Happy Groundhog's Day.....

I got busy and organized and cleaned my pantry. Just had to have a special shelf for the candy and crafts. I raised it a couple of levels to help the grandkids learn to "climb" BA HA HA HA!
February blew in with a cold front on the 1st. Uncle Morgan is running his crew and four snowplows night and day back in Illinois. Big business for him while his nursery is closed for the winter.
We went to the Boyce Thompson arboretum a few weeks ago...what did I find? A tiny green rock that says "forever." It looks pretty cute with my miniature "courting"bench I picked up in California. Gina and I went NUTS over that garden shop. She loves birdhouses. I loved their miniature fairy garden section. Can you see the tiny shepherd's hook with hanging pot. Can you tell I dropped it and had to glue it back together???

Oh Cupcake..

I don't decorate my house for many holidays...just Christmas....Valentines and sometimes Easter. I don't do orange and black at my house.....shrunk this little clip-art down to display in my miniature fairy garden on the front porch.
I found these in a great shop in California...somewhat pricey....now I found them online in the "What's New" section of my favorite online baking supply shop. This is the LARGE one...holds four cupcakes.
Isn't this DARLING? My favorite pick....this holds one cupcake...for my friends who are dieting....I found a great book from a New York bakery that does sugar-free, gluten-free, baking. It is called Baby Cakes.....love it!
Well...I just HAD to add these little characters. Sonia's kids are coming for the week-end while she has her birthday marathon with friends up at the cabin. Guess what Grandma Gigi and the kids are going to be putting together on Saturday? Think they will be pretty cute with our Valentine house.

Christmas 2010

Tried out some new stuff on the front porch this year. The beautiful poinsettia ribbon came from Shinoda. I LOVE THAT PLACE! It's a designer's dream ware house of Christmas...like Hobby Lobby on steroids. I don't like the new lights with the blue hue...oh well...life is full of changes.
We deviated from Legos this year. The boys loved their little race track. Beck and Ryder love dancing to the little animated Christmas tree.
I am in love with this little "Stinky" the garbage truck. If my friend, Katie, hadn't showed it to me....we might have missed out on this fun toy. THANKS KATIE! Dan's family came early and celebrated this year as they won't be with us this Christmas.

The FUN has just BEGUN!!!

Christmas Party 2010

We all watched the kids play in the backyard. The favorite game right now is ...GOLF! Grandpa has little miniature golf clubs and whiffle balls for the kids to hit. The trampoline runs a close second. Here is Larkie's house.
Simona had her first experience with Gingerbread houses. She and Will graciously allowed the Cobb crew to finish this house....Sonia chose a sleigh and reindeer and the kids were so disappointed to not have a house. Simona took hers home and Grandma is busy today making a new house for the Cobbies! They can decorate it for FHE.
Almost finished.....
Dan chose the biggest house and put Andes mints for roof tiles...YUMMY...I will be heading over there for snacks. He took me to the SWEETIES candy store on Alma School. WOW! is all I can say to THAT store. Amazing warehouse FULL of every kind of candy imaginable. They even had a PEZ section. I had seen the collector's edition of Snow White and the seven dwarfs in New York for 30 dollars. I found it here for 20 at Bed, B and Beyond. SWEETIES had it too....same price. Hooray! The kids love to search for the dispensers around the house and when they find them ...they get the candy inside!!! I want to be a kid again. Grandpa and Grandma still have one more surprise up their sleeves with some candy from Denmark to be shared on Christmas Eve.
Here is the Christmas Cottage pattern....almost done. My favorite pattern so far....We sure did enjoy the Spinato's pizza. Another favorite for all of us...thanks to Dan for the tip-off on the best pizza in town.

Gingerbread

I found a darling cookie cutter on an "after- Christmas- sale" last year. 3-D sleigh. Made 18 of them for my women's group. It didn't hurt that they were filled with See's Candy, YUMMY!
The finished product! Smells SO GOOD! Better than any candle I have ever found....
We had our refreshments and then "cozied" up by the fire to learn about some of America's National Parks. Last year we studied about the Supreme Court.
What a blessing to have such wonderful women in my life........!

Christmas is coming.....

Just had to run outside and change out some of the frosted white bulbs we bought for Will's reception and put in the beautiful red ones for Christmas. My kitchen Christmas colors are red and white. I was so excited to go into Fry's for groceries last night and they were playing CHRISTMAS MUSIC! HOORAY!

Prelude to Will's Reception

Thanks to the Bella Life...I got this idea for hurricanes with candles. I took my old drink holders that we have had for years. Sprayed them black and the girls hot glued the copper fabric and roses with moss inside. We made fourteen of them. Perry and Sherman put them around the back yard for us. We had a fun family party the night before and got all the lights up in the trees.
Perry and Gina, once again, flew over a day ahead to help with the final preparations. He brought his new ipad and everyone had fun with it. He is an amazing artist, skilled in air-brushing, faux-painting, model ship building, plumbing, lighting....oh...the list is endless. He made me beautiful jewelry boxes out of stained glass. He used to be in the commercial art business. He worked on top-secret work for the Government with his technical drawings and as a young newly-wed going to classes at Art Center in L.A.... worked for an antiques/interior decorator and did all kinds of painting of furniture, etc. Perry is now an executive for Advanced Image Express and is one of the developers of Cloud2Mail.

Perry bought a cabin in 2007 and mailed us a key on a beautiful key chain with directions, etc. He is the kind of family that everyone should have. He and Gina also flew over for Dan's wedding and I will always remember the sight of Gina on her stomach gluing the rope lights to the pool decking for Joyce. Thanks guys!
Perry and Gina also helped to set up the tables when they were delivered. I LOVE my family. The musicians were so fun. I love live music so much better than a D.J. They fit perfectly in the Ramada. Keira was our photographer....her pictures will be so much nicer than mine, with my old camera LOL!
Simona loves black and white and picked this cake. We had a perfect evening except for that the caterer forgot some of the food.....they very kindly refunded us some money.