The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of the past week.

THE GOOD:

6 Year's of marriage to this handsome devil has been awesome.

We rang in the big #6 by ditching the cute reds & spending the weekend in San Fran.

The City was all decked out for Christmas.

The Hilton at Union Square was beautiful & festive.

 

& once I was able to pull this guy away from Transformers,

we saw the jolly bustling of Union Square.

Steamed caramel milk from the Bucks was the perfect companion to

 cruise around with in the overcast, drizzly morning.

I guess the man behind me would rather sleep than check out my catwalk pose.

Rawr.

And what kind of visit to the City would it be if we didn't spot a freak or 2 cruising the streets?

...In Christmas finest, of course.

Happy Anniversary, Tat!

I tease sometimes, it's true, but you give me such good material to work with.

But all fun-poking aside, you are the man.

I don't want to make our readers feel awkward and uncomfortable,

so I'll spare them all the mushy, lovey stuff, and just say:

I couldn't ask for a greater husband for me

& a more perfect dad for my kids.

You make my world the greatest place ever!

THE BAD:

We visited the infamous, lighted Palo Alto street.

It poured rain.
We had no umbrella or other coverage from the rain.

Avy insisted on wearing her blades.

Avy got 2 huge raw blisters on the insides of her feet.

Avy cried.

Linc refused to walk.

Linc demanded to be held.

Avy wanted all hands on her & her chaffing feet.

I was a wee-bit disappointed in the decor.

I think Christmas Lane is turning into Scrooge Street.

My street honestly has better decorations & more lights than Fulton St.

Bah-humbug all you party poopers of Fulton Street.

I have no tolerance for tradition-breakers.

Boo!!!

On a more positive note,

This is my favorite house:

But it was at about this exact spot that all you know what broke loose,

so I didn't really get to enjoy it in it's fullness this year.
Bah-humbug...again.

(ps- I didn't take these pics.

Someone who wasn't wiping rain from their brow

while helping a blistered child skate down the flooding lane

took them then posted them online. 

& I borrowed them. Thanks, someone.)

But these guys were cute anyway...

...at least before all dreams of the perfect visit to the lights went south.

& THE UGLY:

A couple Ugly Sweater parties were graced with the presence  

of the Tatwoods' old-school swagger.

Yes, that is a pocket on my sweater.

& yes, Tat is sticking out his belly.

For some strange, odd reason, every year he feels it necessary to distend his

stomache muscles whilst wearing this sweater.

Merry Christmas!

Stinkin' Lincoln

Don't be alarmed.

This is not a mini-drunkard,

hand-less, homeless man.

It's Linc.

But even if he were an intoxicated, nubbed hobo,

I'd still take him home.

He's that cute.

See, he does clean-up nicely AND he even brushes his teeth.

How the weekend went down.

Friday:

Tat's work Christmas Party.

Was held at the cool Hotel Sofitel San Francisco Bay.

The food was divine.

Of course, someone else making my food AND cleaning up after me...
it cold be cold cereal & I would consider that Heaven on a platter.
I had the salmon.
Tat had the filet mignon.

Dessert was a pistachio creme brulee.

MMMMMMM

While everyone else at our table took a few bites & then sat back in their chairs,

we pretty much licked our plates clean.

I say what's etiquette when there's delicious food under your nose?!?!

Crazies.

For those who were as concerned as I was about what I was going to wear,

here's what I settled on:

(& does not Tyler look so handsome?)

(& that red bulb is in fact a red bulb.  on the tree.  not in my hair.)

(& I just owe a special shout-out to my amigo (or maybe amiga? I don't speak spanish) Stephanie for keeping Avy all afternoon so I could pillage & plunder the mall for the perfect dress)

Notice the ruffled detail on the front:

& the sah-weet ruffle around the back of the neck:

& this is about the most attractive picture ever taken of us 2:

So I got all gussied up, stepped out in the hallway to show off my smokin' hot dress to Tat & his response when I asked, "So what do you think?":

He said, & I quote, "You look fine."

Not as in...

D.A.N.G. girl, you be lookin' FINE tonight.  MMM...HMMM!

Fine as in,

eh, yeah, that'll work.

He claims he meant that I looked really good.

But come on ladies, back me up...

We want to hear that we be looking like we spent time on our get-up.

Here are a few adjectives to assist you gentlemen in the future.

Try something like this. 

"Wow! You look:

Radiant

Exquisite

Beautiful

Smashing

Even a 1 syllable word like "hot" will do.

But no worries.

He redeemed himself by having a winning raffle ticket.

He won this baby:

That's right.  An iPad.  How cool is that?

There were a couple hundred people there, about 8 iPads, a few cameras, a few digital photo frames,

& we were the lucky recepients of one.

This is a picture of a picture of us showing off our win:

Don't mind my man hand.  Not sure why I felt the need to look totally masculine here.

What a fun night.

It was great to finally meet all the people who are so lucky to be graced by Tyler's presence all day.

& to top off the awesome night, we came home to a clean house smelling of fresh cookies & no dirty dishes.

