SWW

Another week linking up with Shannon for So What Wednesday!

 

So what if:

 

-I couldn't believe it when I got my account statement yesterday from Hunters daycare noting how much money we spent in daycare costs last year (we need this for our taxes). Let's just say it was a 5-digit number and I could have bought a new (used) car for the same amount.

 

-I think the daycare costs are worth every penny (even though I hate spending the money). They take great care of him and now that he's on "people" food he gets breakfast, lunch and multiple snacks provided daily.

 

-There is a part of me that has enjoyed having a broken washing machine the past two weeks and therefore an excuse to not do laundry.

 

-My husband is going "commando" today because he ran out of clean underwear. (P.S. Don't tell him I put that info on the Internet for all the read)

 

-I'm really excited about the new season of Dallas but I always get a little sad now when I hear the theme song. It reminds me of my dad who passed away a year ago this February. I used to always watch the original one with him when I was growing up.

 

-I haven't read a book in months. It's hard enough for me to find time to read my US Weekly each week and usually takes me at least two days to finish.

 

 



13 Months- 1/30/13

I decided that I wanted to continue with monthly posts for Hunter for at least the next year to help document his milestones, otherwise I will forget everything. I'm not real good about updating his baby book in a timely manner.

 

  

Weight/Length- I don't know the official stats but I suspect you are about the same size as before, 26-27 pounds. Now that you are so much more mobile you seem to be slimming down a bit and starting to lose some of that delicious baby chunkiness (this makes me sad).

 

Eating- You officially weaned off of breastmilk at the beginning of this month and are now solely on whole milk or water. You get a small 4oz bottle of milk in the morning, one or two 5 oz bottles at daycare and a 5oz bottle before bed. You also drink water throughout the day and during meals out of your sippy cup. I've tried giving your milk in your sippy cup and you will drink a bit but don't really like it. Your doctor wants you off the bottle by 15 months so we need to practice this more. As for food, you are still eating like a champ, 3 full meals and multiple snacks during the day. You still seem to like everything but I've noticed you are starting to be pickier about what you eat. There will be times where you won't eat something I know that you have enjoyed in the past. But there are somethings you never turn down - fruits, chicken and any kind of dessert/sweets. 
 

Sleep- This past month your sleeping hasn't been great due to having a cold on and off and teething. You are still basically sleeping from 7:30-8pm until 5:30-7am. But you've started waking up once or twice during the night crying, all I need to do is give you your pacifier and tuck you back in and within a couple minutes you fall back asleep. The problem is you have a tendency to do this around 5am and by the time I fall back asleep my alarm is off again at 6am. You still typically take a long 2 hour nap in the morning and sometimes will nap again for another hour in the afternoon but there are many days you will only do one nap.

 

Clothes- Wearing mostly 18 months but still a few 12 month things that fit. Wearing size 5 baby shoes.  

 

 

Diapers- Size 4
 

Appearance- You are really needing another haircut, which will hopefully happen this weekend. Your hair is getting quite long again and when it's long like this it will get curly in the back. Also, the hemangioma (red spot) on top of your head seems to finally be fading (though with all your hair it's hard to see). Your eyes are like mine and seem to change depending on what you're wearing between blue, green and grey.
 

Personality- You are still are happy, sweet little boy, especially when we're out in public. You just love to people watch and always act well around others. You like to save your tantrums for mommy and daddy and boy have you started with the tantrums. Lord help us for the terrible two's! If we try to take something away from you or make you do something you don't want to you immediately do a "stiff body" and scream like you're being tortured. You will even throw yourself on the ground and just have a fit. Daddy and I try not to laugh because to be honest it is a bit funny. You are super curious about everything and have a knack for getting into exactly what you shouldn't be getting into. You also have become a bit of a daredevil which I blame on your father's genes. But you continue to make us laugh daily and watching you learn new tricks everyday is just amazing.  

