Vixen or Blitzen?

Look who Santa sent to visit the 2nd grade at the kids school today! Too bad my kids aren't in the 2nd grade, but at least they were able to see her in the trailer after school.

The Woman of the Clan, Mostly

My niece Bethaney came home for a visit so the woman of the clan got together for lunch at the Olive Garden. One of my favorite restaurants by the way. Kate really enjoyed being with two of the three older cousins again.

Outside after lunch. We were only missing 7 of us, one being my Jordan girl who was in school. Wish they all could have been with us. It was such a nice visit.

Spencer's Thanksgiving Card

My son Spencer is in his 2nd year of Chinese class at school, he started in the second grade.
This year in that class, he made me a Thanksgiving card. The front of the card says,( in Chinese) Happy Thanksgiving. With a turkey on a platter with a knife pointing to it. The turkey is thinking "uh oh!"
On the inside is a live turkey saying, "do not eat me plea...!!" Notice the arrows coming in at the turkey. Then on the other side the turkey is on the platter and saying, "oh well, can you pass the cranberry sauce?" It also says in Chinese, I'm thankful for mama.







The back has the turkey on a platter and a pumpkin.

No offence to the vegetarians, but I think this card is not only sweet, but hilarious. The turkey is very well drawn. I love this card and will keep it forever.

Down Thru The Generations

My daughter Kate called me up the other day saying she needed to make some pumpkin pies for a dinner they were having at the newspaper where she works on campus. Not only did that make me happy that she wanted to learn but it got me thinking. My mom tells the story of when she learned to make pie crust.

She wanted to be able to make good, flaky pie crust so she took the ingredients and went to her grandma who had had a pie shop in Indianapolis many years before. They made batch after batch of pie crust until she could make it like her grandma.

When I was a teenager, she decided it was time for me to also learn the long lost art of flaky goodness. So I learned, much to the delight of my pie loving husband, and now it is time for me to pass on years of experience down to my oldest daughter.

It makes me happy that I am in a long line of pie makers, and it also makes me happy to think that my great grandma is looking down and smiling because her skills, knowledge and love of a good pie have been passed on many years after she has been gone. My youngest daughter Jordan watches and tries to help, so one day I will teach her like I did her big sister and many years from now maybe they both will teach their own daughters and they in turn will teach theirs and on and on.

Not only did Kate's crust turn out great, but the filling did too. She had rave reviews from her coworkers, they couldn't believe she made them from scratch.
The tradition continues.

4th Of July 2011

4th of July, one of our favorite holidays. My husband LOVES buying and setting off fireworks. The kids also love looking at them and getting them ready to go.

That evening the cousins came over and watched the fireworks in our neighborhood with us. I am so glad they love each other so much.

Crazy kids. I hope they have good memories of this when they are older.

Lady bug, Lady bug fly away home

Jordan turned 7 back in June and for her birthday she wanted a lady bug theme. I think it was inspired by her lady bug pillow pet, So I did my best to make it happen for her.

The table looked as lady buggy as I could think of, and she got her lady bug cake. It was red velvet with mini chocolate chips in it so it would have the lady bug spots when you cut into it. Going a bit too far? Maybe, but she loved it and that's all that matters.

Happy Birthday sweetheart, now blow out those candles.

To me, what was the most fun, and a real stroke of genius if I do say so myself, was finding a web site that sold real live ladybugs. We set free 1500 ladybugs, and the kids loved it.

Ladybugs exploring their new home.

6

And of course we set off fireworks.

My Pretty Little Girl

This is Jordan, one of the worlds most ornery little girls with a mind all her own. I wanted to get some pictures of her like the ones we took of her older sister many years ago. I like the softer side of her that came out in these.

I love this one.

Candid moment between shots.

Their hearts belong to Grandma & Grandpa

Jordan loves spending time with her Grandpa, but I'll let the pictures do the talking.

And Spencer loves spending time with his Grandma. Let's face it, they both love both of them.

Just the begining of the change

I am now redecorating Jordan's bedroom. To start I repainted her old dresser, that is after sanding, priming etc... in about a million degree heat. It's done and she likes it. In fact this is her model pose for it. Watch out "The price is right" girls, she may be coming for your job. Silly girl.

Lovin My Vera Wang's

On my way out of the store after buying my husband's Father's day gift, I happened to walk past the shoe rack. That in turn reminded my that my sandals broke last week and I needed to buy a new pair. I immediately spotted these Vera Wang's and I couldn't help myself. They were calling to me "Nicole, buy us we're very pretty and sparkly!" I fell in love with them and now they sit on my feet, and I am as happy as a clam with them. Ahhhh new shoes how I have missed you.