I can't get enough.........

of your goofy grin. oh i could eat you with a spoon!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

this wasn't van's first snow, but i think he was much happier this year! one thing that didn't change - van is still wearing an adorable bear hat!

last year:

this year (baxter even joined in the fun):

Christmas Cheer

What a fabulous way to spend the holidays! Surrounded by those we love, laughing and being entertained by a very busy 12 month old!

We sort of got a late start to our Christmas morning. Van let us sleep until 8 am!!! Then we had breakfast and enjoyed family time. Around lunch we headed to Mom and Dad U's house. The house was full of cheer as we ate brunch and watched Van playing with all his new toys (we are too blessed).

My parents, Dalcher and Greg all came over for a huge dinner and scrumptious dessert. All the holiday cheer caught up with Van and we weren't able to stay too long after dinner. As we were leaving, the snow had begun to fall!!

Christmas Eve traditions

Merry Christmas family and friends! We hope everyone is spending the day with loved ones and remembering that without Christ there would be no Christ-mas. Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a merry time at my parents house last night. There was delicious french toast, breakfast casserole, bacon and spirits! I forgot my camera and went a little picture-taking crazy with my mom's super nice Nikon. I took over 200 pictures (I promise not to post all of them. Just the great ones!)

The party lasted until about midnight. Don't the babes look sleepy?!?

Pigtails and Crewcuts

I took Van to get his first haircut today. As cute as his ringlets were, he was starting to get what we started calling a "mohawk-mullet" with spiky bangs. Not a good look.

So we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts and Van got to sit in a firetruck which he thought was the bees knees. He was such an angel sitting there letting the pretty lady cut his hair while a chair away a little girl was screaming her head like someone ripped the head off her dolly!!

Not Van, he sat there smiling, driving his firetruck. Love him like crazy! My precious boy. No longer a baby.

Van's Birthday Rumpus

We had an incredible weekend full of amazing family and friends, laughter and tears of joy. On December 11th, we celebrated the birthday of our sweet one-year-old Van!

Since his birthday falls so close to Christmas, I didn't want to use ANY Christmas decorations for his party. I wanted his day to be all about him. So at first that was my game plan. Other than not wanting it to be "christmas-y", I had no clue what I was going to do. Then I found this invitation and the ball started rolling........

I found this on Tiny Prints. The monsters aren't the same as the ones found in Where the Wild Things Are but I decided to take my inspiration from there. And let me tell you that it is close to impossible to find ANY Where the Wild Things Are party supplies/decorations.

With my party committee's help, this is what we did.

Hung streamers to create a "jungle" feel:

Cut vines out of tissue paper and hung them from the ceiling to create a 3D look:

*Instructions to make the vines*

Printed out pictures from the book onto cardstock and made masks for the tiny humans to play with and set out crowns so everyone could be Max for the day:

The only decor we didn't make:

Uncle Josh made this adorable photobooth:

We wanted to go with a kid-friendly menu and thought finger foods would be the way to go. I found some delicious recipes off Belleicious Kids. For apps we had spinach-artichoke dip with carrots and pimento cheese dip with pita bite crackers. We also made Sliders, Crispy Baked Macaroni Cups and Chicken Fingers.

My friend Mandie from Got What It Cakes made the super cute and yummy monster smash cake and eyeball cupcakes. The chocolate-chocolate chip smash cake is one of the monsters off Van's invitation. And the eyeballs were vanilla and chocolate-chocolate chip. (Chocolate-chocolate chip is my weakness)!

Van throughly enjoyed his monster smash cake!

And now my favorite part: our amazing family and friends who were there to celebrate with us!

Stew & Margaret Blount

Jack, Brooke & Lawton (Van's BFF)

Libby & Betsy Grace

Tucker representing the Thiels

My party committee - Haley & Angie

Uncle Josh & Papa Utz

Erin & Evelyn

Van & Cole hanging out

Uncle Clay & Aunt Candace

Gr-Uncle Cal, Gr-Aunt Kathy, Nana & Colonel

Ellen, Aunt Candace & Erica

Aunt Selwa & Uncle Jereme

When it came time to open presents, Van wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do but luckily daddy wase there to help him figure it out! He loved tearing everything open. Check out that grin!

*Thank you so much to Josh, I could not have made everything come together without you. And to Haley and Angie a huge thank you for all your help decorating, making food and cleaning up. You are the bestest friends a girl could ask for and I love you all!*