 

 

Likes-
-WALKING around the house
-Climbing up and down the steps
-Climbing on step stools
-Pressing any and all buttons you can get your hands on
-Your musical puppy toy and your music table and instrument set. You LOVE music.
-Opening and closing doors
-Turning the clock radio and noise machines that sit on the nightstand on and off.
-Eating out at restaurants
-Walking in the woods

Dislikes- same as last month
-Having your clothes and diaper changed
-Being locked out of rooms and babygates in general
-Getting out of the bathtub
-Drinking milk out of a sippy cut
-Being in your highchair if you're not eating

-Having your face or hands cleaned after eating
-Having your runny nose wiped.

Milestones-
-WALKING!!! A few days after your birthday you started walking and within about a week you were practically running around the house.

-Can stand unassisted for long periods of time
-Climbing step stools
-Stopped breastfeeding and are solely on whole milk
-First "real" snow
-Moved from an infant carseat to a bigger convertible carseat.
-Started eating off of a plate and getting practice using a spoon.
-First molar came in (upper left side)
-Cut another tooth on the top right (total teeth count = 9)

 

Here are a few more pictures from the past few days

Official 13 month photo.

I'm no longer doing the stickers on onesie photos

It snowed Friday night and we went outside to check it out for a few minutes (hence the no coat or hat look).

He's climbing now and giving me mini heart attacks.

A little pre-bath peek-a-boo with his towel.

He actually played in his pack n play for a good 30 minutes on Sunday (this NEVER happens). Note the awesome bed hair. Kid needs a haircut.

Thanks to the rare 70 degree January temperatures, Hunter and daddy went to the park after daycare yesterday.

Baby 'downward dog' yoga poses in the kitchen...sans pants.

 



 

Photos from the Week

Last Sunday we met my mom and her friend for lunch and once we finished with lunch we decided to stop by Kristian's grandmothers house for a visit since she hasn't seen Hunter in a while.

He had a bit of "stranger danger" at first and stuck close to daddy. 

But it wasn't long before he had warmed up to his great grandmother and was playing Peek A Boo and walking around her house like he owned the place. 

She absolutely loved seeing Hunter and it was so sweet seeing them together. We need to make a point of taking him over there more often. It's been tough this winter since one of us is always sick and Lord knows we don't want to bring any germs to a 92 year old. 

On Monday Hunters daycare was closed for MLK day and I was able to telework. Despite the very cold weather we did get a quick stroller walk in to get some fresh air and ease a bit of stir craziness on both of our parts. 

I was cleaning out part of our office/storage/disaster room and found some of my baby pictures and it seems that Hunter may be my child after all. Above are photos of each of us at around 11 months old. 

Yesterday morning we woke up and actually had a little bit of snow on the ground. For once the weatherpeople predicted (somewhat) right. Even though we've had some flurries here and there this is the first "real" snow that Hunter has seen. So I let him check it out for a few minutes before taking him to daycare. 

He seemed fascinated at first. 

Even a bit excited. 

But then after falling down and getting his pants a bit wet he wasn't quite so into it anymore. In this pictures he's even saying "mama mama" in a concerned voice. Poor thing. 

We're supposed to get more snow this afternoon so hopefully we'll get a chance to actually play in it a bit. Oh and next Wednesday it should be 60 degrees. Go figure. 

SWW

Linking up with Shannon again for So What Wednesday!

This week I'm saying So What if:

-Kristian had to take our laundry to his parents house the other day because our washing machine decided to break. Fabulous. It's like being in college again.

-I want to get a job as a weatherman (err weatherperson??) It's the only job where you can be wrong All. THE. TIME. and not get fired. We were supposed to get rain and snow last Friday and got neither. I mean really? Don't they have like radar and shit to forecast that stuff. 

-I want to get pregnant again just so I can have my boobs back. Does Victoria Secrets sell bras in the negative digits? 

-This cold weather makes me just want to hibernate and never leave my house. 

