Festive Favorites Link-up

I'm back in the blogging game. I love a good linkup. and I love both the bloggers that are involved in this one.

• Favorite Christmas song.All I Want for Christmas Is You. I can't lie. I love it. It is the ONLY thing keeping Mariah Carey from being assassinated
• Christmas song you can’t stand. This one is hard for me, because I have three. I'm going to go in order of how bad they make me want to punch the song in the throat, number one being the worst.

1. Santa Baby-what? We're hitting on Santa now? What about Mrs. Claus and all their elf children?
2. Last Christmas-This song is like Hotel California and American Pie except not good. IT. Never. Ends.
3. Baby Its Cold Outside-total date rape song

• Favorite holiday movie. Elf. Hands down. I like smiling. Smilings my favorite.
• Real or artificial tree? Artificial. I can barely keep tiny humans and needy cockers alive!
• White or colored lights? I don't really have a favorite, I like white on a tree, colored on a house, if multicolored. I hate, double hate, triple hate, LOATHE icicle lights. I also DESPISE if you mix lights on the outdoor part of your house. Pick a light and go with it!!!!!!!!
• All matching ornaments or more random personal ornaments? Random personal. Someday I'll have a bigger house and have my shit together (read: someday I'll be a whole different person) and I will have multiple trees and do themes, like Razorback, kid ornaments, and pretty/fancy.
• Favorite ornament.- Its at my mom's house, I made it for her in preschool, its a framed pic of my face and I look like I'm trying to poop.
• Angel or star tree-topper? Currently we have a bow, but what I really really really want? A giant snowman hat!!! I saw it at a tour of homes and cannot stop thinking about it but I'm too lazy to do it!
• Does Santa wrap presents or leave them unwrapped? Santa's a wrapper. He's wiggity wiggity wiggity whack!
• Favorite childhood memory. I think getting the original Nintendo was my favorite gift ever. I think the year my dad fell out of the attic and nearly killed himself was the year I realized how thankful I am. That was our first year with Rylan and I was tired and frantic but I loved Christmas that year. Everybody was so very happy with dad being ok and the new baby.
• Coffee, hot chocolate, or eggnog? Yes please? Daily I like coffee, with mint chocolate creamer, so coffee and hot chocolate?
• Christmas morning at home or do you travel? Depends on the year, this year is actually our first year at home with no family here, just Rob and Sara Plus One plus One More!
• Traditional holiday meal or something unconventional? At my mom and dads we usually all bring a few appetizers and do an appetizer buffet. That got harder because it was A LOT of cream cheese overload and our kids got older and didn't want what we made and my kids can't have dairy. Last year we had prime rib and if was fan-freakin-tastic. It actually gave us a new quote from Rylan "I want to eat what smells". Yes, son, so do we.
• Personalized photo Christmas cards, store bought cards, e-cards, or “ain’t nobody got time for that”? Personalized photo Christmas cards and they make me crazy errrr damn year. One year caused a fight between Rob and I like nobodies bidness, one year they didn't get mailed to me until Christmas Eve, this year I don't even know if we've got it in us......

Rylan's birthday photo dump

I'm so OCD with blogging that I couldn't blog until I blogged about my son's birthday party which was November 16. Only problem was I got so crazy with the party that I took zilcho pics and needed to ask my mom. And I knew she was busy. And then I forgot. A lot. 

I remembered this week, so that counts.

I cannot believe Rylan is five. Every mom on God's green earth doesn't know where the time went. Count me in. His birth started this blog. He was the ORIGINAL plus one to the Rob and Sara pack. He is so loved for so many things. I look forward to the boy he is to become and am trying to savor the little boy that is still in there. He comes out for lap sits and hand holds and bedtime story times every now and then.

We had his party at the gym at our church. Not the fanciest of places, but it served as a perfect spot for running around and playing dressup. All Rylan wanted was to play dress up with his friends. So we took two boxes of dress up clothes (and borrowed some from sweet Michelle in the event that girls other than Lily showed up) and threw a bunch of balloons around, blew up the church's tiny bounce house, threw out a bunch of bikes and trikes and the like and let the kids do whatever they wanted. It was great. 

His sweet loot. 

These little gems get Rylan happy errrrr time

He wears this watch every day. Keeps it on his door knob at night. It is the one item he takes good care of. 

That little Spidey-lovin kiddo had the best day. Blue frosted cupcakes with superhero logos were there. Spiderman toys galore. He changed into 3-27 costumes. His besties from school came, his best girl, Lily, came, all his mature girlfriends (Rylan's crushes are all 30s-40s and married) all came, and all four grandparents and one aunt came. He is super loved.