Something New

After being inspired by my sister, Cynthia's vintage Christmas tree, I enjoyed shopping the antique stores in Paradise to find a few for my own tree. I love the different colores and the sweet details on each. I have had a small vintage tree for years, filled with some of my grandmother's ornaments, but I'll put these on the big tree this year. Mostly, I love the memories they inspire and the love that I have for all things vintage.

Decorating the Tree

This year I thought I would be decorating the tree alone (maybe with Jeff and Edward eating chili dogs and watching). But, Nole, Heather, Avery and North came up to help us! It was so much fun to watch the little one's excitement as they looked at each ornament. The result was so darling! (all the ornaments up front, in the center and only as high as they could reach). We ate the traditional chili dog dinner and enjoyed each other :)

I love the photo above, especially Avery's little bottom stocking out... The next one shows the boys "watching" the decorating and the last one is North givine a shrimp (which he called a scrimp) a kiss.

Such sweet little helpers...

Thanksgiving with my family

(top) Edward with his mama, Carey. (middle) Auntie Lynn, Auntie Cynthia and Lynn's Aunt Barbara, and me. (bottom) Same with Erin :)

Thanksgiving with my family

(above) Grandpa Lilley, Jeff, Edward, Me, Uncle Steve and Uncle Edward. (below) Jeff, Edward, Uncle Steve and Aunt Cynthia.

Thanksgiving with my family

Edward shot a rat in Uncle Edward's back yard. Yuck! I always like to take pictures of Edward with his namesake. Our Edward Bruce is named after my brother, Edward Bruce.

Thanksgiving with my family

Uncle Edward's yard in all it's Fall glory

Thanksgiving with my family

My husband Jeff and I along with our two youngest children traveled to Northern California to spend Thanksgiving with my family. This is my brother Edward's home in Paradise, California. I love his house and yard, it fits him so well. We had a lovely time, visiting and shopping in the antique stores in town. The boys wen't disc golfing together and Jeff and Uncle Steve took Edward and Erin out to the movies one afternoon as well.

We stayed with my sister, Cynthia. She has a darling home too, but I forgot to take pictures of it! Maybe next time...

Time with our SanDiego family

Just last weekend, Jeff and I got to visit with Annamae and her family. It was so nice to get to see them all! Nathan was turning 25 the following Monday, so it was extra special to get to be with him for his birthday. Gabriel was so darling. The minute we walked in he said "Do you want to see my bunny Grandma?" (Gabriel's Bunny is his very best friend, well loved and floppy). I of course had a conversation with Bunny and then kissed him hello. Gabriel rode around on PaPa's back most of the evening and entertained us with his new vocabulary. (Gwen was sleeping already).
It was fun to see AnnaMae's fall decorations and her beautiful new bedroom furniture. We got to visit again the next night, and then on Sunday we arrived bright and early with pink boxed donuts for everyone! This time, Gwen was awake. Anna had warned us that Gwen would probably be pretty shy and may not want to let us hold her. Well, she was wrong! It took only a few moments and she was in my lap, snuggling and being her sweet little self. She reminds us so much of Anna when she was little. We played and visited until the afternoon when it was sadly, time to leave.
On our way home, we met up with Emily and Cody for a little IKEA shopping and dinner.
On the way home, we decided we have the best kids and grandkids ever!
But, you already knew that.

Gwennie loves books and her PaPa

AnnaMae has made a special reading spot for Gabriel and Gwendolyne under the livingroom stairs. Gwendolyne loves books and it didn't take her long to invite PaPa in for some reading time.

Little Family, minus one...

Sandy Feet

Gwendolyne seemed to enjoy covering our feet with sand...

Project Number Two...

My other old blouse project is complete! My friend Yvonne actually shared this top with me. Now, we pass it on to Avery.

Avery's Skirt

I like the way Avery Bay's skirt turned out. I wasn't able to use the tie from my blouse because I wanted to add a large pocket and it didn't work to have both. I added cream-colored cotton trim on the bottom and a wider cream-colored trim to the pocket. I hope she likes it!

