Tidbits

Just a few pictures that were on the phone from Christmas and the holiday. More to come.

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful, whirlwind holiday! I can hardly believe Christmas has flown right by. Playing this last week has been fantastic! I love the extra time to spend with my darling friends and family! Christmas Eve was at my Aunt Ann's and it was so much fun! As the cousins get older, they have even more fun together. It is so fun to see them running around together, even if it isn't nearly often enough. Afterwards, I picked up the puppy that my niece received from her parents this morning. I brought her home with me and she stayed up while I "wrapped", also known as "bagged", presents for today. I know the bag thing is lazy, but some of them are very cute, and it was all I could handle this year.
I took the puppy out for the last time last night at midnight, and serendipitiously got to hear the bells ringing at the Midnight Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeline. It was so cold, and clear, and absolutely beautiful! I love it. I would have stayed out longer, but Miss Marley had had enough of the frosty grass on her paws so we came back inside.
This morning she had us up early, and after getting everything ready, and "tissuing" those bags~which is the final step to bagging and is akin to that last strip of tape if you wrap~ we headed to my sister's house. I created a diversion arrival at the front of the house while she snuck the puppy in the back way. Then we went back into the back and they gave Sass the dog. She went into shock! She couldn't believe it, and Grady asked if it was real. It was a vintage Christmas moment. Loved every second of it! They spoiled me with presents there (and I had arrived spoiled because of the very thoughtful gifts I had already received at the house) and after some merry-making, I ran home to church.
At the end of the meeting, little Wills came down the aisle and I got to scoop him up. We went back to his Mimi's house for presents. (Where the massive spoiling continued~they gave me a flatscreen among other lovely things that were equally undeserved~I really don't know how to thank them, but I will work on figuring something out.) We also got to talk to Paris. He is doing so well! It was great to hear from him, even if I never know what to say to missionaries when the time is short and there are many loved ones for them to see. He is amazing and I love him to pieces!
We had yummy dinner and lots of hanging around. The kids are so cute. I think their powerwheels was the favorite gift and they kept us all entertained!
Having the holidays without my mom has been ridiculously hard. I can't count the tears or the times I have broken down,  and not because I can't count very high...I am a great counter...I am also a mess. I cry in the car, I cry watching TV, I cry in the grocery store, I cry over songs, over sunrises, and over wonderful presents...see what I mean...a mess! However, my mother insisted on happiness and fun, and forty-two years of her insisting influence soaked its way into my bones. I am my mother's daughter. So, in spite of my profound feelings of loss, I cannot help but be caught up in the joy of the season.  In spite of being without the one who loves me the most, I feel very loved and very grateful for the incredible, loving, patient, fun, generous, and understanding people in my life, and the great blessings I witness and enjoy every day. I am spoiled rotten in every way, and I am so incredibly thankful to each and every one of you for every spoiled moment!

Please forgive the emotional indulgence of this post. I'll revert to the "pictures with pithy captions" format immediately.
Merry Christmas, and bring on the New Year!

Gingerbread night

Kenzie had the awesome idea to plan a night of gingerbread house creation. We started with Chinese food-Thank you Blake and Shelley- and then got down to building. This is my almost final project. I added a little to the roof junction and a Santa by the door, compliments of Shelley. But I didn't take any more pictures.
Everyone had very clever ideas-candy roofs, green wreaths, and powdered sugar snowstorms- and I wish I had pictures, but I was pretty single minded. The best part of the night was all the laughing! Oh, and the part where Chase & Emi resorted to a glue gun was pretty terrific too! Thanks to one and all for a great night!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

This little elf was just peeking around the banister to see his Christmas tree...

He was so excited! Love this kid!!

This is not William's tree. His tree is amazing! I will post a picture of it later. This is just in my entry. I have been decking the halls a bit. Forgive the cleaning on the railing in the background. It is gone now and a darling pine garland is draped there instead. Rather like the one below but without the Simpich.

..and these two have been decking their little faces.

