yup. i am one of those moms.

i think my little baby is the cutest thing out there.

the thing is...... i think sully thinks so too.

finally!

we had our annual gingerbread house decorating contest on wednesday....

and my house finally won! i would like to take this opportunity to thank tagg, who helped decided where the snowman should go. and megan, who made the gingerbread houses. without her, this wouldnt have been possible.

the way hot chocolate should be

i tried out this recipe for the first time last week and it is a winner. and a homemade marshmallow completes the experience.

hot chocolate

1 cup water

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

2 cups sugar

1 pint whipping cream

milk

in a large saucepan, melt chocolate and water. add sugar, stirring until dissolved. cool and refrigerate. whip cream. add chocolate mixture and whip a little more. transfer to a container and store in refrigerator (stays fresh for about a week). to serve: add 2-3 heaping teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture to hot milk. stir and enjoy.

bellevue d'lights

last nite, we walked thru the bellevue botanical gardens to see their christmas lights display. it is pretty amazing what they can do with little christmas lights. our favorite part was the waterfalls (behind craig).

christmas parties

last weekend, craig and i hosted a little christmas party for our friends.

i was slaving away on these cupcakes right up until the party. i made one batch of frosting and didnt really like it so i started all over again. kind of annoying but i take my cupcakes seriously.

matt and hanna. they just found out they are going to have twins!! i am so dang excited for them.

we had a white elephant gift exchange too. emily and elliot waited patiently to see who would open their amazing gift (and by amazing i mean crappy and semi-inappropriate). ali got the best gift of all! a dungeons and dragons sword. complete with chains and a sheath. tagg was obsessed. he wanted it soooo badly.

he drowned his sorrows about not getting the sword in my french hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows.

the girls. tagg randomly jumped in the shot to grab onto emily's white elephant gift. which, lets just say, was a failed attempt by one of her second graders to sculpt a lighthouse.....

after my party, i ran over to my brother's annual christmas party. that's tucker, in the red and black plaid shirt, playing a little christmas music for some of his friends. so fun!

a christmas carol

our group was slim pickins this year, as we headed downtown for dinner and a christmas carol. but we still had a great time. we went to nordstrom cafe for dinner. they have the best pizza. ever.

megan and grace at dinner.

as we were walking over to the ACT theater i noticed a restaurant across the street..... SULLIVAN'S! what a cool name.

when we got to the theater we were all freaked out at how empty is was. usually you have to wait in line for ten minutes to get a picture taken in front of this tree. we were all really depressed thinking that the economy must be so bad that people arent doing fun things anymore. ummmm yeah. until we realized that we had rushed over to the theater 40 minutes early. oops.

sully's first christmas

even though i havent bought one thing for sully to open on christmas morning (i mean, really. kind of a waste) i am still excited for his first christmas.

he really does enjoy staring at the lights on the tree though so i think that counts as having christmas spirit. sully makes one cute little christmas elf.

home for the holidays

this year, i decorated for christmas two weeks before thanksgiving! i am usually VERY against far-too-early-decorating but tagg insisted.

i found this vintage night before christmas book in the clearance bin at a used bookstore. how could someone part with such a gorgeous book? the illustrations are amazing. i kinda want to frame each page....

my favorite ornament this year.

i made another vintage glass ornament wreath this year. i could make these all day long. they are so fun and very easy.

happy holidays!

when jessica was in town a couple weeks ago i tricked her into taking our family portraits. it was a quick little session but of course, she worked her magic! i loooooved this picture and would have used it for our christmas cards but sully looked like he was taking a permanent nap. this time of year is cray cray (that one is for you joce) but i love every minute of it. happy christmas time!

snowflake lane 2010

a stop by snowflake lane was the first of many festive events we have planned for this month. every nite, real drummer boys line the streets and play along to LOUD christmas songs. there is a lights show and at the end of the performance it snows! so. much. fun.

tagg was in love. not going to lie: when i saw his face light up when the drummers came across the bridge i teared up a little bit. i love seeing him get so excited. hopefully i can get a hold of myself for when we take him to disneyland in february....

i swear. its something with these dang santa pictures that make tagg's ears look especially..... large. oh well. i still love my first santa picture with my two boys!