mom's turn: Belated birthday treats for Mao…

Mao turned 18 in the middle of our California vacation. Not a great day to be cooped up in the car and on the road. But we hoped the rest of the vacation made up for that. Teeny said she really liked the shark teeth necklaces when we went to the beach in Alabama, so we found a fossil mako shark tooth in a shop on the Bay in San Francisco. We got that, deciding it would have more sentimental value, and Teeny said that she would make her a kumihimo necklace to hang it on when we returned home. How appropriate and what a sweet smile!!

Happy Birthday Mao!

GG's Gratitude

For Christmas we gave my great grandma some knitting needles. They were not just ANY knitting needles, though. They were special. My great grandma, who we call GG, loves mice! So we got some needles that had little mice on top sitting on a piece of cheese! She seemed to love them and as a thank you she made me a beautiful peach colored headband that goes perfectly well with my skin and coloring!

Mom's turn: Just a swingin'

My HH decided to try his hand at a new art, timber framing. Of course I was excited because I will be able to lounge in his finished product! This was an incredibly large undertaking, but I was amazed at how he made each joint like a pro! He spent hours planning, measuring, drilling, and chiseling the giant pieces of timber. I was enjoying his efforts until it came time for the “raising” of the structure…oh my, how intimidating!! With Christina on one side of the massive frame and me on the other, Travis started directing the placement so that the joints aligned enough that he could pound them in place with a mallet. I AM SUPERWOMAN!!! Well – Samson thinks so, anyway. Now we can all relax because he hung my cedar swing that he surprised me with from the Swamp Fest a few years ago…YAY!

Time to relax, right??? Not quite. His next venture was a “swing-in movie” – how cool is that on a beautiful clear, warm, winter night!!!! He has a projector he uses with his business presentations; with a quick surround sound adaptor set-up and a nice Egyptian cotton sheet, uh hum…grrrr, we had our own back yard theater. Of course his first movie choice was a Pink Floyd concert. I must admit – quite amazing in surround sound!

O'Malley found his spot

So feeling like he was on a roll, and while the weather was cooperating, he decided to start the picket fence he wants for the back yard,

fix the leaking pipe outside of the office, and fill in our very own personal moat that we’ve had for over a year.

WHEW, now it’s time to rest and enjoy our fabulous new paradise! I couldn’t have asked for a better Valentine’s weekend.

Now it's time to relax!

Mom's turn: Gifts from Afar

Today we worked hard on placing Mao in school. We visited two different area high schools and made progress; both said they would accept her it’s just a matter of preference. Now we are waiting to have her evaluated for placement with the ESL program and then she can start.

Then when we got home we got a very special surprise. Mao’s mother sent a host present for me and a birthday present for Christina...a fabulous mini-kaleidoscope phone charm,

a pink pencil, and a beautiful puzzle card. So of course we had to make her a thank you card :-D Mao enjoyed learning about our passion for scrapping and card making, too. She made her very own to send home. I’m sure her mother was happy to hear from her. Somehow they got mailed before I got pictures :-/

Mom's turn: A White Elephants

Literally :-D My FIL wanted to do a white elephant gift exchange game for our family lunch on Christmas. I thought I would be crafty and make the wrapping paper and labels for that personal touch since the gifts were supposed to be funny. With my fabulous baby bug, a Cricut, I was able to cut out an elephant, hat and "JOY" and then decorate them with sparkles to make it special!!! I did one for each of our packages…and somehow everyone guessed they were from me!!!!!! Think the elephant gave it away? :-D

Mom's turn: {kre-at'}

I purchased a wall treatment from Stampin’ Up’s new Décor catalogue to surprise Teeny with. When I saw it I instantly thought of my talented DD and all of her art work hanging on the walls; it was so perfect I had to try. After a little…uh, make that a LOT of work, I finally got it on the wall.

Mom's turn: my birthday wishes came true

My fantastically talented daughter finished the necklace she gifted me for my birthday. It turned out so beautiful…but of course I’m not surprised. Her talent has taken off and I’m lucky enough to reap the rewards. She stitched my necklace with iridescent hexagon beads and turquoise seed beads in a Russian spiral pattern. She left it up to me to pick the colors and charm and she chose the pattern. I also found the most delicately carved silver holder to go with it where she takes her lessons, The Bead Company. I was so enchanted with the finished product that I needed a chance to show it off, pajamas just didn’t do it justice! So I made reservations at the Melting Pot for a mother/daughter dinnerwhere we had the cheese and chocolate special. I must admit that the cheese was great, but the yin-yang chocolate was to DIE for!!!!!!! We even had seconds on the dippers!

Mom's turn: Thankful for...

Well – this year I must say I’m thankful for life and health! The past few holidays have been riddled with death, funerals, and surgeries. I’m definitely ready for a change! So this year I was excited to cook for my sister-in-law and her family; although serving her husband, who is a fabulous gourmet chef, was a bit intimidating!!! SOOOOOO – where are the pictures and recipes for this fantastic dinner????? Good question. I got so wrapped up in preparing for it that I forgot to take pictures of the final thing :-/ To top it off, most of my recipes seemed to have disappeared, presumably into the garbage. I was a little aggressive on the “clean-up” part afterwards. I did capture a few things, however:

our new scarecrow for a whimsical greeting

several pinecones for various projects...this required some lovely family walks around the neighborhood. That's why I enjoy crafts!

Hmmm - not the holiday polish I had in mind

beading...I thought this was Teeny's craft!?!?!?! She was kind enough to share all of her beads and ideas, though. LOTS of coffee is necessary for this venture.
two down - several more to go

what exactly did I get myself into??

the finished product - how beautiful, and oh so worth the effort! It was surrounded by all of the desserts on the buffet when things were set up.

a game - that required more family walks. This time around the LSU campus and lakes. What a beautiful time of year for it, too.

a jar full of different sized acorns

the game was to guess how many were in there, 182...the reward was a highly prized iTunes card.

the winner - my nephew. No picture, but he looks like the squirrel on top of the jar ;-)

OKAY - let's see what else we can do!!!

Teeny and I had a blast with these...and the kids, both family and nieghborhood, loved them!

and for the adults...TRYING to be healthy. I made a fruit turkey - he was quite photogenic with his bright red snood. He was very yummy and went fast, too. Hopefully he helped make up for my HH's delicious blackberry breadpudding...you can see the ingredients next to him: butter, blackberries, butter, bread, sugar, and did I mention butter?????
here is where the AHHH factor comes in for me...the finished table is set with China that I received from Great-Great, who passed away this year. It was a wonderful way for her memory to carry on with us during this holiday season.

TOOOO MUCH TURKEY - Samson said it was nap time!

After all of the festivities, my DD still found the energy to go to the movies with friends. Ahhh - to be young again.