a snipet of the Christmas party

As we mentioned we had been planning a little Christmas gathering for the kids and about 15 of their friends.  We created two dessert tables, crafting and a visit with Santa. Santa came from Party Peeple and did a great job!  We were lucky enough to have a cousin, and wonderful photographer take pictures.  I am waiting for those, but for now I will put up a couple of pictures. 
The red and white dessert table had a four layer red and white cake iced with peppermint icing and decorated with candy canes and crushed candy.  We had red velvet cupcakes, Christmas tree cakes and red chocolate dipped pretzels.



my dressed up little party goer

pokeno party

This was a weekend full of parties! Friday night I hosted our monthly Pokeno game. Pokeno is  a cross between bingo and cards. We play with a core group of about 8 with new people joining in sometimes.  I hosted just our core of 8 (including Gabby and myself). As always we drank, played a couple of rounds, won and lost quarters, ate and did I mention drank. The menu had a citrus and cranberry theme; I made wine poached steak, stuffed mushrooms, cranberry meatballs, mini quiches (from Sam's), orange chutney and brie on water crackers, prosciutto roll up with a wheel of cheese, celery gratin and for dessert earl grey truffles, meringues and citrus bundt cake with a tangerine glaze. To drink we had red and white wine, cranberry sparklers, eggnog spiked with cognac and champagne.  I don't have any pictures of my decor but it was red and black theme (a la' suites of cards).



drink table



food table

close up

close up

dessert

Gabby's Needlepoint

Hi,

Here's my wreath! I googled "diy modern wreath" and followed that basic model.  Pretty easy except that I should've bought two rolls of ribbon. 

Share your stuff!

As Gab and I were drinking our evening glass of wine and discussing our upcoming Christmas party, we thought how nice it would be to see other peoples' parties, crafts, ect, I'm not sure how to allow people to share but if you message/comment we will find a way to post your pictures and writings! Thanks

Santa is in the house! (or will be)

As I have mentioned we are planning a Christmas shindig for Shelby and Adrienne's friends. We are excited to announce Santa will be making an appearance and distributing gifts (the kids party favors)! Yay us!!! This visit will be a surprise for the kids and a chance for parents to get the coveted Santa picture without the crowd (in time for Christmas cards).  We rock!!! We are using Party Peeple (who we've used on multiple occasions and been thrilled with every time). They were very gracious and accomidating for our specific needs.

A Different Kind of Christmas List!

Hello All (or few since it may be presumptuous to assume that enough people read this blog to qualify as all), I am gabby the other twin who has yet to post. I was thinking about something today sparked by a conversation here at the office. How many folks out there have their wills in order? Specifically, who gets your kids and what do you do with your house and other assets? Do you sell, put in a trust? Who will be your trustee? It may not be the most cheery holiday thought, but the holidays provide a unique opportunity to observe those around you and gain insights into who has similar values, traditions and priorities. As a lawyer, married to a lawyer, I must admit we are remiss. While we have discussed all of these matters and decided who would care for our kid if something were to happen to both of us, but I have yet tp draft a trust or any other official documents. I guess I'm like the plumber with a leaky faucet at home! For those nonlawyers out there, kits are available online to help draft these documents. Also, if you check tue state bar association website and find lawyers who are active in the estate planning sections you will be pleasantly surprised to find many small firms or solo practitioners if you fear big firm sticker shock. If money is less of a concern, or you feel more comfortable with the institutional stability of a large firm the state bar is still a good place to start. I would say that the Christmas thanksgiving gauntlet may not be the best time to discuss with your spouse, but is a better time tp give this matter some personal reflection time. Disclaimer: The above listed content is not intended to constitute legal advice, it is merely the opinion of the blogger.

silver and gold Christmas wreath

As I mentioned before I made my first wreath this fall.  Since it was time to begin my Christmas decorating and JoAnn's was having a great sale and decided to go ahead and make my Christmas wreath a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday.  I recycled my grapevine wreath and just took off and boxed all of my fall garlands,ect. This year I am trying something new and doing all my Christmas decor in one color scheme. I am not a fan of the super busy wreath--I like to see the grapevine. This is the wreath  I came up with, it has really inspired me to stay within the silver and gold scheme.

