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| 3 little guys |
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| Nick & Aidan (eating paper) |
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| Aidan's computer is really interesting! Christmas morning with the kids |
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas 2010
White Christmas 2010!
Beautiful white Christmas this year! Here are some pics.
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| Back Yard |
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| Christmas Eve at home |
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Cookie day
LOVED baking cookies today with Katie. And, of course we had to make our goofy gingerbread cookies again, including some anatomically "correct." My mom used to always bake gingerbread cookies with Katie & we decided to continue that tradition with a few, um, alterations. Will have to take some pics.
Enough cookies to last the entire winter, I think, plus some easy-to-make fudge. That will put any pancreas in overdrive.
A Good Samaritan in our neighborhood recently held a Holiday Open House to benefit another area family. The young mother of 5 children has a very unusual, late stage type breast cancer. Although we were not able to attend the Open House, I knew we needed to help. So, after our cooking baking, we brought our donation...plus some of those cookies (minus the special gingerbread!) Hearing stories of families in need, especially this time of year, reminds me of how fortunate we are, how precious life is and what's really important. Prayers for the Pickett family of O'Fallon.
Enough cookies to last the entire winter, I think, plus some easy-to-make fudge. That will put any pancreas in overdrive.
A Good Samaritan in our neighborhood recently held a Holiday Open House to benefit another area family. The young mother of 5 children has a very unusual, late stage type breast cancer. Although we were not able to attend the Open House, I knew we needed to help. So, after our cooking baking, we brought our donation...plus some of those cookies (minus the special gingerbread!) Hearing stories of families in need, especially this time of year, reminds me of how fortunate we are, how precious life is and what's really important. Prayers for the Pickett family of O'Fallon.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas week
Hmmm, now wouldn't this look much prettier with a little snow on the ground? Could it snow at nite and be warm during the day, AND not have the snow melt? That's probably asking a lot.
I think the shopping may be complete altho' I haven't sorted out the stocking stuffers yet. I'm not sure I buy all of the "holiday spirit" stuff about Christmas shopping....I don't think I saw any cheery faces at the mall today. Well, maybe Santa's.
I do love Christmas decorations. I'll have to take some pics of our indoor decorations so I can duplicate them next year. It always takes me a while to figure out what I want to do with all of my Christmas decorations. Maybe I'll just drop some pics from this year into the Christmas storage containers. bahaha We have 2 trees inside, lots of decorations and still have lots in boxes. Probably will donate some this year. However, I do like choice & don't use the same things every year. And, there's always trips to Hobby Lobby and the fabulous Evergreen at the Lake. Oh well, our kids can have a garage sale when we go in the "rest" home. ha Knowing Katie, it will bypass a sale and go directly to the dumpster.
I love my new "inside" wreath created this year with a basic 33" boring, plain outdoor wreath. Just added some stuff from Hobby Lobby, wired it in and added the pretty bow....and pretty gold, sparkly strand from the wonderful White Hare shop. Voila, a really pretty wreath that's large enough for the area above our fireplace. Love it. Maybe I'll get a good photo after that "great" photography class we took.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Christmas with cousins
We celebrated Christmas with cousins today. So lucky to have them in my life. They're really more than cousins for me. They're more like siblings that I don't have. Love that they are live so near and that our kids and grandkids get to spend time with them also. Since I'm the oldest of this group, they have younger kids & we have grandkids which makes for a big group of kiddos when we get together. So much fun to watch!
Loved our 1st White Elephant/Rob-Your-Neighbor event. Too funny. Everyone wanted the "big" present which turned out to be a broken Christmas decorative sign which included the letters: "JO_" Obviously, missing the "Y" which resulted in a lot of jokes. And, yes there is a relative named Joe. Anyway, had a great time at Mark & Judy's house.
Looking forward to the upcoming week. Hope to finish wrapping tomorrow - woohoo! Kate & I hope to bake cookies mid-week. Maybe more anatomically correct GingerBread "people"? We'll probably eat the cookies as fast as we bake :-))
Hoping for a white Christmas....it might actually happen this year.
Safe travels.
Loved our 1st White Elephant/Rob-Your-Neighbor event. Too funny. Everyone wanted the "big" present which turned out to be a broken Christmas decorative sign which included the letters: "JO_" Obviously, missing the "Y" which resulted in a lot of jokes. And, yes there is a relative named Joe. Anyway, had a great time at Mark & Judy's house.
