Wayyyyyyy late, but here are a few Christmas photos to share

Spencer and his baby cousin, Leah.  She is a total doll face and such a fun baby.  Spencer loves playing with baby "Yaya".  They were so cute together.

Seriously, could those cheeks be any cuter (or any bigger?)!

Christmas Eve after church.  I wore the dress I made, Spencer had on black velvet overalls with a plaid turn up cuff from Hanna, and B wore his RL plaid pants with a black cashmere sweater.  We don't normally match this well :)

Kissin' cousins!

Christmas day, just bumming around

New Year's weekend at my mom's house.  Mimi got Spence a new backpack, and he loved it!  He looks WAY too old in this picture though!

Touchdown!

With Uncle G

Spencer's first snow of the year.  He's saying "snow" in this picture.  He kept saying "uh-oh" when it would get on his boots.  He was very concerned about it.  Hysterical.

No, he doesn't have mittens on- he wanted to feel the snow (and we were only out for a few minutes).  I'm not sure he loves it yet, but he will, I'm not worried :)

There's a little bit of my photo dump from the end of 2011.  I'm heading to bed early tonight (it's only 8:40) but I was up all night with a sick, coughing, whiny, crying baby.  Poor thing has croup and has been sick since Saturday.  2 other kids in his class have croup, one has RSV, and every single one of them has a runny nose and cough.  Out of 12 kids, 6 were out on Monday and 7 on Tues.  We stayed home today and even though he got no sleep last night, he was up at 6:30 and only took a 20 min nap today.  He was in a pretty good mood overall, but it was rough on me to not have any time to myself (a 20 min nap is just NOT long enough when I only got 4 hours of sleep myself).  I'm just praying he gets better every day and that tonight brings a little more sleep for all of us!!!!

Merry Christmas from JD & the Muppets!

My favorite Christmas album and my favorite song.  May your Christmas be as perfect as this song is to me! 

It's almost here!

It's almost here!!  The music has been playing, the cookies and eggnog pound cake have been baking, the presents are wrapped, the cards have arrived, and now the most important part of the season is here!  Time for the presents!! 

Just kidding, of course.  It's time to celebrate the birth of Mary's son, our savior, Emmanuel.  It's time for the reading of the Christmas story and pondering Mary's incredible bravery, Joseph's incredible faith, and Jesus's immaculate birth.

It's time to cherish our families and spend time breathing, laughing, singing, rejoicing, and loving.

It's time to listen to our hearts. 

It's time to pray for faith, peace, happiness, and health in the New Year.

It's time to remember that the smallest things, like the ringing of a bell, might, just might, help an angel get it's wings.

I pray that your Christmas is full of wonder, hope, love, family, rejoicing, and precious memories.  I pray that the baby we all celebrate will hear the deepest desires of your hearts in the coming year!

Merry Christmas one and all!!

Family Fun Saturday

Just woke up from his nap and ready to go to Meijer Gardens (our local botanical garden) to see the Christmas Trees from around the world.

Much to our surprise, and massive delight, there were two reindeer from a local reindeer farm outside at Meijer Gardens.  They were asleep when we first arrived but then woke up once they smelled an apple that some other visitors brought.  These reindeer were 5 and 6 years old, weighed in at 350 lbs, and had huge antlers.  Did you know that reindeer antlers are like our fingerprints?  No two are ever the same, and a father reindeer can look out amongst a herd and spot his own flock. 

This one is Blizzard.  He was closer to us most of the time.  Spencer was so excited to see them!!

Okay, you can't really tell in this pic, but he was happy to see them and be outside!

Our first snow of the year on Spencer's hood.

Spencer with the Swedish tree.  It had horses on it which automatically mean that he loved it. 

The Irish Tree.  It had all of the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments on it plus Irish crosses.  I adored the velvet ribbons with the jingle bells running down them.  How easy would this be to make for next year?

At the outdoor children's play area.  This little door is just too cute and Spence loved it.

All the way through the door.

Daddy and SYT taking a break

The German tree.  It was definitely my favorite of all the trees.