-I always wonder how much money the husbands of all the stay at home moms I know make? We have a hard enough time affording everything on two incomes and I see these SAHM living in huge houses that are perfectly decorated, driving nice cars and buying Starbucks everyday. Apparently we're doing something wrong. 

-I finally started working on Hunters first year photobook and I'm already on page 17 and have only made it through his birth and first month of life so far. This book is going to be huge but I want to include as many photos as possible. Also, at this rate I will be lucky to have it finished by his 2nd birthday.

-I love that we have FIOS now instead of Comcast but I hate hate hate having to re-learn all the channels. Such a pain in the ass #firstworldproblems.

Reflection- A Year of Breastfeeding

When Hunter was born I knew I wanted to breastfeed. To at least try. I wasn't opposed to formula, and we did end up supplementing with it, but I really wanted to give breastfeeding a try. As with labor and delivery I tried to keep an open mind. I had read enough to know how difficult BFing can be and that sometimes it just doesn't work out. So I didn't set any specific goals beyond giving it a try and hopefully at the very least, getting him that all important colostrum the first few days.

Fortunately Hunter took to it pretty easily and never had a problem going back and forth between the boob and the bottle or the pacifier and the boob. I got lucky. Was it painful? Oh God yes. The first few weeks were very a painful. Was it time consuming? Most definitely. Was it one of the things I'm most proud of? Absolutely. Looking back I think being able to breastfeed helped keep me from the dreaded post partum depression. After having a pretty traumatic delivery and missing the birth of my child (which still upsets me) I think I was ripe to suffer from a bit of PPD. And though I didn't realize it at the time, looking back now I think if breastfeeding hadn't worked out and if I had missed out on that new mother experience as well it could have easily sent me down the PPD path. I needed that to work and thankfully it did.

After I knew that Hunter had no issues with breastfeeding and I got past those first few painful weeks I set mini goals. The first was to make it through my 6 weeks of maternity leave. That flew by in a blink. Then once I started back to work and got into the routine of pumping there I wanted to make it three months, then six months, then nine and finally after nine months I really really really wanted to hit a year. I knew that my milk was playing such a big part in keeping him healthy and growing strong but even more than that I wasn't ready to give up the bonding aspect. Even though it was exhausting always having to be the one to get up with him first thing in the morning to nurse or all the middle of night feedings from the early days, I loved the snuggles. I loved the way he would look in my eyes and smile up at me afterwards. I didn't want to lose that.

The last time I nursed Hunter was 5:30am this past Sunday morning. I had been slowly weaning him now that he's on whole milk. My supply was crap and I was ready to have my body back to myself completely. For close to two years my body has been used to grow and help nourish a little human being. And though it's been one of my greatest accomplishments I was ready to be done. I sat there in the rocker, knowing it was most likely the last time I would be doing that with him and I was okay. I met and even exceeded all of my goals. I made it to a year plus a couple weeks.

This past week I've felt a mix of relief and sadness over the end of our nursing relationship. I love not having to be tied to my pump multiple times of day. I love not waking up with aching, engorged boobs. I love that I no longer have to stress about my supply and how much I'm producing.

But I do miss the snuggles. Hunter is very active and not much of a cuddler at this point in time. He's constantly wanting to go, go, go. When he nursed he was still. He would snuggle. I do miss that. I also miss the convenience of nursing him back to sleep when he wakes up at 5am and getting at least another hour or more of sleep out of him. The bottle doesn't have that affect. In fact I joke that his morning bottle of milk seems to be mixed with Red Bull. I'm also having a harder time putting him down for naps now that I can't nurse him to sleep. And when he gets upset in the middle of the night that is no longer my go-to comfort strategy. So it's been an adjustment.

The past year of breastfeeding was at times, hard, painful and time consuming, but I'm so glad that I did it. That WE did it.

SWW

It's Wednesday which means I'm linking up with Shannon again for SO What Wednesday!

This week I'm saying So What if?

-I've been on such a cleaning/re-organizing kick lately that Kristian asked me if I was pregnant because I seem to be "nesting". I'm not. This just shows you how often I clean and re-organize if it makes my husband think I must be pregnant.