These are from Thanksgiving, which started with lovely fun and food at Gibsons,

and continued with lovely target practice in the backyard!

I wish one of the shots that hit the mark were mine, but alas, I was three shots to the wind. Or rather, my shots were. ;) Sorry, that joke would make my parents laugh a lot!

Black Friday

We had such a great time on Black Friday that even though it is out of order on the blog, I have to mention it. We hit Target at midnight, and H&M, Crate and Barrel, Nordys, and Gap Kids the next day, and the Bijou Market and Hip and Humble for Small Business Saturday.

This is after Target when we were feeling quite victorious! Love these girls!! I'm not sure what is up with my crooked smile. Perhaps I was so excited about the deal on the sewing machine that I was channeling Nancy, from Sewing With Nancy. If you get that, you'll get that. If not, no worries.

Here is Posey, after her own Thanksgiving celebration, complete with finishing off the ice cream and nearly eating the container too. I hope a Happy Thanksgiving was enjoyed by one and all, and their pets too.

November Reign

Nevermind the G & R reference, it is this little sweetheart who reigns in November!

It was Kate's first birthday and it was incredible!

There was plenty of pink, and everything was delicious!

How cute is the cake? We got to learn how to do this darling rose frosting style from Kenzie's friend Kalleen.

The Italian sodas were a huge hit! I had to have seconds!

Here's the birthday girl, and her mommy.

"Is all this for me?"

I love this video because Kate's cute cousin Halle sneaks in and blows out the candle.

This one is fun because she is so ladylike as she tastes the frosting. All eyes, and cameras, were on Kate. (Watch Wills in the background put this to his advantage and sneak some treats.)

Lauren Jane was so excited about Kate's birthday that she decided to celebrate with her first steps. How lucky these two little besties are to be so close in age and to adore each other so much!

Happy Birthday Kate! We all love you very much!



Halloween Things

It was great to be able to parade outside this year! Love this weather!

Pumpkin cake pops were very yummy!

The dogs, silly but fun anyway.

We went to see Thriller for Rachel's birthday and it was so much fun! We were trying for scary but we ended up laughing. I think we will need to make this an annual event! (and we need to make girls' night a weekly event...okay, your husbands may not go for weekly, but maybe monthly?) Love you two!!

Missing Mom

This is the first Halloween without mom and I can't believe how difficult it is simply to carry on without her. She always wanted us to be happy and to be having fun, and so I know we all try, but it just won't be the same until we can really laugh with her again.

Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween Mom! We miss you!  

Oh Great Pumpkin...We're waiting for you!

After Ella's baptism, we ran by the Black Family Farm in Syracuse.

Grady is being a good sport. Really he just wanted to climb on the giant pumpkins and not pose for pictures.

Sassy was happy to sit for a picture.

Teeter, totter, bread and water, wash your face in dirty water...Where does that ryhme come from anyway? Dirty water? Huh.

The corn maze was lots of fun! The girls got lost, but we found them and wandered through the rest of the maze together. It was a gorgeous day!

Then we went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch and we each got to pick a pumpkin to take home.

The pumpkin patch was enormous! It was so fun to see the pumpkins all over. There were pumpkins for everyone's style.

Grady picked this one right off the vine!

Ann's clan.

Trying to catch the sunset in the picture.

Oh those self portraits! I said, "No, they always turn out horrible!" and she said' "No, they always turn out great!" I think it just depends on which sister you happen to be. :) It was a great end to a great day either way.  Happy pumpkins to all, and to all a good night!

Sometimes I feel like an arrow...

Yup, cryptic title. Nothing to it though, it's just lyrics from my favorite song and for some reason it started running through my head. Perhaps because I am on my way to somewhere and those are more lyrics from the same much-loved song. So if you see me coming (more lyrics) I'll probably pass you by, on my way to...

Tomorrow (fuzzy shot stolen from internet)

The next day.

The day after that.

Then home again, in time to celebrate with my favorite just-turned-3-year-old!