2013 Holiday Photo Album

There would be no way I could spend enough time to really do this justice with commentary so I'll just make this post a photo album of what all went down this way for the holidays with the Loring crew.  So you'll see a collection of all Brook's holiday performances, cookie for Santa deco party at our house, Christmas Eve bash at Daddy/Papa's house, Christmas gathering at our house and last but not least me and Brook celebrating the New Year with the East coast b/c we couldn't hang til Central Standard Time :-) . Very busy and tiring few days but sooo worth it!! 

Ok-I will give some comments on the toy assembly I had to do this year. Big ups to all the moms and dads who do this every year!!! Usually I shuffle it all to Brooklyn's Daddy but I decided to chip in this year thinking that the nursery for her dolls wouldn't be so tough....ha!!!! That sucker took me 4 hours!! I had to turn the heat off, turn the fans on, and was in a tank top and shorts by the time I finished!! Lol!!....and that little stinker hardly even plays with that thing!!!! Ahhh...the joys of parenthood....

Ok...here it goes:

BROOK'S PERFORMANCES

COOKIES FOR SANTA DECO PARTY

MOMMY ELF's EXTREMELY HARD WORK!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE BASH AT PAPA's

 CHRISTMAS MORNING 

(check out the Elf on the Shelf PJ's from Mama Pat)

CHRISTMAS DAY GATHERING 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 

Last post before the holidays...

So, this will be one of the last updates for 2013 for you all...I'm thinking I might do some sort of special edition for 2013 at the end of the year, but we'll save that for if it really happens...lol.  Get ready....here's what's been going on in our world:

HANGIN' OUT AT PAPA'S HOUSE

For those of you who aren't privy to Facebook, here's a recent pic of all the girls I I took at their Papa's house after they took their holiday pics. We are really enjoying hanging out at Papa's new digs :-)

FIRST SNOW DAY ALREADY????

Yes...and several of them at that! So, that meant working from home several days for both me and Brook although her Daddy still had to be at work. So, I put her to work practicing on tracing her letters, writing her name, and practicing letter sounds...

Since she was so good for me while I worked, we even went outside for recess at the end of the day...lol

SUZY HOMEMAKER

Being stuck in the house also meant days of me cooking stuff that I could throw together from the pantry and  the freezer.  This was because so many times I grocery shop and then we still eat out because I'm either too busy or too lazy to cook. So, this made me feel good about somewhat not being quite as wasteful as I usually would be...lol.

First up was using several small freezer bags of turkey meatballs I had made and frozen and turning that into a nice piping hot bowl of pasta, marinara (uhhhh....Ragu of course...lol), and some shredded Parmesean cheese....bellisimo!!! Mwuah!!! Perfecto!! Lol!

You know there had to be something sweet thrown into the mix too....so I depleted the flour and sugar in the pantry and made a cinnamon roll cake....OMG!! Perfect "naughty" warm dessert to soothe those cold chilly nights....mmmm hmmmmm....

After these two things the only other thing that provided non-stop nourishment were the deviled eggs that my two egg-eaters over here go crazy over every time!! Never seen anything like it because I never really liked eggs as a kid but Kelvin did and Brooklyn does. They count how many deviled eggs each of them will have when I make them ;-) so cute! No pics of those but y'all know what a deviled egg looks like...lol.

ELF ON THE SHELF "MADDIE" STILL WORKING HER MAGIC....

Thanks to Daddy, that is...lol! I never remember to put that thing somewhere else until I'm already good and comfortable and even already half-sleep in the bed.  I saw this pic on Facebook that really sums it up...

Nevertheless, here's a few shots of ol' Maddie up to her usual antics...

SWEET POTATO PIE QUEEN...

I must admit this one was a shocker to me....lol. To know my friend Michelle, you would know that she's always doing something. She's the type of person who seems like they'd try anything once. When she gets older, boy will she have some stories to sit around and tell her children and grandchildren...lol. As you can see, I still can't stop giggling with this.

 When she text me a few weeks ago and asked if I would come out and support her in this pie contest, my immediate text response was "lol". It just didn't seem like her sort of thing. However, I guess it was after all because this chick won!! She made a smaller version of a pie in a cupcake tin and called it a sweet potato cupcake on which she topped off with a cream cheese icing she had made and it was all from scratch!! I was floored!!

So hats off to Michelle....soak and breathe it in because you know me giving  you any props is few and far between ;-)

I ❤️  MY NIECES

I know this is somewhat random on this post, but I'm trying to clear out some pics that I really meant to post a while ago. I had to scan this into the computer though so it had quite a turn around time for me to remember to do that. This was taken in the photo booth at the fair and it now hangs on the wall in my office over my desk being the first thing I see when I sit down at my desk everyday :-).  I'm the coolest Aunt those girls will ever have!! 

HAIR HAVEN

Yes, I think we'll have to name the hair section of the blog some cutesy name now. Hey, it's an ordeal within itself. I must say that I have really enjoyed playing with extensions, weaves, and wigs this past year. It's given me an opportunity to still be crafty but with something that can be useful too. Some things have been very dramatic and some have been pretty subtle...but all of them have made me feel so pretty and totally put together. Ladies, isn't there something about your hair having that extra mmph that makes you look better even in a t-shirt and sweatpants? You don't have to say it....I can hear it in your eyes...lol.

I've dabbled in making some u-part wigs here recently. Basically these provide the same look of getting a sewn in head full of extensions with some of my hair left out to blend in but with the convenience of a wig because the hair is actually sewn onto a cap and the cap can be taken on and off each day!! It is sooo convenient. With the exception of the dramatic length difference, you wouldn't even know this was something I was wearing....I just choose to reveal my beauty secrets to my beloved blog readers. Hey...I'm an open book....on some stuff anyway. So, you'll see a pic of the wig after I got it all sewn up and flat ironed out...then you'll see a pic of it blended in with my hair. Looks like I just had an explosive growth spurt of hair....

That's just juices and berries y'all...lol

Pretty neat, huh?

P&B HOLIDAY DECORATORS

That's what Brook and I are going to name our holiday decoration company...lol.  I must admit, it took Kelvin to get the ball rollin and prompt us to finally put the tree up but Brook and I didn't do too bad putting the deco together on it...

As If that weren't enough, we also went over to her Papa's new house and got it all festive for the holidays....that's all the jobs we took for this season though...

Well...I probably won't post again until after Christmas, but I think this gets us all caught up for now. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all...a good night ;-)