Pass The Turkey

And by turkey, I mean baby.  But you knew that, right?  You know I didn't eat any turkey. 

Our holiday was full of all the important things.  Family, pie, and lots of baby-time.  Baby Gabe got passed around more times than the basket of rolls! 

Tired turkey!

He just loves his mommy.

She's got the cutest boys. ♥

Passed to Grandpa.

One-handed baby hold.

Drew's pretty comfy to cuddle up to.

Shut the front door.  You know he's cute.

Back to Grandpa!

When will this turkey wake up?

Hand-off to Grandma.  And he's awake!!!

Ohhh, and he's c-ranky.

"No more photos!"

He's crying because he loves me so much.

There's my sleepy boy.

Okay, so Gabe was the star of Thanksgiving.  But let's not get crazy and forget about dessert.  I made my now-famous pumpkin cheesecake, but the real stars were the sauces.

Cheesecake, Pinterest Caramel, and Maple Whisky Cream Sauce.

After lots of trial and error, we found that your best bet is just to top everything with both sauces.  Lots.

Two kinds of pie, cheesecake, and two sauces.  That's what Thanksgiving means to me.

I should also mention that Gabe got lots of competition from two new, fantastic, family members.  Meet Henry and Andrew.

Henry; who I love.

And Andrew; who I just want to squeeze.  Look at that face!

Lots of sweet faces (and lots of sweets) at Thanksgiving.  My sweet boys ended the night cuddled up in blankets with Grandma. 

Awwwwwwww!!!

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  Even if things aren't the way we imagined they would be, they still turned out pretty wonderful. 

Happy Turkey Day!

Wildcat Road-Trip

If you thought that maybe I haven't been doing anything worthy of a blog post lately, you're probably right.  So imagine my excitement as we drove to Manhattan last night for our first basketball game of the year.  And better yet, my man Jack was coming too.  Oh, and did I mention we were sitting in row 5?  At half court?  Yeah.  That all adds up to awesome pictures which leads to an awesome blog post.

And then I realized I left my camera in the car.  Fantastic.

The game was awesome.  We were so close and the boys looked amazing.  Frank was there.  And Jack was hilarious.  So here are some super fantastic pictures from my super lame camera phone.

Jack held his hands over his ears for the majority of the game.  Brooke bought him some popcorn and he would remove a hand from his ear, take a piece of popcorn, eat it, and then put his hand back.  This continued for a half a bucket of popcorn.  Hilarious.

The Octagon of Doom is loud.

Go Wildcats!

Hey Frank!!!

The boys held back during the first half, then kicked it into gear for the second half.  By the time we were up 30 points I started feeling really bad for the other team.  Especially since they were so close!  Every time they called a time-out we'd watch to see if we could figure out what they heck a coach could even say at this point.  Sad.

Wildcat Win!

My boy Victor Ojeleye got some play time.  I really like that every time he comes on the court Drew nudges me and says, "There's your boy."  He is my boy.  And his calves are insane.  I mean, he's no David Hoskins*... or Cartier Martin**... but he's this year's fave.  We were so far ahead that the walk-ons got to play.  They didn't even have names on their jerseys!  Hilarious.  But one of them is named Bryan Rohleder.  Hello!  My cousin's name is Bryan Rohleder.  But he is not my cousin. 

Yep.  That was an awkward, pointless story. 

Go Wildcats!!!

*Swoon.
**Stalker.

Anam Cara

My beautiful, wonderful, amazing cousin Jess got hitched.  And here's the story.

Ain't she pretty?

We know where she gets it from.

Ladies in waiting.

Bride & Groom.

Jess is amazingly creative, so it's no surprise that the whole wedding was absolutely beautiful.  She used peacock feathers as accents in all kinds of places.  Check out the super cute guest book.  Sure beats the Hobby Lobby 1/2 price book we used at our wedding!

So cute.  Especially those flowers!

I do this with my arm a lot in these pictures.

The wedding day started as you'd imagine.  Coffee, mimosas, hair, and makeup.  Such fun!

Waiting to get pretty.

Danae making faces.

Nicole getting extensions.

Abby being awesome.

Nails.

Ooooohhhh!!!

She's thinking about Ryan.

 After lots of food, fun, and girl time... it was off to the church to get this gal hitched.

That dress is stunning.

BFF gets the bride in the dress.

Strapless.

Straps.

MOB.

FOB.

B.

COB.

Ready for the show!

MOG & MOB.

And then they were married!

I love the McNieces to pieces.

Is it just me or is the bus after the wedding like totally the best part of the day?  It's like you're in this exclusive club and you get a sweet ride with beverages and you stop to get your picture taken and everyone else is somewhere waiting for you to arrive so the party can start.  I like it.  Mucho.

Thank goodness for those wraps!

Look how happy they are.  And look how pretty her sash is!

I have a camera full of me & Abby making faces.

I really love Jess's face in this.

Everyone loves Dr. McGullicuddy

Except Nicole.  She is pregnant and therefore not drinking from bottles.  Ever.

More faces.

Love!

Remember when I said my favorite part of the day is the ride from church to reception?  Umm... our bus had a pole.  You know how I feel about that.  Yeah... good times.

The classy bride stayed off the pole.

The classy groomsmen did not! :)

And then we arrived and the party could get started.  The reception hall was like wedding crack.  Lots of candles, wine bottles, and of course peacock feathers.  Seriously, so pretty.

Hi Drew!!!

Stop it.  I love them.  Love.

A bridesmaid's duties never end.



Dancing!

Love.

Awww...

More of these...

You know, when you're at a wedding reception and the DJ starts playing the Grease Mega-Mix and you start having flashbacks to your 8th grade talent show, you assume you'll be performing alone.  But then someone like Sarah steps up the awesome and performs the duet the way it should be performed... choreography and all.  Sarah, you made my night.

Summer lovin', had me a blast.

I don't remember much after that, but I was told that later I stole a peacock feather from a centerpiece and conducted a one-woman marching band in a parade through the city park.  Sounds like me.  Classy like me.

Such a beautiful wedding.  Such a wonderful weekend.  I could not be happier for Jess & Ryan.  And I can't wait to see what the future holds for them.  Love you guys!!!