Sunday, November 29, 2009

HO.....HO........HO!!!!!!

This just  proves that you can use anything for a backdrop when playing with your photography. As you can tell this was just an impromtu photo shoot as no one is dressed in their Christmas best or has their hair fixed. My son Greg,  was looking at my new photo of the Big Mr. S. and said "Hey you should take a picture with that picture in the background". So we did, I never need encouragement to stop and take a  picture, especially if its of one of my grannies. :)



This photo was taken with natural light. I like how you can see the Christmas tree lights in the background, that was just a reflection on the print the tree really was behind me. This photo is little Miss Emma.





We tried several poses with her but had to hurry as she was on her way home, even in our rush I liked how the pictures turned out.




I absolutely fell in love with this print that I got at Herberger's. It was on sale and I passed it up the first time as I didn't have room in my car. I was headed to Sheridan to greet the new grandson and was in too big of a hurry to re-arrange the many things I was taking to the kids. However I came back through Rapid on the way home because I couldn't get this print out of my head.




Taylor even gave me a pose before he left. His red shirt went well with ole Santa.




Cash is just learning to sit by himself so I had to be quick to get his photo when he was sitting up, just in case he took a header.




Then my little 'Transformer Bumble Bee' joined his brother for a Santa shot.





Here Bumble Bee (Jaxon), is sure to be on the 'nice' list since he sat so nicely for his grannnie.





And one more shot of our little Cash.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Because I can't get enough of this baby....


I promise this will be the last pictures of our little Lucas -  for awhile, mostly because I am not there to take any more and then tomorrow I start decorating for Christmas so probably won't have much time to blog for a few days, then hopefully I can get some decorations on my blog. I was so sorry to put away my fall stuff, first of all I love it so much, and second - it went so well in my newly decorated kitchen. However I LOVE my red plates with white snowflakes and because I have spent several years buying things to add to that theme I just didn't have the heart to give it up. How is everyone else doing on their decorations? Can't wait to see what everyone else is up to.


Snuggling with his daddy.



Snuggling with his mommy!

Took his picture in one of his Christmas outfits as it will not fit again, he was squeezed into as it was.



First Bath at home!


Ellie (memaw to her grannies) gave the first bath to Lucas as her mother did for her children. Lucas really didn't seem to mind it to much.




All ready to go for his first Dr.'s check-up.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving from The Kennedy's!

What a great day we had this Thanksgiving. First of all we have much to be thankful for, a wonderful family, two new members celebrating their first Thanksgiving, Cash and Lucas, good health, good jobs and warm and inviting homes.


My leftovers from the garden, tomorrow they will be replaced with Christmas decorations.


Emma, Cash and Jaxon, 3 of the 5 grannies that we had for the day. Sorry Austin and Adrianne that grandma put the camera away after I started cooking.

Cash Keane celebrated his first Thanksgiving, uncle Greg gave him a taste of real food (much to the dismay of his mother). Cash wasn't so sure he liked the fluffy salad, his little nose wrinkled up but he ate it.


He was all decked out in his turkey clothes, sorry I didn't get a picture of his little t-shirt and pants, they were adorable.


Emma sported a new haircut this Thanksgiving, not sure who really cut it as she told me she did and it made Vicky mad. Not sure the name was Vicky but something like that. I think it might be her babysitter.


My friend Becky made me a new apron and I bought the little girls new aprons so Emma and I showed them off while we were cooking dinner.
Hope everyone had as wonderful a day as we did. We were missing Taylor, Damion, Daunee' and Lucas but in our hearts they were with us!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

My baby had a baby...........


On November 21 at 6:14 in the morning my youngest son became a father. What a tug at the heart it was to watch  my seventh grandchild come into this world.  Lucas Jeffrey Kennedy was born weighing 9 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 3/4 inches long. I can't tell you how it felt to watch as Damion helped his wife through hours of delivery. He was by her side the entire time, encouraging her, holding her hand, dabbing the sweat off her face, whatever he could do to help ease the burden of childbirth. Little Lucas gave his mom a tussle coming out, he made his appearance after many hours of induced labor and 3 intense hours of pushing. Our little Daunee' was at a point of sheer exhaustion by the time Lucas decided to arrive.  The crowd cheered and clapped for the little guy as he took his first breath. I say crowd because what was just suppose to be a couple of people turned into two grandma's, one grandpa, two aunts, one midwife, one doctor, 4 nurses and of course his mom and dad. (one of those little perks from being a nurse at the hospital). I met some of the nicest people at that hospital  and was amazed at the wonderful care they gave Daunee and Damion and their families. I was also fortunate enough to get to know Daunee's family a little better, especially her mom. I truly enjoyed some long talks during the many hours we spent together. When I left Sheridan today tears streamed down my face, not from sadness (well maybe a little cuz I knew I wouldn't see Lucas for a few weeks) but mostly for happiness for my son. Congratulations to my son and daughter in-law.





























Saturday, November 14, 2009

Good Bye Fall............














Hello Christmas.........







Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Buffalo Round up at Fort Rob!

