Emma Turns 1! 12/19

Little Miss Emma.  This sweet girl turns ONE today!

For such a tiny little bundle of fur, she is both sweet and fierce.  She loves to be held, to the point that I joke about getting a baby carrier for her!  Emma loves getting a fresh marrow bone and will gnaw on it endlessly.  She is territorial about it too.  If one of the other dogs comes near her bone she puffs up and barks her head off.  She may be a little neurotic about her stuff but she is just precious. 

Gingerbread Wars 2014 12/15

Last night, candy was thrown down and war declared.  The epic battle of Gingerbread Wars 2014 was fought.

On the left we have Team Baby Ruth and on the right Team Milky Way.

Team Baby Ruth 

Team Milky Way 

A poll was taken via Instagram and it was declared that Team Milky Way was the winner!  Team Milky Way was Father/Daughter team Joe & Gianna.  Gianna was ecstatic to claim bragging rights for the year after losing out last year.  Joe is an undefeated winner.

Next year?  Everyone gets their own house!

12-13-14

Today is the last day we will see a consecutive date like this for a long time (I say that since I don't remember what the date is of the next one! LOL!!)

We started the day with sleepover hangovers cured with donuts for the kids.  Donuts cure most things.

                 

The rest of our day was spent running around to a variety of places.  Should've done something important, but hey donuts were involved so it was celebrated well. LOL!

Flour Has Been Flying

There's been an insane amount of flour and sugar going around my kitchen these past few days.  Was thinking about cutting back on the variety of cookies but when your kids make special requests, you give in.

Wasn't going to make the Peanut Butter Blossoms this year but Marissa requested them.

Been on the hunt for a soft, non-iced, sugar cookie recipe that's Marissa approved.  She said these were ok, but didn't meet her expectations.  For the record, everyone else in the family approved of them.  She's just a stinker.

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies with coconut is a favorite of Joe's.

Another of Joe's favorite are honey sand balls.  Lots of steps to these, not that they're hard to make, just tedious.  They usually get made just once a year.

Another cookie that I cut back on but still make a lot are the Spritz.  My least favorite cookie.

Another favorite of mine are the walnut tarts.  These are beyond good!  Perfect with a cup of coffee.

The all time favorite chocolate chip, that we can never get enough of.

It's been a lot of hours in the kitchen but time well spent, especially when the girls help.

Time To Bake The Cookies

The halls have been decked and that means it's time to bake the cookies.

My counter is all set.  A few ingredients change with the variety of cookie I'm baking but this makes things easy.

Chocolate chip cookies are first up.  Made extra dough for the freezer too.  These are my favorite.  If I could only bake one kind of cookie from now on--this would be it.

Let the flour FLY!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Taking a break from the odds and ends left that need to be decorated, and I'm sitting on the couch, taking in the tree.

Just admiring the glow.

I need to remind myself to stop and take it in before it's over.

Soak in the magic of Christmas.  

December Is Here

This is a sign of happiness for me. I an addicted to Christmas ornaments.

The bad part is unwrapping them from all those tiny boxes.  Takes forever!!

I tend to group them in themes on the tree.  Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp have the largest areas on the tree next to Mickey and the gang of course!

I dream of having multiple trees around the house, all themed differently.  Princess, Lady & the Tramp, etc.  Not to mention all the non-Disney ornaments!!  Those are on their own tree for the second year in a row.  One day I'll get the forest I dream of! ;)

November 365 2014

How fast did the month go??  Of course things are going into high gear now with Christmas around the corner!

The Elf Is Back!

He's baaaaackk!!

Back from the North Pole to report whats going on to Santa.

Wonder where we'll find him getting into this year??

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving is all about family and food.  Thankful for both.  We set things up a little differently this year, with all the food in the kitchen set up as buffet style.  Why we didn't think of that sooner is beyond me. 

Joe did a wonderful job carving the turkey, that I forgot to get a picture of before he carved it.

At our house there's always pasta and meatballs served.

Tried almost a little of everything, while trying to be good.

Even the puppies got a taste of the turkey.

Afterwards, there was a lot of laughs with the photo booth props.

Gianna loves mustaches.  I tell her that grows old quick when she gets older.  She'll understand then. LOL!  ;)

They were a hit!  A good way to kill time until we could eat more. ;)

I have to ask permission for pictures of Marissa.  She grants me a few so I try to make it as painless as possible for us both.  Teenagers. 

It was a good day....with leftovers for days!

