HI!

I’m just poppin by to post some recent pics.  My camera’s been found!!!

I hope you’re enjoying your Christmas break

Before midnight mass.

After midnight mass.
Christmas morning.

After opening presents

It’s been a great Christmas.  I have more pics to share, but my computer is not cooperating.  I’ll be back with more later.

Love-Love

~L

“Are you ready for Christmas?”  – the question most asked by anyone and everyone.  It’s the icebreaker in most conversations this time of year.  I find it silly-sounding. My answer to that question every year is “No”.  The week of Christmas always finds me scrambling to find that gift for one more (or 6) on my list.  Ugh.  I’m stumped with this last recipient.  I’ve asked everyone on ideas and it may just be a gift card to some store or restaurant.  So impersonal, right?  It’s like I didn’t spend any time looking for a present, when in actuality, it is my last resort. 

Ok, enough whining.

Tomorrow will be my last day at my current job.  It’s a bittersweet time for me.  I’ve spent 6 years of my life here.  I’ve learned many things and made many friends.  I’m grateful for my time here and looking forward to learning more and meeting more people.  I’m praying this new job will be another job I will love.  Pray with me, will you?

I have misplaced my camera (again).  So I have no new pictures to share.  the last two posts contained pictures taken with my cell phone (hence the crappy-ness). 

So I’ve compiled some cute images to share with you today.  (click to biggie)

I hope your Holidays are Happy and Bright!

Look what my sweetie got in Vegas

OMG! How sweet is that? This to me is like professing undying love and devotion.  I absolutely, positively LOVE it!

On a side note, we don’t believe in curses. We’re both in this for life!  Word.

He didn’t tell me about this, but showed me minutes after arriving home.  I was beyond surprised.  This is the man that cannot keep a secret from me long.  It took a lot for him to contain his excitement.  The effect of the showing is so much better than the telling.  So awesome.

I love this man.

~L

What better way to spend time with your kids than to craft with them? 

The other night I googled “snowflake template” and found some awesome tutorials online.

I have always loved the look of paper snowflakes and made it a point this year to make some.  What I will do with these are still unknown.  I can string them on the Christmas tree or off of the ceiling, or paste them to a bare wall.  Oh, the options….

Anyway, here are some I whipped up in just a few minutes:

Pretty awesome, right?

There are so many crafty things you can make with kids.  There are endless amounts of tutorials and ideas on the web.  And the fact that they are easy enough for kids is what makes it a wonderful time for everyone. 

Happy Crafting!

~L

Just stopping by to show you the baby hat I knitted on the baby it was made for:

Squeeee!!!! Isn’t that the cutest?

It’s a little dark because the little angel was sleeping, but OMG how adorable is that?

I could just squeeze her!

I just finished another one of these for Lai and casted on for another baby girl. 

Happy knitting!

~L

Our little fashion diva has struck again.  This time, she is joined by an entourage of fashion genius.  I’m so proud ;-P

Look ma, NO PANTS!

This kid loves him some plaid!

Bubs may be a little color blind.

Kids.  Never a dull moment. 

~L

Guess what I’ve been knitting?

1. 
  

2.
 

3.

Pretty RED

Top View (Isn’t that cool?)

It’s wittle

1. Red 2 x 2 rib hat for Gordon.  I made this last winter, but I have one on the needles right now for me   CO 92 sts on US 9 circs and work 2 x 2 rib in the round for  10 inches and start crown decrease (I made up my own decrease)…Can you tell I love slouchy hats????

2. Val’s hat in yummy City Tweed yarn.  She ordered the yarn online (she’s in Colorado) and had it shipped to me.  This hat is part of a set.  Both pieces (hat and scarf) will be in the mail tomorrow!  The set took only THREE balls.  I love it!

3.  A baby hat in Berroco Comfort sport.  This yarn is sooooo soft AND machine wash and dry too!  The swirl pattern was roughly based on this pattern.  I worked mine from the bottom up (instead of top down like Marnie’s).  I had to do some math to figure out a baby sized hat, but I think it turned out lovely. 

Also OTN (on the needles):
A bright yellow pair of socks
A hat for Lai
Another hat for me

I’ll be knitting this weekend ;-P

Have a good one, my lovelies!

~L

My Dear Husband’s close friend Eddie Fatu (better known as Umaga on WWE) passed away December 4th. 

Whenever he, Eki, would be in town, he would call us and get us passes to come to a show.  We’ve hung out with him 4 times since moving here to Tennessee.  He was a great guy and the kids adored him. 

Eki is survived by his lovely wife Leata and four beautiful boys.  He will be greatly missed…

RIP Eki

~L

HI!

