New for Christmas

I've added a few new items to our holiday decor this year. Shelly and I actually spent some time last week decorating the house. We just need to add our tree after Thanksgiving and we will be ready to go!

John bought me this adorable tall snowman from the secretary at Shelly's school. I just love it. It is actually created from tobacco sticks.

I went to a local shop the other day and purchased this adorable pillow. I love how it goes with my chevron pillows.  

I bought this fun plaid tablecloth at Marshall's and added our cute little tree to the table. I used the red ribbon that came with the packaging on the tablecloth to use as a garland on the tree. The topper is a sweet Snowbabies figurine that my mom gave me the Christmas before Lily was born. So sweet.

Plaid is so popular right now. So this is a fun addition to the holiday decor.

Daisy thought it would be fun to get in on the photo action!!!

Long Whiskers!

Cookie Party

Every holiday our neighbor puts on a terrific cookie decorating party for the kids. It's usually held on the day that the kids get out of school for break. A super kickoff to all of the upcoming celebrations.

The boys' end of the table

The little girls decorating

The big girls hard at work on their cookies

The moms getting involved in a craft project!!!

Missing Mom

The holidays always creep up on me and remind me how much I miss my mom. When I least expect it I am filled with so many emotions about my mother and I can't seem to work around it.

The Ruesch Family
1968

I found myself in Target looking at the Christmas ornaments and thinking about my mom. I was thinking about how we would have long conversations about the new holiday items and what was cute and not so cute. And then, not long after my Target visit, my mom kept popping into my life. I wore a bracelet of hers the next day and it kept falling off my wrist. Was she sending me a signal?

Then I ran across some old videos of the girls that featured my parents and I just loved seeing her again and hearing her voice. That led me to the copies of some tapes that we had made several years ago. Tapes between my mom and dad when he was in the Navy, as well as, tapes between my mom and grandma when we lived in California. So comforting to hear her voice again.

And, what it all made me think was this...take more videos of my family and keep on clicking photos. Because when it's all said and done the ability to see her image and hear her voice are worth more than anything!!!

Here's a little bit of video I put together of my mom (a bit dark and oddly edited, but still I get to see and hear my momma):

The last part of this video was taken in 2008. That was the last time my mom was at my house. Sure do miss her.

Our 4th

It was a fun day. The afternoon was spent with the four of us in the pool (finally took some photos at the pool). Then we headed to the 4th of July celebration at our friends' (The Kinney's) home. It is exactly what you would imagine a cool country 4th of July party should be. Lots of kids running around and playing and adults drinking, chatting, and eating. So fun. The highlight is always the parade with decorated golf carts, tractors, and kids' vehicles. Once it's dark, we head to the 18th hole of the course to watch one of our neighbors shoot off fireworks.

Our one low spot this holiday...

Each year one of the guests at the party brings her adorable new puppies. Lily is immediately in love and spends the remainder of her time trying to convince mommy and daddy that she needs a dog. These dogs always get me...they are a beagle mix. Last year a beagle/Jack Russell mix. This year a beagle/lab mix. And they are cute...I mean really cute. But, we just can't do it, yet. So, with lots of chats and LOTS of tears, we went home without a puppy. Once in bed, Lily grabbed her stuffed animal lab puppy and fell asleep (I'm sure dreaming of what wasn't meant to be).