Adding Your Signature

I just sucessfully (I think) figured out how to add a signature to the blog. After some confusion and frustration, here we have it!! I have seen this addition on several blogs and followed the instructions on Blue Cricket Design. What do you think??

p.s. Thanks Lindsey for trying to help!

Winter Wonderland

It definitely turned out to be a white Christmas in our neck of the woods. The Blizzard of 2009 struck early and hard Christmas Eve morning and left us blanketed in snow. The winds were blowing all night Wednesday and on Thursday the snow started. I never saw an official total, but we had a least 6" of snow - a rarity around here. We had planned on traveling to Tulsa on Christmas Day, but decided to play it on the safe side and postpone our visit with my parents until this coming weekend.

Trace's siblings were all in, so we made the most of the snow with lots of outside time once the storm died down.

This is actually on Friday, Nathan in his new wagon, a present from mommy and daddy.


The three of us on Thursday.

Wyatt and Fungi in the tire tracks.

The house, there were deeps snow drifts from the wicked winds, I am sure they will linger for weeks to come.

Snow drifts behind the barn. It was funny to watch the cows make their way through the snow - I am sure it was a first for them.

Nathan on cousin Lillian's little 4-wheeler, he was ready to go!

Nathan and me going for a ride.

Sledding!!

More to come...Hoping everyone had a safe, Merry Christmas!

Mommy's Little Helper

Yes, he is standing on the door...

Poor Man's Toffee

credit

This is a must try for those of you with a sweet tooth. I have seen two different recipes floating around out there and will provide links to both. The "original" using saltines, and a more exotic recipe using cheez-its. This is very rich, but oh-so-good. I have begun the holiday baking, there are so many delicious cookie/treat recipes out there ans so little time!

Weekend Happenings

Sunday was a beautiful, although chilly, day. We took advantage and did some work outside. Christmas lights, yard work, and pasture work was all on the agenda...

Wyatt looking for a mole, he had dirt caked inside of his mouth!

That dog is a little crazy - he uses his paws and mouth to assist in hole digging.

Nathan all bundled up.

The cats hanging out in the shop.

The "herd"

Trace taking care of business.

New baby testing out the forage.

Nathan checking out the lights out front - he is very interested in the motion reindeer.

Ready for Winter

Party Time

Nathan's first birthday is Sunday the 15th, but we celebrated this past Saturday so most family could participate...The party was a success!! While I wish I had taken more pictures, of course, here is a selection from the big day...

Nathan's cake.

The big cake. I was afraid of how it would turn out, but I was pleased with the end result. If you are ever in the market for a cake, but you have a theme idea, this website is the best for inspiration.

Nathan playing with Virgil and Pops before the festivities kicked off.

Nathan and Aunt Heather, looking good in the construction hat!

The food table.

Nathan with Grammy and our neighbor, Codi, with adorable Emma.

Nathan, mommy, and goofy daddy.

The three wee ones playing ball.

From L to R: Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Ty, Aunt Heather, Uncle Jesse and cousin Lillian in for foreground.

The singing and cake intro...Nathan was not too sure.

He started off slow...

Then got really into it!

He received a mountain of presents, family and friends were very generous.

Adorable melamine plate.

Cousins Lillian and Lucas were a great help at opening presents.

Nathan, this morning, plating with some presents!

A huge thank you goes out to my parents, they helped in the party preparations, from decorating to food. I cannot believe that our little guy is almost one!

Checkout my SIL, Lindsey's, blog. She did a great post on the party with some wonderful pictures.

Nathan's New Ride

Nathan's first sports coupe was bestowed upon him today. Carmen, from work, brought this fancy convertible for Nathan. He was digging it...


Checking out the tires...

Seeing how it handles...

And this is the aftermath of our first crash, no longer than five minutes after his first drive. Hmmm, I think he has inherited Mommy's driving skills!

Mama's New Obsession

I love to craft...My projects usually do not turn out quite like I envisioned them, but I have a new crafting obsession, embroidery! I stumbled across this website, Sublime Stitching, one day. For months I looked at the patterns and would add to my cart what I wanted, but never went through with the order. Then for my birthday, I decided that I needed to order a kit. I am hooked! The patterns make it so easy and they are also very cute! I have also dabbled at embellishing some of Nathan's clothes. My SIL, Lindsey, is super-crafty and has made adorable onesies. I have also made a few, and my new love for embroidery has upped the unique factor for Nathan's wardrobe. For little boys, there is some cute stuff out there, but this adds some extra pizazz!! My ideas are definitely not originals, and I am not as talented as many of the craft blogs I peruse, but it is fun and usually cheaper than the clothing in the store. The intro photo is a plain white onesie I embroidered a Mexican wrestling mask onto, it is actually a little scary, but cute with jeans and some moccasins! Here are some of my recent projects...

These are some jammy (-ie?) pants that Nathan tore a hole in crawling on the floor...I was thinking about just stitching it closed, but Trace had the excellent idea of adding some fabric to cover the holes and I has seen some pants on several blog sites such as MADE and homemade by jill. These ladies are crazy talented, so do not look too close at mine, they are not great, but will do the trick.

Here is a Sublime Stitching template...You just iron it on and go for it. Sorry about the completed project picture, I can't figure blogger out sometimes.

Lastly, ARGYLE! This is a combo of embroidery and appliqued fabric. I saw the idea on U Create from here and it turned out SO cute.

Beware family and friends...Christmas is a-coming and I am armed with lots of embroidery floss and a strong desire for creativity during naptime!!

Nathan's First Halloween

Nathan's first spooky day passed without too much excitement. We both had to work yesterday morning and it marked his first day with a babysitter - I do not count day care as babysitting...This was the first time someone came to the house and watched him that was not related to us and costs a lot more that his day care providers! We had a lovely young lady come to the house to watch him and it went well. He is such a go-with-the flow kind of kid.

The rest of the day-evening Trace spent seeing emergencies, so Nathan and I headed to clinic's receptionists for a look at their haunted house. Josie and her husband, Chris, did an amazing job of setting up a small walk through haunted house. It was awesome, and I think Nathan is the perfect age because he wasn't scared, just intrigued by what was going on around him. We stayed for a little while and helped hand out candy, our house never gets trick-or-treaters and it was too fun, we just wish daddy could have joined us!

This is just before we left, Nathan is forever trying to pull off his socks and shoes, and he could not figure out how to get these tights off, it was very frustrating for him!

Josie, Chris and Nathan outside the haunted house...I should have got a picture of the graveyard on the other side - there were about four to six graves with skeletons crawling out...They went all out! Josie was the game of Twister and Chris was a murder of some type.

The butler.The scary man that would take his face off...