Christmas Tea and Cookies!!

The fruits of my hard labor!!! All the cookies I made this holiday and the set up for a small tea party with the girls and my Looney friend! You know who you are! Also pics of my best Christmas bouquet ever!

Gabled Christmas gift boxes....

I am having fun decorating these cute gables gift boxes for some of the girl's gifts!!

Modeling on Thanksgiving...

Leave it to Jas to instigate the modeling picture shoot when everyone is home. Then Cam and Jas are wizes on photoshop! I love it. They inspire me to get scrappin' again! Beautiful girls....

Rustic Apple Pie...

Rustic Apple Pie

4-6 apples, sliced
Fill pie plate (10 inch buttered around edges) 2/3 full. Pat down.

Squeeze a half lemon over apples.

Mix 1 T. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar and sprinkle over the apples.

Melt 3/4 cup of butter.Mix with:
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 to 1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pour batter over top of apples, spreading out to edges.
Bake at 350 degrees on a piece of tin foil for 45-55 minutes until top is golden brown and crunchy.
Serve with vanilla ice cream!


This is so easy and quick for a last minute dessert.
I used my garden apples and didn't peel them as they are organic. Turned out really good. I highly reccommend the vanilla ice cream and a cup of joe!
Bon Appetit!

me and me sweetheart...

We are so blessed.
I remember that everyday.
Through good times and bad.
We are not perfect beings.
But maybe we can be perfect for each other.

The Best Day!!

I had a wonderful and memorable 48^th this year! As in 1960 when I was born it was election day! My Grampa Nita never forgets, as he remembers voting for Nixon, then coming to the hospital to see me! 48 years later my birthday was on thee most historic of election days and it was THRILLING! I watched Barack Obama get elected as the 44^th president of the US of A! I was so so excited! He was the RIGHT man for the job and thank God the nation saw fit to make it happen!! BARACK THE VOTE!! I was so excited I hardly slept that night!

I also made a 12 lb. German Chocolate cake, my once a year thing that I do for myself! I make the best too! Lil & BF came out and he made me tacos for dinner! Now, you wouldn’t appreciate this unless you’ve been the one to cook dinner for 29 years, for others, but I just LOVE having someone else cook me dinner as I sit and watch and chat in the kitchen.. It feels so decadent! That could have been my best gift!!

Jas also came home for the night to celebrate my bday and the election. She is a hoot and I miss her dearly! Cam, of course, was here and so was the big guy albeit asleep as he worked all night the previous night!

The girls got me wonderful gifts and cards and so did the BGuy, even though I had to go pick it out! I love the new See’s candy flavors “Pecan Pie” and “Cranberry Orange Truffle”. Mmm, Cam got me a box of those. Lily got me the cutest book and a mat that snaps into a basket! From Powell’s! I have got to get there someday! And a fab kittycat coaster for my tea! Jasi found a whimsy for me! An EcoJot mini notepad and the beautiful butterfly ornament along with the milk chocolate eggs, “kinder surprise” filled with toys! BGuy got my perfume, earrings, DB bucks and soap! Mmm. I is BLESSED!

"Baby" sitting!

Meet Samson and Mish! These are our "grand babies". We had the honor of babysitting them this weekend while the kids went to Portland for Halloween. They are so cute, which is their saving grace as they are such little devils!

I am totally exhausted today, well I was yesterday too. They are like having two 2year olds running rampant. Pooing and peeing wherever. High energy! Ahk! They are so darn cute tho. Unfortunately, this was the rainy weekend and so they had to stay under the mudroom porch most of the time. They get cold easily so there was alot of shuffling from the porch to their crate and back again. They went to bed at 8:30pm but I worried all night they might have to go potty. Then we had to get up at 6:15 am to let them out, into the dark rainy morn, to do their business. They get all muddy, wet and cold and then jump all over you! This has gone on for 3 days and 2 nights now.

I can't wait till their Mom gets back.

Now I know why people love being Grandparents! They can give the kids back at the end of the day!
Hallelujah

Bob's blog!

Bob's got a blog! That little devil never told me! She is such a funny writer too! Now I see what goes on instead of homework, eh? And, uh-hum, Bob? When asked, you said you did ok on that GenChem midterm! Hmmm.......I love you! Good job! Come home!!

My Lily!!

I had a M&M day today with my Lily!! It was so nice! We went to Medford and traipsed all over town visiting our favorite haunts!! Target, Harry & David's, Barnes & Noble, Starbuck's, See's, Olive Garden and Old Navy!! We got wedding planners and a "How to" wedding book at Barnes! Now we just need to get going on it! It seems so overwhelming but I know we can do it and it will be fabulous!!

Crazy Girls

Crazy girls doing their "modeling" photos again!The second photo has Jas pulling Cam's blond hair over her brown hair thus making her a blondie!! Then they "photoshop" the pictures and do really cool things to them! I want to make album pages with all of them!

I miss Jas so much now that she is living at the University! She made me laugh all the time! Miss you Bub!

The Whole Fam!

Mom's Day '08

Woohoo! I got my red ipod nano for Mom's day! I was sooo excited and I started my walking routine the next day! Haven't missed a day yet! The girls engraved it:
"To Mom, A Trifle of Our Love". Jasmine says that in a really corny voice and I have never forgotten it. It was the perfect engraving for me!

We had apple pancakes with cinnamon orange butter and Lily brought out a fresh fruit salad with whip cream. And coffee, of course! Num Num. For dinner we met Lil and Shawn for Mex food and then we went to DQ for a dipped cone! Oink. It was a wonderful day!!

