greatest hits-christmas edition

* to view our december photo album, click here.

** to view our christmas alum, click here.

1) first things first, we met ben's little brother, crosby.  he is completely perfect and was the best christmas present we could've ever asked for.

2) celebrating christmas with marcy.  we bought each other the exact same gift.  and what's even funnier is that we bought the gifts while we were shopping together.  i guess that's what happens when you have been friends for so long.  these elephant masks are courtesy of her.  we were all required to wear them for the entire evening.  i told ben he could sleep with it if he promised not to get out of bed.  success.

 3) oohing and aahing at christmas lights.

4) a playdate with old (and new) friends.  we (i) decorated cookies and we (they) played with every toy in the house.

 5) a pre-festivity christmas eve meltdown.  it had to do with the outfit.  apparently, certain toddlers are very particular about what they wear.  as of thanksgiving, ben refuses to wear: shirts with collars, jackets, and layers.  he prefers jeans and t-shirts only, preferably orange and/or with dinosaurs on them.  sorry, nana and papa.  we tried :(

 6) the mood reversed once we were surrounded by family and presents (notice the t-shirt.  at least it's christmas related).

 7) paintings as gifts.  thanks, dad.  you are incredibly talented.

 8) santa made it!

 9) best santa gift: "pop" the giant stuffed elephant.  if we had known that all it took to keep ben in bed all night was a giant elephant, we would have invested in "pop" a loooong time ago.  who knew???  it's true love.

10) tattoos like daddy's.

 11) watching as my little cousins became teenagers overnight.  icing on the cake: they are as kind and polite as they are cute.

 12) yes, another pancake run.  accompanied by piping hot (decaf) coffee.

 13) this perfect necklace from my sweet husband.  it sums everything up perfectly, i think.

how was your christmas?  i hope it was just as lovely.  xoxoxo.

merry christmas!

a few nights ago we put on our jammies, piled in the car, and drove through highland park to see the christmas lights.  enjoy my blurry pictures.  they aren't what i was going for, but i really like them.

today is christmas eve, which happens to be my favorite day of the year.  i hope your holiday is full of family, laughter, food, and love.  
merry christmas!  

this and that

i have always collected pretty things.  well, things that are pretty to me at least.  once i get my hands on the things that inspire me, i don't always know what to do with them.  this explains why i have a shoebox full of a hundred beautiful postcards stashed away in a closet somewhere.  the blogworld has added a whole new element to my little hoarding problem.  i come across things that inspire me daily.  i "dog-ear" these things and store them in folders because i don't want to let them go.  today i did a little "house-cleaning" and came across these blog jewels that have moved me in one way or another.  

i hope you like them, too.

{found here. i wish i had said that.}

"if you hear a voice within you saying, " you are not a painter", then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."    
~ vincent van gogh

{found here}

Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning


{found here}

{awesome posters found here, of course}

{found here.  people are so creative.}

{found here. the ballerina project photographs dancers all over new york city.  beauty where you least expect it.}

i am going to mexico

i love mexico.  i love the people, i love the beaches, i love the food, i love the margaritas, and i love getting a tan there ten times faster than i do here.  but now i love it for this reason, too.  chris read about this underwater installation in some random magazine in the doctor's office.

it's official.  i need to get my scuba certification and go back to mexico, stat.

read more about this project here. (sarah, have you known about this?????)

traditions

i am a sucker for tradition.   i went to texas a&m, for pete's sake.  i love the holidays for this very reason.  two of my favorite holiday traditions happen to be girls only.

a) annual girls christmas party = great excuse to drink alot of wine:

every year my girls get together during the holidays to do something a little more than just meet for happy hour.  we have a tradition of donating money to some really great charities.  and to celebrate our good deed, we eat pizza, drink too much wine and exchange funny gifts.  it's so much fun (even sober).

 {cute college roomies}

 {kelly's first night out of the house since her big-footed baby was born 2 weeks ago}

 {i am genuinely excited about this gift.  so is my son.}

b) family girls trip to neiman marcus downtown for the holiday buffet.  yum.  we dress up.  we eat too much.  we laugh at each other.  we sniff perfume and make wishlists.  while it's happening, i never want it to end.

 {fighting over a pop-over.  just kidding, they were sharing.}

 {the best part}

 {look!  a picture of mom.  and she's smiling!}

 {sisters}

 {so pretty}

{the happiest girl in the world}

like whoa

holy moly.  these are oil paintings, not photographs (artist: gregory theilker).  the jaw-dropping paintings were brought to my attention here.

sweet dreams, little elephant

this is what naptime looked like at our house today.

thanks for the elephant mask, marcy.  it has turned into quite the successful bribery tool.
"if you try to go to the potty, then you can take your mask to bed" or "if you get out of bed during naptime, momma'll have to take away your mask."


plus, it's really cute.

greatest hits

1) last week i convinced myself that my little family was not taking advantage of living in a large city around the holidays.  we had missed a tree lighting in our community, a tree lighting downtown, and a major christmas parade.  so impulsively i bought us tickets to go see "how the grinch stole christmas" at the new winspear opera house in the arts district downtown.  ben was a little too young to fully 'get' the story, but he loved the grinch.  chris and i particularly enjoyed oohing and aahhhing over the gorgeous interior AND exterior of the opera house.  and everything was all lit and sparkling for the holidays, so pretty.  good job, dallas.  we'll be doing that again.

2) another date night.  i am getting spoiled here.  this time it included mexican food, wild about harry's, christmas lights in highland park and love and other drugs.  if you are the tiniest bit curious to know what jake gyllenhal or anne hathaway look like naked, then this movie is for you.

3)  the company christmas party went down not according to plan this year, but was successful nonetheless.  the men filled their bellies with barbeque and were gifted with hams and pumpkin bread.  (i had to include the picture of choo and pawpaw because we have always thought that she favored our mawmaw.  but check those two out...the mouths, the chin....she is martin through and through).

4) celebrating my daddy-o's birthday at adair's.  this annual celebration includes delicious burgers, pitchers of beer, and our favorite country songs covered by the one and only red reynolds.  this year i was the only preggo in the bar.  doing my best to keep it classy.

5) my boy with his soldiers.  they talk to each other.  and on this particular morning they all gathered around the flower (on the rug) for a meeting.  i rudely interrupted by snapping pictures.

greatest hits is short and sweet this week simply because i can't remember what else i've done.  i would blame it on "pregnancy brain", but in all honesty i think it is simply "cortney brain".

until next time,

xoxoxo.