Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All! Patterson was filled with joy and excitement-especially when viewed from the eyes of a three year old. 

This is our Holiday table..Kris prepares her  now famous prime rib and all the family attends. 

The scarf story-everybody-even Allyson and Kennedy- had a new scarf made by Grammy

The best present for Sandi and Kris  was their new carpeting-installed on Christmas Eve Day!

One of C's best gifts from Santa was a whole box of otter pops! The top two gifts that brought the most excitement were an electric toothbrush and play dough.

New jammies and favorite patent leather shoes made a perfect Christmas!

Christmas Cookies!

It's that time of year-the annual cookie decorating party. Little C was so excited she just stood and screamed-she told her Oma  (that's grandma in German) on the phone that her friends were coming to her party-and they were going to decorate cookies!  

Here's phase one-all the decorations were laid out in the middle of the table so the dogs couldn't get them.

Grammy showed how to outline

That's JH on little C's left, and C on the right

K is the best Santa's helper you could find! She's getting the sugar cookies ready to put in the oven.

And here's the superb results-bet you can't eat just one! 

So, there were so many choices....colored icing, candies, and piping.

This is K-she has many talents besides cooking the cookies.

And after hours of decorating, a lunch of  clam chowder in a bread bowl, we all settled down for a movie. It was a great day and we all agreed to do it again next year!

Road Trip

I had the task and privilege of delivering the crazy quilt to Cecile (for details and pictures of the quilt go to tolewoman.blogspot.com). Barb Ely and I met Cecile at the Fresh Choice in Gilroy, had a great lunch lots of chatter and caught up on the news before we parted ways. It was great to Cecile-the Thompsons will be back home around the 28th. 

Cecile, Barb and me-we're all smiling 'cause we're full!

Barb doesn't have redeye from the camera-she blew a blood vessell, maybe from reading.

Cecile is tired and sore-doing box office business selling trees. Prices range from $40.00 (table model) to $299.00! What recession? 

I had the Thompson's mail and a goodie bag for Christmas as well as the quilt, and brought some P&J boards and special delivery to Janice, the co-quilter.

Happy Thanksgiving

C is always happy but especially so when she's looking for quail. She and mommy were riding in the back-a new experience for C. 

C has her own toothbrush and paste at grammys house.

 Best part is brushing her tongue and spitting

And the fish was this big! She's so chatty it's hard to believe we were worried about her speech.

C had a lot to say to my friends Ann and Debby. Of course it was safest when close to mamma

There always seems to be chores..C didn't like the noise the blower made so she picked up leaves with the reacher.

It was a good lesson in eye hand coordination.

Mommy helped blow the leaves off the deck 

Naturally, we had to have corn dogs after all that work! C is sharing hers with me. I had to save myself for all that leftover turkey in the fridge. 

It was a beautiful afternoon so we all ate outside

Thanksgiving week was a busy one for me...First my friends Scott and Debby came down from Camano Island, WA to celebrate the feast with their son Jeremy who had a big announcement-he's engaged! S&D are very excited for them. I'm excited because they might  be living here within a couple of years, and I can hardly wait! 

Then, I went to dinner with my friends the Rogers and the Aitkens. We had a fine meal and left stuffed-shared a lot of good jokes, too.

Then Kris, Sandi and C came for a second day of Thanksgiving. Again, more food of course!

Perfect Grammy Weekend

Well, it was a perfect weekend! Kris and Sandi took a weekend away to celebrate their birthdays (guess who is 40?). It was an adult-only (the Cassidys went along, too) weekend in Reno. I got the special instructions (how to figure out the TVs, DVDs et al) and then they were off! Of course, the moms were much more traumatized than C.

This artic fox was C's birthday present. She asks that you move your car out of the driveway so she has more room to drive. After making all the stuffed animals comfy, it was time to ride.

Ooops! Forgot the seat belt. Did you notice the fashion statement? C picks out her own clothes and insists she dress herself. She also has a new hairdo-very perky.

I should send this to Wal Mart. 

Grammy found the perfect Christmas present, but didn't know the rules about letting C know it was two months away. Every time her moms called she told them about her new smart cycle. So, first thing mommy had to do was put the smart cycle together. Mommy is adjusting the pedals. 

C figured out how the handlebars work and how the pedals make the trip faster. It's got lots of different games to learn letters, numbers, shapes and colors. C is up to 24 piece puzzles. She's a rock star! I had such a great time, shopping, eating out, going to church, and going to a movie theater with my very special toddler babycakes! 

A Special Celebration!

My good friends, Mary and Elaine, got Married on Saturday, October 25th, 2008! We al celebrated their special day. 

This is rehearsal-about an hour before the ceremony.

 

This is Viv in the background- one of the organizers-who had a lots of volunteers. Ann is in the foreground-she was the self appointed food tester! There ws so much food Ann ended up asking for volunteers... 

Below-The all the children with their moms after the ceremony. The minister was so engaging we all sat at attention absorbing every word. It was beautiful, and the clubhouse was filled with friends and family who shared the joy. 

"C" is Three!

Grammy went to Patterson to help celebrate Cs third birthday. This year the event was held at the local bowling alley. They prepare a private room for the guests, and the children get tokens to play games in the arcade. We had cupcakes for the children and cake for everybody. 

I think I want to go to the casinos Grammy visited.

This is my pretend skateboard. I love to practice!

Allyson made a beautiful cake-I just love Areil

Momma and Mommy and all the guests sang Happy Birthday

All those presents! Her favorite was the Dr. kit. Paging Dr. C.........

Almost Home!

Technically I am home but I wanted you all to see my last stop. After a long, boring drive on I-5 south I visited the kids and of course Little Dude. She's growing like a weed and getting very excited about her 3rd birthday party-we're going bowling! That's another blog next month. 

I love the looks and expressions

And here, she's going in for the kill-a big lick!

We can't leave momma out

Momma loves me best

All that licking and laughing leaves me thirsty....

A lesson in Crabbing

This was our 2nd day brunch-english muffins with crab, pesto and provolone followed by a fresh blackberry cobbler-oh! heavenly!

First, you have to have the equipment and mentors. My mentors are the Thompsons. They know I love crab and were willing to show me the ropes-actually, I didn't have to do any of the icky parts-Gary works the traps, kills the crab and Cecile cooks them. Then my job is to pick-and come up with some ideas for eating crab in many varieties. Oh, tough job! Especially the tasting part...

Gary is checking the traps-we didn't have a boat so he tried off the dock. Early morning catches were the best.

Hard to see, but he's throwing the babies/females back.

And here is the all-important job of picking.

Crab and  crackers for the first night

That's a "yum".