-With that said I always try to clean and pick up my house before my cleaning lady comes. I get embarrassed when my house is a total disaster for company and that even includes the cleaning lady. 

-I didn't realize that Hunter had cut one of his 1 year molars until the tooth was almost completely in. I figured he was just being fussy to be fussy. Mom fail. 

-Now that I'm done nursing I'm pretty depressed about how much my boobs have shrunk, it's like they are scared turtles that have retreated inside my body. I didn't think it was possible but I swear they are even smaller than before. I told Kristian after we're done having kids I want a boob job.

-Despite being on the itty bitty t*tty committee again I am a bit relieved to be done with breast feeding and finally have my body totally back to myself after close to two years. 

-I'm not decorating for Valentine's Day. I JUST finished putting away Christmas decorations, I'm really not in the mood to decorate for another holiday again until Halloween.

Some life updates- WITH pictures

Thanks to some tips from some other bloggers I'm now able to post photos again using Firefox. You can suck it Explorer!

So here are some life updates with a few pictures. I've already posted these on Instagram so for those that follow me on there these will look familiar. For those that aren't following me already you can find me on IG, username SEP0522.

 About two weeks ago my company had a belated holiday dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House which is like a super swanky and pricey restaurant that I had never been to before. It was easily some of the best food I've ever eaten. It was probably one our fanciest dates since our wedding and nice to get out for a few hours while my mom watched Hunter.

Unfortunately our team didn't advance in the Playoffs but we still had fun rooting them on and looked quite cute doing it. HTTR (Hail to the Redskins). FYI- I'm now throwing my support behind the Ravens who (as a born and raised Maryland girl) are my second favorite team.

 

Hunter is full on walking now. There is really no stopping him and he can walk from room to room and is quite proud of himself. It's so cute and surreal seeing him toddle around the house. 

 

Kristian bought a bunch of new fishing reels off of Craig's List and the brainwashing is in full effect. Fortunately Hunter seems completely fascinated by the fishing reel/rods which of course makes his daddy super excited. 

 

 We finally bite the bullet and upgraded Hunter to a convertible carseat (these things are EXPENSIVE). He still hasn't officially outgrown his infant seat which goes up to 35 pounds but I was tired of lugging that thing inside daycare every morning (since Kristian picks up I have to leave it there). Plus he was starting to look squished in it. So we got him a new big boy seat which will now stay in my car and Kristian will continue to use the infant seat for another month or so until we can afford one for his car (we do not want to have to take this out everyday to switch cars). He looks so old in it!

 

Hunter has started to enjoy a little light bathtime reading with his new waterproof book. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a similar scene once he starts using the potty.

 

I'm not a fan of pizza crust (or really any kind of crust for that matter i.e. bread, pie etc) but fortunately Hunter quite enjoys eating mommy's pizza crust. We make a good team.

 

I've also spent the past few days trying to clean and re-organize the house but I'll leave that for a separate post along with a few Pinterest recipes I've tried recently. 

SWW

This week I'm linking up again with Shannon for another So What Wednesday!

 

This week I'm saying So What if:

 

-I'm super annoyed that blogger won't let me upload any pictures right now. WTF! Anyone know how to fix the problem?

 

-I can't believe that my baby is walking. WALKING! Like for real walking, from room to room and not just a few steps.

 

-The restaurant we went to Friday night for my company's belated holiday party made for probably our fanciest date since we got married.

 

-I'm so happy to be done with pumping. Not having to lug that huge thing to and from work everyday and take time out of the day to do it is so freeing.

 

-I'm a little bummed that our nursing relationship is coming to an end. I still nurse him in the mornings but that will probably be ending soon since I'm slowly drying up.

 

-I haven't gotten the flu shot. I never do and I can't remember the last time I got the flu. With that said I will probably get the flu next week thanks to the 26 pound germ monster that I live with.

