December festivities.

December is always a crazy busy month with all the holiday activities and of course Noah's birthday, so as you can imagine, I have just a wee bit to get caught up on. It's daunting really, so instead of procrastinating even more, I'm going to try and do one big dump of Christmas stuff and document the best I can. I think I'll start with the holiday fun stuff and then move on to Noah's birthday. Here goes...

went to get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and arrived bright and early to beat the crowds.

on the hunt with some hot apple cider.

got a cute pic in this same gator last year, so we had to do it again.

found a keeper.

getting warm by the fire.

there she is in all her glory. I loved our tree this year. Perfect size and it smelled amazing.

Annie in a time out for taking off and gorging on compost at the neighbors. Unfortunately she never learns her lesson.

clearly she's got it all figured out.

making our gingerbread house.

turned out pretty darn cute.

Snowflake Lane with Uncle Ty and Aunt Jaclyn.

cool statue in Bellevue with the fake snow falling down.

Noah brought his bear "Frizz" to enjoy the show.

it was freezing!

Buddy is up to his old tricks and hiding in as many creative places as he can find in our small little house.

celebrating his last day of preschool before Christmas break.

roller skating family night with Noah and some classmates.

getting desperate.

fun day in Redmond Towne Center with Drew to ride the holiday train.

snow day in December right before break. I let Noah skip school, since we were 2 hours late and it was not going to stick around for long. Went to Nana and Grandpa's house to sled on their big hill.

we will NEVER again wait till the last minute to see Santa. I think we waited at least an hour and a half in line. Thank god we brought some friends along so we could take breaks with the boys.

I miss the magic of Christmas in this house...



family Christmas party with my Mom's side of the family. Lots of cousins and second cousins to play with. My cousin Clay and his wife Maria hosted this year and they have the perfect set up to host a group of 30 + people. They have a huge open floor plan on the main level and an unfinished basement with lots of fun stuff for the kiddos to do.

my cousin Ryan, Drew, and Tanner trying out some yummy cookies.

me and sissy.

Jayme, Nicole, and my Aunt Nancy.

present time for the kids. We do a gift exchange between all the kids.

my cousin Rachelle, (Ryan's twin) and her daughter Vivian.

the whole crew. My cousin's wife Cindy was running back to the picture and is a total blur.