let me be the first to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

{other than Costco of course, 

they said it in August :( but poo on them }

and then I say this today

 and I LOVE IT! So darling! And very "in" but who cares. 

 very cheerful, huh?! Love this. And love it even more because we get CAROLED! Oh that makes me filled with Christmas Glee like nothing else. 

Just imagine, home. 

Making dinner, cleaning up, folding laundry. 

A knock at the door, open & my yard is full of people singing me Christmas Carols, that's cheerful!

But this is my favorite. 

I'm thinking of something wonderful to do with them. 

Not sure yet. 

But I love them! 

found them here.

She gets the credit, I just did the "blog-lifting" 

:)

Thankfulgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for...

a million things

but 

mostly 

this guy. 

Who makes my world & life  wonderful...

Cutest Couple 2010

doesn't this just make you swoon? 

dreamy isn't she? 

I love LOVE old pictures. 

And this darling couple just steal my heart...

Last month they celebrated 67 years married. 

67 years since this day!!

Cutest Couple 2010, right?

They are my grandparents...Alice & Weber. 

I have love notes he sent her back during the War. 

{he doesn't know that, he'd flip}

 but long ago-like when I was 15! My grandma in one of her getting rid of moods

[she's a neat freak, he's a pack rat]

She gave me a stack of old letters....

his nicknames for her

 how much they missed eachother

dreams of their life together when he was done with service. 

Before kids

before grand kids

before great-grandkids.

Just imagine for a second.....

 This is my grandmother's oldest brother & her sister who died at age 3.

I never knew this story. Ever. It kinda shocked me, see I have always loved true life stories. 

Always. 

As a kid instead of reading me a book, I'd ask for stories to be told to me...

I learned a lot. 

{side note, I still prefer a biography over fiction any day!}

But I never knew where my mother got her name....Doris.

This little chub of love would have been my great-aunt. 

Thank heaven there's a Heaven. And I'll meet her...

 stinkin cute.

me : "Grandpa, you were so CUTE!"

grandpa : "what's this were business?? I still am!"

ha!

Hands down cutest couple 2010....as seen in July 1944.

Cheeseball Recipe

just incase your looking for it...
http://lifeasachefswife.blogspot.com/


Cheeseball Fans here you go!

one of those talks.

I had to do it today. 

UGH. 

Breaking down & sharing 

"when I was a kid...." 

to prove my point. 

One of my "little blessings" 

had made a "remark" along with 

a sneer 

a chuckle

about someone

at school that is a bit strange

a bit different

a bit annoying

and has less than them. 

It sounded harmless. 

It truly wasn't a strong or hateful thing. 

BUT

it was enough. 

It ate at me for days...

I had started to talk about it with them 

and just couldn't formulate what I knew I needed to say.

See. 

That girl

(just like the one they made fun of)

was me. 

In school I surely was strange annoying and had less than most.

I moved almost every year 

I didn't get invited to birthday parties

when I did, it was an eye opener into 

"normal kids lives"

I had a job by 12.

I rode the city bus if I wanted to go to a friends house.

I cleaned houses on weekends to help out.

I was "that girl".

Tears rolled. 

But my explanation made my point. 

Each of us has the chance to make someone's day 

either bad

or 

good. 

And I know their heart was changed even if just a bit

to have compassion for everyone around them

the strange

different 

annoying

less cool

less fashionable.

Don't you agree we all have that opportunity everyday?

take it.

when you wish upon a book store...

on my list of wishes are these I found around blog land...

saw this & it made my heart sing....what lovely ideas to inspire creativity

{beyond playdough}

and make things to welcome the season...

I always need this kind of inspiration!

The dreamywhites gal shows us some goodies she's made here

found this goodie here

why do I love the? 

well, because I am a wish-I-were-a-sew-girl. I want to make things that I see in lovely store and w/o a manual, I'd be stuck paying retail forEVER. 

A different blog I can no longer recall (SORRY) showed this as the book "currently reading"

spend some time looking at this inspiring (better said than coveted) book here

Yep. She's the author of this lovely Christmas-ness & has a blog too. 

what's gets you in the mood to create??

busy is no excuse

I've been busy, 

with kids activities

{in the midst of Nutcracker rehearsals}

with laundry

{hello, that's a staple}

with blog world

{who do you follow?}

with food blogging

{no, not cheating-just my alter ego}

with Christmas Card pa-rousing 

{lets be honest, I started that months ago....}

and with taking family portraits for other people's Christmas Cards...

which makes me incredibly happy

for the second year, I actually "worked" and have taken 4 portraits so far...another tomorrow. 

here's the balloon burster about taking these...

I can't share!

I can't show off all the lovelies that are keeping me busy when that might be a card in your slot!

all I can say is, this is the kind of busy I like....

in San Francisco with kids...

