5th Annual Legion Family Christmas party

 Here we have what I think will be the 3 amigos.  Destiny, Madi and Kenna.  They have a lot of fun together and have become very good friends, just like me and Missy.

 The River Falls Costume Carolers.  They come every year and sing for us... just beautiful.  If you're not in the Christmas spirit before you hear them... you will be when they are done.

 The girls sure like them.

 OK, so Santa shows up of course.  He walks through the door with the loud HO HO HO... Destiny sees him from across the room and runs screaming "SANTA" while lunging into his arms.  Thank God he caught her.  Everyone saw it, got really quiet... I think they were all thanking God for him catching her too, then burst into laughter.  The Legion people REALLY like their Santa.  He deploys for Afghanistan in January with our first vice commander.  Really great guys.  Stay tuned for me begging for donations to ship these guys goodies while they are gone.

 I was so proud of Destiny... during her talk with Santa, one of the questions was "are you keeping your room clean"?  Destiny's face turned red like I've never seen before, she wrinkled her nose, looked Santa right in the eyes and said "no, my room is messy".  He Ho HO HOed, shocked her, then he told her she was a good little girl for telling the truth.  He already knew her room was messy, but since she told the truth she was going to get a special gift at Christmas.  I was just a proud Gramma snappin pictures.  Santa told me later that as soon as that came out of his mouth he worried she would remember that and not get a special gift from "Santa"... I said, "you're talkin to Gramma and I'll make sure she gets a special gift from Santa, don't you worry about that.  He was so relieved.  Who knew Santa worried about such things!  I already have the gift, just need to wrap it and make a special tag from Santa.

 

My special Christmas dinner table.  Dane was there too and I thought he was in the picture... There's Greg, Kenna, Madi, Missy, Destiny, Tami, Me and Dane was there REALLY!

And then of course Missy and I had to tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas... I want an IPod/Ipad speaker dock.  You know, the thing you can set the toys in and listen to your music around the room... Santa, don't forget.  I've been a very good girl this year!

Destiny is 5 now!

Princess Rapunzel aka Tangled, dressed up in a cake skirt for Destiny's party.  Pink hair tootsie didn't... so she didn't get to go to the party.  This is the cake I made for Destiny for her 5th birthday.  My grandmother made me one when I was a little girl.  Need to find that photo.

 My Princess outfit I worked on for 3 days.  I got the skirt, puffy wedding slip and shirt at the thrift store for $20.  I decorated it with gold ribbon, mesh and glitter bows from the dollar store Christmas isle.  I made the crown out of a hair band, wrapped it in gold ribbon and pinned it to my head with pearl bun pins.  I think I'm pretty darn beautiful.

 OK, so this photo is especially for my Mom... she has a thing about picking your nose.  I thought it appropriate for her little princess to pick her nose for her.  Like it Mom?

 I was the only adult who dressed up.  Embarrassed you ask... NO WAY... Destiny loved her Gramma dressing up.

 Destiny LOVING her cake.  I wish I got a photo of her seeing it come through the door... that face.  I didn't know if she liked it, for what seemed like forever... then the girl squeal and I knew everything was ok.

 This is Princess Alyson... cousin of Princess Destiny.

 The famous Gramma kiss... Destiny actually loves this tradition and I will collect these photos for as long as she will let me.

 So there was a little fighting over the new toys.  After I took this picture, I showed the girls what they look like fighting, they DID NOT like it at all.  They decided they would never fight again.  Hmm, that lasted a couple minutes anyways, LOL.

 Silliness abounds

From everyone... at least with Grandpa Greg

Brother Prince Kaleb.  

The 3 Princess's

 Destiny opening her present from Uncle Dane.  He bought her the most beautiful heart shape earrings with pink stones. She loved them.  I had a bracelet my Uncle Geeg gave me when I was little... all the way into my 30's.  It was a treasure.  I lost it at the mall one day and broke my heart.  The clasp broke and it's gone forever.  I miss my bracelet.

