Happy 2010!

Once again, this is old news, so I'm going to attempt to post everything I've missed without too many words. I need to use some words...it's just been way too long!



Santa brought Jane a Tinkerbell dress. She hates it. She said it's "for Halloween". We're going to try to return it to Disney World this summer. :(


Jane got a scooter too (a Mini Kick....it's awesome). Kate rode it when she wasn't looking:








Grandpa Bob's famous Kitchen Rides:




Of course there was a Snuggie:


Great Grandma Fang was here:


Then, a week at my parents' house in Detroit:




Noah reeeeeeeally wanted to get in the picture with the girls...so cute!!!








We spent New Year's Eve at my brother Steve's house with my good friend Gena and her family. It was her son Avery's 6th birthday.






Steve & Tina had trick candles so the kids got to blow them out many times!!! See all the smoke?






We took a trip to my Uncle Mike's farm in Adrian, MI. My mom's ENTIRE family was there (almost). The house was filled to the brim. So much fun and so great to see everyone!!! Everyone wanted to explore all the barns...below is the old outhouse. It was 347 degrees below zero that day, otherwise I'd have lots more pictures of the outside!!!




The kids got to meet cousins they didn't even know they had. This is only about one-fourth of the kids. Did anyone else get a better picture of everyone together?












I got to see my cousins too! Almost all of them!!! But I only got one picture...me & Lynnie.


See that tree behind us??? Uncle Mike has the best Christmas trees and ornaments!






Oh, and one more thing...Jane tried Coke for the first time. She had no idea why she had been missing out on this delicioius sweet liquid for so long!!!


Sorry, I should have posted this weeks ago. I know no one wants to look at Christmas pictures anymore. I promise to be a better blogger in 2010! I'm working on some more time-appropriate material to share with you...Valentine's Day stuff!

Be back soon!!!

Merry Christmas!

Be back soon with more Christmas pictures...
I hope everyone has a very special Christmas Day!

Getting Ready...

I made my own Christmas tags this year... I'm sick of those cornball stick-on tags. This project took a cheap box of office store tags (and I like the old-time office-y look), some stamps I got at the new Atlanta Paper Source, and a little red ink pad. And it took about 15 minutes. And if you know our family, this pile won't be enough...

If you don't want to make your own tags, but want something really cute and unique, you can download these free printables and either adhere them to tags like the ones above, or just cut them out and stick them to your packages. I especially love the snow bunny.

Image courtesy of Ohdeedoh

Christmas Card Rejects

I took 274 pictures (so far) for our Christmas card and didn't get one worthy yet. Christmas is less than two weeks away so I need to figure out something fast. Although I didn't get the perfect shot yet, I did get tons of cute ones. Forget about getting one of Jane and Kate together...I've decided separate shots is the way to go this year. Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the reject shots with you.

Do you like all the needles on the (just vacuumed) carpet from our dead-one-day-after-purchased tree? And the extension cord spaghetti visible in the background?


Or how about the random fallen ornament/pacifier/two year-old's bracelet in the background of this shot??? Lovely.

Sugar Shack

When my mom was in town a few weeks ago, we were shopping and I spotted these adorable illuminated cardboard houses at Pottery Barn...for $70. Yes, I said they were cardboard. Anyway, I turned to my mom and said, "ya know, I could make that."


So I bought this cardboard cottage at Hobby Lobby for $2.40.


And with some paint, glitter and some other fun things in my stash, I turned it into this for my sweet niece, Holly, who turned one on Saturday. Complete with a hand dyed pink bottle brush tree and a sweet snowman in the front yard. You can't see it in the picture, but I also added a little light inside ($3) just like the stupidly expensive Pottery Barn one has. And mine is cuter, right???

A little doormat embroidered with Holly's name...


And here she is, the beautiful birthday girl. Happy Birthday, Holly!