12/12 (a year of dates)

Well. An entire year of dates. We ended the year the same way we started with a movie (hunger games) (obvi) and dinner. We got some giftcards for Christmas because there is obviously no way I would ever spend $40 on a movie. Ever.

It's kind of a funny story because we started out the day getting Pho for lunch and then running errands and making returns and junk and I kept putting my soup on Evan's seat because I'm dumb I guess and I bet you can see where this story is going, can't you? Well, Evan sat on it. HE SAT ON MY SOUP. And broke the container and soup everywhere. And it was not a pretty picture for a few minutes while we argued about that and cleaned it up (with diapers because I'm handy).

But we trudged on and went on our date anyway and Evan made it up to me by taking me to Mexican for dinner and they graciously served 22 ounces of margarita for only $5 and so Evan and I were obviously feeling very HAPPY for the movie. But first we went to Target to find me some boots because a girl needs new boots like every other day (am i right?) and I ended up losing a shoe and rearranging the entire Target's men's section to my advantage. So, what I'm saying is that I'm a good time.

We made it to the movie and shared popcorn and snuck snacks in and blah blah but I think the highlight of the night was definitely the dinner part. Especially when I told Evan I would get up in the aisle and dance if he would buy me a new pair of boots. He wouldn't agree to it but you should all know that I would totally do it (he bought me new boots anyway).

I also failed to take any pictures of our date and so this one of the following day's coffee date. Weekends are for lovers. That's for sure.

12/12

Squeezing in one.more.picture for 2014 today. With our new headboard we made. With my two favorite people.

Happy New Year! So excited to continue this tradition into the new year and see just how much my sweet boy grows.

//November
//September
//August
//July
//June
//May
//April
//March
//February
//January

Merry Christmas

O, Christmas Tree

Every year (for the past three) we have made it a Christmas (or, Thanksgiving really) tradition to go buy our Christmas tree the day before Thanksgiving. I can hardly stand it as all the little tree stands start popping up in various parking lots and if I were able to maneuver a tree by myself with babe in tow, you better believe I'd have it home and ready for decorating by the time Evan was off work.

But it doesn't happen that way and instead we make it a little family tradition to go and to pick out thee perfect tree and it usually takes us forever because we're picky and I'm needy and why on earth are there so many trees with gaping holes instead of branches?

But we do find it, rather miraculously, and haul our beauty home and screw her into the red steel stand that we found in our basement and was probably the only thing of actual worth that the previous owner left behind. And it sits in our living room, this beautifully lit and decorated tree and every afternoon as it begins to grow dark outside, I turn on the lights and Maddox says, "Woah!" like it's the very first time he's seen me turn them on and then we sit and stare at it for a moment and then I ask him for the 100th time that day to please not pull the ornaments off of the tree.

So. Here it is. Our beautiful tree. It's a little bare this year because I hauled all of the Christmas decoration boxes upstairs and Maddox promptly opened them all and screamed at the top of his lungs, "BALL!" as if I had been hiding boxes of balls from him for his whole life. He grabbed the first one he could, the brightest red one caught his eye and he immediately smashed it on the ground. And so, our tree this year is full of shatterproof balls and lights and some plush ornaments that I'm currently trying to collect more of. There is not one breakable thing on this tree and my child has already lost most of the hooks to most of the ornaments and so he ever-so-graciously and gently sets the "balls" back onto the tree and so instead of hanging, most of our ornaments are sitting. It's fine, really. He makes things exciting and he's cute and so he could probably get away with anything.

I'm also working on adding more faux snow globes to my collection. Pinterest is full of the cutest ideas for them and I can't wait to make more. When I got all of my decorations out and in their little homes for the year, Evan said, "Is that it?" And so clearly we do not have enough Christmas decorations and I need to make more. On it, babe. I'm on it.

11/12 (a year of dates)

You guys, November was, like, the worst month in the history of sickness for the Cook family. There were at least two of us who felt like complete and total garbage at all times. Evan and Maddox definitely got the worst of it and were sick over Thanksgiving (so lame). I was sick at the beginning of the month with whatever stomach virus (not the flu. Educate yourselves.) was going around and then it stayed dormant in our house for a minute before I passed it onto my boys (so sorry, my loves). I totally got karma'd though because I woke up yesterday morning with a sinus infection that made even breathing difficult.

So. Basically, there wasn't a lot of dating to be had in the month of November. I sucked it up last night for a quick trip to a nice restaurant followed by a beer but it was pretty rough. Montana also decided to dump a foot of snow + have freezing temps so that's really not helping matters any.

We were sort of planning on a little sledding date because we know some secret sledding locations. But then thanks to the freezing cold + sinus issues + I don't even own any sort of winter gear really, we decided against it. We have a tiny little hill in the park across the street from our house and so we're planning on taking Maddox on his first little sledding adventure this week. We'll make it a little family date but hopefully there will be no sharing sicknesses involved.

In other news, that beer below is one of my top three beers, ever. It's a pomegranate wheat and it's so dang good. This little brewery makes different flavored wheats for every season (strawberry, you guys. YUM.) and I can't get enough.