Last post of 2011

We went to Jacksonville Beach today.  The weather was in the 70's and the kids were all fired up about playing in the water.  We met Theresa, a friend of Andrews for lunch and Al Pizza and had a great lunch.  We then went to the beach and stayed there until it started getting cooler.  Wyatt had to have his swimsuit on but he didn't do more than put his feet in the water which is what Andrea did.  All in all it was a fun day.

Bed time wars

We are working on getting the grand kids to bed.  It is a matter of being persistent, but it does wear on the temper.  The gambits this evening have been not wanting to sleep in the bed Wyatt was put in.  Hiding in the corner of the bedroom.  Asking for numerous bed time stories, and finally coming downstairs naked with a new diaper in hand.  I might add that there was nothing damp with with old diaper.  Everything is delaying tactics, just to see who can outlast the other.  So far I am betting on Ray and myself, but it isn't easy.

Christmas Day 2010

 These photos are also from Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day.  This year was great. We had a good time from start to finish. We had been trying without luck to get good pictures of the kids for Christmas, and they didn't come through until last night.  

Getting together with the Brown's

We had the Brown side of the family over for dinner on Sunday night.  It was a lot of fun.  I made lasagna, and everyone else brought the the rest.  I must say everything went very well.  The kids were wild which is to be expected and the adults ate way too much which also is to be expected.  I am really glad that Ray put the evening together.  All I had to do was cook and clean up.  Not bad at all.

Pity Poor Santa Claus

He has to try to make little kids look happy when they don't want to be smiley and cheerful.  Ray and I took the kids to the Y on Saturday morning for Breakfast with Santa.  After we ate, we went to visit the man in the red suit.  Wyatt did pretty good telling Santa what he wanted.  Andrea just looked at him.  I realize that she isn't quite ready to present her lists to him yet.  The truth is that she had a cold and didn't feel the best either.  Anyway, we got three pictures taken, none of which pleased me that much.  This is one of the shots I took while the photographer was taking her pictures.  I liked mine better so here it is.  The photos were a donation to the Strong Kids Program, so I feel good about the money, I just wish Wyatt and Andrea and been more in the mood to look happy.

Christmas Pageant

Sunday night was the Children's Christmas Program at church.  Wyatt and Andrea were Mary and Joseph.  If they were selected to be comic relief they were successful.  Wyatt was webbing people, he can't differential between Spiderman and Joseph.  Andrea wouldn't keep her veil on.  As people told us later,"They were just so cute."  It was a good program overall.  The children had fun, the adults enjoyed it.  After the program there was an appetizer buffet afterwards that left us all stuffed.  I have had to run extra to make up for what I ate.  The program was just another addition to a very enjoyable Christmas season.

Bonnie Hatch

I went to Bonnie's funeral this morning.  It was a joyful occasion as well as sad.  Bonnie was 103 years old and is the mother of our friend, Ken Coryell.  She had been  living in Derby near Ken and Nora for eight years and attended church regularly at First Presbyterian.  It sound hokey but Bonnie radiated kindness, she had nice things to say even when little boys like Wyatt would be a nuisance.  She had been declining the last year and all of us would have loved for her last months to be more pleasant, but we live with the situations given us.
The thought I came away with today though was that, in spite of what we may think, all of our lives are interesting.  We do interesting things, we meet interesting people and life changes us and we change lives.  Everyone should think about this now and then.  No one should feel that they don't do anything interesting.  I would say that a lot of the people who live exciting lives, really just live lives filled with self generated drama.  I don't need that, so I will go back to being in the world and living the life God has planned for me.

Licking the Beaters

One of the favorite things from my childhood was licking the beaters when my mother or grandmother was baking.  There were more children around then, so getting one was much more competitive than it is today with Andrea and Wyatt.  Andrea and Nicole were over this afternoon after Wyatt went to school.  I was making cupcakes to take to dinner at church, so there was icing to be made.  Andrea made a point of hanging around close by while I was icing the cupcakes.  I tried holding the beater for her to lick, but she wouldn't have that.  She had to hold it herself and lick all the sugary goodness off by herself.  She licked her beater and I licked mine  We both had a great time.

Musings in a two minute period

Ray is taking a short nap before we head off for church for dinner.  Our Sunday School group is doing the dinner tonight.  It is the last one before the Christmas break.  I made two dozen cupcakes.  With all the talk about fancy cupcakes these days, I went on line to see what I could fine.  Not a whole lot was helpful.  It is mostly bakeries trying to sell you fancy cupcakes.  So I went back to my "Old School" cookbooks.  I ended up making red velvet cupcakes with fluffy cooked white icing.  It looks like meringue and is nothing but sugar.  I love it.  So my offering tonight won't be "fancy" but it will be sweet.

