wow!

from wednesday morning 5:00 am till midnight last night... I was going nonstop!! I was almost glad to go to work this morning, just to relax! lol! I had a great holiday week though.. and the topping on the cake was seeing sandy and natalea this weekend. We had a nice time. I got there sat about lunch time. natalea and sandy had gone out dancing the night before and they were pretty tired and in need of food.. so we decided to go to lunch instead of dinner.. so we went to paneras and then to michaels then back to nats to craft and hang out.

I taught the girls how to make elves. didnt they all turn out cute? Nat had yummy snacks for us to much on while we created and she bought Baileys Irish Creme.. just thinking of me! (OMG I love that stuff!) like once upon a time.. back in the day... like.. wayyyyyyyy back.. like at about age 19 or 20... my friend and I played hooky.. we left work early, went to the liqour store bought the biggest bottle of Baileys, went home and wrapped presents and drank the whole bottle! and boy did we have a blast! christmas just wouldnt be Christmas with out some baileys! in fact.. I better buy a bottle for here soon! (thanks nat! though I have to say, after the girls wild night of dancing and partying, neither of them had any baileys with me!!!) silly girls!

we swapped ornies and gifties! I made the girls these snowbears. I dont have a good picture of one. (thats the elf that nat made in this pic too.)

Sandy made these freaken awesome ornies!

Natalea made these adorable little holiday pillows! mine is soo cute with little Christmas kittens on it! and she gave us these amaryllis plants.. I planted mine this morning and took it to work to brighten up my office. (I decorated my office for Christmas today too! heehee)

I think I need a new camera, mine isnt taking the best pictures these days. unless its the camera operator... (which is very likely!)
these are the adorable ornaments that natalea made. I love them!

This cry baby is from Sandy and this picture doesnt do it justice, first of all its big and pink and all glittery! and it says, baby its cold outside. Ithank you girls for such fun gifts!

these are some other cuties that Sandy gave us! can you see sandy through the cellophane? hehee!

I took a bunch of pics of nataleas adorable decorations.. but didnt think I should make my post that long! so hop over to my flickr and see them. They are all posted there. heres one little teaser....! or bop over to sandys blog at see her pics.. she is a much better photographer then I!

In other news! I did a swap with Kim from Kims musings. I LOVE kim.. she and I just love the same things and we have become pretty good friends. she sent me this box full of vintagey awesomeness! I love it all! I did not get good pics of everything but i plan on taking a few minutes tomorrow maybe and snapping up some pics of where i put everything!

Kim is very thoughtful. She even included the sweetest little vintage christmas apron. which you can get just a glimpse of in the top pic.

thank you so much Kim! Shes so on the ball with mailing early! I will send out your gifties soon!

OK.. with all that said.. I need to get a bowl of ice cream and then come back and do some blog hopping myself!

night girlies!

xoxoxoxo

going away for the weekend!

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! we did. Lots of food, lots of people and lots of fun.. my kids are all loud and obnoxious so that makes for a good time.. usually. See the adorable little name cards my step granddaughter made? arent they sweet!? and isnt she a doll? she is the funniest little girl. Im so glad to have her as part of my family! (and her brother Carson too.. he did not want his picture on my blog though... but ella did!)


so today I'm off to hamburg (buffalo) for the weekend. I'll be staying at Nataleas (kandeland) awesome house and Sandy Camarda (Sandys show and tell) is coming from Canada too. We'll be crafting and hanging out.. going out for dinner and who knows what else.
This has been a very busy long weekend! wednesday; babysitting and baking.. thursday cooking and family and then to our friends for massive amounts of desserts.. then yesterday I got 9 of the bins of Christmas out and got mostly decorated. Did not get the tree up yet.. that will have to wait. Last night was game night at my girlfriends house (wait to you see the silly video we made! ) and I babysat for torry pie again. lots of fun.. this morning I'm packing and getting ready to go. I need to throw on some make up so I can be beautifous and run to walmart to get some parrot food and then I'm off to Nataleas! I have my camera packed.. and you know you can count on me for a few pictures!
have a great weekend girls!
♥I'll get caught up on your bloggies tomorrow♥
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

thanksgiving

Im thankful for sooo many things it would be impossible to make a list. maybe I can just say that I am thankful for my life and everything in it that causes me joy or sustains us. And perhaps I should include, even some of the more uncomfortable things that dont bring joy, but make us stronger and bind us together. Does that cover everything? I think it does. I am thankful to God for the life hes given me and the forgiveness that he bestows on me daily for all the bad thats in me! (I know you dont see it.. but its there.. believe me!) I am thankful for inspiration, color and creativity... I am thankful for the ability to occupy myself for hours on end making silly little cute things.. that tickle me and make me giggle! I am thankful for my blogland buddies!! though you are included in the first part when I said "anything that brings me joy!"

so yesterday I baked pies, made stuffing, made some appetizers and I baby sat for torry pie in the morning. We baracaded ourselves in the kitchen and baked and laughed the hours away!