Yesterday and today we worked buffalo at Fort Rob. This is NOT an easy job and takes a pretty big crew to get the job done. Once the buffalo are brought in they are then ran down a series of chutes to separate the cows from the calves. Unlike cattle, buffalo are pretty hot tempered (not to mention) BIG! However every measure is taken to get the job done with the least amount of stress to the animal and the crew. It really is a site to see. 
One of the old cows

My Boss


Eye see you!

Boots!

My Hubby

My co-worker and another Superintendent Dave H.


Coming down the lane after chasing buffalo.


This is why I watch Dancing With the Stars


Sunday, November 8, 2009

Is it a pumpkin or a scarercrow? We'll call him a Pumpcrow and here is how to make him.



I finally got time to finish up my 'pumpkin heads' that I started a while back. I know, Halloween is over and everyone has Christmas on their minds but I am still in the fall mode, after all scarecrows and pumpkins do go with Thanksgiving right? I have had several requests to share how these were made so I'm going to give as much help as I can. This is an original (copyright) Heidi Markish Design and the pattern may be bought at heidimarkishdesigns.com. The head is made from 6 panels of cotton batting (tea dyed), I bought mine at Wal Mart but you can get it at any quilting store also. You will also need two 1/2" black buttons for the eyes, black and cream colored crochet thread; orange yarn; wide ribbon for the hat; black felt for the hat and misc. orange material for the scarf. You will also need some fiber fill, raffia, misc. fall flowers and leaves, hot glue and a long doll needle. Heidi's pattern calls for a wooden nose and flower but as with any pattern I changed it to fit the materials I had on hand.


First I cut 6 oval shaped panels about 10" long from the batting sewing them right sides together on the edge, leaving the top open. Turn the head inside out. It will look like a deflated basketball with an opening at the top.




Fill a small baggie with kitty litter and set in the bottom of the head. You will then need to stuff the head with batting filling it up to make the little guy nice and plump. The litter will give him some weight to sit better. Cut 3 long pieces of cream colored crochet thread to wrap around the seams of the head. Along each seam of the head panels wrap a piece of crochet thread up and around the seam pulling it tight and tying at the top. Do this to all seams. **This is the instructions, I used one very long thread, sitting the pumpkin on top of it in the middle I brought the thread up to the top, criss crossed took it back down to more sides, crisscrossed and brought them back to the top to tie. Like I said I usually change instructions to meet my needs. Don't worry that you can see the tied area at the top, you will be covering it up.




Once you have him stuffed you will need to create his face using the long doll needle and black crochet thread. I used a copy of the pattern and pinned it to his head. With large corsage pins I placed a pin at each starting point of his eyebrows, and mouth. I gently tore the pattern off leaving the pins stuck in the material. Then simply stitched long stitches starting with the eyebrow, going to the mouth and back up to the eye brow. I placed the buttons below his eyebrow and sewed those on at this time. He is now starting to look like a happy little head.




To make him even happier give him a little blush from your own compact. I use a darker blush but my friend had pink blush to put on hers and that really made him a rosy little fellow.




To make the nose I simply folded a piece of orange fabric in half right sides together and cut a triangle, I lightly stuffed it with batting and then used my black crochet thread to stitch around the outside. I used glue to attach. Isn't he getting to be a sweet little guy.



Onto his shaggy little head. I made small bundles of raffia tieing it in the middle with a another piece of raffia. It took 9 small bundles to make a full head of hair. I hot glued this across the top of his head, being careful not to burn myself...ok I wasn't careful and now have a big blister, but after that I WAS careful. I put 5 straight across, 2 front to back and 2 at an angle. After the glue was set, he got a nice little hair cut, just so his little eyes could peek out from under his hat. To really secure his hair I put a couple stitches crisscrossing some very large stitches. You will be gluing the hat over the top of his hair so nothing shows.




To make his hat you will need to cut a piece of felt 18"x7 1/2", stitching them right sides together on the short side. For the brim, cut 2 12" circles (the pattern called for 11 inches) but I liked the hat a little larger. Whip stitch the two pieces together using the orange yarn. For the top of the hat you will have to cut a 5 1/2" circle from black felt then stitch it to the tube. I thought the top was rather high so I folded the bottom of the hat under about 3/4 of an inch. Lightly stuff the top of the hat with batting. Hot glue it to the large circle. For added stability I ran a stitch around the bottom in a couple of places, you won't be able to see it once you glue the 2 1/2 ribbon around the bottom. Glue the large circle to the top of the head, add the flower and leaves to the bottom of the brim. (Please refer to the picture for placement).





To finish, Heidi's pattern calls for a scrap of fabric about 54"x8" long which she wrapped around the bottom of the head and secured with hot glue or by making a stitch every 4' inches or so. With some of my heads I left them bland for others I took fabric 54"x10" folded it in half and took a large stitch about 1" down from the top of the raw edges. I gathered it up into a tight circle then glued/stitched it to the bottom of the pumpkin, for a little added fun I glued some pieces of raffia around the edges too.



Look who liked Mr. Pumpcrow...little Ms. Cali thought the raffia was great fun and she has to sit next to everyone of these I make. Silly cat.

P.S. A little dit dot of white to each button makes his little eyes sparkle. A dit dot as all the craft painters know is a tip of a thin paint brush dipped into white and touched to the button. For best dots, dip the end of your brush into the paint each time, this makes uniform dots. Hope you all get a chance to make one of these, they are great gifts!

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