LAST CHRISTMAS YOU GAVE ME YOUR HEART

Ok,

so I'm only a year tardy posting last Xmas' favorite pictures.

It's just how I roll these days.  

LOL

I thought I'd better take care of it soon as we are already into this next season's Xmas.

 Here we go.

We've got kitty Lily under my ex's tree on Xmas day while we opened presents above.

And my son Zach who brought about 5 different specialty beers to quiz us on at Xmas Eve

at my little home/studio. 

He is seen here reading off the correct answers.

My daughter Dani got the most correct guesses

(of course she did, she's a bar tender after all).

LOL

And here they are,

the glamorous couple of Danielle and Tristin,

  just starting their dog family.

This was when Granger was only about 4-5 months old.

I couldn't decide which pix I liked better so I posted both.

And my ex,

Inars,

with his pup Bogie who is now getting to be an old man,

Bogie that is

Ha!.

He's got to be about 12 years old at least.

Inars rescued him off a golf course,

thus Bogie  :).

This was when Grandger still liked Bogie,

see how he's giving him a kiss?

Now they just tolerate each other.

We are pretty sure Boogie is a Rat Terrier mix.

And I loved this shot I took of Inars.  

I think I will have it enlarged and give one to each of our children for this Xmas.

We had a frightening year with Inars' health this last April.

During my son's wedding in Hawaii he wasn't feeling right

 and when he got back to the mainland

his doctor had him go in for Open Heart Surgery. 

He had a double bypass.

So we are all so very thankful that he is completely at 100% again.  

It took 6 long grueling months of recovery and physical therapy

but he's feeling energized and oh so lucky.

And of course there are rarely any pictures of me cuz I'm usually the one doing the photographs,

so I couldn't find one from Xmas Day or Eve,

but I love this one in my classroom of senior Jimena Alvarez and I.

She was an outstanding crafts student last year.

Have I mentioned lately how much I miss my classroom,

and how utterly thrashed and disorganized it's become since I retired?

How supplies are being wasted and damaged and not brought back to the classroom.

And just how filthy the classroom has become.

This all just hurts my heart so badly.

Some little birdies and their parents have sent me several e-mails and pix

 because they are appalled how much it's gone downhill in so many ways since I left.

What really saddens me is that I was not allowed to participate in the interview process

like I was promised several times  for many years now.

That I'd be able to pass on my program that took me years and thousands of dollars to build.

There were actually a couple of ex-Whitney art students waiting in the wings for me to retire 

because they wanted to carry on my legacy.

Now it's all gone down the drain.

I haven't been able to share and talk about this with all of you till now.

It just hurt too much.

There is so much more I could say but I think this is enough and you get the idea

of how truly heartbroken I am.

So much for this tangent I went off on.

Back to happier things.

 Wanting to end on a much more positive note 

 here are my husband Jim's grands playing their cigar box guitars Jim made for them.

Notice the "M" on top of Mackenzie's?

They loved them!

Both are growing up so very quickly with J.V. entering his teens.

Much love to all my blog friends this Holiday Season.

Thank you for your constant support and your lovely comments.

xoxooxoxoxo

Happy Holidays!!!!

A TIME TO CELEBRATE FAMILY WITH A SYDNEY UPDATE

My beautiful stepdaughter Julie & her husband Mike 

hosted a Christmas get together at their new home.

This was our new grandson Syd's second Xmas,

and man oh man, 

was he excited to be with his cousins and Auntie & Uncle.

He is also currently spellbound with Thomas the Train 

which he wanted to watch and share with his cousins.

Our other two grandkids fought over who was going to hold him.

J. V. won easily as you can see,

much to Kenzie's dismay.

In between,

 is my gorgeous stepdaughter-in-law Carrie,

mother to the two older ones.

We all were surprised with J.V.'s green hair 

(Kenz put a bit of blue & purple in her's but you can't tell from the photo),

but I thought it was a good look on him,

flowed well with his socks.

hee hee

And my silly camera wasn't fast enough to catch this shot of the 3 of them,

so I ended up with Julie in the pix taking her photo as well.

Syd is such a sweet boy,

so patient and attentive as his mom Julie helped him open his presents.

His two favorites of the nite were the police car and fire engine.

Did I mention his daddy Mike is an Orange County Sheriff?

And that Mike brought his squad car to Syd's preschool for show & tell.

Mike also volunteered to play Santa at his pre-school.

Wish I had a pix of that!

My son Zach was also able to join us for the evening,

Danielle had to work.

I am truly grateful that we are able to blend our families. 

A gift really.

And a wonderful way to spend the Holidays.

Thank you Julie and Mike for a lovely evening.

xoxoxox

I am also doubly thankful that I am able to spend Christmas Eve and Day with my children

and my ex,

their father Inars,

 as we have always tried to keep everything as "normal" as possible for our babies. 

Because family comes first.

If Danielle knew I put this pix up of her without her makeup,

I'd be in big trouble.

Good thing she never looks at my blog

HA!

ADD ANOTHER CANDLE TO YOUR BIRTHDAY CAKE

Happy Birthday to my handsome husband.

Celebrated with the grandkids and parentals

at yummy Brooklyn Pizza with an extra large New York Greasy

and delicious Zeppolis.

Here's lookin' at you babe!