I know, I know!

OK so call it a case of the winter blahs, but yes I realize it is practically March. I have been hard at work playing angry birds on my phone and avoiding all but the most critical of chores, so judge all you want!!! LOL Finally sometime last week (days are kind of flowing together so I can't be sure) I started a major home takeover/major make-under. I got pretty far with it, and I got my craft room put back together and set up so hopefully I can get back into the swing of ME again and not be so overwhelmed (or underwhelmed-whatever). There are SO many things I want to work on!! I have a VERY busy summer and the usual spring insanity so I kind of had to pull myself out of hibernation. It was SO much more fun to watch Regis and Kelly and the Doctors every day!! But now, I gotta work. The list is long, and NOT glamorous but here are some fun projects I wanna tackle in 2011:

Paint over all the red: Entryway will become muted large diamond pattern, fam room wall to match the rest

Repaint kitchen (including cabintes, add hardware, bakers rack, pantry overhaul)

Backyard (can I get a triple woo hoo!!!)

Flooring (I think I have Mark convinced to tackle this one as well)

Slipcover upstairs couches and move them downstairs, lighten up all decor (the black and red is depressing me)

Laundry room: (I would call it a make over, but its never been "made" the first time so we'll just say......functionalize it

Its sounds like a LOT, but the plans I have are ALL DIY and really just surface stuff. The back yard is the biggie, but the one I can't live without. I've gone almost 3 years.....at this rate we'll have grandkids that can't go out back and play. The flooring is gonna be a HUGE job but not very expensive, Mark can do concrete on it. Everything else is paint, fabric, and elbowgrease. If and when I get to each of these tasks, there will be LOTS of before and afters.

Christmas Recap 2010

Ahhhh Christmas. Do you ever rate your Christmas? This year I felt way behind the 8 ball. I had such well made plans that got waylaid by work {popcorn}. I definetly dropped the ball in the categories of : Gracious hostessing, Home cleanliness, Neighbor gifts, Avoidance of last minute gift crafting, Advent calendering with the kiddos, and Christmas card sending. I get a D- in all of the above. FORTUNATELY this Christmas in the categories of : Family togetherness and harmony, spirituality, eating delicious food, awesome presents, Decorating, Staying on a decent budget, Healthiness and safety, and all around good time had by all, it was at least an A!! Or as my dad would say, it was a 10! Although I dont know that my dad would rate it as a 10, its my blog so my ratings :D

Lets start with crafty stuff. Not much new to see here, but I did get a Silhouette cutter, and many many good things will be forthcoming.... I did make this I saw on a blog...it really looked cute out on my porch. Its a little more topsy than turvy, but it was still cute.






Then I got a flash of recycle genius and grabbed this shutter that I had pulled out of someones trash back in the summer just waiting to be put to perfect use:

I hot glued mini clothespins on it to hold the cards. Love it. I'll be changing the saying on the top and making it into some sort of bulletin board for all year.

Christmas eve day...while my siblings and kids cleaned the house and did all the cooking I was shopping for Mark , delivering 80 bags of popcorn and sewing away. I had great company though :D My mom is recovering from a ruptured achilles so she was a great baby holder!

Brianna made this amazing thing:

Emily made the soup and dipped all my pretzels

A lot of this goes on when we are together:

My sis Katie and Kam had a puppy with them to give to Kams brother, the kids were in heaven with this sweet little guy. Nate had his 2 toy maltese running around as well. We also had Ava all week and the cousins had a ball

We had made the arrangements for my dad to bless Bri's little Killian on Christmas eve to kick off our little program. It was a very sweet event and the Spirit was so strong!

My brother Nate and his wife and 8 month old Aiden came all the way out from VA to spend Christmas with us

Seriously, the sweetest baby ever. And LOOK at those legs!!! The biggest squishiest legs I've ever seen!! LOL

HA!!! Caught ya lookin handsome!!


Christmas jammies!

Katie and Jeter, Bri and Killian, and Em holding Aiden. We missed Max SO much!! My brother Nick and his fam were sorely missed, but getting a fam of 5 home from Hawaii on a students budget is not realistic. Nicks wife had a baby this year too!

Acting out the nativity


It turned out to be a great holiday. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it will be SO much more fun and memorable to remember the Lego Santa debacle, the 3 crazy dogs, Mark yelling at me in front of my family, and Santa forgetting Ava's stocking. We had fun, got amazing presents and most of all spent time together and got to know Nates wife a little better. She is Korean and this was her first Christmas ever. This was the first year we had this many of us together in at least 10 years. Now its time to put it all away and start a fresh new year!

Cuz we need a little Christmas

Its so nice when someone else can bake :D





The "big" tree in the front room, a new addition the year, I traded hair services for it and did a white, silver and ice blue theme. FINALLY a tree that actually is the proper scale for the
room. I'm in heart with it! And between what I aready had and what my mom brought me to use, I spent exacty 3 dollars adding to it. YAY me!

Then the "classic" tree, for the family room, with all the fun, colorful and kid-made ornaments. I decided the secret to making colored lights look really good on a tree is to pile them on as many as possible, and then pile on a bunch of white as well.

Ahhhh, I do love me some Christmas! We had our 2nd annual Live Nativity tonight, I got to sing a duet and Emcee, and Cade sang a Solo of Little Drummer Boy and did great. Wyatt and Dayton were also last minute shepherds and sang. The set and costumes were beautiful! Next Christmas venture is our fab Elgin street party which I am hosting this year and have big plans for ho ho ho. ahhhh time to get busy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as we did!! It was a lot of work as usual. but always worth it to enjoy a beautiful meal with family and friends.




First up.....the tablescape. I made this runner that I saw on a really neat blog called Its always a party at the Parkers. Its burlap and cornhusks, so inexpensive but elegant. Just my speed :D The white pumpkin was a score for free at Trader Joes and the little goblets are Goodwill. I love putting stuff together like that!!

Next up....FOOD! We had turkey of course, and it turned out delicious, brined and cooked in a bag. It was demolished before I got the camera out though. My friend Alane and I started playing around and pretending we were food photogs for a magazine with all the leftovers. SO fun!!!!

Some culinary highlights: Honey Glazed Ham




Homemade cinnamon orange cranberry sauce:




Dads stuffing...the good stuff!

Alane was in charge of desserts and outdid herself with lemon bars

And Italian Cream Cake...TO DIE FOR (I mean southern baking at its best right here!)

The guests:Dianne and CT, Our friend Alane, Robert (Denise Atom and Logan around somewhere) and me Mark and the kids)

Kiddos and their Grandma Lamb getti ng ready to head out to the traditional post dinner movie

As you can see it was a great day, the Pats AND the Saints won, and now its time for MORE friends and family to come over for some games and, of course, food. I am beyond blessed!!!!