Austy, you da man.

Saturday:

Breakfast with Santa.

Awww...these 2 are BFF's.

It really is as sweet as it looks :)

First time Avy actually talked to Santa without getting skiddish!

She spoke in clear, coherent sentences that she wants a walking pup for Christmas.

This one right here:

Can't see walking pup getting annoying anytime soon.

Finally got all my Christmas cards ready to rock:

I love getting them & I love sending them out.

But man oh man it's such a chore.

Later on Tat & the miglets put up the lights outside.

Avy the school marm said to me on her way outside,

"Now if everyone will just work together, we'll have these lights up in no time!"

What a gem.  Such words of wisdom.

At one point Tat came inside with this jumbled mess and declared,

"Well, this is the only strand I can't get to work.

I either buy a new one or go through every bulb to fix it."

You and I both know what Clark Griswald did.

Sunday:

Kaari's 6th Annual Cookie Swap

Boozie Woozie.

I came home empty-handed AGAIN!

(So maybe I have a little bit of a competitive edge to me.

Don't ask my family about the time we played Family Feud for FHE when I was 8 years old.

YIKES.)

Well, I didn't come home totally empty-handed...

I brought these tasties home with me:

& Kaari had the cutest red & green polka dot platters for everyone to take home too!

Some of the cookie critters with their platters:

This year I made Lemon Princess cookies with the help of my Strawberry Princess

(get it? b/c of the red hair?)

She was the drizzler.

It's all in the wrist.

I should have taken a hint that I wouldn't place when neither she or Buddy would eat my cookies.

In fact, when I got home from the party,

Avy was almost asleep in her bed so I ran in to tell her I had mounds of treats for her to help me eat tomorrow.

She said,

"Do they taste better than your lemon ones?"

The nerve.

But yes, clearly they do.  Hence the reason I came home

 without a fancy-pants prize.

But by golly the goodies just keep getting better & better every year!

I suggest someone with a lot of time, energy, & money make a Cookie Party Cookbook of the entries present & past. 

That would be a seller.

Thanks for a fun weekend friends & family!

What we do for fun.

We cruise.

Buddy says hasta la vista to crawling.

Walking has been his new game for the past couple weeks.

I could watch his little toddling body zoom around the house all day.

What a doll. A fuzzy, red-haired doll.

We play house.

Avy has a camp director bossy streak in her which I have NO IDEA where she got that from.

Linc always wants to play with her. 

She will oblige when it can be on her terms.

Exhibit A: 

Exhibit B: 

We dress up & down a million times a day & are not bashful

about our multiple personalities.

Don't believe me?

Cat: 

(she asked for my hot glue gun to affix her whiskars.

We settled on frosting them to her face instead)

Cheerleader: 

Hula Girl with her first real piece of art.

I give you:

"Snail on Grass"

by Avycakes.

Not sure what this get-up is, but it's definitely camera-worthy:

We feast.

Feeling very homesick, I moped around all week in a daze begging my siblings to hang out with us.

Not really, but kind of.

For the first time in 10 years, I REALLY felt homesick!

I wanted to be with our big families so bad the week of Thanksgiving.

So...thoughtful Austy showed up & surprised us with a meal fit for a king.

It was great. 

The only job he made me do was put out the salad dressing. 

The Thanksgiving Miracle Man right here: 

We later had another delicious feast with friends at the Mostess' home.

Again, I had no real assignment.

Drinks, Pumpkin pie, & Jell-O.

Even though I had the easy list, I still failed miserably.

My friend Candace grabbed the pies for me at Costco.

I loaded up on tasty bevvies from Trader Joe's.

& I made Jell-O.

Which didn't even set up in time.

So drinks were about all I added to this beautiful feast.

But a big wave & thanks to everyone else for slaving away for days to feed me & my brood!

We Black Friday Shop.

At 4:30am. 

& do all sorts of weird stuff to keep entertained while waiting in lines that literally wrap

ALL. THE. WAY. AROUND. THE. ENTIRE. STORE. 

We seek out the Perfect Christmas Tree.

This is a girl on a mission.

Whit clearly didn't get enough sleep thanks to Black Friday.

Don't mess with her. 

We chop: 

I commemorated our adventure appropriately with my

Moose Wildlife Tee.

& Tat in his Lumber Jack Joe shirt (under his coat).

It's a tradition. 

A close up:

You know Tat's in his element right here, no?

Twine, tree sap, big vehicle.

What more could he need? 

We decorate.

First we un-decorate this: 

& turn it into this:

The Christmas Village:

My adorable advent that my sister-in-law MADE for me a few years ago.

I love this thing.  It's adorable.

The final Tree pic:

We eat pie.

Lots of it.

I have honestly lost count on how many pumpkin pies we've put down over here in the past month.

(+1 cherry)

But let's be honest. 

I'm not entirely sure if it's the pie or the freshly whipped cream I'm after.

I dare say the two are a more perfect combination than

pb&j

cookies & milk

sonny & cher