SNOW!

Yes!! We have snow! Very unexpected....and a nice treat for us all. (except for Rourke - it took him 3 hours to get home from work.)

And yes, he did have a coat on for most of the time......but he needed one more run into the snow. :)

Hope you had a great day!

Thanksgiving Recap

Hello!

Before December rolls around, I thought I'd give Thanksgiving a little more attention - because it seems so overlooked between Halloween & Christmas!

We had a really low-key Thanksgiving this year, just us and my Mom. We didn't have any plans a few days before Thanksgiving - even for having a traditional dinner. It turned out nice, and MY FIRST PIE was pretty good (if I do say so myself! ha ha). Kids played some games, we chatted, ate, then ate some more. The kids were fairly wound up - it was almost like Christmas. Which I'm now dreading, after seeing the energy Thanksgiving had. Geesh. I need to double up on my vitamins for the next month or so.



Malia made special place cards for our table, and Alex contributed with his pumpkin centerpiece he made in preschool. Malia was also a big helper with setting the table. Too bad it isn't as exciting for her on every other regular day of the year.


This is how Thanksgiving ended for Ella:
She's getting more teeth.

Well, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I didn't do any Black Friday shopping -- but I did get my Christmas cards ordered. WOOP! That is early for me - I feel good. I do feel guilty for not making my own - which I do like to do, but not in huge quantities.
Oh well. Someday I'll get back to that.


Good night~
Linda

A THANKSGIVING GIVEAWAY

One more quick post for today.

Visit Donna Downey's Blog today for a chance to win this great basket of goodies!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a safe, warm & happy THANKSGIVING!!

Yesterday we went to a Thanksgiving performance & feast at Malia's school. It was a lot of fun to watch all the Pilgrims & Native Americans sing and eat together. :) Malia was a Pilgrim.

Here is a **very short** video clip of Malia and the kids singing a song about the Pilgrims coming to America. We can't remember the name of the song......but here is a snippet.

We are having a small Thanksgiving dinner today at our house. I even made my very first pie last night. Hoping it does my Mom's 50 year old recipe justice! She will be here to let me know.

Are you heading out for Black Friday sales?? I'm still thinking about it. Looks like Toys R Us is opening at Midnight. I'm thinking about that one. I'm usually up late. :) The 5am is a little more challenging for me. I guess I can hit Old Navy at 3am after Toys R Us at Midnight. Hmmmmm.

Happy Thanksgiving. I know I have so much to be thankful for!

:O) Linda

My New Etsy Favorite

Somehow I stumbled upon this Etsy shop: TIMELESS VIXEN VINTAGE - and I **love it**!

I wish I had some spare cash and a reason to buy one of these little beauties. This pink one below is one of my favorites. But really, it's hard to pick just one favorite.

So.......here are a few other favorites I picked out. Really, the dresses are just amazing, most from the 1950s, some from the 20s, 40s, 60s, and a few from the 1800s! Their condition is pristine. I can't help but think these could have been worn in a movie or two?

Malia was scrolling through this Etsy shop while I was making dinner, I came back to find that she had somehow added a $420 dress to her "cart". OMG!! Thank goodness she hadn't proceeded to checkout. Apparently she didn't mean to do that.......but still gave me a mini-heart attack. I did check to make sure it was one that I would have actually liked to own. And it was. If only I had $420 to spare 1 month before Christmas - or any month actually.

So, if you have some time, like fun vintage dresses, check out the SHOP. :)

I would have loved to be around in the 50s, and in a lifestyle that would require me to wear these dresses.

Have a great Wednesday.

~Linda

Fun in the Leaves

Hello!
I thought I'd share a few pictures I took of the kids last week in our leaf piles (right before the wind storm!). Ella wasn't sure about it at first, but then got to the point where she would back herself into the pile. Malia & Alex had fun jumping, rolling, tunneling through, and throwing the leaves.

