better late than never~

so, i got a text from my daughter a few days ago that said,

"it's been over a month since you've blogged".

well, alrighty then~

since my busy photography season wrapped up there just hasn't been a whole

lot going on for me. and that's ok. the break feels good and i'm happy to

say that one of the most productive things that i've gotten done is to

go through closets, drawers, cupboards and under beds and gotten 

rid of stuff.

why is this so hard for me?

i'm a packrat. 

there i said it.

i grew up during the depression you know.

; )

i have always loved home décor and switching things up

in my home pretty often (you're welcome HOMEGOODS), and

when i move on to something new it's hard for me to part with the really

 great things I've switched out, so i shove them somewhere.

but! i did it, i went through a lot of areas and just bravely boxed 

things up and donated them to a friend who has sales in her home and

is a great repurposer.

it felt good. really good.

*i started holding things up and asking myself

"what would Joanna do? would she keep this"?

WWJD

i'm not kidding. it helped.

i am going to paint a couple small areas now and i had to tear a narrow

strip of wallpaper off the hall to get ready.

it took about an hour an a half. in just a little hallway. really?

girls!!!!!

remember this please:

friends do not let friends wallpaper. 

*or get perms.

ok, now that we've got that straight i'm going to share some pictures of

our families Christmas and new years celebrations.

it's pretty much all about our grand baby now you know

so expect a heavy emphasis on cjp.

I've never really thought that much about the term

"grandchild" before.

now it's taken on a whole new meaning and i get it.

whoever came up with that term was a grandparent i'll betcha.

: ))))

these aren't just babies you guys, they are the GRANDEST of babies.

grandson~grandfather

thank heaven for little boys~

uncle cole and colton.

(this uncle can't wait to get this little dude crossfitting with him).

the Christmas birthday boy loves to open his presents.

when your birthday and Christmas are the same day you only get

this pleasure one day a year!

chris and adria ~ eric and Corinne

these 4 sat on the couch and looked at old photo albums and had some good laughs.

*let's review. 

no. more. perms.

this picture of cj cracks me up and below he was just

about ready for another snooze.

holidays are exhausting when you're 3 months old.

sarah and cole with the babe. cole was trying out his new hard hat that he plans to wear  while bushwhacking through the woods at the cabin.

lily was happy to model one of cj's gifts.

it's not easy to get my kids to cooperate for pictures so this was a rare moment of doing what their momma asked. : ) love these boys of mine. 

*as usual, eric was too hot.

"hold still buddy, I'm sure I can make this work".

awww...this little boy is so loved by all of us~

our Christmas celebration ended with a pumpkin roll "birthday cake" that cole's sweetie picked out for him...singing happy birthday, raucous laughter and that was a wrap!

we're messy, we're loud, there's more dogs than I can count under the table or whining from the basement and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 : )

*******************************************

the following weekend we all drove north to the cabin to spend a long weekend 

teasing each other, eating ridiculous amounts of really delicious food and 

putting on 16 layers of outerwear just to step outside.

you guys~ the thermometer read 37 below zero at one point.

& that was without windchill.

grandpa d thought this was totally dangerous and wrong and the rest of us had to

just say we were going.

he's not only a father now, he's a grandfather and I think he feels

even more responsibility for all these precious humans.

(it doesn't help that he was raised by two of the most cautious/nervous 

parents on the planet).   : }

so... we do a lot of this. 

we play games.

either for prizes which get everyone's adrenaline goin something fierce...

or quarters. we spend less on gifts now and have fun bringing prizes for games that

we hope everyone will want and fight over.

(sarah, corinne and i are taking a stand on less fishing tackle and hunting stuff and more

girly prizes next year!!)

see this cage? this was eric's fun surprise/game prize. he welded this cage and put a bottle of crown in it. there's a door and a lock and it created a lot of excitement. one person won the crown and someone else won the key...hehe now they have to collaborate.

the boys and their better halves had been at the lodge two weeks before Christmas and they surprised me and cut a tree from our woods and decorated it! I squealed in delight when I walked in and saw it because it made the whole weekend seem so much more festive. (love me some soft while lights when evening comes).

lars bought the crab legs for our seafood extravaganza and they were ridiculous. 

ridiculously amazing that is.

proof of the brutal temperatures I mentioned. uff da

lars is always the first one up and the first one to go to bed...

it's good to be one of the 4 dogs here too~

cole makes the best big fires and he didn't disappoint this new years. I didn't get a picture of the fire, but here's one of the big woodpiles that we use to heat the cabin and for evening fires outside. I think every one of us bundled up (except sweet baby) and went out to get some fresh air and stand around the big fire.

here is our Christmas picture...used my self timer and a lot of monkeying around and viola our first family picture since cjp was born in September!

this growing family is my heart's delight,


it's still January y'all so happy new year! 

xo~ b