Christmas Lego collection

We've been a Lego loving family ever since our kids were little.

Back in the late 80's/ early 90's they starting selling these Christmas Lego packets at Lionel Playworld ~ in bins near the check out line for a dollar each. Over the years I would pick up the latest Santa, Snowman or Angel for the kids to put together each Christmas and then take apart so they could put it together the following year. And yes, there were years that I actually waited till after Christmas so I could get the bags half-off. Seriously.

Then the Lego Advent Calendars came out and my kids loved putting together a little Santa or small toy each day leading up to Christmas.

Here's a better look at my Santa collection that I photographed for a blog post a year ago.

We ordered that Lego Christmas tree online last year and we love it!

  Then last night we went to Toy's R Us because we saw that we could get a free Lego Snowman with any $30.00 or more Lego purchase. Well we weren't interested in buying Legos but we wondered if they would sell us just the Lego Snowman. And they did! (for $3.99) So that little guy up there is now the latest addition to our Lego Snowman collection.
Isn't he adorable!

And as you can see, he fits in beautifully!

Hey, come check out more Holiday treasures at these blog parties ~

TUESDAY'S TREASURES
SHOW AND TELL
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

warm woolen mittens

What is it about mittens? Maybe it's memories of snowballs and snowmen, sleds and toboggans... resulting in wet mittens drying over hot vents. I can see em all now, several pair draped over warm blowing vents. And there was always a pair on my Mom's knitting needles. I even knitted a pair during a Wisconsin snowstorm back in 1974. (the variegated blue pair atop the solid red pair in the basket below) 

Yes, I have been smitten with mittens for as long as I can remember. 

My Mom knitted mittens for each of my kids over the years, but they were never worn.

So years ago I created a mitten garland for our front window.

And what started out as a handful of homemade mittens has grown to a laundry basket full.

I pick em up at thrift stores and yard sales all year long.

And who remembers mitten clips? Love those plaid clips!

I love this entire retro inspired mantel! That's a plaid woolen scarf with mittens clipped to it ~

along with skis and skates... and framed black 'n white memories.

I've had that picture filed away for years,

hoping one day I would come upon a bag of mitten clips. But seriously, what are the chances of finding such a treasure in the middle of the desert? I know. Pretty slim. ha!

Through Different Eyes

Randy begins each concert with a song he wrote, that was inspired while reflecting on Christmas memories as seen through the eyes of a young boy and then seen through the eyes of our children. Pictures of him and his siblings and our kids are shown on a slideshow as he sings. I have yet to watch it without crying. 

That's our Shawn (4) and Miranda (2) on the screen. 

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of Grace and Truth. 

John 1:14

Our children were all performing on stage as we did "Child of Love"

Our daughter Miranda, me, Shawn and Randy

Our son Shawn on lead guitar

Randy and our friend Terry

Thanks Nancy for capturing these memorable moments over the weekend.

Randy's CDs are available HERE.

He wrote all the songs except "Oh Holy Night". Such powerful music. And just so you know, we do lots of mailing if you'd like us to pop a CD in the mail for you. 

And now that the concerts are over, let the Christmas festivities begin!

concert images

One down, one more to go.

So excited for tonight's final concert. And just as in years past, the weather is cooperating beautifully... as in cold and rainy. I love it. Makes me so happy. We have a fire roaring in the woodstove. And I'm sitting here munching on mint M'nMs while facebooking, blogging and pinning online. Doesn't get much better than that.

Our son Shawn took some artsy cool photos with my camera last night during our sound-check. Love this one of my husband on his 12-string Guild. And you know how much I love bokeh shots. Well, imagine my surprise and delight to be seen in the presence of such bokeh bliss. ha! Love it!
Thanks Shawn.

Thanksgiving '11

I'm in no hurry to post about Christmas till December, so I might as well close out November 

with a few images from our Thanksgiving weekend. 

And yes, I've been setting out that turkey centerpiece for way too many years. 

But I'm not looking to retire her anytime too soon.

We actually had a few rain showers throughout the day.

Made it real fun to snuggle up in the fairy house on the patio.

Pop Pop was invited to join emolyn & elsie in the fairy house for some tickle time.

(notice emolyn holding her powder compact)

How cute is emolyn admiring herself in that makeup mirror... 

and how elsie is so tickled with her Pop Pop.