Our little princess is a SINGER!

Translation:

“I’m a Barbie Girl in a Barbie world. It’s fantastic, it’s FANASTIC. You can brush my hair, every-everywhere. It’s Fantastic. It’s FANTASTIC.”

I wish she could stay this little forever

Happy Hump Day!

~L

Remember this post about curtains?  Well, my crafty mama (who did not see that post by the way) put her collection of scarves to use and put this up:

Isn’t that awesome?

I know what you’re thinking.  So that’s where Lette gets her craftiness from!  Well, yes, and no.  You see, I may be crafty in knitting, crocheting, and drawing, but my mama is so much more.  She sews.  She’s handy with power tools, or ANY tool for that matter.  She draws and paints. She crochets.  She’s articulate. She cooks a mean adobo.  She can organize any mess you put her in.  AND she’s beautiful.  Ok, maybe all those things are not crafty, but that is part of what makes my mama the best. 

And, no, you can’t have her.

Ok, we can share.

~L

*A little side note, my mom crochet the most wickedest doilies EVER when she was younger! She even crocheted herself a couple of dresses.  I have a picture of her in them somewhere.  I’ll post it soon.  Isn’t she great?

Love you, mom!

Remember this stuff?

Last week, I went to Chris’ and wound this baby up.  Look:

Ain’t it pretty?  I love the way yarn cakes look.  This will be a pretty shawl someday. Maybe this or this or this.  What do you think?

I also wound up another pretty-ditty:

I casted on with this to make this.

I love knitting!

On other news, when the new year starts, I will be at a new job.  Yes, I got a “Dear John” letter from my jobby-job and my last day will be Dec 31st.  This year was supposed to be my first year getting a longevity check (bonus), I guess I did get one, huh?  Merry Christmas!

I’m not worried though. Everything happens for a reason, and I know we’ll be ok.  I’ve got my honey, my kids, my family, my friends, and my health.  I am still very blessed. 

Tonight Maria, Lloyds, and Meghann are coming over for game night!  I’m really looking forward to it.  What are you doing?

Have a great weekend!

~L

Wow. This year’s been flying by FAST!

Next thing you know we’re opening presents and making New Year’s resolutions! 

Amazing.

As I posted earlier, there were some cutting of hair last weekend.  I decided that Lai needed a shorter hairstyle since she hates having her hair up.  And DH and I decided together that Nacho looks much more like himself when he is sporting a mohawk.  So on Saturday the special hair-cutting scissors did it’s magic and an hour later, a bucketful of hair was on the floor and 2 very happy children were in the tub for a bath.

Here’s Lai:

Nate:

Later that evening, Nacho and Lai were drawing and playing on the kitchen floor while I cooked dinner.  I happened to look back to check on them (they were being very quiet).  OMG!  There was hair all over the floor! Talk about freak out.  My brother, Tyler, and Bubba rushed into the kitchen when they heard me.  Nacho had scissors in his hand and a “deer-in-headlights” look on his face.  “What are you doing?… You never, ever, ever play with scissors and never ever ever cut your sister’s, or anyone else’s, hair!  Do you understand?”  Nate’s eyes got bigger and bigger and finally said “Mommy, she had gum in her hair”….  Then he held up a piece of gum with a wad of Lai’s hair stuck in it.  Ahhhhh.  I immediately felt bad for yelling at him.  He was only trying to help.  Apparently, he helped himself to cutting more than necessary and even gave Lai a go with the scissors.  What resulted was pretty much the entire right side of the back of Lai’s hair was as short as a buzz cut.  Thankfully there was no bald spot.  I could have left it as is, since you would only see this spot close-up.  But the perfectionist that I am, could not let my daughter walk around with her hair like that.  So Lai got another haircut. 

Yep.  She seems to like it.  Everyone else likes it too.  Good thing she has pierced ears!

~L

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful.  I made most of the food (the first for me) and it turned out great! I made 2 turkeys, a honey ham, mac&cheese, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green bean casserole.  Mom made two full racks of ribs, garden salad, stuffing and of course, rice.   Everything was ready to eat by noon!  It was delicious!

We had dinner at Mom’s and ate at noon because Jim had to go to work at 1:30.  Lloyda and Gordon were there too.  Lloyda brought EJ (Maria’s little boy).  It was an awesome Thanksgiving feast.  I’m still full

We got the tree and decorations up on Friday:

Took the kids to the park.

And to the lake to skip rocks (the kids LOVE this!)

Enjoyed family time.  Smiling all the while.

Gave a couple of haircuts.

Had a driving lesson.

Loved on each other….

Thank you God.

How was your weekend?

