yankee swap

like in life, russ' main goal at a white elephant party is to shock those around him. this makes selecting those seemingly insignificant gifts much more intense around our house.

annie + alex had us all over for waffles, hot chocolate and yankee swap. annie was chopping strawberries and had to get stitches during the party, she was still such a gracious host. sweet grill jess.

neighbor party part II 

the heat was turned up on the gifts from last year

i had to rig it so annie would get this "poo jar." some people are lucky enough to have signature phrases-- annie's is poo jar. as in "stop being such a poo jar."

we got a rocking chair that is still sitting on our front lawn... cause we're classy like that.

rashelle got a lamp that was supposed to be ugly, but she loved it.

val was the big winner that night. 

the story goes like this... 

about 8 months ago, dr. charles stewart removed a lesion from russ' back also known as a mole. dr. stewart gave it to russ so he could take it to a lab and get it tested in case it was cancerous. russ had bigger plans. it sat in our office until last week when he gave it to val as a present, which couldn't be complete without a wooden santa that looks an awful lot like a small weiner. 

lucky val!

sidenotes:

i actually made something for the party instead of buying: almond blueberry cookies

and charity whipped up this little braided-basket-beauty for me. rad.