a cousin christmas

christmas may have been over, but we still had one more celebration. the day after chrsitmas, we headed over to granny's house for our annual cousin party. this party is always a great time- and this year, it was even better because our numbers grew! ane was in town with her fiance che and joanna and trina were able to join the fun as well!

again, i will highlight the highlights...

first we ate... yummy soups and salads. this is a great group to cook for because the meal is gluten free and vegetarian. the last time we got together, i had the milk allergy so it was dairy, meat and gluten free... this time it was much easier to prepare.

next was the white elephant exchange. great gifts- including a baby einstein (not the dvds for infants.. but an actual baby einstein doll), all the gingerbread houses cade made this season, custom place mats, a singing neck tie and false teeth... to name a few.

after the exchange, we all played kazoo carols for a while...

and then played with these toy gems for a bit as well...


cade, dylan and rudi then played some tunes for us. they are always great.

the night wasn't finished yet. after the music, granny asked if we could all dance for a while. the great thing about granny is we listen to every word she says- so if she says dance, we all get up and cut a rug. cade managed to find a hip hop station on the radio which wasn't suiting granny's dance craving so sariah grabbed an abba cd and saved the day. we all had such a great time that in the end we were glad that granny had put in the request.


finally, we took a group shot and called it a night.

this group knows how to party.

christmas morn... surprises a-plenty

i love christmas morning. isn't it the best? well this christmas, i had been carefully crafting a surprise for cade so i was even MORE excited for santa's visit.... if that is even possible. cade and i woke up and vi was still snoozing so we decided to exchange our gifts before the little cherub woke up.

cade went first. he had a surprise of his own that he had been carefully crafting as well. he had wrapped up a big, heavy box... which really made me wonder what he had thought of. i opened the box to find a whole lotta oranges and a simple piece of paper telling me that my real present was on the printer. i raced to the computer and found my ticket- yes, my PLANE TICKET to DC to go see my best friend, laney, and hang out with all the girls out east. i couldn't have been more thrilled. i have been wanting to visit her for a really long time so this meant so much. i have already taken the trip (the tickets were for a flight a few weeks after christmas), so i include a teaser picture to get ready for the DC post in its entirety.

i was already on a high and there was still more gift giving to go. for weeks i had been working on a secret project that cade knew nothing about. one night he found out i was working on a project but i made him promise not to look in the back yard where i was "storing his gift" and ruin the surprise. he kept his word, but the man had no idea the real surprise was right under his feet. remember this contest? cade was a finalist to win money for his man cave. we lost... so, for christmas, i called in all my favors with my siblings and together we managed to completely re-do cade's man cave. it wasn't a 15000 dollar renovation by any means, but it was enough to get the cave to cade's liking.
here is a before shot:

and here are some after shots:


cade had no idea that the week before christmas, i would wait for him to leave for work and then i would quickly drop down into his crawl-space-cave and work like crazy all day. i learned so much about building and remodeling. we put up drywall, mudded, sanded, painted, installed a projector into the ceiling, rewired, decorated, built shelves... the whole bit. the part i loved most about all of this was that cade had NO IDEA it was happening. so, on christmas morning, i told him his gift was not in the backyard anymore but i had actually moved it to the crawl space. i let him go first and i listened as he shouted his surprises. he loved it... he loved it so much, he even had tears in his eyes by the time i had lowered myself down! since christmas, cade and i have been putting in the final touches down there and it is finally the room he wanted- complete with tv projecting on the wall. a true man cave.

both surprises were fantastic and it led to a special christmas morning.

by this point, the vi pie had finally started to stir so we brought her out and let her open her gifts as well. she was more interested in the paper and the boxes, but it was fun to have this first experience.


after christmas morning at our house, we went to grammy's house for breakfast. violet loves eating grammy's food. she kicks back, puts a leg up and eats herself silly.

basically, we all did the same thing.

after the meal, we opened presents from the gift exchange. vi got a push car from grammy and she LOVED the box. she kept climbing on top and screaming with joy. it was her very favorite thing. when she finally understood what was inside the box, she loved that too.

we spent the day playing with all our toys, visiting with family and having a special christmas program at nana and gramps' house later on.
it was a great christmas and we love how blessed we are with family and friends who love and support us.

merry christmas, 2010

christmas eve with the taylors..and the taylors... and the taylors.

christmas eve was simply wonderful. we (the taylors) joined cade's parents (the taylors) and cade's brother's family (the taylors) for a great celebration.

highlight #1: it started with a yummy meal. that is key to a great party and the taylors didn't disappoint.

i love this picture because you can see the grape suspended in mid-air as it was ejected from cheeks' mouth.

highlight #2: the taylor boys. these three kiddos are great and were nice to let us join their party. they are so funny and animated- AND they are great to little vi. she just toddles around trying to be exactly like them and they aren't haters!


highlight #3: it's a wonderful life. i have never seen this christmas classic. most people drop their jaw when they hear that, but in the bullough home, we grew up on rudolph, mickey's christmas and santa claus is coming to town. basically if it was in black and white we all yawned at the idea. well, although we weren't able to watch the whole thing- i loved what i was able to see! it actually made me want to go rent it right then and finish watching it! in the end, however, i decided that if i waited to watch the end for christmas 2011, it will be suspenseful and exciting. so, 11 more months to go! don't give it all away..

highlight #4: luke 2. the taylor boys loved violet even when she was ruining the manger reenactment. she couldn't help but grab at mary, joseph and a few spare sheep as we read the christmas story together.



highlight #5: singing time. after the story, we sang some christmas songs while lindsey played the piano. it really got me into the spirit of things! vi loved to dance along with a wiseman clutched in one fist and a shepherd in the other. she was right there with us!

