Match Box Swap Day #3, Gingerbread Capers and My very first ever Giveaway!

Below is my Matchbox #3 which came to me from Cami @ http://creatingmyselfcreatively.blogspot.com/.

Thanks Cami!

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And guess what? Just by happenstance she recieved one from me for day #3.... posted below.

Every day's a new surprise and this swap as is always with 'Swap for All Seasons' has been stellar. I really don't know how Linda manages, but as I said before...she has to be the best swap hostess on the planet. I don't know what she has planned for the next one but you can be sure it will be top notch as always, so if you want to have a little fun you should go visit her site....You can find her link in my sidebar.

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Gingerbread Capers:

Guess what Mr. Holiday is up to now....

I loaded these pics backwards...ugh! I'm just a little disheveled lately....but, in honor of this being our 20th holiday season of making ginger bread houses, Mr. Holiday has decided to make the gingerbread house of all gingerbread houses! And I have decided to have my very first ever Give Away! Whoo Hoo!! It's about time!! My how time flys!! I can't believe it's been 20 years, and it was a blink.... I wish I had pictures of the past years...I might have a few somewhere...but when we started technology wasn't exactly what is is today.

All you have to do to win is:

1. Watch for me to post Mr. Holidays finished gingerbread house and leave a comment on how you think Mr. Holiday did. This will be Mr. Holidays first gingerbread house that he made all by himself from start to finish.


2. Become a follower

3. Mention Mr. Holidays finished house in your post once the picture is posted in Cherry Kingdom with a link back to here.


I hate to keep you guessing....because I love you all so much...but keep checking in. I will post both the prize and the finished house within the next 7 days! :)

XOXO Be blessed and well!! Keke

This is how it began.....

Matchbox Swap, Making Merry, Rudolph Party and Thanksgiving

Remember my Matchbox Swap.... Well as the first day of Christmas month is upon us, it is time to start posting... I'm a day behind already...but hopefully I will stay on track from this day forward... The matchbox above is the one I made and sent. Lucky for me Genie, a teacher from Lexington, VA was thoughtful and posted a thank you msg. so I could see where it went and capture a pic. (I love teachers! It has been my experience that almost all teachers I've met always seems to have an extra gene of thoughtfulness...) I can't believe I forgot to take pics of my boxes before I sent them... ugh-dah! The little pin I put inside the box was a new invention and I absolutely love how they turned out.... It's hard to see in the pic, but they really were yummy!

You can find Genie here: http://buttonsforbaga.blogspot.com/

For me, participating in these swaps bring friends both coming and going...meaning I can't decide what I love more, seeing where my gifts came from or where they went to. None the less, Genie has a sweet little blog and you should jump on over and check it out....

Matchbox #2

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a match box with a silver star for my Christmas tree.... Thanks Jenny Sellars! You can find Jenny @ http://theredbulletinboard.blogspot.com/

Matchbox #1

This matchbox came to me from Jill Doyle... Such yumminess, so well put together...so many little details she gave her attention to. One of the most challenging things for me in putting the boxes together was trying to creatively add a number to ea. box without making it look junky...Jill's idea with the little tag on the ribbon was awesome!

The second biggest challenge was trying to come up with 25 little yum yums that would fit inside the small matchboxes....how cute is this little paperclip with a classic button? I want to make a 100 more for myself and gifts. Simple but yummy and again, put together so well. I so appreciate it! Thanks Jill! You can find Jill @ http://file-under-misc.blogspot.com/

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Jingle On It's Way....

Baby girl was kind enough to model the apron I made for my MIL....

I'm so sad my camera is so crappy!

The apron is a Charlie Brown print with snoopy and candy cane stripes. On one of my MIL's visits we took her to the Snoopy Museum and she absolutely loved it...so did we actually, it was pretty awesome.

The museum gave me a new appreciation for the talent of Charles Shultz...I always liked the snoopy comics and the holiday cartoons but never imagined the scope of his talent. If you ever find yourself in Oz, it's definitely worth the visit. In any case, AH and I have been getting a kick out of the fact that every since we took her to this museum, she acts as if she knows Charles Shultz personally... it's really kind of cute. It worked out wonderfully, Halmark has a really cute animatronic snoopy and piano...(I'm not a big fan of animatronics, but this one was of really good quality and played really well.) My MIL however loves animatronics, and last year she made a point to tell me at least 10 times while they were here that she had only ever had one apron in her 75 yrs. on this earth, that her aunt had given her one but that was yrs. ago. I had made baby girl a cute little pink apron to go with a pie cookbook that I had gotten her for Christmas when my MIL was here...and the for rest of her visit, and all last yr when she talked to AH on the phone that's all she's talked about... The pics don't do it justice, but it please AH that I made this for his mother and I hope she likes it as much as he did. In any case, while I like to get her something she would like, the fact that it pleased AH so much is good for me.

