JJ hits the single digits, Santa was very good to us & Homemade Xmas...

My Homemade Jasper Bday Invite

Our little chicken has officially hit the single digits! Jasper turned ONE this past December 21st. I was so excited for him, I think I sang "Happy Birthday" at least a week prior to the big day. Unfortunately, the sky was pretty excited about it too. We received about 24 inches of snow the night before his party! It was a beautiful thing to wake up to...but not such a beautiful thing for birthday parties. Unfortunately, we had to cancel Jasper's shindig...I was very bitter about the whole thing, thus the lack of documenting snow pictures. In a way, I guess it is suiting that Snow Miser visited us this year...given Heat Miser made us a visit in 2008! (Click on the hotlinks below for friendly reminders.)

Snow Miser (from my favorite xmas special, The Year Without A Santa Clause.)

Jasper's first moments...a total replica of Heat Miser below...

A view from our window. (This picture is 2 days after the initial drop...you can only imagine what it looked like. We seriously were held hostage on our street. Good thing I had a boatload of soup and cookies to hold us over!)

Jasper's First Bday Cupcake

He actually was more into the Ginger Cookies I had made the day prior. What the heck...its his bday.

"Ugh, I don't feel so hot."

GrandMary & JJ opening some of his gifts. Mom and Dad ventured out the next day for their sweet grandbaby.

The night before...
Jasper opening his FIRST gift, (it was originally a Santa gift, thus the xmas paper, but PJ couldn't wait any longer.)

He immediately threw his blocks in the back...We had not even taken it out of the box yet!


"Vroom, Vroom"

This dumptruck is NO joke. It rumbles and shakes (thus the fuzzy image), the front lights come on, the back auto dumps, and there is actually a button for the radio!

On to the....Happy Holidays! I say in denial to overcome the terrible downward spiral that comes after so much excitement. Is it spring yet? Anyhoo - we had a great xmas this year. No traveling, (perks of living close to everyone again), wonderful family gatherings & awesome gifts. We headed to my sister's house, Tracey very EARLY for the festivities. As you can imagine, her children had already opened up their Santa gifts and were ready for a nap! (um, that includes the teenagers as well.)

Santa checking his list...we certainly made the "NICE" list this year!

Check out the bounty and that robust tree!


Pj & his new acoustic-base...Watch yo back, Gene Simmons.

Long lost friend.
I couldn't resist this plastic sword at the store and instantly thought of my little brother, Matthew. He had about a trillion of these destroyed by Mom for his many infractions of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Rose crunchin' numbers with her new laptop.

Nothing like a teen and their very first cellphone.

Ryan was on that thing ALL DAY, not lying. The sad part, he had no numbers yet, so he was texting his older sister who was sitting right next to him. I think they actually started arguing via text. Gotta love technology. (At least no one else had to hear it!)

Life's Many Conundrums.

Brade received a full blown Cowboys uniform from Santa...and then got this from us. Poor thing was totally torn all day, rotating each jersey out every 15 minutes!

Requisite football pic pose.

(Brade did this all on his own. Hilarious.)

Brade's xmas present to his Mama.

He was soooo excited for Tracey to open it. I can't wait to receive gifts like this!

Hit the DECK!

OMG, did Uncle Matt REALLY just give Ryan a poison dart blow gun? We all were struck with the fear of god when this one was unwrapped.

Parker with his new skateboard thingie.

It has only 2 wheels and twists & turns. Seems impossible, I am sure this little agile athlete will figure it out!

Me totally crushin' it on the skateboard thingie.

(Notice the very tight grip on the door knob! Ha.)

Jasper totally hamming it up for GrandMary.

Tracey helping JJ out with his stir-fry skillz.

This gift is adorable, and Jasper LOVES it. He has been stirring it up for the past 2 weeks! ...never gets old.

JJ & Rose flirting a little.

JJ & Rose playing a little.

Matt and his first turkey.

(NOTE* he insisted on having Thanksgiving dinner again, complete with the works. He was informed he would have to prepare...which he surprisingly did!)

(DOUBLE NOTE** Notice the chalkboard in the background, that was a Kitty Kat original. for our budding chef, Molly. I still love it so much.)

This Christmas my creative sparks were flying! I couldn't control myself. I decided to pick up a paint brush again, (after at least 7 years.) I have to admit, it was a bit intimidating, but I was prepared to attack. I am so happy I did. There are many more paintings in my future...so many ideas are built up and don't even know where to start! Anyhoo - here are the creations/presents I whipped up for my sister and Marie...

A Modern Take on Classic Silhouettes

(The pink is meant for Molly, I didn't have a profile pic at the time. I am going to paint her facing the opposite direction.)

Brade. I love his crazy hair.

Parker.

Ryan.

(The stylish swooped bangs hairstyle resembles a unicorn. Something we can kid him on in later life.)

My most ambitious...a portrait of Baby Rose for Marie.

This picture doesn't really do it justice, but you get the idea.