highlight #6: christmas eve at home. after the fun, we said goodbye to the taylors and the taylors and headed for home for our first christmas in our new house. there is something special about that and it made me so excited for the morning when we got to give one another our gifts. i literally couldn't wait- i asked cade more than once if we should just open our gifts at midnight. he insisted we wait, so we all anxiously slept....

to be continued!

christmas art project

for christmas gifts this year, we wanted to give something that wouldn't cost a ton of money but was still worth a lot to the recipient. what we came up with:

family trees.

cade is very artistic. i have said this before but it is worth saying again. he especially excels in penmanship and calligraphy. so, we combined this talent with our geneology and boom:




family trees.

while these photos aren't the best at showing how great these turned out, i was extremely pleased. we made one for cade's parents and another for my parents and they were well loved gifts. since then, cade has had a few people put in orders and he has done a great job making each one unique and beautiful.


he even made one for our wall:

and here is one he is working on right now:

we have seen these done on a ton of different craft blogs but they are usually done by a computer with photoshop or with a vinyl lettering machine. it was cool to take this idea and see this handmade art turn out something so treasured and personal.

to cade!

not my gumdrop buttons!

a week or so before christmas, heather and jeff invited us over for dinner and a gingerbread party. it turned out great! the kids had fun- and so did uncle cade!

for starters, while the girls were busy in the kitchen finishing up dinner preparations, the boys could be found doing what they do best!

we ate a fabulous meal and then got right down to business making our houses.



while cade and i worked on his 3 story "romantic adobe style home" (complete with a hot tub on the roof) violet was in heaven as candy fell like rain from the table to where she was in the floor. that sugar high helped her crawl up and down the stairs at least a dozen times. nana and gramps were sure nice to chase her all over while we finished up this beauty:

even though we ate more than we decorated, the night was fun. comeone once told me that christmas is 20 times better when you have kids. i can agree with that. even though vi is still a little one, it is so exciting to see all our nieces and nephews enjoy this season and have so much fun.

the tayzollsull party

the taylor, zollinger and sullivan families all met for christmas. we ate and chatted... and ate and chatted. i love chirstmas time. nothing beats good food teamed with a good convy.

i had to include this picture to show just how great the conversations were... i mean, look at lindsey's face!


violet was pumped about her new toy and all the fun she had playing with the cousins.


conclusion: great party.

meet louise

louise deserves a proper introduction.

age: unknown so we just say "a few months" (we are off to a great start...)
color: black and white
eyes: green (to which cade keeps repeating, "just like her mommy." i find this a strange thing to say because i am not her mommy nor do i have green eyes.)
favorite food: anything violet is trying to eat. this includes: cottage cheese, yogurt, any type of baby food, bananas, blueberries, tomatoes, spaghetti, etc.
favorite hobby: watching tv

favorite people: she loves her aunt kylee. she looooves cade. And she loves me if kylee and cade are both gone. violet is not on her favorite list yet. it may have something to do with hair pulling.


favorite talent: jumping and climbing... which leads to disasters like this-

favorite nighttime activity: fighting with our other cat, sookie.

i joke, i kid. this kitty really is a sweet thing. i highlighted all of her less attractive (yet true) characteristics but she also has a great little kittynality (which is a kitty personality). she loves to cuddle, she puts up with frequent violet attacks and she is contantly trying to please our older cat. she is a bit of a trouble maker but overall she is fitting in well at the taylor home. we welcome louise as our last cat. ever. seriously.

welcome!

merry christmas, kitty!

the bullough family party is well known for unexpected surprises and this year was no disappointment. things started off smoothly with dinner and the nativity- i was backstage helping violet (an angel) prepare for her role so sadly i didn't get a single picture of her in her heavenly garb. i did manage to steal one of addy from my sister's camera...

after the nativity, it was present time. violet was pretty excited about it. you want proof? here you go:

she isn't sure how to handle opening presents; she is only 9 months old so i can't expect too much. she was, however, pretty excited about her gift from brynlee.

she was thankful for the gift but most of all for the yummy wrapping paper. we were pulling paper out of her mouth all night. pica pica...
after gifts, santa paid a visit to the kids.

again, not really something vi gets yet- but she submits anyway.

so the night had been going according to plan thus far- and then we had the white elephant exchange. there have been many gifts that have caused controversy and all out brawls in the past, but i wasn't quite prepared for what this year's exchange would bring to our family. for starters, many of the gifts were outrageous or truly unwanted white elephants- like the cd cade and i made of us singing christmas songs or a vhs copy of brokeback mountain. then as my sister's number finally came and she unwrapped (yes, unwrapped) a new, little kitten i knew that i was in trouble. cade was obsessed with the little kitty and he wanted it more than ANYTHING. the only problem was: mandy wanted it too. i, on the other hand, was still in shock that a live kitten was a white elephant gift! the two of them oogled and awed over the little thing and cade's heart was torn. should he steal the kitty from my sister when his turn came and break her animal loving heart- or - should he go home with a box of barbie head dolls and kitten tears in his eyes?

trust me when i say i was rooting for option two. no question. we already have a cat! and i am not the biggest fan of cats! and they scare me! and WE ALREADY HAVE A CAT! cade was wallowing in sadness. my aunt, seeing this all play out, was kind enough to let cade know she had another kitten that he was welcome to have.

you should have seen him light up.

"a chistmas miracle! a christmas miracle" he shouted repeatedly.

so, as you may have guessed by now, my sister and i are now the owners of two sister cats named thelma and louise. thelma went with mandy (on the left) and louise (right) came home with us.

more to come on little louise later...

christmas cookies