Wintertime

Here are a few photos of our winter so far.  There have been some truly beautiful days.  Christmas and New Years have come and gone - quickly as usual.  Today I finally took down all the decorations, always a slightly sad time for me as I love the warmth and "sparkliness" of the holiday decor.  Twinkle lights are of course one of my favorites!  Tonight a few birthday decorations will go up for Ben's birthday tomorrow...  I'm eager to finish and organize a couple of areas/rooms of the house.  Ie. A computer area upstairs... my "studio" on the main level.  Endless things to do... sometimes frustrating not being able to accomplish them faster!  Well... Happy New Year everyone, 2010 will be an interesting year to say the least!?

Peter with Fiera

Taking Simba for a ride on Christmas Day...

Justin with "Shreddie"

Peter with Monarch

Shreddie and I

Ben with Shreddie

My boys and I :)

It's beginning to look a alot like Christmas

I've finally done the decorating in our house and I must say it turned out very cozy.  The boys decorated the tree and did a great job as I knew they would, save for a couple of creative spots... as you'll see below.  In the first photo... Ben and I are all dressed up ready to go to my work Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun.

Below is the little village made of paper that I made a few years ago.  It's on a kitchen window sill this year.  

This is a cute little "smoking" man figurine that my sister in law Monika brought back for me last year.  They are called "raucherman".   (I hope I spelled that right).

A fine example of what happens when you let your children decorate!  Are they racing?  Too funny!  We love our tree.  It's very unique and filled with at least 60% handmade ornaments and such.  It's not particularly glitzy but rather more Scandinavian style.  Lots of wooden, paper and straw ornaments.  As I do love glitter, there is of course some flashy ornaments to add bling.  And a couple of fun ones - photos which I'll post later.  I hope you are all enjoying the season so far!

The end result.  All ready for the festivities surrounding Christmas.  All that's missing are the presents around the tree.  Oh wait, I don't have any yet!!!  HELP!   

It's Coming on Christmas..

Tonight's the night the tree decorations go on!  The boys are excited.  The fire will be lit,  Christmas music will be on and I'll be sipping on a hot tottie watching the kids have fun.  This is what I love about Christmas!   Tomorrow I'll be helping decorate the hall at T.R.U. for the work Christmas party in the evening.  Did anyone say Helium?  Silent Night sung like Minnie Mouse - I can hear it now... Good times to be had.  

This was the "slow" start to my decorating.  This is our chandelier above the dining table... I was quite pleased with the sparkly result...

Justin loves to help me in the kitchen.... here we were baking "nussecken" a traditional type of triangle cookie and a long time family favorite.   The recipe is from my mom who is a great baker on the rare occasion that she decides to use eggs, butter and sugar!  

Justin -  junior baker in training!  He's so helpful... but... he also knows what the results are and really looks forward to them!

I made some long dangly decorations, large round balls to small... this photo is during the glitter application stage... a messy job, but someone's gotta do it.  The final result was beautiful!

School Desk

Another Thrift store find... I've always loved the old fashioned type of school desks.  I thought if I refurbished this one and added some creativity, it would make a lovely shower gift for a friend at work.  I hope she likes it!  It was a fun project.  

Dinner is Served

"Gooey Grilled Goodness"

Our waiter... 
THE MENU

The other evening our son Peter gathered us into the great room for a dinner he had prepared!  I won't mention that we'd already had a dinner a couple of hours earlier... but as growing boys are - constantly hungry... he decided another meal was in order.  How wonderful was this.  He made chocolate Mouse (aka Moose) and other things.  The service I have to admit was outstanding.  I mean who gets chocolate milk served up in wine glasses!  5 star all the way!

Thrill of the hunt...

My mom has me hooked.  I love checking out the thrift stores now for neglected furniture that needs refinishing or a facelift.  I LOVE doing this.  One of my latest finds is a beautiful dining table... I researched the table and found out from the manufacturer that it is from their "Fontaine" collection which was made between 1964 to 1969.  It is solid Mahogany.  I've sanded the top down and hope to restore it to it's former glory.  I'm so excited!  The pictures show the table before the sanding.  It also has two leaves that can be added to allow seating for up to 12 people!  Dare I say how much I paid... a steal!