Well, lookie there!

Wahoo!

How's this for Merry Christmas?!

As you can see, our shoot started off chill enough, but by the end, Quin got really upset with us for making him be nakey- and Ashley had to use her motherly love to soothe him (hehe). I just sent the 300 pics we got today to Ashley- these were just a few of my faves- I can't wait to see which ones she picks for their "Happy New Year" card!

Ooooh! I was tagged!

Meredith tagged me in this super cute Christmas poll about traditions! Here I go...

1. Well, this seems like cheating since it's straight c&p from Meredith, but we also do the Pickle Ornament tradition in our house!
Legend says that the pickle, a symbol of good luck, was the last ornament to be placed on the tree. The first child to find the pickle on Christmas morning was rewarded with an extra gift left by St. Nicholas.The tradition encourages children to appreciate all of the beautiful ornaments on the tree, rather than rushing first to the presents that Santa has left them.

2. Every Christmas eve, we all attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at my grandparents church. After the service we go over to Stephanie and Hank's (friend of my parents, I used to nanny for their children) house for the Christmas Eve party! That's when we all exchange presents with gamily friends and eat drink and be merry!

3. My youngest brother, Simeon, is 13 years younger than me. When he was 3 and I was 16, he would NOT STOP tryin gto sneak downstairs to peek at what Santa brought him! That year, we dicided that from then on, we (myself, Harrison-8 years younger than me- and Sam- 10 years younger than me) will build a fort (made of sheets) in Sim's room and make him sleep in the far corner of it so he could not escape. 7 years later, we still do it! Over the years, it's gotten more high-tech (xbox and cell phones are in the fort now), but it hasn't changed! This will be Joe and my first "married Christmas"- we're trying to decide at the moment if we should sleep in the fort together (liek my brothers want us to do!) or stay at our house since we're so grown up now!

4. On Christmas morning, we wake up (at 8-o-clock on the dot- Thank you, Simeon.) and meet at the top of the stairs and wait for mom and dad to tell us we can come down. They go down, make the coffee and turn on the lights, then come back up to us where we read the end of the Christmas story from the bible (the part that envolves a man named Simeon), pray and head downstairs to check out our stockings and what Santa brought (yes, Santa still brings me stuff)!

5. After this craziness at my parents' house, we all go over to my aunt's house for breakfast. Everyone shows up (all aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents) and we eat SO MUCH FOOD! The star of breakfast, however, are the sausage pinwheels that we only eat on Christmas morning- and then not again until the next year!

Now, I want to hear about YOUR traditions. Here's the deal, I'll tag you and link to your blog. Copy and paste the above image into your own blog, and then lather, rinse, repeat!

I'm tagging.... Abby and Ashley (although- homegirl doesn't post because she's too busy with a newborn!) ... not many people, because I forget who else has one of these!

They're 2 of my top 3 men, ya know...

Grandaddy is doing so awesome I can't even explain it! Joe took him and Grandmama to get their Christmas tree last week on his day off. They walked up, liked the first one they looked at, and took it home! There's this huge joke that their tree keeps getting smaller every year- not because they can't handle a big one, but because they don't want to pay anymore than they did for the ones that used to hit the ceiling! I would say overall, it's a pretty good one this year!

Pretty! I can't pull off metallic silver garland- but someone has to! More Christmas at Grandparent's to come!

Oh and who's the other 1 in the top 3? This guy:

Go on, Daddy. Get down with your bad self.

.love.

RED HAIR!!!!

Gah, I love him.

He's heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!

Karl Joseph the 5th ("Quin") has arrived!

He made his debut at 4:00 this morning (12-10-08) weighing in at 7lbs, 6 oz, 20 inches long. He has red hair (just like his dad!) and I cannot wait to meet him this afternoon as soon as I can leave school! I'm the most proud psuedo-aunt to ever exist! Congrats and GREAT JOB to Ashley! You're my hero!

EDIT: After seeing him in real life and having other pics of him, I now think that this picture makes him look like a creepy slimy babydoll. That is all.

*ahem*

Guess where we're going?



details to follow

Gracie's big day!

I got to take some pictures of Miss Gracie Poo this past weekend for her Christmas card. I love her and would like to steal her if her mommy would let me... some days she says it's cool.

Meanwhile, Ashley's still knocked up...

She came with me to the shoot then we went to the Home Depot Design Center (swoon) and Target. I'm not gonna lie... Starbucks and Pizza Hut were also involved. Woot!

Christmas excitement!

We finished decorating the living room!

... and Joe "built" me a temporary craft desk! (funny story about how we got the uncut 4'x8' board of melamine home from Home Depot in the Jeep Liberty with no bungee cords... we'll save it for a rainy day.)

I'm in heaven!

fa la la la la, la la la la!

Today, Ashley, Karl, Joe and I went to get our Christmas trees at a local "choose and cut" Christmas tree farm! (btw, Ashley's doctor told her she expects her to go into labor on Monday- wooooo!!) We drank hot chocolate, wandered around acres of trees and picked two perfect ones!

I swear to the Lord above, this girl is going to have Quin any freaking moment now.

I thought the candy-cane-striped saw was a cute touch! That's Joe in the background dragging our tree to the road for pick-up!

The tree (and Joe) looked funny all tied up in the living room!

PW's Pumpkin Caramel Gingersnap Cheesecake

... has changed my life. You should totally make this TODAY for your Thanksgiving meal!
Here are a few pics (Who do I think I am? PW herself?)!

First you make the crust! (pecans, gingersnaps, butter, salt, brown sugar)

Then you press it into your 10" springform pan

While that's in the fridge for 30 mins, you mix up the cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs and spices... and drink a diet coke while you do it- because it's late and you're looking at all this food and starting to drool.

Here's what the mix looks like before you put it in the crust.

and because it's Thanksgiving, and you never do it any other time, go ahead and cover the crust with caramel (and sprinkle pecans, too- I forgot to take a pic of that)

and pour the filling in.... mmmm....

Don't let the caramel somehow drip into the bottom of the oven. It's not fun, it doesn't smell nice and it's tough to clean up.

When it comes out of the oven after baking it at 350 for 1 hr 15 minutes, it looks like this! (yes, there are some cracks and yes it did develop a larger crack later, but no one cared. It was THAT good.)

Last step- after cooling it on the counter for 30 minutes, pour caramel over the top and smooth it out.

Then cover it with saran wrap and pop it in the fridge for 4 hours or (better yet) overnight.

I should really de-clutter that fridge huh?
AND being my doofus self, I totally forgot to take a pic of it right before we ate it, but here's a pic of the leftovers this morning.. when I may or may not have eaten a small piece of it for breakfast. What? Who?

I didn't listen to PW when she said not to put whipped cream... I totally did and it was amazing.