If only they were this nice to each other the other 99.99% of the day:Are you ready for Thanksgiving?? Impossible that it's only 2 (or less) days away. YIKES!

Have a great afternoon.

~Linda

Crafty Ladies Holiday Bazaar

Can it really be this time already?? Next week is our "Crafty Ladies" Bazaar out in Forest Grove. We took the year off last year, but are back and ready to go for 2009! Here are a couple of peeks at some things I have been working on - always so many things on my list of "Crafty To Dos" --- I never seem to get it all accomplished, but I still have a week -Right??

Mini Notebooks:

Fabric Flower pins (some might turn into hair clips.)

I'll give some more peeks in the coming days. You can also visit the Crafty Ladies Blog (http://www.crafty-ladies.blogspot.com/) for more information and pictures at what some of the other ladies have been up to.

Happy Friday everyone!
~Linda

Halloween - the day in pictures

Happy November!

Hope you all had a safe & happy HALLOWEEN. I am tired. I had hoped the kids would sleep in today, especially with the time change. No luck. It's only 9am and I feel like I need a break. :)

Yesterday we went to a Halloween party at Malia's soccer coaches' house. It was a lot of fun - games, costume contest, treats, playing outside, a little Goosebumps show......then we came back home to have pizza and trick or treat in our own neighborhood.

Alex even won one of the costume contests!!! Here he is holding his plunder...a tub of cotton candy!
Here we are at home, pre-trick or treating:
Finally........we're off!

Here is the group...almost done!

Hope you all had fun.................now it's on to Thanksgiving!

:) Linda

Happy Birthday Husband!

WOW! Another day, another birthday.

Today is my husband's birthday.....

and I'll just say it's a milestone.

I won't mention any numbers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROURKE!

XO

Happy 6th Birthday MALIA!

Six years ago today we welcomed little Malia Lyn into our lives. Little did we know she would be so funny, quick, wild & crazy, outgoing, beautiful, kind and intelligent! I do remember thinking she was watching EVERYTHING and EVERYONE right after she was born. She wasn't missing anything - right from the start.

I can't believe 6 whole years have gone by so quickly! I can still remember the day she was born, all of the details from that day and all of our visitors.

Here she is with her Cousin Kelli when she was 2 hours old:


















Here she is at 2 days old, ready to see her home for the first time. We came home on Halloween. I remember carving a pumpkin and passing out candy to trick or treaters that first night she was home.

And............here she is today. All grown up and...........SIX years old!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALIA!!!

WE LOVE YOU!

XOXOXO

Disney On Ice

Tomorrow is Malia's 6th birthday (where does the time go??), so for part of her gift we went to Disney on Ice last week. We all went (except Ella), and had a great time! It was a little rushed - Malia had her last soccer game right before - and she even scored 2 goals in the 15 minutes she played! Woo hoo! She changed in the car, and we were off.

Here are the kids before the show -checking out the Princess dresses on display. They were very beautiful! Alex doesn't look too thrilled though. :)

The show started off with Minnie, Mickey, Donald and Goofy....then went right into CARS! Alex loved it!

Next was the Little Mermaid. I kept thinking it was Joan Allen (the actress).

After that was the Lion King.

After a short intermission (not sure why....maybe for the small bladders in the audience? Rourke was sure it was just to sell more cr@p!) the show finished with Tinkerbell! The Queen Fairy (not sure of her real name) floated up above with a gorgeous white sparkly dress. Hard to tell in the picture below.

It was a fun night, eventhough Alex was exhausted and said he hated it. The next morning he said he loved it!

Hope you are all having a great week! We have one sick - no fever, but flu like in every other way. No food will stay down.

Happy Wednesday~
Linda

A Little Halloween Entertainment

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy Halloween - Starring:
Cindy, Kandi, Chico, Rourke and Moi! :) Enjoy~

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, so this is suppose to be wordless - but here are a few.

Ella would like to wish you a "Happy Hump Day". HOORAY!!!