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It Wouldn't be Christmas without a Cat in the Tree...

Ummm....just one problem...I don't think it's as funny as AH thinks it is...I really like my silver retro tree and would really like her little big bottom to not bend my branches!

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Mr. Holiday Rocks Out...


Ok...AH has a collection of hats he can pull out depending on which Christmas character he feels like being.... however, the rock-n-roll Santa glasses with white fake fuzzy sideburns maybe taking it a little too far!

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Rudolph Party...

Evey since the kids were small we would always have a Rudolph party the day after Thanksgiving...The idea was to make up for not being home on Thanksgiving celebrating together because we always had the obligation of running around to both sides of our family on Thanksgiving day...The Rudolph party was our little family's way of cozying in together and celebrating our thankfulness for one another in the warmth of our own home. Now that the kids are older I think they kind of feel silly, antler headbands, light up noses, baking cookies and of course watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer...

This year AH was a "Bumble", hence the scary teeth...but his rock-n-roll Santa glasses are kind of throwing off his 'bumbleness'.

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Thanksgiving Day....

The pie cookbook I bought baby girl last year really paid of in spades on Thanksgiving day this year.... Look what she brought...mmmmm....mmmmm is all I can say! I was so proud of her, the crust was the perfect flakiness and the filling was so rich and nutty!!! Yummo, it was the best pie I think I've ever had! And look how pretty she made the top.


Sometimes the holidays bring about an empty nest feeling for me...I was telling baby girl a few weeks ago how much I missed hearing the pitter patter of their little feet running for the kitchen in the morning, their shiney noses peeking around the corner to see what yummy goodness was being cooked up in the kitchen, their squeals of delight. She said, "but I'm still here mom". I know, but it's not the same, she wakes up at a different house now... and lets not forget hands traced around on construction paper and paper pilgrim hats....






So...on Thanksgiving morning bright and early look who was knocking on my door for breakfast....

A cute little pilgrim girl, paper hat and all...and yes she even gave me a little squeal and then we both laughed really hard....

And then we had breakfast together...before she had to go to her BF family Thanksgiving meal..I hate to be selfish...

But I liked it better when I didn't have to share.... however, I'd always told the kids that their holidays would be their holidays to spend how they chose and I would never make them feel guilty or try to manipulate their emotions so that they would feel as AH and I did when they were small. Put up or Shut up time...kind of wishing I would have shut up! But that's not very nice of me now is it....

Besides...I still have AH, and my favorite thing on the holiday is that he cooks with me... We've always worked well and seamlessly together on projects and I love this about us.

Not to mention, Mr. Holiday wears a turkey hat when he carves our turkey.... but wistfully it was a quiet afternoon with just the two of us....

I hope you and yours had a blessed Thanksgiving... XO XO Keke

Don't Buy Brown and Serve

As promised...the homemade bread recipe...I will be making this recipe into rolls for Thanksgiving instead of the usual brown and serve or rolls of that type because it is so worth the very small effort that it takes to make....Mr. Holiday aka AH will be swooning again....

Amish White Bread

• 2 c.of warm water
• 1/3 c. of white sugar
• 1 1/2 T active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 c. of vegtable oil
• 6 c. of bread flour ( I didn't have bread flour...and all purpose still made awesome bread)
  

In a large bowl mix the warm water and sugar until sugar is disolved. ( it really only took a couple of minutes, it wasn't completely disolved and it was ok because the yeast still needed to proof which took about another 5 min.)
Add in yeast and allow to proof ( which basically means it will get foamy and have air bubbles.)

Mix in salt and oil into the yeast mixture.

Add in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough lightly... (at this point I wasn't feeling well enough and AH did it for me...he only kneaded the dough for maybe five minutes at the most.)

