We had a great Christmas. Jesse, Krissy and Joshua came over for breakfast and then we opened presents. It was a lot of fun and Joashua was a big help passing out the presents. He could even tell who most of them were for because he could read and sound out the letters in the tags. (Grandaddy helped.)

We got Joshua a bicycle with training wheels and he loved it. He spent a great deal of the day outside riding. We have to get him a helmet because we forgot that part! He also loved the organ Granny Hazel got him and the new cars. It seems like all little boys love matchbox cars!

Mom loved her jacket and can't wait to get photos loaded on her digital frame.

Felton and Kelli arrived earlier than we thought they would and had a great surprise. They both quit smoking! That is a great gift.

Kyle and Michael are coming this weekend for Christmas with us. That will be fun.

This is weird! A REAL piece of ivy is growing out of our fake ivy. The front porch gets zero light and we have tried to grow several things there but finally attached a piece of iron to the wall and put some fake ivy there. Now a piece of real ivy is growing there. How did this happen? You can see the roots of the real ivy mixed in with the fake ivy.

When we moved into this house we knew the yard was big but... it is HUGE and way over our heads. We have had a few things done and also done some ourselves. The front beds have been a mess and we needed help with them. Eileen gave me the name of someone who helps her in her yard and he did a great job. You can see Joshua walking through the little path in the middle of the bed. It just looks so much better!

We are still wrapping gifts for Christmas and getting ready. It will be a strange Christmas this year. For the first time in several years the kids won't be joining us for Christmas breakfast. They will be here for Christmas dinner in the evening. Maybe mom, Tony and I will go to a movie during the day. It will be a great evening when they all get here because we will have been waiting all day to visit and open presents!

Parties & Statue of Liberty

The last two nights we have had our annual Quilt Country Supergirl and Quiltingfriends party here at our home. They were great fun and of course the food was yummy. My mom is visiting from Georgia and Krissy snapped this photo of me and mom at dinner on Friday.

Martha brought some beautiful sarongs back from Thailand. She was there visiting her new granddaughter who, by the way, is beautiful. Here we are pouncing on the sarongs in the basket. Martha also had some fascinating photos of Thailand. What a great adventure she had.

I really scored at the Quiltingfriends party on Saturday when my friend Debbie gave me a purse I had been admiring for some time. She has carried it in the summer for several years and every time I see her I would mention it. The purse has the Statue of Liberty on it and is VERY cool. You see, I NEEDED it for the restroom at Quilt Country which is full of Statue of Liberty memorabilia. We love collecting it and trying to find a new place for all of the cool things. I picture this purse with a nice silk fern placed inside. What a great planter it will make! Below are photos of the purse and the main part of the bathroom at Quilt Country.

We have been busy decorating for Christmas AND shopping since we returned from FL. It has been a busy time. Joshua, my 3 year old grandson, has helped with the decorating and today we got into the last box of goodies. Inside there was a Nativity set that I tole painted about 20 years ago. It is very cute and Joshua played with it while Tony and I struggled with the lights for a table display. He knew who the pieces were and was having a really good time with them and talking to them for about 10 minutes. Then I heard him say something like "OK, baby Jesus, do the limbo". As he said this he had the baby Jesus moving horizontally under the piece of wood on the side of the stable. It was all so cute I asked him to show me again and snapped the photo. Later we watched the Mickey Mouse version of The Three Muskateers. Maybe that is spelled Mouskateers?

Numero Uno

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging. Since I love to talk and also love email it should be a perfect match! I hope to write one or two times a week. Hopefully this first post will look OK and not be too full of errors. I was able to add the photos but had a heck of a time moving them to the correct paragraph. Actually, I am not sure they are in the right place but I am sure this will become second nature before you know it.

Tony and I just returned from a trip to Florida last week. We visited with my brother and his wife on Anna Maria Island. It is so beautiful there and the weather was perfect! Their condo is totally unbelievable and we really enjoyed the visit. We also went to Disney World for two days and rode all of our favorite rides. My favorite is the Rockin' Roller Coaster, 0-60MPH in 3.8 seconds. Of course Aerosmith is blasting in your ears and it is totally dark. Tony's favorite is The Tower of Terror which drops you several stories then up, then down, then up, then down... You get the picture. The Mickey quilt here is one I made a few years ago using the technique Susan Shie taught me. It is a lot of fun and I love doing it.

While we were on Anna Maria we went by the house my mom and dad lived in during my latter teenage years, when Tony and I were married and also when the kids were very young. It is in Bradenton and always makes me a little sad ever since my dad passed away BUT the house also has wonderful memories that don't make me sad; lots of cookouts, mom reading to all of the grandsons, dad and I making green tomato pickles, etc. Anyway two streets over from mom and dad's house there was this home which always had a concrete block wall around it. The new residents have certainly given it a new look!

As you can see by the photos it is very cool. Each pillar has all sorts of wonderful tiles and well, it looks like just about anything they want attached to the pillars. Next visit I may go up and knock on the door. They also have a garden on the side that you would have to walk in to the yard to really get a good look at.