 

-Instead of eating the healthy salad I brought for lunch yesterday I ended up ordering Five Guys burgers with my coworkers. 

My little walker

We have been patiently waiting for Hunter to start walking. He's been pulling up and cruising along the furniture for a couple months now and we figured he would start walking any day. A few weeks ago he started letting go of the furniture and would take one or two steps before either falling down or falling into my arms.

Finally this past weekend he let go and took about 5 steps in a row and I was able to actually get it on video.



Then last night I noticed was taking even more steps and going further so I had Kristian tape him walking to me.



I couldn't believe how much further he was able to go after only a few days. He'll be running a marathon soon!

12 Month Update- 12/30/12

Dear Hunter,

You are now 1 years old! I've already written your mushy-will-probably-embarrass-you-one-day letter but I wanted to make sure to record your stats and milestones for the month. It's amazing how quickly I forget the little details of when you've done things which makes these updates priceless to me. Maybe one day you (or even your wife) will appreciate reading these. Even though you are now "official" a toddler you will forever be my baby.

Love,
Mama

Weight/Length- You had your one year checkup last week and you weighed in at 26.12lbs (91st percentile) and height was 30.25 inches (73rd percentile) and your head was 51cms (97th percentile). Your head is still big like your daddy's but fortunately it hasn't really grown in the last few months which is a good thing. You're are finally growing into your head. The doctor said you were a healthy, solid little boy and you are developing right on schedule.

Eating- Well we made it a full year of nursing, I know this may not mean much to you but I'm very proud of us. You were still nursing in the mornings and getting 2-3 bottles of breastmilk a day at daycare (5oz) and taking a 5-8oz bottle of formula before bed. You also get 3 full meals a day and 2-3 snacks. You are eating and enjoying EVERYTHING. We have yet to find something you will turn down. You are eating all table foods but also enjoy the baby food pouches to suck on. In the middle of the month I started putting a few ounces of whole milk into your bedtime bottle with the formula and so far you have done well with that. We are slowly transitioning you into only whole milk and now just nursing in the mornings and sometimes before naps on the weekends. 

Sleep- You've been a great sleeper for most of the month but you've had a cold this week and have been waking up a lot more due to coughing. When you're not sick you still sleep from 7:30-8pm until 5:30-7am. Sometimes you wake up bright and early and I can nurse you back to sleep for another hour and other days you sleep until I wake you up for daycare. You get two naps on the weekends and usually only one while at daycare because you don't want to miss anything while there.

Clothes- Wearing mostly 18 months but still a few 12 month things that fit. Wearing size 5 baby shoes. 

Diapers- Size 4

Appearance- Your hair gets thicker everyday and is starting to get long again since your haircut. You have a great head of hair. It's still a very light brown/dark blond color with hints of red depending on the light. Eyes are still a pretty blue/grey/green and the color seems to depend on what you're wearing, much like my eyes. They seem to be turning more green which makes me happy.

Personality- You are becoming a very curious little boy. You are constantly wanting to explore and get into things. You are mostly very happy and cheerful but we have had a few tantrums when we take something away that you want. You are always on the move and don't like to be held unless we are carrying you around so you can see things. You are just full of energy. You get a little hesitant and unsure around strangers but after a few minutes you are typically okay (so long as mommy and daddy are around). You really are a funny little boy and make us laugh constantly with your tricks.

Likes-

-Playing with my nail polish bottles under the sink, you take each one and place them into an empty container. This keeps you occupied while I put on my makeup.
-Remote controls and cell phones and anything with buttons (preferably that make noise when you push them)
-Cruising along the furniture, you can basically get around the whole house by holding onto to various pieces of furniture or the wall.
-Opening and closing cabinet doors and really any kind of door
-Going to the store and people watching
-Being tickled and when daddy tosses you in the air
-Your walker push toy and your new instrument toys
-Watching daddy fly his remote control helicopter
-Bath time

Dislikes- same as last month
-Having your clothes and diaper changed
-Being locked out of rooms and babygates in general
-Getting out of the bathtub
-Bottles
-Being in your highchair if you're not eating
-Having your face or hands cleaned after eating
-Having your runny nose wiped.

