2010 Christmas

As usual,  I'm running behind on my posts.  It's already January 2nd.  I should be wishing you all a happy new year, So Happy New Year.  Now backtrack with me a little bit....

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love a beautiful home decorated with all the Christmas trimmings.  I love time spent with family and friends.  I love shopping for gifts, planning trips and looking forward to special dinners and get-togethers.

This year we traveled to Ohio for the Minniear Christmas get-together.  All of Dennis' family met in Columbus at his oldest brother Davids house.  I didn't think to take my camera, so no photos of the event from me.  I can sum up the day with three words... Food, Cards, Naps.  Oh and I should mention that our menu was quite different.  Oh, yes we had tukey and ham.  But we also had Bear and Goose.  I tried both and found out that I really like Bear!  Who knew.

The Grandkids and my SIL Marie playing cards with Grandma  (photo courtesy of my nieces facebook)

December 22-24 was spent with my family in Indianapolis.  I've posted photos here.

Late Christmas eve we drive back home to Evansville so that the kids can wake up Christmas morning at our house.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Logan finally gets a real gun

Isaiah got a new flat screen tv for his room

Evan got a new stereo and speaker system for his Jeep

Isaiah also got a new Compound Bow and some more arrows

So excited to try out his gun!  The good thing is we live out of city limits and have fields behind the house so he's been able to do some shooting.

I hope your family had a magical Christmas this year.
My favorite part was being reminded throughout the month that without Jesus coming to us as a tiny baby, we would not have been given the best gift of all....The gift of eternal life through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior!

Snapshots of Christmas Eve

Santa Switch

December is here and one of the things our high school kids look forward to is the Winter Formal a.k.a. the Santa Switch dance.  Girls ask the boys, they pay for the dinner and the dance tickets.  Everyone looks forward to getting all dressed up and having a wonderful evening.
Here are some photos of my boys with their dates and their group of friends.

Evan with Ashley

 Colton with Alex

 Logan with Markie

Bo with Lauren

The Guys

They call themselves "The Bros"

I had this image made into a 16x20 poster for Evans wall.

The Beauties

These are little collages that I made for each of the kids.  

I made the border on the photos match the girls dress.  I hope they like them!

This is a shot of the boys making fun of Logan.  

Earlier in the day he got elbowed in the face at his basketball game.  

He has a black eye and a cut on his cheek.  

Group Photo

(Carlos' date had a basketball game and she met him at the dance)

Merry Christmas!!

Might Just Be the Worlds BEST Potato Soup!

As many of you know, I don't like to cook.  But I am a mom of three growing boys, two of whom are teen-agers so I cook.  Every week night, I cook. I love easy recipes.  I love the dump and go kind of recipes.  (You know, open a bunch of this and that, dump it in a pot and it makes a delicious easy meal)
I hate to tend a stove, an oven, a boiling pot!  I'd rather clean up a mess than cook a meal.  All this being said leads me to the reason I write this post.  I found an AWESOME recipe for Loaded Baked Potato Soup.  It's easy.  It's delicious!  It's comfort food!  You can make it in a crockpot or on the stove top.

Here is the recipe:

LOADED BAKED POTATO SOUP

16 oz bag frozen cubed potatoes

2   3 oz jars of real bacon pieces

8 oz cream cheese, softened

12 oz sour cream

16 oz milk

12 oz chicken broth

6-8 green onions, chopped

Salt

Pepper

Colby-Jack cheese, shredded

Bread Boule (optional)

In a large pot or crockpot add potatoes, a 3 oz jar of bacon pieces, softened cream cheese, sour cream, milk, chicken broth, 3/4 of chopped green onions, salt and pepper to taste.

Cook on low heat, stirring often for approximately 1 hour in large pot (2-3 hours if using crockpot).

Serve hot in bowl or bread boule topped with green onions, bacon pieces and shredded cheese.

Enjoy!!!

serves about 6 people, so make a double batch if you want leftovers or have hungry teen-aged boys!

My New Office Space

When we moved into this house 3 years ago I set the formal living room aside to be used as my portrait studio.  It has served me well over the years, but I have outgrown it and no longer shoot in there.  It has become a room to house the collection of props I pick up here and there and am very tired of it looking like a storage room.

 2008

2009

 2010

2010

Over this past weekend Dennis built some shelves for me in my prop closet.

I moved the rest of my "stuff" in there to make room for a new desk and turn the "studio" into an office.

I found this cute little desk at WalMart and assembled it in no time.

I had the perfect little bench prop to use for clients to sit on.

I have a real chair that I picked up at a garage sale for $2, but it is in refurbish mode right now and not ready for the office just yet.  So until then I am sitting on another prop, a cute little leopard seat.  

Soon it will retire to the prop closet as well.

 So here is a peek of the office as you look in from the entry way.

 This is a view of it looking down from the stairs

 I moved the buffet across the room again.

Beside it is an old farm house window that I hope to hang on the wall and use as a way to display photos.

 Love this big red chair.  It belonged to my friend Stephanie's grandmother.  Stephanie used to sit in it as a little girl when she visited her grandmother.  Her family blessed me with it last year to use as a prop.

In the chair, check out my new camera bag!

 My photo wall.  Photos of my clients.

We just added the shelf and I'm starting to fill it with old cameras.

The camera on the right is my first SLR film camera.

  Just another view of the buffet.  This is where I store all of my business paperwork and such.

Feels great to have an office.

I feel like this is just the bones of it.

I really need some help jazzing it up with some decorations.

Decorating is not my calling.

Anyway, wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.

Be blessed!

Happy Birthday Logan!!

15 years ago today you came into our life, an adorable bouncing baby boy with big blue eyes and cute little dimples!

Today you are handsome and strong.  You've grown into a great young man.  You still have those beautiful blue eyes and cute dimples too!!

We wish you a wonderful, happy birthday filled with blessings.

We love you!

Mom and Dad

Evan and Isaiah

and Tigger