I dont need to tell you how thankful I am for this baby do I???

OMG! I love him to pieces!

So the whole family is coming for dinner tonight.. what used to be 6 of us has turned into 13! and is soon to be 15 by next summer! and I should add that I am VERY thankful that each of my children has found someone special to love, be loved by and to spend their lives with. That has been a prayer of mine since they were babies.

I think we'll have plenty of food! wanna hear what we're having??

(you have no choice.. unless you stop reading here!

We are having: Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatos, sweet potato casserole, squash, green bean casserole, salad, rolls, cranberry sauce, shrimp cocktail, stuffed hot peppers and desserts.. pumpkin, apple and pecan pies and cheesecake! lots of yumminess.. we arent eating until about 5:30. I prefer to eat at about 3:00, but I have to share my family with other families now.. so they will visit the others first.. then come here. Then after dinner we will pack up all the desserts and head down the road to our good friends house. We get together on thanksgiving night with two other families, our closest friends and hang out. We all bring our desserts and eat a little of everything! OINK OINK!!

uh oh.. Im sorry figgy and frannie have no manners and are sitting on the table checking out the turkey! oh the little naughties! but I just love them soo..

can I add them to my list of thankful for.... well they too are included in the anything that brings me joy.. but I sure am thankful to have these little fuzzy wuzzy fluffy baby pies!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

I wish you all to have bellies full of good food and hearts full of good cheer!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

a cupcake story!

I made some christmas cupcakes this morning.. well really, I made the bases last night and finished them this morning. arent they cute? I have a funny cupcake story to tell you!

so you know Ive been on this faux cupcake kick since this summer and have made them for every holiday and occasion right?

they just look so real and they look great sitting on the kitchen counter on a wire tiered rack.

They also have made sweet little ornaments!

My husband and family of course think i'm nuts and well, I probably am! They have gotten used to seeing non edible cupcakes in the kitchen.. nothing unusual here!

So, after the shower last weekend, there were a bunch of cupcakes left sitting on the rack and I just left them out thinking someone would eat them (pic below). Anyways after a few days they were gettign a little hard and I asked my husband if he cared if I threw them away. He wondered why he would care... I wondered why he hadnt eaten any! He said "@%#&* #%$@^ Vivian I dont know whats real and what s not around here. How the hell was I supposed to know I could eat those!"

Whoopsie!! guess I forgot to tell him! but I definitely told him not to eat the christmas cupcakes I made today.. he said he wouldnt even think of it! the poor man!

sooooo.....

there were too cupcakes in the oven..... one looked at the other and said.. "geez its freaken hot in here!" The other looked at the first one and said... "holy shit! a talking cupcake!"

hahhahhheeeeeheee haa!

sorry I love that stupid joke!

sweet dreams girlie pies!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxo

Ive been making little christmas presents!

I love the tiny little prints on these scrapbook papers. theyre perfect for wrapping tiny gifts! and arent the little frosted jingle bells cute!? Ive been working on some christmas projects for a few days...

Ive had some little elves dancing around in my brain for a couple weeks. just waiting for a chance to work on them... but I had a couple swaps to finish up first.

every christmas elf should have some candy canes or peppermints, dont you think?

Peek a boo! we see you! are you ready to see us???

TA DAH!! we are the little presents!

these two are my favorites..

These two are NOt my favorites. but theyre still sort of cute.. the next ones i make I'll put more definition in their noses and mouths. I was being lazy when I made these faces!

I've made 4 so far. I think I'll be making a few more.

but for now... Im taking a few peeks at blogs.. and then Im heading to bed.. I am really tired! TGIF!!!!!! and I have no real plans for this weekend... relaxing and puttering.. and christmas stuff! sweet dreams my friends!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

a few baby shower pictures

heres some pics from the shower.. isnt torry pie the cutest little person!?

tiffany and the bear I made for baby marlaina!

me and the other grammy!

just opening gifts and hanging around! uhh.. I forgot to get pictures of all the food!!! duh!

and the decorations!

someone got very tired!

Tiffany and the diaper cake the girls made her.

with a cute little doggy that says its prayers..

One of my besties working in the kitchen! hates to have her picture taken!

another bestie with my baby!

cute picture of my daughter in love!

tiffs gram and aunt and her aunts baby!

cuppie cakes!

thats all folks.. I'm pooped... but I wanted to post some of these pics.. I really didnt take many and I missed out on some really good shots.. I was too busy to be snapping pics I guess!

sweet dreams all!

xoxoxoxoxoxo