 Destiny opening her baby doll from Gramma and Grandpa.  She was happy with it.  All the dolls have long hair... plenty to practice her hair cutting I think, LOL.  Notice Destiny's bangs... yep, blamed her brother of course.  Otherwise, her hair is getting really long finally and wavy.

 Opening Mom and Dad's gift.  Big play/learning center.  Yes, very happy and cried because they wouldn't put it together until after everyone left.  Princess had a tantrum.

 This is how she looked at her cake.  I worried she wouldn't let them cut it... no problem... CAKE!  We are eating that thing!!!  I wrapped the doll in plastic wrap so she wouldn't come out naked or ruin the pretty dress.

 Yes... of course I had a piece.  NO calories in a Princess cake, eaten by a Princess!!!  Besides, I've lost 35 lbs this year... I was going to eat CAKE!  Now to loose the last 20 lbs... YES I WILL!

 

End of the evening and dolls all around.  I think she had a wonderful time being a Princess.  Yes, she will always be my Princess Destiny, my doll.

Randi

Randi will be a year old Dec. 26.  She now weighs 120 lbs... Eeeeee  She was saying hi to her grandma Donna here... Grandma, isn't she just beautiful?  She wants to give you BIG kisses.

Thanksgiving dinner

The AWESOME turkey.  It was so juicy I didn't think it was really cooked on the inside, but the juices were clear and so we gobbled it up.  Randi had a taste too.

Here we have the plate... yes, turkey, green bean casserole, yams and stuffing.  I love pickled beets... ALL MINE!  My potatoes look fake, but they were actually really good.

First snow of the year

Not really helping the shoveling... but it was fun!

Thinking snowman... but not really time yet.  Practice makes perfect though.

Randi... eying the situation. She decided Destiny was having more fun than Grandpa

Dusk in the Feirer backyard... beautiful and I almost hear the sleigh bells a ringing.

Veterans Day 2011

 Me at 5:45 am.  My hair was still wet so I was letting it dry out.

 Missy teaching me saluting with the rifle.

 Me on the bus with dry hair.

 Greg and me at the memorial in front of my stone.

 Jerry, the man that gave me the stone in honor of all I do for the Legion.

 That's ME!

Les our neighbor and our stones are neighbors too

 

 Saluting during taps.

 Honor Guard of 2011 Veterans Day

 Honor Guard and Color Guard retiring the colors

 Larry, Missy, Roman and Me back at the Legion after a long day.

Our photographer of the day.  I think he had a good time.

Ren Fair

Randi and her first adventure to the Ren Fair.  She was such a good girl and it only took her about 20 minutes to settle down.  Thank God, cause my arm was starting to break off.  It was a great day for training and socializing for her.  This is her in the car and I swear she was asking if we were there yet!

 

Here are some friends we made.  Randi loved all the other dogs there.  This particular dog had only 3 legs.  Randi was nice enough to share her water and the little pig drank it ALL!  LOL

 This is a place I like my picture taken, so pretty.  Well the little boy wouldn't move so I asked him to join us in our picture.  His Dad was standing next to Greg telling him to smile, too funny.  He did AFTER the picture was taken.

 

Now I'm not sure if these people were part of the festival, or just visitors like us... never know out there.  They sure did have great costumes though.  We didn't run into the woodland fairy that's so popular, wonder if she was there this year???

 Of course one of the main reasons to go to the festival is the turkey legs.  Those did NOT disappoint.  I shared mine with Randi and she was in heaven.

Dane had a nice time, my famous photo of the back of his hand.  I'm making a scrapbook of the back of Dane's hand for sure.  This was on our way out.  I have to say that we weren't as impressed this year as in the past.  Most of our favorite vendors and entertainers weren't there due to new management from what I heard from the gossip mill.  So I've had my fill for a couple years now and we'll see if things get better.