Catch-up Wednesday

It is a snowy day in Easten PA

I will have to shovel in a little while...

BUT...I can waste some time by

catching up on some of the photos

accumulating since November.

Tillie's family Birthday Party cake...

Mommy Hedgehog and 12 babies...

(German Chocolate cake with Chocolate Mousse icing)

encrusted with chocolate sprinkles...YUM

Lumpy is my "Turtle Man"

the red looked more "brown" without the flash...

The hedgehog baby faces were Hershey's Kisses

covered in fondant...

Tilly did the faces and ears for all the babies...

Lumpy's cake was RATHER Large...

three layers of orange cake with vanilla icing and

covered with almond flavored homemade fondant.

We took all the leftovers to my sister's house...

we left the next morning to get there...

At my big sister's house in Illinois...

Grandpop and Grandmom celebrating all five

November and December Birthdays...

(two of my kids & three of my sisters)

the Day after Thanksgiving : )

We celebrate Thanksgiving,

five birthdays and Christmas...in three days!

Back home for...

Tilly's actual Birthday

Pumpkin Pie!

Apple Crumb for the rest of us...

Tillie's "friend" Birthday Party was a

The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe theme...

We had bows and arrows to shoot at the witch's wolves,

put the tail on the Beaver and a white witch's wand piniata...

she had @ 20 boys and girls at the house for the day!

This was a brownie cake with LOTS of Decoration...

everything but Mr Beaver and Aslan was edible...

The trees and Wardrobe were chocolate...

the snow was icing...

the water was piping gel...

I made a "mold" for casting

the wardrobe pieces out of craft foam...

we drew the light chocolate designs first, and then

poured the dark chocolate over top for an "inlaid" look.

This party was actually in Early November : )

(gratuitous cut baby photo)

Chewba Grabowski in Scooter's Beret...

what a face.

Snorkie and Santa in their Jammies!

This Year's Christmas Pajamas

Back in 1964, my very first Christmas,

my father got an 8mm movie camera,

So, basically, my entire childhood (at least major events)

has been captured in 30 second increments....

(that film was EXPENSIVE)

Anyway, I think this was the origin of the

"New PJs on Christmas Eve"

tradition in my family...

(sometimes it was a new bathrobe and slippers)

This allowed us to look cute in those films

that Dad made on Christmas morning...

no holes in our footies or torn jammie pants.

So, now, even if my kids have perfectly presentable PJs,

I generally make them something new.

I love to sew.

This is one fun way to keep

all the kids matching

at least for bedtime.....LOL.

My "eldest" has been trying

to sleep in her sweatshirts all year...

So....I decided to make this year's jammies

out of sweatshirt fleece...

I had a 50% coupon for a single cut of fabric...

I snuck out of the house on Friday evening...

and the only color they had enough of...

was WHITE.

THAT gave me the idea for sailor suits...

and the rest is now family history.

Little guy looks so cute

running around in his sailor outfit!

when he sways like a drunken sailor, he cracks me up!

Thanks Mom, for the tradition!

Thanks Dad, for the home movies!

Thanks Big Brother, for making me a video copy

of so many of those home movies...

THREE HOURS worth!

Belated Christmas photo

Lovey's company holds a

Christmas Party for the Children

the first weekend in December.

Santa is Wonderful, Lovable &

OH, SO, Real.

We have known him for years

and my girls have grown up with him.

Gotta love a happy Santa picture!

BTW: the last two years have been

a Pajama Party!

They get their pictures taken with

Santa and then have a craft (decorating

sugar cookies) then they have milk and cookies

and got crayons and a coloring book.

Santa gets into HIS jammies

before he reads the kids a story...

They also get neat gifts...

A Good Time Was Had By All!

The girls are wearing the satin nightgowns,

lined with flannel, 

that I made for them last year

for their Christmas Eve gift...

A tradition started by my mother...

THAT will be another post : )

(Lumpy is in "Clifford" jammies

complete with ears and tail...

Snorkie is wearing Star Wars flannels...

of course.)

My New Toy

I have been reading...

(the Blogs I follow as well as some classic Lit)

doing Crossword and Sudoku puzzles,

checking email, searching ebay....

all while lounging in my recliner, nursing the baby...

My Darling Hubby got me a ColorNook for Christmas!

woo hoo