So thankful that Nicole was able to get off work early and join us for pumpkin pie around the firepot.

We closed out the weekend with a rehearsal for Randy's Christmas Concert Sunday afternoon.

Our drummer took this picture of Randy & I on his iPhone.

We're really looking forward to the concerts this weekend.

Hope you can join us!

Please click the poster on my sidebar for more concert info.

repurposing Packer apparel

To celebrate the Green Bay Packers 11-0 record,

I'm going to show you what I did to the Packer t-shirt I bought for my granddaughter.

Hey, you don't tour Lambeau Field without bringing back t-shirts for your favorite girls! 

But I had to laugh, because after this little photo shoot, 

Emolyn said to me ever so sweetly ~

"Mimi, I don't like looking like a boy. I like dressing like a girl."

Well then, I know a challenge when I see one!

So the day before Thanksgiving I went to the ARC and bought a mens t-shirt for a dollar.

I didn't have emolyn's t-shirt with me,

so I had not a clue as to whether the greens would match.

But they did! Perfectly!

I could not have been more pleased with the final results! 

The t-shirt dress turned out just as I had envisioned it would.

I didn't have time to transform Elsie's t-shirt,

but you can be sure that come Super Bowl XLVI ~ hers will be completed too.

Umm, hello! The Packers better be playing in the Super Bowl!!

So, did I take a picture of Emolyn wearing the dress on Thanksgiving Day ~

during the Green Bay Packers awesome WIN over the Lions? Heck no! 

Thankfully she was thrilled with the dress but before I could snap a picture,

she was on to more important apparel. Like fancy princess dresses.

I'm linking up with my favorite link parties ~

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

Happy Birthday Miranda!

We celebrated Miranda's birthday last night with a family dinner

and affirmation around the fire after devouring the Oreo ice cream cake she requested.

Do you see that Birthday Care Bear next to the Birthday Beanie Baby?

Well, Miranda got that Birthday Care Bear on her 1st birthday 26 years ago.

And we make sure to include that Birthday Care Bear every single year 

when celebrating Miranda's birthday.

When it was Emolyn's turn to affirm her Aunt Miranda,

she said "you're awesome and nice, and your voice is pretty and you're pretty."

Isn't that the sweetest ever!

Oh and guess what ~ 

that young man sitting next to my daughter happens to be her boyfriend. 

And we could not be more thrilled!

And that purple crocheted hat that Emolyn is wearing ~

I made that when I was in high school ~ over 35 years ago! I know!

my blog friend Heidi

~ Vacuuming in High Heels and Pearls ~

That happens to be the name of a blog that I've been reading for the past 5 years. And yesterday I got to spend the day with the author of that blog! And I am not even kidding, it was as though Heidi and I had known each other for years! We have so much in common. We clicked instantly. We talked about everything. And then we talked while eating lunch. And then like any shopping extraordinaires, we talked all the while shopping and thrifting. We had so much fun getting to know each other!
Heidi was here in Tempe with her family from Denver (Maren- 6 & Porter- 2) to support her husband while he competed in the Ironman Arizona on Sunday. He did amazing and finished the race in 15 hours. I can't even imagine ~ 2.4 mile swim ~ 112 mile bike ~ 26.2 mile run. No way! I'm exhausted thinking about it!

Before we hit a few of my favorite thrift stores, I took Heidi to SAS Fabrics Tempe. First of all, isn't she adorable! And oh my gosh, I forgot how much I love SAS! I found a couple remnants of colored burlap ($2.99 a yd.) along with 4 yards of burlap fringe ($.49 a yd.).

And then we stopped at the ARC of Tempe thrift store.

And much to our delight & surprise ~ everything in the store is 50% off this week!

And yes, I got that cake stand for 2 dollars.

And it's displaying the sweetest gift from Heidi!!

A VANILLA EXTRACT DO-IT-YOURSELF KIT

(containing 3 madagascar bourbon vanilla beans along with the recipe on the back)

I can't wait to make my very own homemade vanilla extract!

And I absolutely love the rooster cookie cutter!