Place in a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth in a warm place until doubled in size...( mine took about 45 min.) Punch down, knead lightly, form into your loafs or rolls, place in your oiled pans and let rise approx. 30 min. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Minus the time for it to rise, which really doesn't count because it's not like you stand there and watch it, this recipe really only took about 15 minutes max to put together and it's really worth the effort.... I hope you'll try it and see just how easy and yummy it is... it has really encouraged me to try other bread recipes and I'm a huge foody so I'm not sure why I never did before...probably because of the myth that making bread is too much work...it's really not true, at least in this case and as I move to try to put more natural food into my body for health reasons this is one more thing that I can pretty easily do... :) Not to mention there's just something so comforting and satisfying about having bread baking in your oven that didn't come from the freezer section.... The original recipe called for 2/3 c. of sugar, I cut it down to 1/3 and for my Thanksgiving rolls I think I'm going to try omitting it all together. I'm working on cutting out all white food from my diet....now thats a daunting task!!

Changing gears...I would like to introduce you to blueberry...he's the latest newborn to come to our family.... He's a gracious little pony, but he is a little melancholy because he doesn't have stripes ( he thinks he's a zebra) and he's worried that blue makes his butt look big....I've tried to explain that he's beautifully and wonderfully made but I don't think he's come to full acceptance of this yet. Poor blueberry, I hope that he will be able to love himself for who he truly is soon... it's so hard to watch him struggle with self acceptance.

In the pic above Blueberry and Ms. Itty Bitty was enjoying a little quiet time to themselves...

Oh....and the Mad Christmas Hare is more out of control than ever....I've stopped counting how many times he's moved his tree....I've given up and wonder if he's just high strung and has nothing better to do with his energy....he is sort of nervous and jittery all the time....

Above is another family picture with the newest members...oh how they all seem to enjoy each other and get along so well, considering their vast individual personality traits...

So funny....while getting together for a family picture, MJ couldn't help herself and decided to get in the picture...she is such a naughty kitty most of the time that I thought she was jumping on the stool to grab one of them...instead she laid perfectly behind as you can see in the pic above.

And I just had to post this pic of MJ that Mr. Holiday had taken, she's all tuckered out and sleeping with her pet flea.... I don't know if I told you, MJ is Mr. Holiday's third child...seriously! I think it's a 'Godfather' thing...(you know, the movie), none the less I'm sure she is the most spoiled pet on the planet!

I have so much more I wanted to tell you...but I'm too pooped out right now so I'll have to save it for morning...Until then...I just want to say I am so thankful for you and I hope you are blessed beyond anything our minds could concieve!

XOXO Keke

P.S. It is only 30 degrees outside tonight and we are all on 'snow' watch... so much for 'Sunny CA!!!)

Sugar Plums, New Friends....and shhh...lets just forget September.

Meet my new friends...I can't remember if I mentioned, but last December when Mitzi came for the wedding she gave me a crash course in needle felting. We were in the loveliest hotel on the pier in San Francisco, the night before she was to fly back home. We had gone to the city the night before because she had a much too early flight. We spent a lovely evening window shopping in the city, drinking cocoa, exchanging our Christmas gifts and her showing me how to needle felt as we sat on our beds in the hotel room (she also taught me how to wet felt with a bar of guest soap in the hotel bathroom)....Thinking about it now, I don't know how she had an ounce of energy left to show me and I'm shocked that I retained anything at all .... selfishly, I wish we could repeat our stay at this hotel five days before Christmas this year.... minus the exhausten and the early morning flight. :)

Please note that my new camera needs to be returned, it takes such awful pics and it really doesn't do justice to how cute my new friends really are, however, I'm happy to introduce you to...

Dough dough the Christmas bird (he is a royal). Harry (yes I know an unlikely name for an elf). The mad Christmas hare with his snowman tie... and in front, please meet "Plum". If you wish to speak with her you'll have to use sign language because unfortunately she's deaf due to a lack of enough periwinkle blue wool to finish her ears....

Poor, poor Plum, and she is the sweetest one of them all... hopefully tomorrow I can introduce you to a few more new friends as new ones are born each day, just in time to be adopted by way of gifts in time for Christmas. The original intent was to put a string in the top for ornaments....but as they sort of, kind of, start to come to life...I'm rethinking...I'm also selfishly trying to decide if I can even give them up for adoption now....

Today brought "Bitty", that would be 'Ms. Itty Bitty', who is a precocious pink wiener dog with white polka dots. Ms. Itty Bitty made fast friends with Little Miss Plum, as I knew she would because Plum is a friend to all.... Harry however thinks Ms. Itty Bitty is his pet pooch and you can imagine the upset around my house today as Ms. Itty Bitty let him know straight away that she is 'nobodies' pet! As the tantrum ensued, dough dough bird just sat quietly eating his gingerbread cookies and the mad hare stood stoically pondering the placement of the Christmas tree, which he has moved and rearranged at least ten times already...he really is quite mad!