There are lots and lots of things to do in the beautiful city of San Francisco 

with kids too.

I love the city, 

but like any other big city, there isn't a lot of places to run & play without having traffic or fears involved. 

well, inside Golden Gate Park is a beautiful & very fun park. 

it is right beside one of the old Carousels 

here, they can run

climb

slide

twist

 these little bowl things with a little motion spin you around like a top!

 cement slide. Which sounds harsh, but everyone uses cardboard scraps to slide. Actually quite fun...and fast!

 This rope pyramid thing is crazy fun... and quite a task to climb up with camera in hand.

 playing tag. 

with Daddy.

fun.

 not my favorite combo

water

+

sand

but of course my boys were drawn right to it!

my man. I love watching him play with his kids. Seriously make me crazy in love....

how we celebrated 14....

 Family dinner....few days early. Daddy was out of town for work on her actual birthday. 

ugh. 

But after all the activities of the day, we sat down & had dinner together. 

 Blessing she is, indeed.

 Sisters: Abbie made her a card. I love both these gems! And we got a special birthday cake, just for her...I always make em, but she had a special request for princess cake. 

 So, daddy is out of town and lots to do to make it special. 

Kenzie wanted to bring cupcakes for her class. 

{yes, she has 6 classes. But one of the teachers was cool with it!}

So night before we made Almond Cupcakes with Honey Frosting. OH YEAH.

 Sleeping beauty...

she woke up and daddy called her to wish her birthday love from far far away...

and his bed head is just to fun not to blog.

OH my lovey dovey-ness.

 she loves nothing for breakfast. I know, not healthy....but she does eat every morning. I make it easy for her with good healthy smoothies. And she does like eggs. And oatmeal. And fruit. 

 Our plan.

Take her & her best pals up to Valley Faire (good shopping ;)

long Friday night to shop and then dinner....just good ol girl time!

Here's the cute little goodies.

{bracelets. pack of gum. aviators.}

 Marisa Mackenzie Lindsay

OH gosh and this was her best little pal when they were just months old. 

I have a zillion pictures of these guys as toddlers.

And their first day of kindergarten.

Couple after. 

THEN nada. 

Til this...and he wanted a cupcake

so 

a cupcake for a picture.

bribery at its best.

Aren't they darling!!!

 the girls. 

 Got there around 4:30, off they went. 

 one more cheesey picture before spending their wads!!

 little makeover at Nordstrom mac counter. YEah!

 Dinner at CPK because Kenzie can't get enough of their Thai Crunch Salad. 

 Can I just say I love these girls. They are sweet, fun, sport stars, and great friends.

 lots lots of stuff. mission accomplished.

I love you Kenzie, you are so my girl. 

A Thanksgiving Project

indeed it is the most wonderful time of the year. 

a time to be Thankful.

[what a concept!]

and a time to look outside our "daily" at all the blessings....

I wanted to share a project I did last year for Thanksgiving. I have a very "extended" family...

aka lots of add in's/ step-/ half-/ ex-

family members

And last Thanksgiving my darling chef & I hosted Thanksgiving for anyone that is "linked" to us. 

As in

[yes, now it gets confusing]

my brother-in-law's ex-wife from is 1st marriage & her son from her second marriage.

my dad & his wife & their (my half-sisters) along with his (my dad's) out-laws 

aka my moms parents!

cousins 

aunts

uncles 

parents 

great grandparents

in-laws parents and siblings.

it all added up to over 40 people which can get rather confusing!

SO 

for my decoration I made a family tree to help everyone know just how we were all connected

now I say this because not everyone has a "Straight Shooting" Family Tree

you know, the ones with a trunk and two branches on either side going straight up. 

some of us have lots of "off shoots". thats the kind way of saying _______

and everyone who came really liked seeing just how we all were connected & related.

 cut out a bunch of lovely Autumn colored leaves with my Cricut. 

Different sizes & tried to make them colorful but not distracting

 took a board from the hardware store (they called it a specific name I can't remember but basically it is particle board that they get by the plywood & cut for me)

Then I covered it with canvas by pulling it tight and stapling it on the back edges

took plain ol' craft paper

which I bought whole sale in a huge huge roll!

you can get this too, either ebay or find someone that has a florist contact or buys butcher paper. 

it is expensive (like $50 a roll) but lasts forever!

then I took long pieces and twisted it into branches and used pins to keep them in place without pushing them flat

leaves added in some sort of order to help make sense of 40 random people! ha!

Colors were kept together for families or spouses. And since everyone had either a relation to myself or my husband we were the trunk (brown on bottom) and our kids are the green leaves under

Then just go with it!

Have fun & keep that Thanksgiving spirit of family alive even if it doesn't look like a typical branch

;)