We're Back...Things are a'changing

I came over from facebook to take a look at this space...and I realized that I like all the history within my blog.  

I also realized I have missed a lot of life.

One piece of life, who arrived last July is beautiful Jason, my second grandson.

I was there when he entered the world...I was blessed to be witness to this great miracle.

My husband and I have flowed easily into the role of Grandma and Grandpa.  

 Grandpa is still the baby whisperer.  

He learned from our ten kids and has seamlessly adapted to grandparenthood.

 Amy and Becky (Jason's mom) are both working at Holy Cross. Amy is a teacher and Becky is the school secretary.  

This is the school that Grace, Luke and Kim now attend...

 Luke and Mark cleaning the kitchen after a family dinner. 

Luke is no longer homeschooled.  He has adjusted very well to a brick and mortar school.  

Mark has entered the workforce.

 We are no longer living in the "little house".  Our house is bigger and the kids are very glad it has a dishwasher.

 Kimberly is in 7th grade with Luke...  She is also doing great.  

This evening was spent with 9 of our 10 kids for dinner and our family secret Santa gift exchange. 

Mark is happy with his gift...  The kids and couples all exchange names on Thanksgiving and then we have a get together for a party.
We've had this tradition for many years.

Luke is becoming a wonderful young man.

Kimberly and Laura.  Laura is working as a nanny.  She is a natural taking care of any little one. 

Dan and Grace, Grace is in 11th grade (this is so hard to believe) and Dan is a hard working man.

The oldest (Pat) and the youngest (Kim) and a photo bomber. 

Hopefully I will be able to keep up with the blog again. 

I also have a new camera, and I love taking photos, so hopefully we will have many photo heavy posts to come.  

Candy Cane Wreath

 I saw many different varieties of candy cane wreaths around pinterest...so I pulled my favorite parts of different wreaths together to make one all our own. 

First Kimberly painted an old cd with red acrylic paint....

 while the paint was wet, toss on the glitter...a lot of glitter.  After the paint and glitter dried I sprayed the whole cd with Spray Acrylic Sealer to keep all the glitter in one place.

 I used 18 candy canes for our wreath. 

I used the glue gun to make pairs of candy canes.  

 Testing out the look.

  Below you can see that I added green ribbon to each pair of candy canes. I also used the glue gun for this. After the ribbons were added, I placed the candy canes into the wreath shape and glued the tops and bottoms together.  It is still pretty floppy at this point.  

I then used a lot of glue around the circular center of the wreath and placed the glittery cd in place.

This made it much more stable.

I added a pretty bow in to the center of of the wreath and green ribbon for hanging.

We are all very happy with this years wreath. 

Trimming the Tree--2012

 It's time to trim the tree!!

 I am always surprised by the number of ornaments we have...I had to say "enough" when every branch was filled to capacity.

 My little princess

 Luke called this area his "personal decorating space"

 We drew names out of hat and Becky had the honor of putting the star on top of the tree.

 "Laura, this is family time!"

 The 2012 tree trimming crew

 Goofs

 My six girls

Three boys---it's pretty good to get 8 of 10 of the kids together at one time---too bad, some folks have to work.

A Visit with Santa Claus

Today was Daddy's annual family Christmas party.

The kids look forward to the wagon ride and of course, enjoying their yearly visit with Santa.
Luke with
glittery face paint.Gracie with Rudolph

Kimberly

Kimberly-5

After some crafts, music and food, it was time to visit with Santa.

Luke-6

For a short time, thanks to Daddy, Luke was placed on the naughty list....which just about gave Luke a nervous breakdown...but it was all resolved in the end, with Luke back on the good list.

Grace-10

Mark-11

It took a lot of encouragement to get Mark to visit with Santa. I'm afraid this is the last year Mark will get anywhere near the big guy.

Santa gave everyone a wonderful early Christmas gift.

Before we headed home we went outside to wait for a wagon ride.

Last year we had about a foot of snow on the ground. This year these is no snow, but the wind chill was about 20 degrees. (I am still thawing out!)

Right before this photo, Luke broke Rudolph's antler off.....but luckily, Daddy was able to fix it.

The sleigh bells were ringing as we took our very cold ride.

Wordless Wednesday--an icicle for the Christmas tree

What came off the needles today....

I signed up to make a Christmas stocking for a 2 year old girl through the Pink Slipper Project's Stocking Challenge.

I made a "rag stocking" last week and am now making things to fill it.

The stocking is for a 2 year old spending Christmas in a shelter for women and children.

I have made slippers for The Pink slipper project but this is a first time that I have made and filled a stocking.

This bear was so easy!!

The pattern can be found at Bev's County Cottage charity website.

Kimberly is excited for the little girl who will be receiving this "buddy bear" and she can't wait to pack and send out the box.

Here is the stocking that I sewed----I still have to add a ribbon for hanging the stocking. Other than that, it is all ready to ship out!

I know the Pink Slipper Project has a couple more children waiting to be sponsored.

If you have a little extra time, this is a great project to join!

Trimming the Tree--in the "little house"-Makes My Monday

Trimming the Christmas tree certainly Makes My Monday, especially when 11 of us are taking part in the annual event .

First we enjoyed a delicious dinner and then it was onto the decorating.
It also Makes My Monday to see how many people we can actually fit in the 12x14 foot living room.
It is a squeeze, but we can do it! :-)

Luke had a "ball" decorating.

I was so pleased that Patrick wanted to come home to help us with this tradition, no matter how chaotic is was.

We actually had to wait until he was available this evening.

Danny can take care of the top of the tree, Mark.-a little bit lower.

Kimberly remembered making these angels last year.

If you look closely at this photos, I can only fit so much into the frame,( I took pictures standing on the couch ) so every photo has arms or legs or the backs of kid's head--mainly because they didn't fit in the camera lens.

Every home should have a nine year old boy--they make life very "interesting"--notice what his shirt says!

It is a beautiful tree, and almost all the ornaments are homemade.

We had a wonderful time. I am soooo sorry Becky was not able to be here, but we saved her favorite ornaments so she could put them on when she gets home.

Does trimming the Christmas tree in the "little house" look peaceful and serene? Just click on the above video and see the truth! This video is entitled "Putting iciles on the tree for the first time"

Also, make sure your watch our rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on this previous post.

What "Makes You Monday"? Link up at Twinfatuations and share in the fun!