Everyone needs an Uncle KK...

The boys are always so busy and "on the go" that most of my pics the last couple of years are very candid...that being said I still wanted to try to capture one last photo of them before they began their trip back to Texas... they were all dressed up (meaning not in their pj's), hair combed, no toys out to distract them, etc.  I asked them to sit on the couch so I could snap a couple of quick poses...G is getting where he will indulge me and the camera, for a few seconds at least, not so much with M. I still got a few adorable shots, but soon they were distracted by something more fun...Uncle KK was standing in the same room, so they were quick to jump up and start playing around with him.

Maybe I shouldn't stress over not having more traditional, posed shots...because, how cute is this? What a cool uncle he is, and they love to wrestle around with him...I think the feeling is mutual. These are the pics I treasure the most... 

Continuing to "ham it up" for the camera...

These are priceless... 

...and they are priceless!

Christmas at Nienie's...fun times!

We had so much fun over the holidays...no one was sick...no drives to Urgent Care this year because of sore throats or strep...we all relaxed, ate, played, took naps, read, watched movies, and simply enjoyed being together as a family. It just can't get any better than that. Fun was had by all!
The table game was meant to be one of daddy's gifts...

...and if you hold your mouth just right, and concentrate
it makes it a lot more fun!

Sorry daddy, maybe you can play next time...

The boys got some wooden toys to put together, packaged with screws and a kid-friendly screwdriver, G got a tow truck and M got a train
...after assembly they needed a colorful paint job

I love that they are so creative and enjoy building things and putting things together-they are perfect crafting buddies for Nienie!

...and G is a natural at reading directions and following them step by step, it's fun to see him so confident and self assured, the printed pages are not intimidating to him at all... 

...I'm sure M will soon be reading his own directions because he loves to follow along and do anything his big brother does!

I hope everyone had a blessed holiday!

Does this ever happen to you?

Christmas Eve at Deda's...
we really wanted a group pic of the little ones,
just one would be great-
we don't get everyone together very often...

After coaxing all of them into the same general area
we thought the rest would be a breeze,
quick and painless
we thought we had it made...
Should it be so challenging
to get everyone's attention at the same time?

Of course, there is always the animated one...
teasing us, making us think we were almost there,
and also one (or two, or three) who could care less...

All of our clapping and snapping and dancing around
did nothing to convince them to all look our way and smile...
especially not all at the same time. 
They were really making us work for it...

Maybe even better than snapping the perfect picture,
was watching their comical faces entertain us
as we waited patiently for group cooperation,
which was not to be had...

At this point, we can tell that it's not going to happen,
not like we thought, anyway...
let's throw a "big kid" into the act and see what happens...

We aren't making perfect pictures,
but we are making perfect memories...

Thanks kids, maybe next year.
Happy Holidays!

Sometimes...

sometimes when you go to nienie's you
get to play on the computer...

and sometimes there are two computers so you
don't have to share...

and sometimes the room is messy, because
nienie was busy playing too...

and sometimes you get tired of the computer
and have to move on to nienie's iphone:-)...

and sometimes marley thinks maybe you will take a
break soon and play with her in the backyard...

...and sometimes you just give up and take a nap!

I've been busy...

Remember this?

I finally stitched the last stitch in it yesterday...I'm so happy with how it turned out...

Here's a peek at the back...fabric is by Sweetwater...

I loved Sweetwater papers when they printed them for scrapbooking...and they produce awesome fabrics, as well...their graphics/patterns remind me of "down-home", comfy-ness (I'm sure that's probably not a real word)

Here's the spot it was made for, beside the bed in my bedroom...

Now, I need to get to work on the one for the other side table. I'm using the same fabrics, but a different pattern...so, more to come!

Now, I want to re-paint my furniture...Hmmmmm...
which color should I choose?

Some finished projects...

As I mentioned in this post, I have several projects in different states of completion....I was happy to get a few things finished today...

I'm trying to use up as many leftover fabric scraps as I can and it's been fun to make some small projects to practice my machine quilting on...I normally like to do all of my quilting by hand, it's just something that is very relaxing for me in the evenings when I'm too tired to do anything else...

I made a couple (with several more waiting to be finished!) of small potholders, mug rugs, or whatever you want to call them...

They coordinate with the table runner I made in this post, and they are just the right size to leave on the counter for my hot tea or sonic drink!...

Now, I'm off to finish my next project, more on that tomorrow.

"Yeah" for snow days...

Yummy Cupcakes from Pinterest...

I had so much fun making these cupcakes, the recipe and directions are from here...I used the recipe as a guide, mixing up the brownie mix and the strawberry cake mix exactly as stated on the  back of the mixes...

It was very helpful to use my small cookie scoop from Pampered Chef for the brownie mix, one scoop was just right...and it kept me from dripping cake mix all over the pan (which I usually do!)

After filling the bottoms with brownie mix, I added two scoops of the strawberry cake mix...the recipe states that it will make 48 cupcakes, I must have filled mine a little fuller because my batch only made 36...

Having less of the brownie mix helped the cupcakes bake evenly, normally the brownies would take a bit longer to bake than just plain strawberry cupcakes...

Here they are, ready to go in the oven...please don't judge me by the looks of my old, stained, cupcake pan:)

And, boy oh boy! they smelled divine...

I added some frosting after they cooled and sprinkled some cute little red candy lips on top that I found at Hobby Lobby...

I definitely will be making these again, they were so, so yummy.