Milestones-
-Celebrated first Christmas

-Celebrated first birthday

-Started pointing at things you want

-Mimicking more sounds that we make

-Saying mama and dada on a regular basis and recognize us when we ask where mama or dada is.

-Can say "uh oh"

-Stand without holding anything for up to 10 seconds

-Started taking 2-3 steps solo before falling

-Can walk while holding someone's hand

-Started drinking whole milk

**On 1/3/13 you took 5 little steps by yourself which is the most you had done. Since then you've done 5-6 steps multiple times. 

Nicknames over the past year:

-Huntsman

-Hunt Hunt

-Le Hunt

-Little Bird

-Love Bug

-Hunt Man

-Hunter Bunter

-Piglet

-H Digitty
 

**Blogger won't let me upload any photos from my computer so unfortunately I can't post Hunters 12 month photos :( **

Hunters Winter OneDerland- Part 2

We had a really good turnout for Hunters party, almost everyone we invited came and we had about 25 people which was a good amount for the size of our house. Most of the guests were adults but we did have 3 teenagers and 5 younger kids. Since Hunter had seen most of these people during the week for the holidays he didn't have much "stranger danger". We were also fortunate the he took a 1 1/2 hour nap beforehand and the party fell during the middle of the day when he's normally awake.

Me and the birthday boy.

We survived our first year as parents!

Hunter with his Grandma P

Meeting his/my cousin Tasha for the first time. 

With his Uncle Michael, Grandma G and Miss Melissa (my brothers girlfriend who made the cakes).

With Aunt Michelle

Aunt Michelle gave him a Redskins RGIII jersery which he wore later that day and brought them good luck. Playoffs baby!

With my childhood friend Kelli and her 2 year old son Ryan. This was the second time the boys were meeting. 

I think he's a fan of birthday parties.

Grandpa helping him walk.

Present opening time! He cleaned up! My house officially looks like daycare. 

He got a toy guitar which he loves. I think he may be a musician.

Playing with Ryan.

Time for cake! Maybe next year he'll be able to blow out the candle himself. 

He was already anxious for a piece.

Watching him with the smash cake was the best part of the day. He was very tentative at first, as if he thought he would get in trouble. 

Finally I took a few chunks out of it and once he saw that it was okay to, he tore into the cake. 

Yep he liked it. 

I thought he would be pooping blue for days. 

Cake destroyed. 

Kristian decided to photobomb me, Colleen, Kelli and Ryan. I married a comedian.

Later that night Kristian and Hunter decided to test out most of the toys. Hunter prefers to play with his shirt off. This is pretty much how my living room now looks everyday. 

Even Moxie was worn out at the end of the day. She basically looks the way I felt. 

It was a lot of work but well worth it. We made some great memories and I can't wait to show Hunter the photos one day when he's older. 

Hunters Winter OneDerland- Part 1

Rather than post 100 photos in one post I'm breaking this up into two posts, the first will be the details and the second will be the people/celebration part.

 

Hunters first birthday party this past Sunday (on his actual birthday) was a big success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, ate a lot, liked the decorations and the birthday boy didn't have any meltdowns. Win, Win, Win, Win!

 

I must say that pulling off this party was a lot more work than I anticipated. I had last Mon-Wed off for the Christmas holiday and then took Thurs and Fri off to in part prepare for the party and get some stuff done around the house. Yeah the "get stuff done around the house" didn't happen because I was running around like a chicken without a head trying to finish up crafts, buy last minute supplies and food, clean and decorate the house. We went to 4 different grocery stores in 4 days before we had everything we needed. It was exhausting and next year (I guess it's technically this year) I plan to order pizza and buy Hunter a cupcake and call it a day.

 

So below are the shots of the decorations and food

The birthday balloon wreath I made. Not very hard but fairly time consuming. I was quite happy with how it turned out and I plan to hang it on his bedroom door now.

