis. lu was the life of the party as you can see!

the dreaded family picutres ;) we all hate taking them, but i'm sure glad i have them later. 

my AMAZING mom, lucy and me

danny and i with lucy, my parents and lucy

uncle jordan and my parents- mackenzie and tyler couldn't come! so sad. =(

danny's sisters missy and leslie- who not only did a 7 hour round trip drive in one day to be there, but then also grilled all of our sandwiches! love you both!! oh, and missy gave lucy her sweet teeny bracelet which i just LOVE!

danny, his parents and lucy.

after everything wound down after the party, of course i had to snap a few (or a ton) of lucy in her dress. my mom made and smocked the dress for my sister mackenzie who lucy is named after and the bonnet was mine! i loved having lucy blessed in these sentimental pieces. 

sorry these pictures are all really similar- but what can i say, i couldn't choose. 

i had the most darling little shoes for lucy to wear and after it was all over i realized i forgot to put them on her. darnit. also, i'm going to add some detail shots of her full length dress, slip and little accessories later- i forgot to do it the day of and they were so pretty!

all in all, it was a very special day and i felt so blessed to have such amazing friends and family and so proud and thankful for my own little family. lucy is such a perfect, sweet addition to our family and we love our baby girl so much. we are soaking up every second of her being a sweet, yummy, chubby baby because we know it won't last long... she is getting so big already! but we are loving each phase and are so excited for the next ones too. we know she will continue to grow up to be quite the lady and i can't wait to see all of the special things danny blessed her with come to pass.