-L

We are blessed.  Blessed beyond measure.  God has been so good to me and my family. We have our health, we have jobs, we have a home, transportation, food, clothes, but most of all, we have each other.  I can’t ask for better. 

This year has been a roller coaster ride for us.  In all honesty though, I can say that the good far outweighs the bad.  All of my children are a year older and more wonderful than the year before.  My hubby and I celebrated 15 years of marriage, and we are closer than we’ve ever been.  My mom and dad are still very much a part of our lives even though they are not a part of each other’s.  My friends are awesome. They are a very eclectic group of caring, kind, generous, and loving people God has placed in my life for this season.  I hope they will be with me for many more.  My job is the best place I’ve worked in my whole life. I’ve been busy with crafting and reading and loved every second of it.   As a family, we’ve spent a lot of time together, enjoying the kids while they are still small. We have four seasons here and every one of them is as beautiful as the next. 

So much to be thankful for.

For this Thanksgiving, I’ll be sharing with you the qualities I am thankful for in each person in my family.  Today I start with the kids. 

This is for posterity and for family who do not really know much about us and would like to know more. So, here we go:

I’m thankful for Tyler because:
-He is a self-proclaimed Mama’s boy
-He is in all AP (advanced placement) classes and does not struggle with his work (he has never asked for my help, nor taken any if offered)
-He has not yet had a girlfriend while in high school (he swears)
-He tries very hard to be the best big brother.
-He cooks, cleans, folds laundry, vacuums, and anything else I need help with.
-He loves art just like me.
-He still hugs and kisses me when i need it.
-He hardly complains about anything
-He doesn’t ask for things and when he does it’s something he really needs.
-He has a great sense of humor and loves my jokes.
-He and I share the same taste in music. 
-He’s sensitive and caring
-He has a beautiful smile and a beautiful face.
-He’s a home-body and does not ask to go to parties.
-He has great taste in clothes and dresses really well.
-He’s multi-talented and very smart but very humble all the same.
-He is the spitting image of his Daddy.
-He can laugh at himself.

Bubba:
-He’s affectionate and is not embarassed to hug and kiss me and his Dad.
-He’s a great dancer
-He loves music and is fascinated with the piano
-He loves to sing and has a very nice singing voice.
-He loves my cooking
-He laughs a lot, even at himself.
-He loves to talk and will talk your ears off about anything and everything.
-He’s very good with computers and electronics.
-He does well in school and has been on the honor roll every year.
-He has a great memory and can recall details Hubby and I forget (sometimes this is a bad thing)
-He has always had a very healthy appetite. I never have to worry about him not eating or not finishing his food.
-He is muscular and built like his daddy.  He is also strong and fast.
-He loves to dress up in ties and long sleeve shirts
- He tries to be a good big brother too.
-He’s considerate and kind.
-He can stay up longer than any other kid I know and still be up the next day before me. 
-He’s a night owl.

Nacho:
-He loves to draw.
-He’s funny and adorable.
-He has a beautiful dimple that will melt your heart.
-He loves his big brothers and little sister.
-He loves to dance.
-He loves to sing.
-He loves school and doesn’t like having to miss any days.
-He loves to dress up in fancy clothes (ties and long sleeved shirts)
-He’s witty and quick to say something funny.
-He loves to play in dirt, sand, mud, puddles and every thing else that can get him dirty and wet.
-He loves to cuddle
-He has the best pout.
-He is the spitting image of me.
-He’s a morning person and is usually the first one up.
-He protects his little sister.
-He loves books.
-He has a way with girls.

Alai:
-She loves to draw and write.
-She loves to eat.
-She’s a night owl like her twinkie Bubba
-She’s affectionate.
-She knows the power of flattery.
-She loves everything girly.
-She loves shoes.
-She loves to sing.
-She entertains herself for hours with make-believe.
-She loves tea parties.
-She uses words like “Fantastic”, “wonderful”, “awesome”, “unbelievable” (thanks to Grandma)
-She is charming and beautiful.
-She’s kind and shares everything she has if you ask her nicely.
-She is not stingy with food like her brothers.
-She loves dolls and stuffed animals.
-She loves to receive presents and really expresses gratitude like she won the lottery. (I love giving presents to people like this!)
-She’s very independent and sassy.
-She has her Grandpa wrapped around her little finger.

Tune in for the rest of the gang!

Have a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving family and friends!

~L

Bubs had 2 Bowl games on Saturday.  We won both. YAY!

This kid and his masks!

Saturday night was Lloyda’s birthday party at Maria’s.

I had to work Sunday,  but went to see this last night:

I liked it.

How was your weekend?