Thursday, December 13, 2012

Really Random Thursday, 12/13/12

Our niece, Becky, called yesterday Dozen Day. And last night there was a segment on the local news about a girl who was 12 yesterday, on 12/12/12, and she was born at 12:12 a.m. Crazy, huh?

So my goal for this post was to find 12 random things. Here goes...
 
1. We have cute grandchildren. You might or might not be surprised to know that, since I hardly ever mention them  show pictures of them as often as possible.
2. Last Sunday, we had one of my most favorite Christmas traditions, soup and cookie night, although this year it was soup and cookie afternoon. We have homemade soup and applesauce, then after Aaron and Christa leave to do some Christmas shopping, we make cookies with Charlotte and Levi. I think Gabe will be a big help next year. This year we made "melting snowmen" where you crush Oreos and mix them with a little cream cheese, round them into balls, dip them in white chocolate, plop them on another Oreo and decorate. Serious work, making cookies...but it helps to wear a Blue Bell ice cream hat that your Grandpa brought you from Texas.

And you can never have too much frosting!
(The green apron Charlotte is wearing is the one she always choose--it was made by my grandmother!--smocked with cross-stitched gingham)
3.  Charlotte drew Mr. Elf. I love his Christmas tree eyes:
4. Levi and I put together some Christmas Lego sets the other day. Let me rephrase that. Levi put them together, while I watched. He is a Lego pro. He did not need my help.
5.Mark and I went to an Art Hop last week because one of our good friends had a photography exhibit. There was a singing group from the local junior college, along with their brass ensemble. A strolling photographer took a picture of us and then put all his pictures on a website (really low resolution so it's teeny).

6. We had our second annual firepit the other night. Mark gets our firepit fired up in the driveway and everyone on our block is invited for hot cocoa and apple cider. It was a big success.
7. Cute pillowcases I finished making last night. It was nice to complete a quick project.
8.This is a sneak peak of another project, not quite so quick... It's going to take some major time commitment to complete it in time but I can't wait to show the whole thing!
9. After several years of no Christmas gifts for adults in our family--we usually just donate to a charity project through our church--we decided to do a little something. It's just the two of us, my parents, and Aaron and Christa. Instead of drawing names, we drew a letter of the alphabet. The plan is to get a $25 gift card from someplace that begins with the letter we drew, and be creative about it. These are the letters we ended up with. I got the  "C" but rest assured I won't be getting the gift card from Costco...or CVS pharmacy--way too easy and obvious.
10. The winner of the calendar giveaway by Terri Wilhelm Designs is Allison, who said:

I would like to make a little something for each of my sons, but right now my machine is in the shop, so I don't know if that is going to happen. The 90" square quilt for my Dad definately isn't going to be finished....Thanks for the giveaway, and best of luck to your friend!

Congratulations, Allison. I'll be contacting you so I can get your information to Terri.

11. This has been up in the garage rafters for years, but Mark got down this Christmas tree card mailbox that I painted in the 1970s. Wow, that sounds like a lifetime ago. It's kind of scratched up, but nice to see again.

 12. My favorite Christmas carol is Carol of the Bells. Here is one of my favorite versions. Enjoy the pictures (especially all the cute little babies in their Santa hats....yep, you'll just have to watch and listen to see what I'm talking about).

And there you have it. A dozen pieces of randomness. What's been happening in your life this week?


20 comments:

05 08
Clara {Clover and Violet} said... #

You have adorable grandchildren! It looks like so much fun when they are over!

Lucy | Charm About You said... #

more great randomness! The lego is brilliant and I love your mailbox :)
We have spent the week watching this lots of times!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7_z6tRRY6E&feature=g-hist

Katy Cameron said... #

Whew, great randomness as ever, and rather yummy looking projects at the start!

The Luedtke Family said... #

So much fun packed into that post!

I sent baggies with a peppermint tea bag and Ghirardelli chocolate squares to our "Daily Dozen". I decided to think about and thank the 12 people that make our daily life possible! From teachers, to co-workers, to sitters, to the mailman . . . it is amazing at how many people help make our daily life possible. Then I brought Dozen Day Donuts to my homeroom and a group of boys in my lunch group. It was a fun day!

My school decided to have 12 second of craziness (jump up, shout, etc.) at 12:12 on 12-12-12. Not even my idea, how very cool!

Love your cuties, love the legos, love the cookies, love you!!!!

Rachel said... #

Sounds like a great week. My boys, 4 & 7 are lego pros, as well.

Terriaw said... #

A great theme for your random thursday post! I've been consumed with homework projects lately since finals are next week. I'm looking forward to having my first day with no classes and no obligations.

ChristaQuilts said... #

Your grandkids are WAY cute! And I love the idea of the random letter gift cards. Very clever!

Carla said... #

A lovely bit of randomness. Those oreo cookies sound delicious! Great idea to pull letters as well as names.
Happy day to you

Deb@asimplelifequilts said... #

I really like your random letter gift card exchange. Always fun to spice things up a bit!

Anonymous said... #

Enjoyed reading about some of your holiday traditions. I especially love the picture of your grands in their baking hats! Thank you for sharing some great ideas for future gift exchanges, and blessings to you and your family!

Archie The Wonder Dog said... #

Glorious randomness! Love the Christmas tree eyes - what a great touch!

Susan said... #

More great random moments! Love the Lego! My son never needed any help from me either!

Pomegranate Quilts said... #

A little reluctant to write a comment, since you have 12! I love this post, it's like a snapshot of your life... Your beautiful, beautiful grandchildren really do have an inner light. And the story behind Charlotte's apron - her grandmother's grandmother's apron! - brought tears to my eyes... what a special family.

Mrs Flying Blind... said... #

Nothing dirty in your dozen xxx

Jennie {Clover and Violet} said... #

What fun things, especially all the frosting! And my favorite carol is also Carol of the Bells! I will have to watch the video later! Hope you're having a great day!

Sara said... #

I saw those oreo cookies over at mamacjt's blog too...they must be real good!

Are those special Legos just for Christmas you say? Your grandson has some good skills with them:)

The neighborhood fire pit idea sounds like some serious fun!

Wonder what you will come up with for the letter "C!"

Mama Pea said... #

Love your post. Great stuff here. I love the fire pit idea. Looks like you're making a card table hide away? Love it! Love the fire pit party. How awesome! Sorry I did not get a random post up today. Maybe next week..... Hugs!

Debbie said... #

Very fun randomness! And absolutely darling grandchildren! ;-)

Sarah said... #

Oh, I just have to comment that I used to wear a pink gingham apron smocked with cross stitch that my great grandma made for me! I'm 35 so I guess my great grandma and your grandmother were of the same vintage! Very sweet grand kids you have. My kids love helping in the kitchen too.

Wendy said... #

Can you tell me who is singing Carol of the Bells. I like it a lot..... and your blog too.