The electric model train that ran above three of the rooms.  You should have seen the number of kids that were mezmerized by this!  Even the adults thought it was fascinating. 

Spencer pointing at the "choo choo". 

I'm so glad we went to see this.  It was well worth the admission cost (goodness, the reindeer and the trains alone were worth even more than we paid!).  We came home afterwards and fed Spencer dinner, got him in his jammies and read a few books before bundling him up and getting back in the car to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  We ended up being gone for almost two hours (Spence fell asleep in the car) and picked up dinner on our way back home.  We had Christmas music on the whole time.  It was seriously a wonderful day with my boys.

Did you have a holly, jolly Saturday too??

Holiday Celebrations!!

B and I went to his company's Christmas party tonight, so I made the babysitter take a few pics once we got home.  We rarely get pics of just the two of us anymore, and since we were dressed up, I thought it was a good opportunity.  We had a lot of fun at the party.  He works with really nice people (mostly men), and I definitely enjoyed myself.  He did too.

Tomorrow night is my Christmas party (it's just for our staff, so B is staying home with Spence), and Saturday night is our neighborhood tree toasting, so it's a BUSY weekend.  Fun though, so I can't complain!!  Neither night will be super late, so I'm not too worried about being as tired as I was last weekend.  The neighborhood party could end up being a late night, but it's nice that B will be able to stay if he wants, and I'll be able to be in bed at a decent hour.  It's a really fun evening.  We start at one of our neighbor's homes for chili and cocktails and then go around house to house to look at everyone's tree and then end up back at the first house for the rest of the evening.  We had a blast last year!!

As you can tell in the above pic, I'm obviously sporting a bump now (though that pic makes me look bigger than I actually am- I think it's the angle).  I made the dress from this tutorial and am quite happy with the results.  I'm planning on wearing it to church on Christmas Eve as well.  I have another long sleeved shirt and more fabric and I think I'm going to make another one that is more work appropriate after the holidays are over.

I'm sure you all are just as crazy this weekend and next.  I hope it's all fun stuff, and I hope you are also able to get your lists checked off in the down time!!  I have to round this weekend as well as the above social stuff, but I'm hoping to get a few more baking things done as well as wrapping some gifts and addressing our Christmas cards which arrived this week!!  We've already received two in the mail from truly organized friends of mine :)  Have a great weekend!!

Weekend in the kitchen

B and I spent all weekend in the kitchen making amazing food, and I seriously didn't take one photo.  What was I thinking???  I wish I had some for you, but instead, I'm just going to have to write about it all instead.

Saturday our goals were to bake most of the day, pick up one Christmas gift for our niece, and watch the MSU/Wisconsin game.  We definitely accomplished all those things (don't you just LOVE a productive day?).  We made peppermint bark brownies, eggnog poundcake, buckeye bark, and soft ginger cookies with lemon glaze.  We also threw together "nuts and bolts" (our family's version of chex mix) and made apple compote.  We really wanted to have Christmas tins put together for all of our dinner guests, and we wanted a variety of things to put inside.  Between B and I, we were able to sample all of the above, and, I hope our guests will agree, it all tasted delicious!!

Today after church, we started on the meal for our Christmas dinner party (we hosted 3 other couples whom we just adore).  We served the baked brie with apple compote (from Annie's Eats), Smitten Kitchen's short ribs with swiss chard and pearl onions (I cannot rave about these enough.  They're time consuming but worth every single bite!!), mashed potates, and eggnog trifle.  Everyone seemed to leave the table full and happy. 

The best part?  Hanging out with delightful people that we just don't see enough of!!!  It was so, so, so nice.  Spencer was a little shy at the beginning but then loved showing off the "balls" (aka ornaments) to all our guests and climbing the stairs to turn the dining room light off and on.  It was a wonderful evening!!!  Another great part? We have a few cookies, brownies, and pieces of eggnog pound cake left, but most of it went out the door.  Enough for a few bites over the week but definitely not enough to gorge ourselves on.  Unfortunately, we didn't give away enough nuts and bolts, and this lady has been craving nothing but salt lately!! 