This last week has also brought a new bread recipe... AH thought he was in Heaven and I had every intention of sharing it with you...but as it's quite late, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Just a pinch more of catch up....September brought baby girls 23rd birthday. Pictured below is the birthday girl complete with her pearls and sash...and my big boy and his wife.

A few days later brought literally three weeks worth of misery for baby girl.... there were moments that I really didn't think either one of us was to live through this one... What seemed to be a typical visit to the oral surgeon turned into trauma and visits back to his office every other day...literally, I'm not kidding....thankfully she is all better now, but lets just write this last September right off the books... There was a little bit of irony and grins however....her oral surgeons name was Dr. Choo.... LOL, that doesn't happen everyday....

Sleep Sweet Dear Ones...
XOXO
Keke

More sugarplums.... with a pinch of catch up.

Remember the matchbox swap...well I received my swap back. Twenty five little boxes filled with tiny little gifts. No matter how good my intentions are to post everyday, inevitably each day passes with a blank page yearning to be written. The last time I had spoke with Mitzi about my dismay, she said, "don't worry about catching up, just go forward, always go forward..." Good advice. But somethings are worth being remembered.
Sugar plums are still dancing in my head.... I've started little odds and ends of Christmas yummies to be given if I manage the fantastical feat of finishing them in between my down times. But first...

The end of October brought AH to his alter ego... "Spiderman". AH has been in love with Spiderman since he was a little boy...and now he has become "Spiderman". I wish you could have heard the delights of all the little boys telling AH, "I love you Spiderman", "Hi, Spiderman!", "Spiderman, your awesome." You can imagine how this made AH's heart soar.

World Series week brought excitement, cheering, moaning, jumping up and down and all various sorts of chaos to my living room. I wish you could have seen AH...I'm still giggling about his shouts of victory as the "Giants" brought home the World Series trophy...

And then there was AH's favorite Giant, known in our house as "Timmy".


But in between spider treats and baseball dreams sugar plums still dance in my head...

Who would like to get a roll of cookies in the mail? BHG has wonderful holiday recipes and gift ideas on their website right now....



Or how about a little envelope of cheese straws laid on each guest plate? Maybe even for Thanksgiving...maybe instead of old paper, maybe a note telling each loved one around your table why you are so grateful for their presence. That envelope above actually looks more like a sheet of parchment neatly wrapped around the cheese straws. So much inspiration, so little time... which is why a girl whose never made a list in her life is making one this year. One for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas.... Little things done each day no matter how small...that way when the big day comes I'll be totally organized and if AH or baby girl needs to step in for me it will be totally laid out for them. And that my friends will make Merry!

Check out another BHG inspiration above. How darling, CD jackets with a beautifully adorned cookie on the inside peeking out the window. How nice would this be for a teacher, mailman, your favorite grocery store clerk, co worker or maybe an acquaintance that you just feel like doing a little something for. I'm in love with that idea.....

So for now...sleep sweet dear friends. I hope to visit with you more, offering a little inspiration along with a little catch up along the way. Be blessed and well! XOXO Keke

Dreaming of Sugar Plums before Halloween?

I have been dreaming of Christmas for months now. Why? I can't say for sure. It's complicated. Story of my life. I have a list of though.

1. First and foremost I never know when I will have a good/bad day (s) ... what I used to take for granted, all that I could accomplish and shove into a day, I now have to be well planned for. Additionally, the simplest task seem to wear me out now? Wear me out = dystonic tremors = bed all day. I find that to be the most frustrating thing of all.

2. For some reason I feel the need to amend the travesty of last years Christmas.

3. I just finished Count down to Christmas matchbox swap. I can not wait to get those little gems in the mail. I love decorating matchboxes....they are easy, I can do a little, rest and repeat.


Linda at, "A Swap for All Seasons" is truly the best swap hostess on the planet. {aswapforallseasons.blogspot.com }The idea was 25 matchboxes swapped for 25 in return and then opening one a day starting December 1. Kind of like an advent calendar only better. I have to give props where due and I couldn't have accomplished and finished with out baby girl's assistance.... (One more thing I hate and can't get used to....my own self sufficiency is ultimate to me...it's very difficult for me to wave a white flag) However...I am so grateful when she rescues me, esp when I'm refusing to be rescued.

