Small town living.

We moved from the city. The Big City as Ellie called it. To a small town in the suburbs.

We moved when Ellie was about 14 months old, in fact we signed the contract on her first birthday. We were all 'happy birthday we bought you a house twice as big as our cozy condo!'

Ellie went to Gymboree classes, swimming lessons and played soccer in our new area. When it was time to register for preschool, it was so funny when we recognized some of the families at the first preschool open house from Gymboree. What are the chances?

We ended up sending Ellie to the second preschool we toured {only kind of knowing one family} and also signed her up for dance classes.

Dance class is only an hour so Madeline and I usually hang out with the moms and other little sibs. So now here's when things get a little confusing.

I helped set up for the Fall Harvest at preschool with a mom who used to teach ballet at the Y and now teaches where Ellie goes to class. This mom knows one of the girls in Ellie's dance class.

Fast forward to the pumpkin patch field trip - dance class mom and ballet teacher mom are there together. Not only does Ellie go to dance with this little girl, but she is also at the same preschool, just in the afternoon class.

That night, we went to a Creepy Crawler Bug Hunt where the kiddos brought flashlights and hunted outside for bugs {so much fun!!} and two little girls from Ellie's class were there as well as a little girl she went to Gymboree with.  Ellie didn't know what to do.  She said that she was so excited that her 'stay at home friends' and 'school friends' were all at the same party.

Holy small town Batman.

In the city you can get lost in the crowd. You don't have to see people you know unless you want to.

Now? Now I'm scared to go to Target with my unshowered hair in a pony tail because I'm sure I'll run into Susie Smith from fillintheblank.

Obviously I knew we were moving to a small town, but it just hadn't been so....well, obvious until now.

I guess it's a good thing I like these people.  ;)


How about you? Are you living it up in the big city or enjoying a more quiet, small town life? Are you happy with your choice?

Tiny Prints + Gina Cristine Photography = The Perfect Holiday Card

With the above combination, you just can't go wrong.

Our holiday photo shoot was a few weeks ago and our holiday cards are ordered.  This is the first time EVER that I have ordered my cards before Thanksgiving.  It feels so great.

Gina did our photo shoot and we ordered our cards through Tiny Prints.  So much fun!

Gina worked her magic a few weeks ago and these are the images we decided to work with for our holiday cards this year:

The girls wore Matilda Jane Holiday Sparkle outfits and Ryan and I kept it simple in gap sweaters and jeans.  There were many many many more wonderful images by Gina {as always!} but to keep our holiday card cohesive, these are the ones we selected.

I have used Tiny Prints the last few years for holiday cards and have never been disappointed.  The quality of the card is unmatched, printed on the heaviest card stock I've ever held. 

But what truly makes Tiny Prints stand out as my holiday card vendor of choice is the process of creating the card - is so easy and fun!

When you first arrive at the holiday card section of Tiny Prints, you may be overwhelmed.  But then you take a glance around and realize that they are there to help.  From live chat to favorites folder, the process is simplified.  You can also narrow your search down by price point, number of photos, style of card and other selections.

After you select your favorites from the HUNDREDS of choices {and I looked at every one!}, you then personalize your card.  And you can personalize as many as you want, compare them instantly and send them to family/friends to get feedback.  For Ellie's first Christmas I literally had about 20 different cards saved and then sent them to my mom and sister to help make the final decision!

There are so many styles to choose from, here are some of my favorites:

The Circle Card is an ornament and arrives with ribbon to tie. 

Studio Basics are more like the classic cards we grew up with and are printed on photo paper.

Pop Ups!



Outside



Inside - and a pop up!



Flip {the inside square spins within the card}

Front

Back

Folded Card

Cover

Inside

Trifold

Outside, folded in thirds

Inside, folded in thirds

And Flat

If you have a distinct style, you can select from contemporary, classic, vintage, whimsy and more.

How can you choose?

Well, I did.  And my order is placed.  I'm going to wait for my big reveal until after they arrive and give a proper review. 

The ones above I just made for fun.  ;)

Are you a lover of creating the perfect holiday card or is it just another thing to check off your to do list?

Full Disclosure:  Tiny Prints provided me with holiday cards to review and are a sponsor of Ellie-Town.  But I would have ordered from them anyway!

So proud.

Tonight I sat in an audience of hundreds(?) of people and watched my dad receive a "lifetime achievement award." This is his last year of working before retirement and tonight he was honored for all of his accomplishments.

To hear the speaker introduce my dad and run through all of the great things he has done and changes he has brought to peoples' lives was just amazing. I just sat in my front row seat, snapping pictures next to my mom and sister and thought

I hope someday my girls can be as proud of me as I am of my dad right now.

My dad gave a speech that left me teary eyed, we listened to the rest of the presentation and thought we were headed out the door. But on our way out, my dad's colleagues kept stopping us, wanting to meet us and telling us how wonderful our dad is.

One person in particular thanked my sister and I for sharing our dad with them. My dad was a mentor to her and she just wanted to tell us how much she learned from him and how lucky she was to have worked with my dad.

Amazing.

I never realized what big shoes I have to fill.

I hope someday my girls can be as proud of me as I am of my dad right now.




P.S. My mom is all kinds of awesome and I am super proud of her, too. ;)