Pocket Detail...

Cute as a button...

Here is little Gwennie in her skirt. She looks darling in it! The top was too big, so she'll have to wear it later on, I guess. AnnaMae thought she could just let the elastic out in the skirt as she grew and could even add a trim on the bottom so she could wear it again later with the matching top. We'll see if it lasts that long. I'll post more photos from this fun visit with Anna and her family later today :)

A Wedding in the family

In September, our third daughter, Emily got married to her life-long boyfriend, Cody Mooney. I havn't blogged about it here yet, because I still don't have pictures to do it all justice. (the one above will have to do for now)
The wedding was lovely, and represented the bride and groom perfectly. The entire family was in the wedding and everyone pitched in to help in some way.
I can't wait to tell you all abou it, but indeed I will have to wait, and so will you...

An Old Blouse = New Outfit For Gwen

My daughter AnnaMae showed me a blog where the girl had made some darling little girl skirts and was selling them. I thought it would be fun to make my sweet granddaughters a skirt, and so my mind began to think on it. I remembered that the last time I cleaned my closet I had set aside two blouses that I never wore, but couldn't part with because I loved their fabric. I pulled out these blouses and after calling the mommies for waist measurements, set to work.
My first project is for Gwendolyn because I get to go see her this weekend. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and I thought this fabric suited her.
I also found a little boys white T-shirt in my stash and decided to revamp it for little Gwennie.
I cut it down to fit her, added the blouse neck trim to the tiny neck-line, embroidered flowers on the sleeves and added a fabric pocket, tiny ties and a pink crocheted flower.
All-in-all, I like the way this project turned out. I hope it fits Gwendolyn. I can imagine this little outfit for winter with heavy weave stockings and brown leather shoes.
*Stay tuned for project number two: A little skirt for Avery Bay...

Plain boy T-shirt

A Tiny Skirt...

Revamped boy T-shirt

Finished Project :)

Celebrating Edward

Our youngest son, Edward's real birthday is December 23rd. We were worried that his birthday would get lost in the Christmas holiday, so we have always celebrated it on his adoption day, which is October 27th.
This year, we had two celebrations and one of them was at his brother Nole's house on the evening of Halloween. This picture shows Edward (in the middle) with two of his favorite "big guys". His brother Nole is the pirate and his causin Matt is in the red ball cap. Both these guys have been good influences on Edward and he admires them both.
Edward is turning 18 this year, which is very hard to believe. It seems like not very long ago, that he was a tiny little guy asking a million questions and making us laugh. He still makes us laugh, he has a great sense of humor.

You never know, what God has for your life. I never would have guessed that I would have the honor of raising my sister's son. I know she would have wanted more than anything to have raised him herself, and yet she was brave enough and loved him enough to let us do it.
I'm sure God has wonderful plans for Edward's life. We as a family will be watching to see what those are. We are thankful for all that He has already done and we praise Him for letting us be a part of Edward's life in such an intimate way. Every time he learned something new or had a mile-stone experience I always thanked God that we were there to see it, and I asked Him to be a comfort to my sister who was unable to be.
It is my prayer that some day Edward will recognize all that God has done for him. All the love He has for him and the great sacrifice his mother made for him.
We love you Edward.

Well, it's short now! I think I'd better leave it alone for awhile, or I'll be completely bald... It is EASY to fix for sure and gets me ready about 20 minutes faster than before. It has been about 10 years since I had hair this short. Jeff likes it, so that's nice :)

Small Sweater...

I finished crocheting this little sweater today. I used a pattern from an old book I got on a sale table a year ago. I am practicing my pattern- following skills and even stitches etc... I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I especially love the way the edging acts like loops to go over the buttons and the hood is darling too. I love the way the colors turned out and am looking forward to my next project. The only problem is that it's not MY size...

