some Christmas favorites

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this Christmas and some of Aubie's favorite presents:
*her princess dress that my mom made
*the princess and the pink piano (keyboard, really) from Mimi
*the sunglasses and helmet that came with the scooter David's dad sent
* her doll house from Mommy and Daddy
*the daddy and kitty in the dollhouse
*(another favorite is her tent from MarMar, but I don't have a picture of that one yet)

APL

Hope you all had lovely Christmases! Ours was great. Aubie got a bit spoiled opening presents at 5 different locations. But she's almost over it now.
Back before Christmas, on the 19th, I had planned to have a fun day of sewing with my friend Charis , but Aubie and I got sick, and we weren't able to go. So we got together this week instead, and it really ended up being much better getting together after Christmas since we both had several projects going on before. And look what I made (with a lot of help from Charis)! I am so happy at how it turned out. Aubie is so proud of her new dress. Charis did the monagraming (of course) and suggested adding the rick-rack, which gave it an especially nice touch. So here it is--Tada! Aubie's first monagramed article of clothing. Her one rich-kid dress.

scotty

There are many craft bloggers who would say, "Look who I found in my yard today" or "This little fella' came strolling through the leaves" or something cheesy like that. Kudos to the very first person who came up with such a "cute" way to describe their lastest creation. But since its been done (time and time and time again), I'm just going to put this picture on here and show you what I made. Except for the fact that I used a sweater (very hard to sew over all the bumps and unravels), he was prettty easy to make. I found the pattern here. Mom thought he was adorable!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! This will most likely be my last post until after Christmas--and I can't wait to post again so I can show you what I made for my mom! I am dying to put it on here, but accidents happen, and I wouldn't want her to end up seeing it before Christmas somehow. So, instead, here is the picture that would have been on my Christmas cards had I gotten them made (I missed the date on the coupon I had--such a good deal!--and I just lost my inspiration to do them after that.) So, just pretend there are snowflakes on one side and a little Christmas wish from our family to yours on the other : )
See you after Christmas!

bead-ie baby

One of the greatest compliments I've ever received was when I was around nine years old. A good friend of our family (the woman who is now my husband's boss's mother) was watching me play with my siblings and her grandaughter. While watching us, she told my mom, "Saige plays like we used to". She said how great it was to see a child in that day and time be able to imagine their toys and things as children from the Great Depression era had to. We were kinda poor, but I had all the toys I needed and then some. I just liked to pretend. Well, it seems that like kind produces like kind. This is a picture of Aubie's baby in Time Out. In answer to the question that I know you are asking right now-- yes, she has baby dolls. Like 4 of them. She just prefers to imagine. Most times, toys only make a mess around here. But beads, well, they get turned into babies. Or dogs. The other day, I had to stick a thermometer in a "real sick" dog's mouth while having no idea where the mouth was. It wasn't until Nurse Aubie said, "right he-uh" that I knew where to put it. Of course in real life, dogs don't get thermometers in their mouth, so it probably wouldn't have mattered. As strange as it looks and sounds (having a bunch of beads for a baby), I love never knowing what crazy thing she will come up with next! Her imagination is 10 times better than mine was already--I am so excited to see the amazing person she is growing up to be.

the seven year lip...

Yeah, I know its "the seven year itch", but in my case that doesn't really apply... well, except for the itchiness that comes with a cold sore. Seven years ago, this same exact cold sore came up and swelled the left side of my lip to the size of a small marshmallow. So, because of its horrid appearance, I went to the doctor. He in turn gave me Zovirax, which made it puff into the size of a large marshmallow. It was a truly humbling experience. Well, here it is again, seven years later, swelling up the left side of my lip to the size of a small marshmallow, while the other side stays normal. It looks almost like they didn't quite finish my make-up before I stepped onto the stage of "Cats". This time, though, I know better than to go to the doctor for something as trifling as a cold sore : )

So, instead of grossing you out with pictures pertaining to this post, I thought I would show a picture or two that I took at the wedding Sunday.

what a weekend!

This weekend was stinkin' busy! Thursday (which is not a day of the weekend--I realize--but its getting there), we had David's work Christmas party. Then Friday morning, I had my work Christmas party. Friday night--thank goodness--we didn't have anything planned, but my brother dropped by for a short visit. Then Saturday morning, I woke up really early and went to some doorbuster sales and got home at 8:50, which made David late to his 9:00 Airsoft game. Then Saturday afternoon I went to my brother and sister's house to help get ready for the 4th Annual Daniel Dean Christmas party (I'm 4 for 4). Sunday morning, our church praise team (me, David, and our friends Josh H. and Steve D.) lead the congregation in Christmas carols at the church I grew up in (oh, wait! which means all this busyness started Wednesday night because we had a hugely long practice--Christmas songs are harder than they seem). Then Sunday afternoon we went to the wedding of the pastor's (of that church) daughters wedding (yet another very pretty Christmas wedding). Then Sunday night, we had a sort of Christmas party with our church at Mom and Dad's. And finally--I'm coming in for a landing, as Dad says--last night, we had our ladies Bible study. Today, I should have been going to a friend's house to sew all day and then our families have supper together, but alas. Aubie and I both were just too worn down from all the busyness. She had a fever (no symptoms, just fever) and I just feel exhausted. No more plans for this week except finishing shopping (only a few little things to buy) and then Christmas! Woohoo!

So anyway, here are few pics from Saturday night:







*a fun game of invisible football. by the way--To all who were there: Let's plan a game of invisible football when I know I won't be sleep deprived and see if I play any differently. If not, I'll quit making excuses, I promise ; )











*My Dad and some others doing serious puzzle work (only to be destroyed hours later by Hurricane Aubilane) while I discuss shoes with Amanda and Miss Debbie.






















