Baby . Will . Part Deux

The holidays have been a lot of fun this year and one of my favorite moments was a visit with my friend Shannon and her son Will. You might remember Will from a previous post when I took pictures of him in July. Such a cutie when he was about 4 months old...
Well let me just say that he is even cuter now that he's almost walking, kinda talking and full of laughter.
Not only is he army crawling, but he's standing with a little help...I can't believe how fast things change. It reminds me why photography is so important in helping to capture the special moments in life.
But thankfully some things don't change.
Will still likes to make his cute pouty lip that you saw back at 4 months old...
...and at 9 months...*smile*This time both Shannon and Mike were around so we were able to get some pictures of the two handsome men in Shannon's life.
Can you say gorgeous family?
I was hoping Will would be at the stage where he was *sort* of walking so that we could grab photos like the ones below. And to my excitement, Will did not disappoint...
Will, Shannon, and Mike...you are such a beautiful family. Thank you for allowing me to document your joy and love. I hope to see you again very soon.

holiday party

This past weekend was a lot of fun. It was exhausting, but so worth it. Friday night we celebrated the last night of Chanukah and prepared the apartment for the excitement of what Saturday was going to bring.
And what Saturday brought...was a lot of people. Family came over that afternoon/evening to celebrate the holidays in our new home. Our last piece of furniture arrived--our couch--early that morning so we had some time to hang a few paintings to really bring our living room together. Here's my brother breaking in the couch while his girlfriend, Alissa, and I worked in the kitchen on getting things ready for appetizers and dinner.
My parents came over a bit early so that we could all have time to exchange gifts. And at the request of my Mom, here's a 2009 portrait of the family...
We've learned that the smaller sized birds cook better, so Ryan found the perfect sized pans for us to be able to roast 4 chickens at the same time in our oven for the 17 people who were coming over for dinner. They were a huge hit and super yummy.
Alissa and I both love chocolate and had a corner dedicated to it for everyone to enjoy. I baked fudge and she introduced me to a delicious gingerbread truffle recipe that I'm so excited to try. My mouth waters ever time I look at this photo. Let's just say the plates didn't stay filled for long. So good...
It has always been a dream of mine to be able to host my own family get together and our living room is just long enough to be able to fit two long tables to seat about 12-16 people. And a drumroll please...so far, the largest number of people in our home since we moved in a few months ago.
From my last post, you'll probably remember that I tried making latkes for the first time this year. I decided I needed another small challenge to make the cooking interesting for this particular party. (Little did I know that making over 50 latkes in one evening was challenging enough!) So, the night before the party, I decided to bake my Grandmother's famous sour cream coffee cake--a favorite of mine. She gave me the recipe at my bridal shower along with a pan to cook it in. I was really nervous about messing it up and at the end I was so proud of how it turned out. I can't wait to make it again.
Thank you to everyone who came and who made our first family party a night I will never forget. I can't wait until the next one :)

Happy holidays everyone...May you be surrounded by lots of love and laughter this holiday season.

8 days of lights...

This year we have the blessing of celebrating Chanukah in our new home with friends and family. We're hosting our very first family gathering next Saturday with a pretty large group of people, so in preparation, we asked a few friends to come over last night to "test drive" some of the recipes we're going to cook next weekend. We had a really wonderful time with great conversation and some delicious wine and food.
I've been a bit obsessed with finding decorations that are both Chanukah and Christmas friendly for a more generic holiday spirit. And you can't say no to sparkly centerpieces with pretty lights...
or to cute snowmen...
We started with some appetizers and a Chanukah candle lighting. The funny part was that we had Christmas carols playing in the background with a few Chanukah songs peppered in (ie Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song). The juxtaposition was pretty funny and we had a good laugh.
I've never been focused on decorations before for other dinner parties. For some reason it just feels different in our new place. And after everything I was really happy with the final table spread and loved how the colors worked together.
The really fun part for me (besides the great company at dinner) was spending the afternoon cooking the dinner with Ryan. We work really together in the kitchen and were responsible for our respective projects and the food came out better than I expected.
Our asparagus appetizer was a huge hit.
Ryan was in charge of carving the chicken. We use a delicious recipe from our favorite cookbook: The New Best Recipe Cookbook. Everything we've ever tried from them turns out super yummy. If you're ever looking for a great Bridal Shower gift, this is one I would definitely recommend.
And I was in charge of the potato latkes. I was most nervous for this part of the night because I've only ever watched my Mom make them and have never made them on my own before. We took her recipe and decided to just go for it. I called her in a bit of a panic right before I started, but after that it was smooth sailing. I was splattered with oil a bit, but what's Chaunkah without a few latkes burn marks? :)
Overall I would say the night was a huge success and I feel a lot better about our party next Saturday for our families. I love hosting and can't wait for more dinner parties in our future.