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cute kids at christmas

All of my Christmas pictures in Alabama wouldn't fit nicely into one post, so naturally I decided to split them up to make viewing easier. As I mentioned in my last post, we woke up at 5:30 am on Christmas morning so that we would have time to see what Santa brought, open presents, and eat breakfast before going to church. These pictures are from the post-Christmas-morning-madness! You can tell...as everyone is in their Sunday best.




 
  
Tate became quite the photog since I've last seen him! I'm not sure if it has more to do with the fact that he is 4 years old and wants to play with expensive, valuable things or if he really has a knack. I must admit, his pictures weren't half bad. I especially love the one below where I captured him focusing on taking the picture of his Gammaw and GG. It came out well (see below).


 
 
Since I was only home for the weekend, I only got to see my brother (and his family) who lives in Alabama. The rest of my siblings  - and nieces and nephews - weren't there yet, hence the reason for photos of only one set of families. Hopefully next Christmas we'll all be together again!

home for the holidays

I did a whirlwind trip home for the holidays. It was short and (very) sweet, but I would have liked for it to have been longer. Either way, I had such a good time spending Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my family! And as a special treat this year, my brother Brent and his family spent Christmas Eve at our house and Santa came and visited his kids there. It was fun waking up on Christmas morning (albeit, 5:30 am) with the kiddos because they could barely wait for Christmas to arrive.














Christmas morning:


 









And, I'll leave you with this face above. If that's not one excited kid on Christmas, I don't know what is!

movie review(s)

I can't think of the last time (if ever!) this happened, but I saw two movies in two days this weekend, and both were spectacular! In case you're looking for a good movie to watch, I thought I would share these:





















I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close with LeeAnne on Friday night. I bought the book over 3 years ago and have been meaning to read it ever since. I started it back then, but never got around to finishing it. I usually only like to see movies once I've finished reading the book but I made an executive decision to go see this anyway (because I had heard such great things about it, and couldn't wait to see it long enough to read the book). And I am so glad I did!! This movie was incredible: heartbreaking and sad, but also hopeful. I won't spoil the movie for you (and I never know how many details are too many details), but I would recommend seeing this if you get the chance. Warning: you may cry!

On New Year's Eve, I went with Brendan and his parents to see Hugo. I hadn't heard much about this movie previously, but it was fabulous! It was in 3D which made it fun, and it had a very sweet story and great characters. (Ironically, these two movies actually had very similar plot lines...but again, I won't spoil it.) It reminded me a lot of a modern-day Oliver Twist. If the chance comes, you should check this one out, too. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Happy viewing!

another little patient


McKay went in for a small outpatient surgery today. I was thinking of her and praying for her this afternoon when I got a text with this adorable photo. Her dad said she sure was a brave patient! She looks like a beauty queen after surgery if you ask me... Glad she is ok!

new years day























Face-timing with Mom (and Maggie!...and dad, over in the background) because I was far away from home on New Years Day. (1,253 miles to be exact.) Holidays are hard because I'm so far away from home, but things like this sure do make it more bearable!

happy 2012 to you!



I'm spending this New Year's Day relaxing and resting in the chilly northeast! I traveled to Boston yesterday to spend the holiday in New Hampshire, and it has been the most relaxing few days. Movies, football, eating, blogging, pinterest-ing....what a great way to spend the beginning of 2012!

[I took this photo on New Year's Eve 2010 in the Times Square aftermath. So glad I was anywhere but New York on this NYE...!!]

christmas baking party

I know, I know Christmas is over! But I never got around to blogging about this brilliant party idea. The week before Christmas my friend Kasey hosted a "Christmas Baking Party" in Brooklyn. She had all of the guests (it was a group of 7) submit their favorite Christmas dessert recipe to her in advance. She looked over the recipes, combined ingredients,  and then distributed ingredients among everyone who was attending. In total, everyone only ended up bringing a 2-3 ingredients each (since there was a lot of overlap), and we baked seven wonderful and different delights! We baked all together at Kasey's apartment, and at the end of the night we each took home a container with a variety of everyone's treats. Not only do I love to bake, but getting to take home everyone's favorite holiday dessert...well, it took the cake! This party was a terrific idea and would be fun at other times of year, too.









want to see a beautiful interior?






































The one above is by designer Lindsey Harper, who I happened to work for last fall. She is an amazingly talented designer (as you can see) and has lots of spunk and pizazz to back up her use of color and bold graphics. I feel thrilled to have had the opportunity to work on this project a tiny bit last year while she was completing it (& this is the first finished photo I've seen of it!). Definitely check out the whole article in this month's House Beautiful. The interview is fun and spirited and will give you an idea of what a blast it was working for Lindsey!

rainy day glimmer
































A rainy day in New York City on the day I return from Christmas "vacation" on a 6 AM flight out of Birmingham to go straight to my office means there isn't too much that could make this girl smile today. Ironically, using my new umbrella was about the only bright spot in my day. You understand why.

christmas dinner
































Nothing against my welcome-back-to-the-hustle&bustle Chirping Chicken dinner tonight, but I can't stop thinking about Christmas dinner leftovers. My brother deep fried a turkey for us this year, and before you go thinking about how unhealthy a "fried" turkey is, just taste one. And before you say you're a traditionalist and like oven-baked turkey more than anything, just taste one of these. I chose leftovers in place of Taco Casa for dinner last night because this turkey is that good. If you know me, you know that speaks volumes. Until next year, Christmas dinner...

photobooth faces

Thanks to this new app on my iphone (Popbooth Photo booth) two of my nieces and I had a lot of fun making photobooth faces during our down time over the holidays. I don't think I've ever seen McKay laugh so hard as when she saw Mayce's face in the top left photo. I must admit, Mayce's got some good faces. They've got skills.

twas the night before


























"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

I know three little kids that are hoping for St. Nicholas soon to be here! At least they're nestled snug in their beds...ο»Ώ