mardi gras in fairhope

beads, moon pies, flashy floats, music, family, friends, smiles

tag, i'm it!

tagged by heather.  post the 4th picture in my 4th picture file.  this is a picture taken of orange beach, al following hurricane ivan. (marti, if you are checking in...tag, you're it!)

a little christmas cheer

Yes, I am terribly slow and constantly 2 steps behind, but that's life these days.  Here are just a few snippets from our very blessed Christmas.

sock puppy dog and kitty cat

Erin (my crafting partner in crime), bought this cute book Sock and Glove and crafted an adorable sock elephant for her daughter's Christmas stocking.  While I tried to avoid yet another project, I finally gave in and bought the book and started sock animals for Stone and Audrey. Now won't these cuties be perfect sticking out of their stockings Christmas morning.  

stone's first christmas program

We are not sure where the cowboy theme came from, but all the kids looked cute and sang so sweetly.

"tis the season"

We are trying to pack the most into our Christmas season.  Here's a little of we've been up to:

Thanks to Jennifer and her wonderful dough recipe for fantastic cookie ornaments, we made lots of ornaments to share!  Here is the recipe in case any of you want to try these yourself.

Dough Ornaments

1 cup corn starch

2 cups baking soda

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups water

Mix in saucepan stirring until smooth.   Cover and cook over medium heat to a mashed potato consistency.  Remove from heat.  Cover with a damp cloth until cool to touch.  Coat hands and surface with corn starch and kneed dough until smooth and pliable.  Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut with cookie cutters. *Use a toothpick or straw to make a hole for the ribbon hanger.  Dry in a 150-200 degree oven on a cookie sheet for 20-30 minutes or until hard. (We actually let our dry over night).  Dust any cornstarch from surface and paint with acrylic paints.

Rock Videos

Daddy Blog.

As Stone would say, "This is my favorite song".  As you can see from the video, he is learning to play and sing pinball wizard.  Notice the tattoo on the guitar playing hand.