4.The economy is tough right now, things are tight. When the kids were little and AH and I had so little money, I always shopped year round, I always had a gift closet filled with all things wonderful, it was truly an awesome thing. I never had to worry if the kids came home with a last minute birthday party invitation, etc. I was fully stocked, and enjoyed my friends making the comment, "I just don't know how you do it?". That my friends is how I did it. And actually, everyone ends up getting much lovelier gifts because I can find things at a fraction of the retail price by not waiting to shop until a week before I need it.

5. AH. That's all I need to say. I wish you could all see him on Christmas morning, it's like magic, his face is all a glow and his Christmas spirit is so real you can taste it.

I won't continue my list...we could be here all night, just thought I'd let you all know where my head was these days...it's truly a great distraction.

How cute are these paper dolls? I copied and shrank them to use like tissue paper to fold over the little goodies that was in each match box. I hope I posted this right so you can click to enlarge and print it out, I have a whole bunch of favorite girls out there who have little princess' that this would make simple projects for.... you know who you are. Think of having them cut these out to make pennant banners for Christmas with.... paper,glue, scissors,string and a printer is all you need.

A. Print out two or three copies.
B. Have the baby girls cut out all the little pieces.
C. Draw small triangles for them to cut out.
D. Paper punch the corners of the wide part of the pennant.
E. Glue dolls and accessories to the triangles.
F. Add any beads, glitter or embellishments that make them giggle with sparkly delight.
G. Tie pennant flags together with sting, ribbon, torn fabric, etc....
H. Hang like garland all over the house.

How much fun would this little project be? Not that messy, just glue, string, paper, etc.
Could be a ten minute project or an hour depending on how busy you want to keep them...and I think a sweet keepsake to keep or even maybe a tradition for years to follow. Uhhum...and I will be doing this, so I'm hoping I'm not a dork and the only one out there with a little girl inside that just wants to come out and play.... WALLAH!!! Yummy adorableness!!!!

When my match boxes come I will try to post a pic of each every day beginning Dec. 1, (if I can wait that long.... most likely I won't be able to. At least I have good intentions of doing this.... I'm also going to try to post inspiration at least a few times a week from now until baby Jesus' birthday. It makes me happy, and infinitely better and more motivating rather than posting my complaints and challenges. Speaking of baby Jesus, check out 'aswapforall seasons.blogspot.com' Linda's last matchbox posted was one celebrating him and it's soooo adorable as well as the story she posted along with it....did I tell you how much I love her and what a stellar person I think she is? You can also find link in my side bar.

All things frivolously mentioned above....I hope you are all better than well! Sleep sweet dear friends.... XOXO Keke

A Lovely Day....

Today was the loveliest day I've had in a very long time. I spent it with the most gracious couple pictured above. Mitzi's daughter Amy is in the city celebrating her honeymoon with her new husband and was generous enough to take a day to spend with me.

They came early this morning and then we drove up to the loveliest place on earth.... except it wasn't as lovely as it normally is....after a long hot summer everything lacked the green and glow that it usually has and was more crispy and brown. The flowers that are usually in abundance were barely found and a few of the shops and my favorite gallery was closed since it was mid week, and it was 90 degrees. Still.... all was right with the world because the two of them together exuded the glow that filled the plaza with that which was lost in the summer heat. We did see a few shops, had a nice lunch, sat on a bench in front of the duck pond and listened to the water fall. This afternoon we visited the champagne caves, but again, the caves were closed....so we sipped on a glass of champagne on the terrace over looking the vineyard and the mountains and chatted a while. We ended the day with dinner at a Thai restaurant before it was back to the city for them. Honestly more generous than I would ever expect, I would have been thrilled to have had lunch with them considering they're on honeymoon.... AH and I both really liked Amy's new husband, he is very friendly and out going and seemed to be very genuine and kind, all the qualities we want our daughters to find in a good man. I could tell that he was very attentive to her and it was sincere. Honestly.

As far as the above pics, I have to give credit where credits due...the beautiful pics above were taken by Liv in the Moment photographer, (because I seem to be so scattered and absent minded these days and I forgot my camera!) Ugh, dah! It's ok. Mitzi's little Liv is a far more talented photographer... I've posted about her keen eye before, but honestly you should click on her tab in my side bar...I'm not being a braggy aunt...she really is taking amazing pics.... And to that I'm going to say good night, it's been a full and lovely day...sleep sweet dear friends.

