Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!!

Got all sorts of goodies this year :)

 Up "bright" and early on Christmas morning!

 

Toby enjoying one of his gifts, a new chipmunk toy :)

 

Then we all dove in.....

Presents, presents and more presents :)

Grampa loved his lil' sign "Great Dads get promoted to Grampa" :)

Kathy gave Jason some big boy power tools! 

Spoiled boy, new Patriots collar and jersey :) and my Lordy is that dog furry! :)

 

After the mass chaos settled down..it was time for a nap (with his new blanket)...before we headed out for Chistmas dinner at Gramma and Grampa's.

 

 

All in all, had an absolutely fantastic day. Full of laughs and some great stuff. I love my family! We are blessed.

 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas too!

 

Christmas Crafts

Some of the crafts I made for Christmas this year:

 

golfball/snowman ornaments

Cut, power sanded, and painted :)

  

 

 

Then after 2 failed attempts, I had to recreate my own red wine lollipop recipe (the one I had, simply didn't work!) 3rd time was the charm :) It's hard to see, but the molds I used were of a gingerbread man, and a moose! Got a kick out of the moose.

 

Made lots :)

Annual Christmas Cookie Makin'

This year was no exception! We helped Beepa make her famous, Christmas cookies! :)

 Oodles, and oodles...

..and oodles of them!

 

We have our system set in place by now. Kathy and I measure out, mix, kneed, roll out, and cut out the cookies. From there, Beepa mans the oven. She knows when they are perfectly done. Then Cortney is assigned to the frosting/sprinkle station.

 

This was Kathy, helping make more frosting, for our froster...

 ...who broke a cookie! *gasp*

 

She fixed it...withhhh, another cookie, hahaha

 

Our #1 rule...one must eat any cookie that is broken, through this long process. This rule is strictly reinforced. :)

(frosting/sprinkle station)

 

Sugar Rush!



 

Toby is an excellent kitchen helper...we didn't need to clean the floor after ;)

 

Almost ready for Christmas!!!

Christmas Tree Shoppin'

Out doing a lil' Christmas tree shoppin'

Kathy thought ahead this year, and brought a tape measure to make sure her tree would fit in her new house! :)

 

We did finally leave with 4 trees, and numerous other Christmas decor.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving this year seemed to suddenly appear and leave just as quickly. As always, lots and lots of family fun!

 

Before we all stuffed our faces, we of course were put through the never-ending, poses and pictures!

 Toby and I..and me 40 lbs or so, smaller! Hurray!

 Sisters

 

 Kathy and Jason, the newlyweds

 Gramma and Grampa, not so new, but still happily married :)

 D and D with their dogs :)

 

 Mother and Son

 



 

Mustaches anyone? (Everyone neglected to inform me that as we were taking pictures, mine was falling off, hah)

The Lorax??

 

I have no idea :)

Sister'staches

Could...not...smile...or else they would fall off :) 

This is what I am always most thankful for!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Cloud Atlas: A Novel

By: David Mitchell

I just finished this book not too long ago. I will admit that I saw the movie trailer before I had ever heard of the book. The trailer looked so good I had to find the book! So glad that I did. It follows six different lives. Six different stories. All related. It hints at reincarnation. Peers into the  root of humanity (the good and the bad). Made me laugh, made me cry, it's a great read! I think everyone should read this at least once.

Can't wait to see the movie too!

Happy reading :)

Voting

I did early voting today! So glad for that, no lines.

Not to sound corny or anything. But THANK YOU to those from the past and present, that have given so much, to make voting even possible.

I have faithfully voted since I turned 18, and will continue to do so. 

Happy voting! :)

Gettin' Crafty

My first attempts at wood burning...

Mini snowmen gourds, got some of the same treatment...

...it's a start...hoping to get better at it. Having fun with it :)