This was in our dining room. We took what was supposed to be a table cover and hung it on the wall then taped a bunch of photos from Hunters first year to it. Everyone seemed to really enjoy looking at all the photos.

Here are the goody bags displayed on our entry way table. Inside I put a Cheryl's Co. cookie (they actually sent me the wrong cookies and so I ended up getting them all for free since the order was wrong), a snowflake ornament I got from Target, Mint Hershey Kisses with the green, snowflake wrappers and a small pad of paper with a snowman on the cover. I wanted the goody bags to be kid friendly but also not entirely geared towards kids since most of the guests were adults.

The bag ties were courtesy of Kristen at Little Laws prints.

Some snowflakes in the entryway. I ordered a good amount of the decorations from Oriental Trading.

More decorations in the entryway. Kristian said it looked like a snowflake themed prom. My response: "that's just the look I was going for".

The mantle in the living room. I spray painted some letters I bought at Michaels a light blue to match the decor and hung up each of Hunters monthly photos. The number banner was also courtesy of Little Laws Prints.

I love this banner and kinda want to keep it up all year.

 

The high chair of honor for the birthday boy. I actually made the "ONE" banner at the last minute when I realized I didn't have one. Fortunately I found some snowflake paper at Michaels.

Our cake/dessert table setup. This area didn't turn out quite the way I had planned because 1. Kristian didn't want me taping a bunch of stuff to the walls for fear the tape would rip off the paint. It didn't. Nor did I expect it to. 2. I didn't know how big the cakes would be so it was hard to decorate/setup around those until they arrived. But I think it looked okay.

A close up of the banner also from Little Laws Prints.

So my brothers girlfriend Melissa bakes cakes, like really good cakes. She offered to make Hunters birthday and smash cakes and they turned out better than I had hoped. Here is his snowman smash cake. It was so cute I hated having him destroy it.

And here's the main birthday cake. Both tasted excellent. Chocolate for Hunter and vanilla for everyone else.

I laughed when I thought about how I was stressing over making some cake pops and she created these amazing cakes.

Some desserts I made. I also took some photos of Hunter holding up his O, N, E letters for the frame. Getting those shots weren't easy because he kept wanting to either chew on or throw the letters. Sigh.

My snowman cookies. I found on Pinterest. You just take the Golden Oreos dip them in melted white chocolate and use mini chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth and candy corn for the nose. Actually fairly easy but time consuming. That was how I spent last Friday night. The things we do for our children.

My first (and probably last) attempt at cake pops. They seem so easy to make in theory but really were a huge pain in the ass. Fortunately they turned out okay, our 14 year old niece ate most of them. I sprinkled crushed up candy canes on them. The ones in the center were actually little brownies I bought in the store that I also dipped in chocolate and put peppermint on.

Another idea I found on Pinterest. My dessert kabobs. I used angel food cake, strawberries and marshmallows covered with chocolate syrup. We had a bit of a sweets overload at the party.

All the appetizers. Veggie tray, pigs in a blanket, mini quiches, meatballs and chips and salsa.

In addition to this we also had a chili bar but I didn't get any pictures since that was setup in the kitchen. Kristian made two huge pots of chili (he makes excellent chili) and then we had different toppings set out (cheese, sour cream, chopped onions and frito chips). Everyone loved the chili and he made enough that we were able to freeze the leftovers for several meals. I really wanted the menu to go with the winter theme.

Our hot chocolate bar.

I made hot chocolate in the crockpot and had different toppings- marshmallows, chocolate chips, peppermint and pirouette cookies. The younger kids seemed to enjoy the hot chocolate. We also had hot apple cider in the basement but most of the adults just drank beer or wine.

 

The whole dining room setup (prior to the cakes arriving).

 

So there are all the details I was able to photograph. It didn't all turn out quite as I had hoped but overall I'm pretty happy with the results and I got a lot of compliments so I think we can put this into the success column.