*Aubie attempting to do her part putting the 1000 piece puzzle together (prior to becoming a devistating force of nature).

first Christmas play

Here it is--the shirt with handprints that don't belong to my daughter. Tada! This was her outfit for the Christmas play. All the kids were so cute. And not a one of them cried! There were like 200 parents and relatives there so of course over half of the kids had stage fright. Aubie was one of those stage-frightened children. Poor thing--she couldn't quite get her hand motions to go with her singing. Half the time she didn't sing at all (which was sad, because she sings all the time at home). But her little wave to us was so sweet. She would look around a bit and then look at us and do a tiny little wave--hoping to not get in trouble, but wanting to make sure we saw her at the same time. She was so precious.

CinDLuWho

Does this not look like the Grinch's sleigh? I got so many presents! One of the perks of being a preschool "teacher". Woohoo! (The Christmas tree was mine already and the pullups box is full of presents, not pullups ; ) )

Doesn't Aubie remind you of little Cindy Lou Who in this picture?

bric-a-brac

I felt I could take poetic license with the word bric-a-brac and I'll tell you why...
and I never did.--10/09/08

rome, rome on the range

You know, that would be a cute title if I had a picture of Aubie cooking something while we were in Rome this weekend, but alas. I have no picture, so its just a corny way to put our destination in the title of my post. We had a lovely time there, though. I was afraid that I had planned the trip very poorly--I wasn't going to get to see Hannah, I had to change plans about when my friends and I were going to get together (Friday night instead of Saturday), and I didn't know if I wanted to go all by myself to the wedding that I had specifically gone to Rome to attend. But I was only 15 minutes late on Friday night (thank goodness Atlanta traffic wasn't as horrible as it usually is on Fridays) and we had such a fun time! I just love Christmas traditions (this was our 5th annual)! Then I made up my mind that I didn't mind going alone to a wedding--though I would have loved to dance in Ford Dining Hall at Berry College with the fire in the fireplace and all the Christmas decorations, and the beautiful Christmas music, and... oh, well. The wedding was really pretty. I loved, loved, loved the bride's dress and veil--both had red accents to go along with the Christmas theme. Just beautiful! And then Sunday, at church, as always, I enjoyed it so much. Just about every time we visit the River Church, I just get so blessed by either the music, or the message. This Sunday, it was the message. A weekend that I thought I had planned amiss, God had planned out perfectly. It really was just an awesome visit all the way around.

So, here are a few pics. This candid of me and my Credit Union friends (and Natalie's daughter) turned out better than the real one, so that's why I put it on here.

This other is me and my friend Lori.

And then Aubie and Granny and Great Granny (David's grandmother). We had such a good visit with her too!

And then, at the top, another levy picture, but this time of David and Aubie. That is such an awesome hill to climb! This time, I wore my combat boots, and walked right up there : )

something crafty

Well, my promise to myself that I would post one crafty thing a week has long been broken : ( Post something crafty? : p*** I'd just like to do something crafty once a week. But, thanks to a Christmas get together with friends, I have some things to post! Yea! Let me just warn you. I am an impatient sewer and rarely am able to sew straight lines because of it. So, I hope my friends will not be ashamed to send crooked cards, but other than that, I think they turned out ok. No, I didn't make the bag. I found these cute little velveteen bags at the Dollar Tree--black, purple, and green. I always try to do something "alike, but different" for my 3 friends. So, why are there 3 snowmen cards? They look nothing like the others. Well, I found out that a girl I haven't seen in a very long time will be coming too and I couldn't leave her out. So, since I messed up on one, I only had 3 left to give her. At least I'll have something to give her. Funny thing is, the snowmen took so much less time and energy, but I kinda like them better cause the snowmen are so cute.

angel

Is this not the cutest thing ever? Aubie made it at school yesterday. Unlike her Christmas shirt that they had to hurry and make--she will be wearing some other child's handprints for her musical debut next week--these actually belong to her.

photoshop

All I want for Christmas is a Photoshop, a Photoshop, a Photoshop...
I used to be a purist. No doctoring photos for me. If they didn't come out right, well, then, I must not have taken a very good picture. And I got pretty good at taking good pictures for a while--then my camera got squished by a car (David got me a really nice one after that, but even with zoom, I missed the bond my old camera that I had and I feel like I didn't take as good of pictures). I used to refuse to get a digital. I didn't want those dots all over my pictures--then all the photo developing places when digital, so I had the dots anyway. Now, I have a digital camera that I use all the time and I am asking Santa for a Photoshop. What has become of me?
Ok, well, there is a small part of the purist left in me. I have really started to hate using a flash. So, here's a picture of Aubie using just light from the blue windows in the nursery the other day. I just love the color and the shading. Now, if only I could get my model to smile...

outside

Here are a few snapshots of our time outside the other day:




























Two handfuls of "blueberries", two leaves that Mommy caught as they were falling (way to go, me!) and a baby acorn, one of our last Camelias, and my own Little Red Riding Hood.

"flower" girl

Based on her preferences for play and work, if I could predict what Aubie would be when she grows up, I would say a chef. Whenever she plays, she is always cooking something. Sometimes when she gets a little hungry, she comes to me and says, "I crack eggs?" Last night, I was making cube steak, but I only had one more left to flour when she discovered what I was doing. "I do to, Mommy?" How could I resist? But when the last piece was covered in flour Aubie was quite disappointed to find out there wasn't any more steak. SO, I told her she could stir the flour; pretend she was battering something. By the time she was done, she was covered in flour. Next time, I think I will let her start with the first piece so maybe I won't have so much to clean up.