Friday, December 24, 2010

kinley & santa

Kinley really was excited about Santa this year...she loves watching him on tv shows, reading about him in books, talking about him and waving to him from afar. So, I thought this year she would love to go see Santa. I thought surely it would be better than the mug shot from last year. She went to the mall with Bart, Olivia and Mom while I was at work this week and I knew they would have a fantastic experience.

She got to take her naked babydoll with her...
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and waved....
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stood in line patiently...
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stared longingly...
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kindly said hello...
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and then freaked out!
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poor Santa...
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and thus our final shot...
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not sure it's better than last year...but, we will be sure to tearily wave goodbye until next year!
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Merry Christmas Eve to you all! Hope Santa comes to visit you!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Cheryl has been baking things all week to take to St. Louis for Christmas. Sunday night she came over to our house to make some chocolate crackle cookies. It was a great time for Kinley and they turned out delicious!
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Chocolate Crackle Cookies

1/4 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (4 squares)
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Powdered sugar for rolling

In a small saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, 8-10 minutes. Cool. In a large mixer bowl, combine melted chocolate mixture, 1 cup of the flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, and salt. Beat at medium speed until well mixed. Stir in remaining flour and nuts. Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. Shape into small balls; roll in powdered sugar. Bake at 300 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove immediately.
Makes about 4 dozen.
making cookies
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Happy Baking!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

homemade gifts

i love homemade gifts...not everyone does....sometimes they seem dorky...but, i love the thought and effort and creativity behind homemade gifts. i did not think too much outside the box this year and other than the circle scarves and christmas countdown blocks, i do not have any additional homemade gifts of my own to showcase. fortunately, i have lots of creative and thoughtful friends!

Kinley's "Hand-painted" Tile

Kinley's teachers sent this sweet poem and "hand-painted" tile home for the parents in Kinley's class. It just made me tear up when I read it. So special!
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Jen's Blessing Block

Jen made these "Blessing Blocks" for her friends and family. She just got a piece of wood from Hobby Lobby painted it black, mod podged some pretty scrapbook paper and adhesive letters to it, spray-painted and hot-glued a magnetic clip, and topped it off with some festive tulle ribbon. Isn't it so cute!
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Lauryn's Cross

Lauryn made me this amazing cross! She cut the wood herself and added broken mirror pieces and colored stones to it with tan-colored caulk. Then she went over the mirror pieces with a little tan paint to make it more antique-looking and finished it off with a rhinestone cross. I just love it. It really is this gorgeous in person. I can't wait to make room for it on my cross wall!
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Jordan's Cornhole Boards

We were SO excited to get Gary these Cornhole boards for Christmas. My friend at work, Regan, let me know that her husband, Jordan, makes these boards in his free time. They are seriously works of art! He is so, so talented and as soon as I saw them I knew we had to get some 'K-State' themed ones for Gary. Jordan was fabulous and through Regan sent me 3 or 4 markup drawings of different options of colors and images, etc. I really can't tell you how awesome these are. Here are a couple of different boards I have seen and Gary's boards. If you ever, ever need these please let me know and I can get you in touch with Jordan. You will not find any better!
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How talented are my friends!?!?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

joyner.grant.howe family christmas

Lots of posts coming at you over the next few days from Christmas 2010 festivities we have been having... so keep checking! It is a busy time of year and I have not been very consistent at blogging this month..but, the next week should make up for it! I am also very excited because I got my new Cannon Rebel camera for Christmas and am loving taking lots of pics! Hopefully the quality of pics on the blog will continue to improve as I learn about my camera.

Our first Christmas celebration was Joyner Family Christmas last Friday night. We also had our little Howe family Christmas that night as well. It was such a fun night. Kinley opened lots of presents...we took some family photos....and we watched old home videos of everyone. It was a great night.

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DSC_0749kinley's presentsKinley loved every present she got...she was so spoiled and overwhelmed...but, definitely the fan favorite was the princess tiana doll...she sings...everyone was singing "Almost There" all night long.Picnik collage
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We could not get Kinley to sit still or smile for any of our family pics...but, as soon as the Grants wanted one we couldn't pull her away. Hilarious.
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