Me and My Sweetie

Last night Wes and I were able to get all dressed up and have a very fun night! The Oral Surgery office that I used to work for, but still fill in for, invited us to join them again this year for their annual Christmas party. We were SO excited because they always have seriously the BEST food. Last night was no exception. We had a great meal of Filet Mignon, shrimp scampi, spinach salad, and creme' brulee' for dessert. They also had amazing crab cake appetizers. To. die. for. It was also nice to spend some time with my sweetie, who has really been utterly amazing throughout this first semester of nursing school. Really. I can't remember the last time I've folded clothes without him there by my side so it would get done faster. I think he's cleaned the bathrooms the entire semester as well. He also takes Liam for fun activities while I study. He's really the best and it was nice to spend an evening together last night. One more day and then hopefully I can pamper him during the Christmas break. :)

Just had to gush and show my appreciation!

Duessel Gumdrop Elfman

Santa came early this year in the form of The Finlays! They gave us this awesome Christmas tradition called "The Elf on the Shelf." www.theelfontheshelf.com This is our elf, straight from the North Pole. He came to watch, and will come every year in the holiday season from now on, to see if the child of the house is being naughty or nice. Each night he reports back to the North Pole. He is magical, so any touch will take the magic out of him and he can't talk back. But, the children can talk to him! Each night he comes back from the North Pole, he lands in a different spot to watch the next day. So fun! Each family has to choose a name for their special elf. We had to choose something fun, elfy and German, so our elf became "Duessel Gumdrop Elfman." (Doo-zel) The elf also comes with a book explaining his mission. Can you find Duessel? This is where he'll be when Liam wakes up in the morning. Thanks so much to the Finlays for starting this awesome tradition with us! Someday Duessel and Flash(the Finaly's elf--he flashes to the North Pole each night) will have to meet. Oh wait, they meet each night in the North Pole!

PS- I have NO idea why the first part of this post is underlined and blue. I've tried everything to get rid of it, but it's not budging. Oh well.

Cute, Cute Cousins

Izzy is not entertained with Liam's snug hugs.So she bolts... See that little smirk on her face?? tee-hee

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Liam LOVED decorating the tree this year. It was so much fun. He is just loving everything about Christmas, well, except Santa. He does like the theory of Santa, though.

This was apparently Liam's favorite branch. There were about six or seven on there originally before we decided we needed to take a photo of it.

And our beautiful tree with the nativity in the background. The photos don't do it justice. We have shimmering lights. I've never seen them anywhere else. They just make the tree look like it's sparkly, not annoyingly flashing. Impossible to photograph though.

Make sure to look at the post below this for our awesome Christmas dance.

A Family of Disco Dancing Elves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa Mission=Failed

I thought he would like him this year. He was so excited ALL morning. He even shook the Santa's hand at the mall. I guess this guy's monstrous beard freaked him out. The minute we walked in the room he screamed, "I WANT MY MOMMY!!" and wouldn't let go. I guess each child needs their very own screaming Santa photo.

Maybe next year.

Thanks for a Great Birthday!

I had a wonderful weekend/week of birthday festivities! After Thanksgiving, we headed out to my parents' for Wes and Ben to shoot and so I could finish up some Christmas gifts that I'm making. We decided to celebrate my birthday there, so my mom and dad made a very, very DELICIOUS dinner of tri-tip(my dad makes the best ever), artichokes, garlic bread and baked potatoes. Here is my lovely feast!I always want an ice cream cake for my birthday, so before my mom and I headed to her house, we stopped at DQ for a cake. They had a cute princess one, and Liam liked it. We didn't know the girl had such seriously ghetto writing, otherwise we would have kept it at the princesses.Liam REALLY wanted a lick.My mom and dad got me the cutest advent calendar. I've been eyeing them for a while and this one is magnetic and has all the pieces to the nativity inside the little boxes. Then you add to the nativity each day. It's sooo cute and still has room for little Andes mints inside the boxes--something I always loved growing up in our calendar.Liam likes it, too!Wednesday night my sister brought over my gift from her. She made me this awesome purse! She is a great seamstress. The bag is great and I can fit a notebook in it so I don't have to carry my backpack to class. The picture doesn't do it justice. I love the button from South Africa on it. Gorgeous!Last night, Wes took me to sushi for my birthday dinner and Jake and Erica were able to join us. My friend, Melanie, from church/nursing school baby-sat the kids for us. They LOVE Melanie and rightfully so. She decorated Christmas sugar cookies with them. They had a blast. Liam really didn't want her to leave last night! Here are a couple very cute photos of the kids from last night. I think they enjoyed my birthday almost as much as I did. Decorating cookies!
The cookies are very cute and are mountains of decorating sugar!! I'll have to post a picture of them later. Wes got my great yoga pants that I've been wanting for a while and they even came in tall. He's the best. :) Thank you to everyone who made my birthday special!!