Time for a cute grandkid picture

I was downloading pictures the other day when Andrea climbed up beside me.  She wanted me to take her picture, so I did.  Unlike her brother who is now in the cheesy smile age, she just smiled and looked like her adorable self.  Only, WE know she really is "Destructicon".

These are some of the cards from the Basic Grey Jovial Christmas Cards we did at Scrapbook Garden yesterday.  Basic Grey projects are so funny in that the pictures of the cards never look as good as the actual card does.  We didn't get the kits in until Thursday, so no one had a chance to look at them, and one person told me they were sorry they didn't take the class.

Pay it Forward

Today was Pay It Forward Day.  It was merely coincidental, but I did a card class for a group from a local mental health facility.  I designed the cards and put the kits together from my own stuff.  The organization bought some adhesive, ribbon on the card base.  Everyone got five Christmas cards they made themselves to send to family or friends.  I got to share what I like to do with people who had no experience at all with card making and feel that at the end of the evening they had learned something.  I may have come out the winner on that, it feels so good.

Angel Tree

My circle at church shops for the Angel Tree every year.  It is such a satisfying experience that it feels new every year.  During the year we raise money by serving Wednesday Night Dinners about four times.  We donate money to various things and then shop at Christmas.  We usually have about $400.00 to spend.  The Walmart Angel Tree is for adults and so the shopping isn't cute like for kids.  We bought three microwaves, a vacuum cleaner, two blankets, a sheet set a set of dishes and a gift card.  All of us are surprised when we see how much we are able to buy and give to those who really need it.

Christmas Decorations

I got my manicure and pedicure for the month today.  I am now decorated for Christmas.  I have snowmen on my big toes and jeweled snowflakes on each of the other toes.  For the first time I have tips on mt fingers which are decorated with snowflakes.  I don't know why I haven't had them before.  The biggest issue with manicures has been the polish chipping off and these won't chip.  We will see how this works out.  Annie who does my nails leaves next week for a month in Viet Nam.  She and her husband got married in a civil ceremony last year, and are going to have a big bash when they get to Ho Chi Minh City.  I am looking forward to seeing the pictures.

No new pictures, no exciting life

I have been wanting to post, but life has just been plodding along.  So no posts!  However, I am happy to report that we are sort of done with Christmas Decorating and sort of done with card making and sort of done with shopping.  I guess you could say progress is being made.

Pine Cone Press Hanging Album

I will be leading this class on Tuesday December 14th at Scrapbook Garden.  The kit is the December Pine Cone Press Options kit.  The Christmas paper is by Echo Park. We will be making this hanging album in the class and will also provide detailed instructions to make another mini album that features quilt patterns.  All in all these are fun and interesting projects.

Pine Cone Press Options Mini Album and Hanging Album

Here are some pictures of a mini album that is optional for a class I am teaching on December 14th at Scrapbook Garden.  The different touch for this album is that the alternating pages are quilt patterns done with Echo Park paper.  The Pine Cone Press Booklet that goes with it also has the Hanging Album which is the primary project as well as cards and scrapbook pages.  Another great offering from Pine Cone Press.

Dan and Jean League

Dan and Jean League were in Derby last week.  Dan is an evangelist and was leading a revival at Derby Church of the Nazarene.  Ray and Dan have been friends since high school and did a lot of "interesting" things when they were younger.  The Leagues are more of our friends that even though we haven't seen each other in years, we sit down and start talking and it was just like we saw each other last week.  It is one of the benefits of Facebook now, that we are able to keep in touch more, but there still is catching up to do.  We had dinner and breakfast together and we attended one of Dan's services.  All revivals should be as interesting as his are.  Dan is a great story teller and holds your attention completely.  He takes a story that I might know pretty well and brings it to a level relating to your faith that I would never have expected.  I would go hear him preach any time. 

All Caught up!

I feel so much better now.  I am all caught up on my posts and am ready to face the world again.

Basic Grey Jovial Christmas Album



These are a few of the pages from the Basic Grey Jovial Christmas album that I will be leading on Tuesday December 7th.  The paper is very cute and the embellishments are humorous.  I love the snowmen.

Hero Arts Christmas Cards

The colors are terrible for some reason on these cards, but they are cute stamped cards using Hero Arts Stamps.  I will be leading the class on Tuesday, November 11th.  We will be using the Sizzix dry embossing machine for the backgrounds as well.  The techniques used build on what people learn in Rubber Stamp 101.