Pictures are : me and Jas, Lily laughing and last one is me (:

Jasi's Prom

Jasi had her senior prom a few weeks ago. She looked gorgeous in Cami's old prom dress. She really wanted to wear Cam's dress, I asked her if she didn't want to go shop for one of her own? But this dress, it is exquisite and I understand why she would want to wear it. She got to ride in a limo with friends and have a tasty dinner. Evidentially the dance itself wasn't so great and she came home early. Crazy kid (:

New Stuff!

Woohoo! I got the Ipods that I ordered for the 2 girls today! I got them off of Apple and had them engraved free! J got a red one and C got a mint colored one! I am in love with the RED one! I want one for Mother's Day!!! Wonder if I could talk the Big Guy into one!!? Hmmm!They got them for all their HARD work in school! Cam has kept straight A's in college with extremely HARD classes, premed. Jas for getting an A all thru the year in AP calculus and being the Valedectorian! I have now raised 3 Valedectorians!!

Got new LO's done of Jasi! Can't believe she will be graduating soon!That's a hard one for me. She will be off to college in the fall on a full tuition an fees scholarship for all 4 years! Yeah! I am feeling very blessed in my life right now!

Happy Day!

My Ly-lee (Lily)!!

I finally finished this layout I started for Lily, like, a year ago! I think it turned out real nice! She loved it!

Easter Cards for the Girlies!

Just finished the Girlies Easter cards! I had these vintage images on transparencies that I knew I wanted to make the Easter cards with. I also had the fun ribbon for months intending it to be for Easter. Well, it might not match exactly but it is so fun! I also made the little alpha stickers with some cool fonts that Jas had downloaded. She is a Font Addict! Happy Easter!!

New Layouts!

I did it!! I got these images resized so that it didn't take 10 minutes to upload each picture! Woohoo! I never realized that changing the image size, pixels and dpi could result in a faster upload especially for me since I am still using a dial up modem!

26 years ago...

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep
I wish they had been there for me 26 years ago.....

26 years ago, when I was a naive, optimistic 21 year old, married for almost 4 years, I gave birth to a stillborn son, Jordan Matthew. I was full term.

But, the nightmare began 3 weeks earlier.

It was a Friday and I woke, looking forward to a warm summer day. As the day wore on I waited and waited to feel Jordan move. He was always so active. Somersaulting to the point that it took my breath away. When 4:30pm rolled around I could stand it no more and called the Dr. I didn’t want to go through the weekend worrying. They agreed and had me come in.

They tried to find a heartbeat and couldn’t. They did an ultrasound and didn’t find the heartbeat. They were sorry.

I was hysterical. I told my Dr. “Take him out!” “Can’t you do a cesarean?” He said “No, because then you will always have to have a cesarean. It’s BEST to wait until you go into labor.” This was in 1982. I remember driving home and wanting to wrap my car around a tree. How could this be real?

I had to live with a dead baby inside me for 3 weeks. It was beyond horrible and when I think back on it I can’t believe I actually lived through it and still have a hold on my sanity. I know I am a changed person though.

I hated going out. People would ask “How much longer do you have?” “Do you have a name picked out?” All the questions people ask, they are excited for you. They didn’t know my story. It was so sad. I was so young.

I went into labor. He was born with his cord twisted like a telephone cord. Wrapped around his neck and then around his leg. Poor little boy.

Afterwards the nurses felt so bad. I will always remember that they wanted to get me an ice cream sundae. I wouldn’t do it. I felt I didn’t deserve it. After all what was to celebrate?

I really wanted to see my son! The doctor said no, it wouldn’t be good for me. The baby had been dead so long that the Dr. said he was starting to decompose. I listened to him.

Dear God, to this day I wish I hadn’t. I wish I would’ve seen my baby. I even called the doctors office and mortuary years later to see if anyone had taken a picture of my baby. I was obsessed with wanting to see him. There was no picture. I remember my mother in law telling me that the mortician had told her that the baby didn’t look that bad. I wish the doctor would’ve let me see him.

I ended up with an infection because not everything came out during the birth. I had to have a D&C. People would tell me, “Well, at least he didn’t die after he was born. It would’ve been much harder for you” and “You can have another one”. What the heck are people thinking????

It took 3 years and 3 miscarriages to finally get a healthy baby born, my daughter Lily. Born cesarean. Then, 2 years later another daughter, Camille. Born V-back at the hospital. Finally, 3 years later my last daughter, Jasmine, was born at home. I never had another son.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have my girls.

I only wish that I would’ve had emotional support back then. My husband got tired of my crying and “dwelling on something you can’t change”. I wish I had a photo.

I am so glad that there is now this wonderful organization to help others. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. I would encourage anyone who goes through this ordeal to have a photo taken. You may think “No, I can’t” but years later you will wish you had.

I know I do.

Valentines are here!!

Loonie! I finally got the Valentines done. I put the last touches on Jasi's this morn. Her's is the one with the "little Bird" poem on it. Cami's is the one with the "bird in the hand" on it and Lily's is the one with the standing bird holding the flower in his beak LOON! How fun!!

Now I am going to go make fresh strawberry cupcakes from Marthas Feb 12th show! Nummy!

Happy Valentines Day Loonie!!

Looney!

Looney!! I still don't have the Valentines uploaded. Actually I am still working on my last one. Hope to finish tonight or tomorrow. I have had a hormone headache for 3 days now. Bummer. So, I have posted this really goofy pic of me and Jas to tide you over Loon. It's me and Jas being LOONS!!