Thank you sooo much Heidi!  What a truly fantastic day!

pinterest, the Packers & peppermint pretzels

• I've had a bad cold for over a week. So what does one do when one's sick?
• Well, lots of pinning on Pinterest. Want to see my boards? Clic HERE.
• The Green Bay Packers are 9-0. How cool is that!
• Bought the peppermint/ white chocolate dipped snowflake pretzels at Costco yesterday. Oh my gosh, so yummy good!
• My husband is building me the pantry of my dreams. The big reveal coming soon.
• Bought the cutest roller skating t-shirt in Door County... on clearance at Target!
• I love it because my Mom & Dad met at a roller skating rink.
• And Randy's parents met at a roller skating rink.
• And Randy & I did not. But you can read how we met HERE.
• The latest ultrasound showed the twins are a boy and a girl. Emolyn was right all along! That girl's a prophet.
• Be sure to check out my shared kids bedroom board. Cuteness overload.
• Speaking of cute. (photos curtesy of Cora Kingston Photography) 

elsie & daddy

elsie lane- 1 year old

me 'n em baking pies

Welcome to my cooking show! So excited that you could join us!

Let me introduce you to my lovely assistant Emolyn Kate.

Emolyn, why don't you tell our viewing audience what we'll be baking for them today?

And just like that Emolyn entered into the world of television... 

pretending we were doing a cooking show. And the girl has stage presence!

We'll be making apple pies today! Back to you Mimi.

(ok, so I made up that last line)

She was so fascinated watching me crimp my pie crust... 

that she could hardly wait to crimp her very own pie crust edges.

And crimp she did! 

She crimped and crimped till I thought our viewers might be a little crimped out.

(ok, I made that up too)

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting emolyn kate's impeccably crimped apple pie!

When the pies came out of the oven,

I did what any pie maker does. I took them outside to be photographed.

(oh, you don't do that?)

And how cool that those fall leaves landed so perfectly next to the pies.

Aren't they so pretty. me 'n em think so.

I'm sort of a bokeh junky... which is what I was trying to capture in these outside shots.

I know what you're thinkin' ~ pies and bokeh pie pics! Doesn't get much better than that! ha!

Linking this post to ~

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

my Packer girls

Woke up to temps in the low 40's ~ signifying Fall is finally here! So we fired up the wood stove and I made my first latte of the season. Life is good.

Ok, so for those of you that wanted more info on our grandbaby twins... oh, so no one asked? Well, too bad, I want to talk about them... so I guess you're gonna hear about them. ha!

They're arriving in April. They are considered high-risk (emolyn came early weighing 2# 7oz.) so please pray they stay put... and that Nicole and the babies remain healthy throughout the pregnancy and delivery. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that TWO BABIES are growing inside her tummy!

Needless to say, emolyn (3) is pretending she's 'pwegnant' with two babies now. She already has 'four kids'... so she will have her hands full. Her 'husband' is now working as a firefighter... but recently they took a 'fall break' from each other. Mmm, wonder what that's all about? Maybe Randy and I need a 'fall break' from each other :)

If you know me at all, you know that I eagerly enter into this vivid imagination of hers, and at times she has to remind me "Mimi, I'm just pwetending!". Yes, yes of course you are... I knew that.

The other day she started calling me Grandma. So I asked her "Emolyn, why aren't you calling me Mimi anymore?". She replied all serious "I just got tired of calling you Mimi." Thankfully she was back to calling me Mimi in a few days.

Randy & I went over to Shawn & Nicole's last week to spent time with emolyn & elsie while Nicole was at work (she's a nurse) and Shawn was at worship band rehearsal. I showed emolyn the pictures I took of her & elsie dressed in the Green Bay Packer t-shirts I got them. While she was looking at them she informed me ever so gently ~ "I'm sorry Mimi, but I really don't like looking like a boy. I like dressing like a girl. " haha! I love her candor. And I love my little Packer girls.

GO PACKERS!! LET'S MAKE IT 8-0!!

Randy's Christmas Concert

My husband Randy wrote this on his blog ~ A Believer's Journey ~

For many years I have done a Christmas Concert of my original music around the subject of the birth of Christ. I am accompanied by some of my closest friends as well as my family. It is a great evening of music and some stories I tell every year.

It has become a very popular concert for many people who know about my ministry. 

It is also a really neat way to introduce the Christmas season. I can honestly say that it is the most enjoyable thing I get to do every year
and I am looking forward to doing it again this year. 

I hope that you will come and celebrate the greatest gift ever given 

and enjoy a night of music and stories to focus our hearts on 

God's gift to us ~

 JESUS.