Looking forward to the upcoming week. Hope to finish wrapping tomorrow - woohoo! Kate & I hope to bake cookies mid-week. Maybe more anatomically correct GingerBread "people"? We'll probably eat the cookies as fast as we bake :-))
Hoping for a white Christmas....it might actually happen this year.
Safe travels.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
blogging again
So, after almost 2 years absence, I thought I'd try blogging again...I certainly follow enough blogs & look forward to reading them almost daily.
Although we retired 6 months ago, I am amazed at how busy we are! Sounds crazy, right? But it's true. Summer time is always hectic as is the mid-November thru December time. Cooking, entertaining, shopping, Christmas decorations up, wrapping, more cooking and celebrating. But who knew that Fall would be busy?
A little health scare for me in late September but all is well. October brought lots of visits to a Chicago area hospital and sad news as our beloved brother/brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly. For his siblings, he was the "hero" (oldest brother). Such a compassionate, loving man with a great-dimpled smile and twinkling blue eyes. Brilliant. So involved in his community, especially his church community. Although it sounds odd to say, we met so many wonderful people during Jake's illness. We also got to know his step-children much more. And, as you might imagine, they are a wonderful, loving family of 6. Great hearing then share their stories - we had a glimpse into Jake's day-to-day life in Chicago with his wife, kids and grandkids that we hadn't experienced as siblings. It confirmed that we need to spend time with those we love and make sure they know how we feel. You never know how much time you will have with them.
We're both enjoying retirement - lots of projects and some new hobbies for both Ralph and me. The very best part has been the increase in time we've been able to spend with our grandsons. All are in the metro area. Truly a blessing.
Ralph's interest in techy things continues and, of course for him, GOLF is life. Winter isn't conducive to playing golf here so he needed a new hobby. He's just purchased his first model train and is setting that up. We've also unpacked my old Lionel trains - there's now one under the Christmas tree.
I'm involved in volunteering at several organizations which, for the most part, is enjoyable. One organization is an older group and very slow to adopt change. I find that pretty frustrating but understandable. We've just gotten an Internet presence with our first web-site, a Facebook page and an electronic newsletter so we've moved into the current century at last.
I'm hooked on decorating blogs. Way too many ideas tho' for my own house now. The hard part is finishing projects that I begin! The project thing is on hold for now as Christmas shopping, wrapping, planning takes up a ton of time. Speaking of Christmas, I need to go pull out gifts to assess what I still need to buy and/or do. Perfect rainy day to force me to do so.
Although we retired 6 months ago, I am amazed at how busy we are! Sounds crazy, right? But it's true. Summer time is always hectic as is the mid-November thru December time. Cooking, entertaining, shopping, Christmas decorations up, wrapping, more cooking and celebrating. But who knew that Fall would be busy?
A little health scare for me in late September but all is well. October brought lots of visits to a Chicago area hospital and sad news as our beloved brother/brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly. For his siblings, he was the "hero" (oldest brother). Such a compassionate, loving man with a great-dimpled smile and twinkling blue eyes. Brilliant. So involved in his community, especially his church community. Although it sounds odd to say, we met so many wonderful people during Jake's illness. We also got to know his step-children much more. And, as you might imagine, they are a wonderful, loving family of 6. Great hearing then share their stories - we had a glimpse into Jake's day-to-day life in Chicago with his wife, kids and grandkids that we hadn't experienced as siblings. It confirmed that we need to spend time with those we love and make sure they know how we feel. You never know how much time you will have with them.
We're both enjoying retirement - lots of projects and some new hobbies for both Ralph and me. The very best part has been the increase in time we've been able to spend with our grandsons. All are in the metro area. Truly a blessing.
Ralph's interest in techy things continues and, of course for him, GOLF is life. Winter isn't conducive to playing golf here so he needed a new hobby. He's just purchased his first model train and is setting that up. We've also unpacked my old Lionel trains - there's now one under the Christmas tree.
I'm involved in volunteering at several organizations which, for the most part, is enjoyable. One organization is an older group and very slow to adopt change. I find that pretty frustrating but understandable. We've just gotten an Internet presence with our first web-site, a Facebook page and an electronic newsletter so we've moved into the current century at last.
I'm hooked on decorating blogs. Way too many ideas tho' for my own house now. The hard part is finishing projects that I begin! The project thing is on hold for now as Christmas shopping, wrapping, planning takes up a ton of time. Speaking of Christmas, I need to go pull out gifts to assess what I still need to buy and/or do. Perfect rainy day to force me to do so.
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