Hopefully, I will have more creative goodies to share in the future. If I can get Jasper to sleep past 4:15am in the morning, I will be able to keep my eyes open at night to bring my ideas to life! I am thinking a profile of me and Pj facing each other as a headboard...Love it! In the meantime, I hope everyone had happy holidays! Btw - I am leaving some of my white xmas lights up year-round...is that tacky?

Later - Kat

Oh btw - Jasper had his 12 month check-up. He is 31 1/2 inches long and 27 lbs! In Dr. Gearing's amazed words, "He is S-o-l-i-d, Katherine." Our little man is awesome!

Party like its 1994! & I Heart Crafting for the Holidays...

Whew...it has been soooo busy these days!! (...in a good way.) Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone. We had a wonderful time over at Mom & Dad's. The food was delicious and the company even better ;) Jasper took after his Daddy and LOVED Thanksgiving dinner...I think it is his fav munchies to date! Here are the few pics I took...

Whoa...It is so golden and BEAUTIFUL!

Jasper looking adorable, per usual.

Little Trouble Makers, (by the way lil Rose has been walking for over a month now!...and loving every minute of it.)

Where is Brade?....(hiding in his new birthday camoflouge.)

There he is!!!

The night after Thanksgiving, Pj and I attended my 15 year high school reunion. OMG! We had a blast! Maybe, it had something to do with it being our first night out together without the little one? I like to think it had more to do with the people! It was wonderful to see everyone again. We all looked damn good to say the least. Plus - I discovered I have some fans out there, Shout out to Kelley....HOLLA! Anyhoo - I was in charge of the decorations...and they were a big hit. I made a welcome banner, loads of glittery blue streak cut outs and customized table tents for all of the tables and bar. Unfortunately (like usual) I brought my camera BUT forgot to take even ONE picture! Luckily, my co-graduates took some great shots that I confiscated off of their facebook pages. GO BLUE STREAKS! (Did I mention I had absolutely NO budget? Oh well, it took me back old school, literally.)

The banner I created with scanned HS senior photos, and cheap white cloth. I actually hand-drew the letters, cut them out and sewed all of these letters on!

The awesome HHS decorating commitee, Leslie, me, Jenn & Julez #1, (Julie would actually sign all of her class assignments as that. I love her.)

Here is an example of the table tents I made for each senior superlative (Yes, I made 10 different tents.) Each side had a picture from the yearbook and then relevant early 90's trivia. They took me WAY too long to do...but were a great conversation piece for everyone.

"Funniest" circa 2009.

Yes, the picture is crude...but funny. (Heather just had a babe 3 wks prior to this photo! Doesn't she look great?!!)

Heather and Julez #1 posing with their tabletents. (Heather stole hers...she heart-ed it soooo much.)

Jump Around, jump around, jump up jump up and get down... (click on link to take you back, hahahaha i love it so much.)

Dan the Man, the original doing his infamous scissor dance to his theme song mentioned above. I would like to add, this pic doesn't do his jump justice.

On to the Christmas preprations and celebrations! This year I finally created cards for our loved ones. Note to all those out there going to Kinko's...I think their printers stink! I tangled with the representative over their print quality. The actual printed cards didn't display JJ's blue eyes...and the shadows were WAY too dark. To all of those who received a card...THIS is what it was supposed to look like. Oh well, I didn't have time to go somewhere else. My lesson learned in procrastination. It's the thought that counts, right!?

Happy Holidays!

I am so excited about decorating this year! 1. We finally have a home with walls AND 2. It was a reason to sew together some fabric garland I have been salivating over since Jen made some at my baby shower last fall!

All of the perfectly cut and sewn fabric triangles.

The different patterns used. I was able to purchase this whole set of fat quarters on Etsy.com (Much cheaper and they have cooler fabrics available.)

I became so wrapped-up in the Xmas decorating mode, I even spiced up our photographs around the house...

You can't tell from this picture, but those Santa hats are miniscule...We're talking pencil erasure small. They crack me up everytime I walk by.

Well, I tried to take pictures of our Christmas tree...but they all came out fuzzy. This year is monumental, so I have to document. It is the first year all of my ornaments from my childhood are represented. I swear, it is just like that Hallmark commercial...the young mother is opening a package from her mother with each year's ornament opening the flood gates of memories. I swear, I teared up with some of these.

Jasper inspecting the looming green giant in front of him. As of yet, he still has not crawled within 2 feet of the tree and gifts.

A couple of weekends ago it snowed, and I thought that was it until March...A few pics below.) Little did I know that we would recieve 24 inches last night!!!No joke, we can't even see our cars parked on the street! I am too bummed about the cancellation of Jasper's birthday party today, so I didn't celebrate this latest snowfall with any pictures. I am sure I will give in tomorrow. Ugh. Notice the light in the pics below...a gorgeous blue! (We were up WAY too early with Jasper's latest 4:30am wake-up schedule.)

Later - gonna go eat some Christmas cookies!