The kids collected pine cones and moss from the barn in Natchez, MS where our horses board and we will paint and glitter them tomorrow.  It should be fun to undertake this project with two 3 year olds--I'm sure there will be pictures from this project!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I am sure everyone out there has noticed how early Christmas comes now a days! Lucky for me I am an avid lover of Christmas and the holiday season. I look forward to every aspect of that ever so short stretch of holiday fun between Thanksgiving and Christmas day. We spent this Thanksgiving sans hubbies at our "Natchez house" (as the kids call it)  in Natchez, MS and we were able to partake in some small town Christmas fun and spend time beginning new cross stitch projects, planning and making banners for the Christmas shindigs we are giving for Shelby and Adrienne's little crew of friends.  There will be many postings to come with lots of pictures of the new projects and our party and decorations. Of all winter pleasures I have to say one of my favorites is a great cup of hot cocoa--especially with a little dash of peppermint schnapps. Here is a picture of the kids first hot cocoa of the season. It was a hit!

wreaths

I've always bought seasonal wreaths and hated spending the money and thought,hey, I can do that. Well, this year I did make my fall wreath. I used a grapevine wreath and wrapped a fall garland around it and filled in spots with a cute bird, a sunflower, and little berry sprigs. I wanted a good bit of the grapevine to show; I like a more rustic wreath. I got everything at Joann's for like $25. Yay me and I will have it for next year! I hung it with a deep pink ribbon I've had forever, I know it doesn't fall into the autumn color scheme but I love this ribbon and always wanted to find a use for it.  Plus I love the extra splash of color.  

I am planning to start making my Christmas wreath to put up right after Thanksgiving. I need ideas I haven't found any truly inspirational ones yet. If you have any good ones please share a picture!!

Cross Stitching Projects

As I mentioned both Gabby and I cross stitch.  I thought I would post pictures of some of my projects.

The first is a pillow I made for Shelby, it took me several months to make because I worked sporadically.  This was probably my first big project. I am very proud of this and Shelby was super excited. Of course, now Buddy reminds me I haven't made him anything. The perils of "making things for your kids! This was done with a pattern I printed from a cross stitch site.

 This next project I did in about twenty minutes with an extra towel I had laying around.

This last one is a kitchen towel  I made for one of my friend's mother. She's super sweet and often brings my son home so I wanted to say thanks. Her initials are JF. I have this great book of old ornate monograms from the 1800s. This was a fun 2-3 day project. 

Now I am waiting on a kit to make a belated birth announcement for my daughter's Paran's new baby.  The kits can be nice when you are trying to work fast and don't have time to go to the craftstore. I've got two other projects in the works as well--just need to get to it!

And on to the next party!

Now on to planning our little Christmas party for Shelb and A and about ten of their friends. I have just started using Pinterest.com and its really been a fun way to save all of the great ideas I'm finding. Now I just have to figure out how to link it to this blog--can you do that?hmmm...

Adrienne's 3rd Birthday

On November 5th we celebrated A's (as she is known in the family) 3rd Birthday with a Snow White's Enchanted Party. We had the best time planning and implementing this party.  We kept the menu simple. The kids' menu was: mini pizzas, pb and j sandwiches, pinwheel sandwiches, (cut in half) chicken fingers and finger sandwiches . For the adults: mini quiches, pasta, salad, chicken tenders, finger sandwiches, and pinwheel sandwiches. The finger sandwiches and chicken tenders came from Rouse's (a local grocery) and they were so great, we had known left! We made a four layer fondant cake using butter cream fondant and a whipped cream cake recipe from Martha Stewart. We also made mini caramel apples to decorate around the cake plate.  The boys were given swords and shields and the girls wands and Snow White headbands when they arrived. Both the boys and girls received apple drinking cups (oriental trading), that they drank from and took home at the end of  the party.

The kids had a great time jumping in our inflatables and running around the yard; Snow White visited and painted faces and made balloon animals. When the party was over the girls were given Snow White pendants in little apple bags (oriental trading) and the boys were given candy (in little muslin drawstring sacks). All of our paper decorations were made using our Cricut with the princesses cartridge.