weekends in december...

just might be my favorite time during the year. weekends in july are a close second. we've been keeping busy with lots of fun stuff lately. i will be sad when it all ends. and maybe a little bit relieved too :) 

saturday was our friends liz and joe's youngest son max's 1st birthday. they had a party with their extended family and our extended family. it was the first time all 5 of the cousin/friend kiddos were together in one place. it was crazy and fun! 

liz helping max open his presents, with big brother jake looking on.

sydney, max, and azalea are all less than 4 months apart. i can't wait for them to run around together, which i'm sure will be happening before we know it.

we all sang "happy birthday" to max, of course

and laughed when he picked up his piece of cake and ate it like a pro! 

everyone had a really fun time. i can't believe it will be azalea's turn in less than 4 months! wow!

after that party, azalea and i went to my friend kelli's for her annual christmas cookie baking party. three other girls came and we each brought ingredients to make a cookie or treat and then exchanged them at the end. 

the girls baking up a storm

azalea was happy as a clam the whole time...with lots of big girls to play with!

we came home with a container full of goodies, that unfortunately thatcher isn't able to help eat (dairy), so i brought them in to share with my co-workers today.

sunday i took azalea to lambs group at church. she had a fun time with the other babies. two of which were born the same week as her. that's impressive because our church is not very large. in the evening, we went to thatchers' parents' to help them decorate their tree and have pizza like we do every year. my nephew jack was very into decorating the tree, so that was fun. azalea mostly watched until she started crashing around 5:30. so we put her down for a nap in the pack n play and she slept until we left at 7. funny girl. i'm lucky she will sleep just about anywhere.