a kitty kat, books & suckers plus lottie leibovitz

here is our christmas card photo of the kids and santa claus.

poor santa

it didn't go that well, rowdy is planked out (AND wearing a bow tie, yes he is, indeedy!) starring straight up at the ceiling and lottie sue is trying to escape santa's lap. everything was fine with lottie sue but the little girl in front of us was going ballistic and we think it messed with the mood. he lured her back with a candy cane. funny photos are just as good as perfect ones anyway i say. when santa asked lottie sue what she wanted, she whispered "a kitty kat, books and suckers" - that is a major burn to ernie and kevin but kevin deserves it at least.

in other photos, this is lottie's photo they took at MDO in september. we didn't buy any of them because they came back the week rowdy was born and you just know something like that slipped our minds. her teachers made an ornament with the photo though and i scanned it in - it's so good!

lottie sue, 27 months old and adorable squared

and please let me share this photo with you...going with "school photos" i give you cera as a sister wife.

um, i simply cannot stop laughing

this one is great as well, the hair! the hair! the hair! plus i think that cera picked out the biggest glasses in the glass store. they cover 85% of her face.

nice perm

side note: cera is here with me and knows that these photos are going to be published. we had a very good laugh about it, mostly me laughing when she asked me not to post them.

a few weeks ago we went over to granbunny and granray's house to decorate for the holidays. i found the photos you just laughed at there, in the basement in a mason jar. anywho, here are one of the trees. i need to say that aunt judy has the MAGIC touch when it comes to decorating. she can make anything look gorgeous.

merry christmas

here is the mantle before as judy ponders how to make it glow with holiday cheer.

hmmm, what to do

and voila, gorgeousness for all to see

last friday we had our mowrer family christmas pajama party and it was awesome. we ate a lot and played games, we even skyped with other family members in arkansas and kentucky. good times.

lottie sue plays with the doll house and her "peoples" as she calls them

lottie gives matt a massage

grandmother enjoys her 6th great-grandchild

gramma/matt's momma and grandmother made a ton of chocolate goodies. we told lottie she could have whatever she wanted because it was a special occasion. she ate 12 cookies.

yummy yummy in my tummy

oh my gosh, this photo cracks me up. michelle looks happy to hold rowdy. rowdy isn't so sure...

hmmm, anyone else want to hold me?

we opened presents the next day - what fun! lottie sue received many goodies but the one thing she took to was her new camera.

as of right now she's taken 312 photos
(BLOG GOLD)

here are a few, she doesn't quite know how to take a good photo yet but she LOVES to snap shots. most are blurry because she is usually running somewhere.

here are a few photos for you, all of these were taken by lottie.

this is the nativity at gramma and pawpaw's house,
after she took it she said "good job, guys!"

presents under our tree

this is a photo of her laptop, this is where she works she tells us

rowdy crying in his swing

making funny faces with bb

this is me with rowdy during bottle time

her beloved (and i mean beloved) puppy

grandaddy and cera

during a diaper change

a photo of our fowl with pearls

some of her books

her boots (she was in the chair with her legs up on the side)

auntie cera

a self portrait

she is very busy with that thing, it's pretty awesome to see what she comes up with. she's a budding annie leibovitz.

today lottie sue and i made "nutty cracker delights" - this is a recipe from gramma. you have to sprinkle almonds on the crackers and i thought that would be a super fun thing for lottie sue to do. she was great at it, she made "mountains" and thought it was awesome.

lottie sue doing a super great job

here's the recipe for you, these are very easy to make and if you have little ones they can help!

NUTTY CRACKER DELIGHTS

42-44 club crackers
1-1/2 sticks of butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of slivered almonds (or more if you like)

cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. place crackers in a single layer. in a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter then add the sugar - stirring constantly. boil for two minutes. remove from the heat and add vanilla.

pour evenly over the crackers then sprinkle with almonds. bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. immediately remover from the pan, cutting between them if necessary and cool on wire racks.

go ahead and make some more because these won't last.

oh yeah, and i know i need to take a photo of her in her boots but this photo shows them pretty well. she wants to wear them all of the time. she also wants me to wear my boots and now auntie cera purchased a pair so we must all be twinkies. or triplets. auntie b better bring hers down when they come for christmas! that would make us quadruplets!

a stylish chef

i found this photo in my phone, i think matt took it during a trip to the mall with lottie recently. i remember him telling me that she went ballistic when the ride was over and he told her to get down. i am sure jimmy ray did not enjoy that news...

outta my way, buddy

alrighty, christmas is almost here! i hope everyone is planning on a fabulous holiday!

CHOMP, granray/rayray has a birthday & other random items

Ooh, I did this post fast and I apologize in advance for my lack of witty Jen-isms. I am pooped and it's time for the kid's last feeding of the night. Soooo, forgive me - my next post will dazzle you. If you want to be entertained with rapier-like wit you can check out Megan's blog - it's good like that.

Beth held a party for JP and Tabby a few weeks ago, let the celebrating continue - whee! I tried to be good and take lots of photos but it didn't really pan out that way. I have a few...this first one CRACKS me up.

ahhhhhh....CHOMP
(btw, this is lila, carrie, moi and beth. and matt.)

Here are the other ones I have, I wish I had taken more!

seth REALLY dressed up for the occasion,
the clothes do make the man as they say

matt and tommy chat it up

beth checks on a sleeping rowdy mowrer

matt, moi and beth - lookin good and feelin fine

Then there was the game the next day, here we have Rowdy happy that we won!

our big orange baby

Lottie Sue was showing us how she does ballet on her "tip toes" - adorable.

point and flex...point and flex

GranRay/RayRay celebrated a birthday on Monday but most of the family got together at the club on Sunday (a BIG thanks to Kathy for setting it up!) - we had a very nice time and it was great having everyone together.

the granbunny and granray

rowdy makes a somewhat scrunchy face for the camera

granray/rayray was opposite these folks during this shot

he was given copies of old photos i don't think
he'd seen in many a moon (i am going to get
these and post them, they are great)

johnny, judy and mowrer jr.

kathy is on the left and linda and ray are checking out the photos

aunt judy feeing little row mow

and a group shot!

lottie sue was cutting a rug here

and here

shirley and bb chat it up

lottie sue was "wunning" very fast here, a blur

granbunny's infamous "bug" climbing on lottie sue

lottie sue and benton take a walk

if you REALLY want to make granray laugh, get
him a card that plays music - it was a hoot!

rowdy doing what he does

Matt's family stopped by later on Sunday to see the kiddos, due to numerous illnesses across the group it had been a while...

gramma with her youngest grandkids

gramma with a chunky-looking rowdy

michelle holds rowdy as he whips his little head all over town

The Smiths also came over that afternoon, Megan spotted Matt's high school letterman jacket hanging in the garage.

megan is too cool for school

And speaking of Megan - Mary Ann stopped by earlier this week to see Rowdy - how adorable are they I ask???

mary ann is the greatest

This past weekend we had a baby shower for Shonnie Bear - it was great! I cannot believe that baby G will be here very soon. Blessings! I tried to take a lot of photos but I was busy! I need to be better with the camera, I have been slacking. I admit it. Will be better.