Happy New Year's Eve

1,000 words times 4 pictures equals 4,000 words

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Cheap

 I was too cheap to buy a pre-made package of 2012 glasses at Party City, so........I



 

 ...... just spent over two hours designing, cutting and glittering two sets of glasses out of cardboard .

Not too shabby!   

Turkey

I am in my scrapbook room, smelling my free Pathmark 20 pound turkey cooking in the oven. I miss that smell when we cook the turkey on the grill. The turkey will come out of the oven around 3pm (I have at least three more hours to enjoy the smell). Today will just involve cleaning up......throwing old food out of the refrigerator,taking out the garbage and recycling, cleaning my bedroom. I will try to move into the New Year with some semblance of order.
Tomorrow, New Year's Eve, I will take the turkey dinner to my father's, enjoy several hours with him (I hope to end the year beating the pants off of him in KISMET) and then return home in time to welcome in the new year with Doug. I am finishing up my 365 album and I am looking forward to publishing this year's blog into a book at Blog 2 Print.
May 2012 be a SIMPLE, uncomplicated year!

From Our House to Your's

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Emilie with Samantha and Tim with Kamryn

 Made with Yodels

 Kamryn allowing Samantha to hug her

 My sister Chris and her husband Charlie

 Samantha giving Pop a kiss for his present

 Grandma holding her favorite (and only) grandson, Kellen on his First Christmas

 Kyle and Corey O'Neill, Chris and Charlie's two sons, my nephews

 Kellen surrounded by presents

 Tim Rex with his son, Kellen and daughter, Kamryn

 Caroline Nicole Rex, our third child, still living at home

 Kellen Adam Rex, 9 months old

 Samantha Noel and Emilie Rex Tomaro

 Chase, the poodle with Matthew Tomaro

 Richard Wheeler Gordon, 89, Pop

Douglas Rex with Dick Gordon behind him

Blessings!

I am counting mine. This started out as a bah humbug kind of Christmas and now I am totally engaged. Somehow it all gets done (not as much as I would like but enough that it is acceptable). I am counting my blessings. Look at all I have - I am rich beyond my dreams. Family: Husband , Children and spouses, Grandchildren, My Father, My Sister, her husband and my nephews; Friends, good health,good hobbies, good times. I wish that everyone could take a deep breath, exhale and let the worries and struggles of the past year go. Breathe in and think of what new and exciting adventures await us in the new year. My philosophy in life has been "when your stuck in traffic, just keep moving. It doesn't matter where you go as long as you don't stop moving."
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! May peace and joy surround you!

Ready or Not!

Honey Baked Ham, carrot casserolle, two kinds of potatoes, green bean casserolle, shrimp, clam bake appetizer,vegetable dip and onion dip, veggies for platter,rolls, Yodel torte and not in the refrigerator, 4 million Christmas cookies!

 mashed sweet potatoes

 mashed white potatoes

A torte made with sliced Yodels.

I can't get another thing into the refrigerator. Tomorrow's meal is ready. It just needs to be reheated and served. (All I have left to do is clean :(  )

Kellen is 9 months old today

He now has four teeth and two more are just waiting to pop through. His nose is completely stuffed up. He sucks 10 sucks on his bottle and then has to come up for air. He is eating just to stay alive. His favorite thing to do is to crunch on a chopped up apple in a mesh bag. (It is a mesh bag contraption, made especially for giving table foods to teething toddlers). And still this child smiles. Oh ladies, 8 months and younger, beware......this boy is going to be a charmer!

My sweet grandson!

Makin' a list, Checkin' it twice

* Christmas Photo - check

*Christmas cards- check

*Shopping and more shopping - check

* Wrapping - check

*Christmas Cookies - check

*Grocery Shopping for Christmas Eve - check

* Stockings filled - check

* Menu planned -check

*Honey Baked Ham purchased - check

*Finish last minute presents

*Clean

*Cook

*Enjoy Christmas Eve

Just checkin' in!

Sunday and Monday consisted of all day Christmas cookie baking ( a little nostalgic this year, so I went a little overboard with baking). Bought a Honey Baked Ham for Saturday (We always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve) Yum! Today, although I slept in, will consist of wrapping the presents up in my bedroom, with a hot cup of tea, my bedroom slippers, and the tv. My goal is to finish wrapping today!

Then as a reward I will go with Daddy to Lukas Diner in Branchburg and then back to his house to play Kismet. (No grandchildren until Thursday, thankgoodness. I still don't think that I will get everything done by Saturday.)

Ninety

Ninety Today! My mother would have been 90 today! I wish that she could be here. There are still so many things I would have liked to know, so many questions to ask her. I regret that she never got to meet her Great-Grandchildren. She would have loved them. They would have exhausted her but she would have loved them in little doses.
What would Mom have been like today? What challenges would she have had? What Joys?
My mom was the gatherer of family. She upheld the family traditions with super glue. When she passed away in 1996 at the age of 75, we lost some momentum, but then for the most part have done remarkably well in holding the traditions together. That probably is due to Richard Wheeler Gordon who has held us together with scotch tape (still glue but with some flexibility) and love. He will turn 90 in March 2012.
It is funny, the times that I remember Mom. It could be a certain smell, a favorite recipe, a song, a life changing event that brings back her memory. I know now why she had "I Tried" put on her gravestone.
It is the best that anyone can expect from someone else, that they tried, tried their very best!

Friends

I have been blessed with having two jobs that I loved. Those two jobs provided me with life long friends and the best of memories. My preschool staff and I meet once a month to have breakfast together at Perkins. It is something we all look forward to and hate to miss. We are the best of friends.
My scrapbook store gave me a wider range of friends, some I worked with and some were customers. We make the effort to stay in touch. We miss what we had and don't want to lose the future.
Today was one of those days -where we all made the effort! Tough, right before the holidays. So much to do. But we took time out to get together for a wonderful lunch,and good conversation. It was nice to sit together and just visit.

Brenda Miller hosted the luncheon with guests Phyllis DiStefano, Clara Louise Cooper, Cathy Cortes, Angela Cooper and myself.

The Glow

We are getting ready!

A Little bit of Christmas!

Caroline is pushing her hair out of her face (just a little embarrased that I asked her to be in the picture)

Random mall shots to get you in the Holiday mood.

Two weeks before Christmas and although the parking lot was full there were no real crowds.

Santa probably had the longest line ! (A random stranger sitting with Santa)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Reflecting love.

 First explorations.

Christmas wonder.

Kellen's First Christmas!

Then one foggy.........night

Victor Crowell Park

5pm

December 6, 2011

Temperature 60 degrees

.........I went out to play!