christmas morning

the magic.

macrae laid in bed for his nap repeating "i have shark. i have boat. i have cars."

one year later

last christmas i was waiting.
for this.

this christmas.
still has red hair.
still smiles all the time.
still handsome.
still sweet.
still my joy.
still my best boy.
another love in my life.

happy birthday rhettsy, rhetters, rhett-head.

Merry Christmas One and All

may peace and love fill your homes today.

everybody loves baking day

date nut rolls? anyone?

does this kid look like me?

are you seriously making 12 date nut rolls?

she seriously is making 12 of those delicious delights!

this is how it's done.

puppies love baking day the best.



wait. no! keeber loves baking day the best!

all said i think we made about 1o dozen cookies and treats. keith got to work and only finished off half before the day was over.

my perfect day

macrae asked me to "hold you" at least 5 times. i happily obliged each time.

rhett walked around and around carrying the christmas tree decorations he had managed to remove without me even noticing they were gone.

isla made a dozen different crafts while i was making dinner. one of them is a picture of our house with me inside cooking. attached to that (with tape) is a printed photo of gannah and booboo on the party barge.

i didn't vaccum the pine needles tonight.

i even got to take a run tonight.

we ate dinner as a family. roasted sweet potato, squash, carrots, and mushrooms with shrimp.

macrae asked me to sing "tickle tickle" and i didn't know what he meant until he said "da staw." i must have sung it 49 times before he was almost asleep and i left the room (before i fell asleep, myself).

rhett and i snuggled in the rocking chair while he drank his bottle before bed. he giggled while i tickled his feet and kissed his neck. yum!

at bedtime isla and i read "the snow globe family" and when it was over she asked to read it again.

brandon didn't have young men's tonight or raquetball.

i went to walmart and fred meyer ALONE. but i missed them all the whole time.

My Little Pet Shop Lady

she sleeps in a mound of stuffed animals, dolls, and blankets. every animal and doll is covered so they don't get cold at night. on this day she wanted to sell her animals. except she wouldn't let you actually buy them, they were more just for display.

show me your best pose...then shake your bootie

they must get this from my brothers...

little thieves

a.k.a. heart stealers

Festival of the Nativity

i think i said "don't touch that" about 500 times.

i brought my camera, and isla brought hers

christmas craft

what do you do with your christmas card collection? every year i search for the best way to display them. i started with the fridge. but my OCD makes it a little difficult to bare the thought of all that tape goo scraping after the holidays. i have seen all of those card trees but either i didn't really love it, couldn't afford it, couldn't think of where to put it (too huge), or didn't think it would hold very many (too small). and then i thought of this...



all you need for this project is some metallic glitter, clothespins, glue and metallic thread.

now i'm just waiting for the mailman to deliver a few cards (assuming) amd dress up my fireplace. and if you are waiting for yours from me, they will be in the mail soon!

by the way, if you moved this year...it would be nice of you to email me your new address. annagr8@aol.com

this here is a TREE

funny thing about this year's tree...we head out to Schilter's Farm to cut down our very own Christmas tree. It starts out pretty normal.

macrae doesn't want his picture taken.

Isla likes this one.

Rhett doesn't care which one we take home, he just wants to chew on the ornaments (and looks so cute in his peacoat, no?)

macrae wants a charlie brown tree.


but in the end they were all too big, too small or it was too muddy on the ground.
macrae was happy when we found his gannah.
and brandon was happy with a tree they had already cut for us.

this isn't one of those trees that all of the needles falls off, is it?