smiles to melt your heart

It's been a particularly loud couple of weeks in the Mahoney household. Things had been going smoothly and little Tula was starting to sleep through the night. All of that changed when, to our surprise, a tiny little tooth made its appearance in Tula's smile (well, more like in her wide open screaming mouth). All the while, Alden had been extra difficult and emotional, then... surprise again... two teeth popped up in his mouth! Now all I want for christmas is no more teeth. But, even though it's loud enough in our house that I can barely hear myself think, one little smile from Alden or Tula makes up for it. I hope you'll appreciate that I'm just sharing the photos and not the soundbites!

tribute to paul rand

Here's a yummy little piece of eye candy that I came across yesterday. Paul Rand is one of the most renowned graphic designers of the 20th century. This is a great sampling of his work paired with some clips of his design theory. It's definitely worth a watch.

the barbershop

Until now, Alden has been getting his haircut by me—not often enough I might add. It was mostly due to his touchy personality. We knew that a trip to the barber would only result in a melt-down, and the refusal to sit in the chair by himself would be inevitable. In case you've never noticed, Alden doesn't really like—or know how to cope with–new situations. But know that he's almost three and we can explain things to him a bit better, we decided it was time for a proper haircut. First he got to watch daddy get his hair cut. Then, after a bit of coaxing, he sat in the chair. He insisted that I hold his hand for the first half, but by the time he was done, he had really warmed up to the barber. Oh, he also got a sucker when he was done, so maybe that had something to do with it!

more costumes!

Even though Alden and Tula both had perfectly fine costumes (wario and toad), I couldn't bear the fact that in ten years they would look back at pictures and ask, "who in the heck is Wario and why did I have to wear such a ridiculous costume?" So, after a quick trip back to the fabric store, and a few simple seams, we threw together some alternate costumes for Trick or Treating and the Kid's Halloween Masquerade party at Mars Hill. Alden was pretty excited about his guns, but not quite as excited as he was about his sucker. He doesn't get candy very often, so a sucker is a big deal in our house. Tula made quite the cute little mushroom, and seemed perfectly content to be wearing a hat twice the size of her head.

Sidenote: posting takes a really long time when you only have one hand to type because the other one has a sleeping baby in it!