Did any of you make anything exciting in the kitchen this weekend?  Any fantastic Christmas cookies I should make next weekend? 

Our Holiday Adventures

We went up to Petoskey on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my family.  While we were there, we:

went on a long walk outside with our pup, Greg, Nina, and their pup.  The snow was glistening like diamonds in the areas where no one had walked.  It was absolutely gorgeous. 

I wore SYT in the Ergo and within the first 20 minutes of the walk, he was sleeping soundly and cuddled up to stay warm. 

He was certainly cute enough in his little snowsuit!

The river starting to ice over

Christmas Eve we had dinner with B's aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandma before church.  We left SYT sleeping at their house while we attended mass with my family.  It was a wonderful service, and I love singing all the Christmas carols.  It makes my heart so happy!

Christmas day we woke up slowly, played with Spencer and opened gifts with my family.  My grandma hosts for Christmas dinner, and there were 17 of us this year.  We had a great meal, got to sing more carols, and played Catch Phrase.  We normally play Scattergories, but this year we switched it up and played Catch Phrase.  It was really fun, and SYT charmed the family with his crawling and his constant smile.

SYT with my uncle Jon

Santa Claus smocked outfit- he looked adorable!

With his mimi (my mom)

Singing Christmas carols while Gram plays the piano.

The next night we went to my aunt and uncles house for dinner and to celebrate Nina's birthday.

Happy Birthday Nina! 

Monday we skiied while my mom watched Spencer.  It was chilly, but the snow was perfect and we all had fun.  I would have loved to ski a few more days, but we had to pack up that afternoon and come home to work for the rest of the week.

For NYE we went over to B's cousin's house and hung out with some of his family that came into town.  We had a lot of fun just hanging out.  Lots of champagne was consumed- too much for some people!!!  Nursing makes me toe the line pretty well ;)

No, I am NOT naked.  I just have a strapless top on.  Should have been a little more aware of this when taking the pic though!

N&K dancing with Spencer.  She's the one who is due in March with their first baby.  They're going to be wonderful parents- they are incredible with Spencer.

Ready for 2011!!

It's been wonderful reading about your holidays with your families, and it was a really nice year for us as well.  I'm ready for 2011 to begin and see how the year unfolds.  I'll be praying for a wonderful one for all of you!!

Christmas presents for the babe

This activity cube is SYT's Christmas present from B and I.  It has gotten rave reviews online, and I've seen some that are very similar elsewhere (Orvis and one of the art museum mags) for significantly more (like upwards of $150!).  It's a perfect height for him to pull up on as he learns to stand, and the twirly alphabet on the side will keep him entertained for awhile.  I cannot wait to give it to him on Christmas! 

My dilemma?  How am I going to wrap the darn thing with those wires on the top???  Just a huge gift bag?  I was kind of hoping for wrapping paper so that he could actually tear into it, though a gift bag may be better as all the wrapping paper is going to end up in his mouth.  Hmmmm.....any suggestions?

What are you getting your under 1 year old for Christmas? 

Christmas decorations!!!

The entryway and dining room tree.  I had two four foot fake trees, so we put one in each of the front windows (one in the dining room and one in the living room).  The dining room is done in golds and red and the living room has the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments from Crate and Barrell as well as pink, purple, blue and green sparkly balls.

Our dining room hutch with my Wachtersbach collection.  The plates and bowls are in the kitchen cupboards, but the serving ware and glassware are out.  It looked SO pretty on our table on Saturday for our dinner club!!I used a white tablecloth underneath the runner so that the red of the plates popped even more.

My ornament wreath (I made it last year using Eddie Ross's as inspiration).  It's hanging over the island in the kitchen.

My St. Nicholas collection on top of the hutch in the family room.  I have since found a few more Nick's and put them out.

Our mantle.  It's hard to tell, but there are shiny red votive holders disperse throughout the greens up top.  The statue in the R corner is Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. 

Decorating the tree

The final project!  Now all it needs is presents wrapped beneath it.

Is your house decorated yet?  Do you have a more traditional color scheme or do you use something else?  Do you have Christmas dishes or china??  Do share, I'm obsessed!!