I hope this post finds you better than well. XOXO Keke

Let's Hear It For the Girls, Even If We are all A Bit Upside Down Right Now.

As always my near and dear faithful friends are always there.... humbly I thank you all. Everything feels upside down right now. As I visit each of you it seems we all have so many struggles to overcome right now and my heart is challenged to stop the tears from flowing....
I am committed to pray with out ceasing for all of us. How is it that such goodness and light be surrounded by so much darkness? I was thinking about it for the last couple of days, people are always so quick to quote, "God never gives us more than we can handle...." Sometimes the quote angers me...but I was thinking yesterday that maybe it's because we are not supposed to handle so much and in blind faith hand it over to him? Just a thought to make some kind of sense of the struggles we are all facing right now....

I have a new neurologist... Dr. Duncan. Yesterday after months of fighting with the botox pharmacy, insurance, etc. I finally received my shots. Now I sit and wait to see if they're effective. I did appreciate is approach, instead of the nine or twelve stabs that I have become accustomed to, he only injected me twice. One injection in the front of my neck and one in the back. He assures me that it will be just as effective and that there is no need to stick me as many times as the other neuro's did. I'm afraid he should have injected me one more time on the right side. It usually takes three or four weeks to see how they are working, but the right side is driving me crazy in excruciating pain tonight. I woke up this morning with my body so sore I felt like a mac truck had ran me over. AH liked Dr. D tremendously...I think he really like it more that I didn't break his hand from squeezing it yesterday...usually he holds my hand through the shots, but baby girl had gone out and bought me stress balls to squeeze instead....it worked pretty well. The shot in the front of my neck wasn't pleasant but no where near the pain from the one in the back left side. It felt like he stuck the needle so deep that it was going to come out the front.... but lesser of two evils and at least I have finally found somewhere to go where everyone from the receptionist to the nurse and doc were empathetic, friendly and professional. I told AH that usually my body goes into shock from the pain of the shots, but this time I think I was in shock by all of their kindness...sad but true, I have never been treated so kindly in the two years since I've developed dystonia. Amazing and sad to think about when you consider how many doctors I've seen. Still thanking God for mercy none the less.

I have much more to tell you all but I'll leave it with this for tonight. I hope all of you are blessed and that God will send you strength and his angels to surround you all so that you can rest if only for a moment in the feathery down of their wings.

XOXO Keke

P.S. Yes the cutie hanging upside down on the rings is Mitzi's Em. I could just bite her she is so adorable!

The last time I posted was actually an accident...I downloaded a new photo application and was trying to see if it would post to Cherry Kingdom.... Um...the I love unicorn pic would actually be one of Mitzi's beauties... Princess Em. I was also rushing to try to post as everyday spins out of control and takes a life of it's own around here....so much has happened and happens everyday it's not a wonder I'm exhausted to scramble to keep up. In any case, Em is Mitzi's baby, only she's not a baby any more. I thought I should post the proof... less she complains to Mitzi again that I am posting 'unapproved' photo's. ( She doesn't know yet that a bad pic could never exist of her, she's so beautiful it's just not possible!) I was speaking with Mitzi the other day and gasping over the latest photo's of her. I asked Mitzi "When did that happen" in my mind all her girls all live perpetually as little girls and obviously that is not the case.
Time is such a thief, and since sadly I don't get to see them everyday and I live by the photo's posted, I must say I'm in shock. Instead of beautiful baby she has become a beautiful babe....and that will take work for me to reconcile.

Speaking of time and thievery and beautiful babies....

Remember beautiful boy and girl got married and had a beautiful baby....I received an invitation to baby Alex's first birthday party....remember the ultrasound pics I posted the summer before last...well look at this beautiful boy!
Unbelievable beautiful boy....
As I struggle to re-engage in blog land because I miss posting and all of you so much....I feel like this last year has been stolen from me... poof! Gone! I have so much to catch you all up on...battles fought...still fighting...and the struggle to keep my head on straight. "No pun intended." I hope that this will be the first of a continuance and that you are all better than well! I hope your summer has been filled with warm sunshine, lot's of laughter and love from your family and friends....and for now I'm off to another doctor's appt. which is the appropriate segway for what I have to tell you either tonight or tomorrow morning.... Be blessed!

XOXO Keke