Fun Times

We had a nice weekend with our son Nole and his little family. Little North was excited by the pumpkins by our door. He would ask several times a day to go out and look at them. We all went on a walk around camp and ended up at the playground where we watched some deer and the kids played in the sand. North dumped a scoop of sand on Pa Pa's head and I overheard Avery telling an imaginary friend that she wasn't a very nice girl and she didn't want to play with her anymore. Heather brought me a cool white pumpkin and my favorite two coffee cookies for my birthday. She also made me a beautiful card to go with it that was signed by the whole family. Heather also made us a yummy fresh pasta dish for dinner and we bowled on the Wii together.It was a quiet weekend just enjoying time with each other... so fun

Hair Cut

Well, here it is... I have been wanting to cut my hair for some time now. I like it, but I think I'd like it shorter. I have a really cute picture of a shorter cut and may go back on Monday. It does feel healthier though and everyone seems to like it.

Weekend Hike

This past weekend two of our girls came home for a visit. Emily and her new husband, Cody and Erin and her boyfriend, Dustin. We had such a nice weekend, but I especially enjoyed our hikes that we took together on both Saturday and Sunday. These photos are from our Saturday hike around Princess Meadow. It is amazing to me that this is our backyard! I thank God that we get to live in such a beautiful place.

The girls each brought their new puppies along, which was fun too. They both are so cute and have such sweet personalities. It felt like having grandkids come home for a visit. We sat around watching them play and laughed at all the cute things they did. And, just like with babies, the "parents" enjoyed putting them away for a nap so they could relax. Edward enjoyed having some young guys in the house as well. They played Wii Fit and other Wii games and stayed up late playing XBox. The whole weekend was such fun. The only thing that would have made it better, is if all the kids were home together. But then, my attentions would have been divided between my grandkids and the puppies...

Only Child...

I wonder what Edward is thinking. It must be wierd to grow up in a house full of kids, to finally have them all leave home. Being the "only child" for the first time ever must feel strange.
No more sisters acting like mini mothers. No more big brother always getting to do cool things that you don't get to do. Now, it's just you. I bet he likes all of the attention, except when it means that mom (who has been home alone all day) is asking a million questions and wondering how he "feels" about something.
I know he likes it that all the "fun" food is his. Nobody else will eat it up, before he gets a chance to :) I think he likes that we are more relaxed with him now. This always happens with the baby...
My hope is that we will get to know him better. That we will get the chance to say the important things that need to be said and just at the right moment. (It is always the goal in your child's last years at home, to create a mutual respect and grace-filled love that they just can't resist.) One that will pull at their hearts in later years, give them the longing to call home, or to come and visit.
It doesn't seem right that my youngest child should be a senior in highschool. That he should be taller than his dad and have a sense of humor that is all his own. It seems like yesterday that we were working on being able to play quietly alone and how to take a deep breath and try again.
I love this kid and thank God for the gift of his life. The house seems quiet now, but what will it be like when he's gone?
Maybe we (Jeff and I) will run around in our underwear just because we can...
Or not.

Mini Berry Cobblers

Yesterday I made berry cobblers for my son Edward. I had been looking for a good pie crust recipe and recently a friend gave me this one. It is the kind of crust that you just pat into the pie plate. It doesn't roll out, so it isn't good for pies with tops on them. However, I was making tiny cobblers, so I did place a piece of patted dough on the top before baking. I baked these little guys on 350 degrees until they were golden brown and bubbly. I filled them with mixed berries (the frozen kind) that I added some sugar and a tablespoon of cornstarch to. I sprinkled the top with sugar before I put them in the oven. They were so good warm. We wished we had vanilla ice cream to put on top, but a little milk was tasty too.

Pie Crust Recipe
1 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 T sugar
2 T milk
1/2 Cup oil
Mix all together in a bowl with a
fork until it is kind of moist.
Press into pie plate with fingers

fall is my favorite time of year...