Thanksgiving Prep 2014

Ah yes. Thanksgiving is upon us and it starts with a trip to the store for last minute supplies.  Of course, seeing Marty McFly park in the no parking zone is totally normal, right??

The light snowfall we got makes the house look pretty.  Still not a fan of snow, except for at Christmas.  

My favorite part is baking the apple pies.  Layers upon layers of yummy goodness.

Of course, I recruit everyone into helping in one way or another.  Gianna is a master pot stirrer.

I recently became a fan of cranberry sauce these last few years and decided to try making it myself.  Turns out, it's super simple!  Also, sorta fun to hear the cranberries pop.  

Pulled together a few extra treats as a side dish to the pie. ;)

Last but not least, I set out all the pots I needed.  Just to make sure I wouldn't forget anything, I used sticky notes to label them! LOL!!

Call me crazy but it makes my day go smoother. ;)

My 1st Vinyl Project!

CONFESSION: I have been scared to work with vinyl on my Silhouette.  Yep. Chicken.  I would say I'd learn, buy some supplies, then get involved in easier things.  Possibly avoiding it on purpose.

This year I was determined to learn it.  I researched Pinterest for tutorials and slowly built up my courage.  A friend on IG, JenBoom gave me the push I needed to do it.  

I made time to conquer this silly fear of mine.

The result?  WHAT WAS I WAITING FOR???  It's way easier than I thought it would be!  I made this project for myself and right away knew what to give my sister's for Christmas!

 

Wanted to play around with different versions, that way we'd all have something similar yet unique.

I didn't realize this frame was a teensy bit bigger so I had to add the white border to the paper background.

I loved how they turned out and need to find more things to vinyl!!!

Sweater Girls

I am one of those people that would dress up their dogs with bows and sweaters.  Joe was never a fan.

While he was away on a business trip, I saw some cute sweaters for the puppies and couldn't resist.  You know what they say "The mice will play when the cat's away".  

Besides it was pretty cold out already for November so I figured they *NEED* them!

Riley however was not impressed.

You can't resist the cuteness of puppies in sweaters!

At least I can't!

Paint and Wine

Tonight was a much needed Girls Night Out. It's been too long since our last one and we made this one fun.

We had a nice dinner then headed to an art studio for an art class. 

Here we are Michelangelo, Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh, you can decide who's who. 

The teacher lead us step by step with instructions. Wine was involved so it made the results pretty interesting. 

It was a fun night, full of laughter and future masterpieces!

Miss You Daddy

20 years ago today my daddy passed away from lung cancer. He was a loving, yet tough father and I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Found this picture of us for a birthday of mine,(Not sure how old I was.). I was sitting on my daddy's lap with my mom next to us holding my sister on her lap. My father loved us more than anything. He was everything to our family, and life's never been the same since he died. 

Wish we had more than 19 years together. 

Wish he could have walked me down the aisle. 

Wish he could have seen his amazing 7 grandkids. 

Wish he was still here. 

Miss you always. Love you forever. 

Project Life 2014 Albums

So the other night I finished working on our June Disney trip. Angels sang, and I may have seen a rainbow. Aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

With that my first album was full, as in FULL. 

There was no way I could leave it that way, never mind that it weighed a ton. I had bought 3 albums for this year knowing we had 2 Disney trips planned and thought that would be good, but now I'm thinking I might have to order another. This does not make me happy. 

That pile on the right is just our June trip. Just June!!  I'm going to start the second album with it and see what happens. I'm almost scared to do our AUGUST trip! Hopefully I can make things less bulky but I don't think that's the real problem, so who knows how it'll go. 

On the flip side, I love how my pages came out.  I included a lot of inserts and got Marissa's "approval". Seeing her face as she flipped through the pages makes it all worth it! Now to make it light enough for her to pick up! 

Thanksgiving Spirit 2.0

Back again with the completed projects from my last post.  

Made these place cards with a print and cut file found in the Silhouette store. Then I printed everyone's names on a sheet of labels and ran those through my cameo as well. I just won't mention how long it took me to get the name placement right.  

I think they turned out cute. The best part is they were simple and a nice break from Project Life. 

Going through Pinterest I got the idea to do a photobooth for Thanksgiving this year. 

I got these cute props from THIS site and THIS site, printed them out and then hand cut them. My darling assistant, Gianna, stuck the sticks to them. I simply stuck them in a vase and they're ready to go. 

Just need to make a backdrop of some sort now, and see who plays along on Thanksgiving!!