Duck Hunter's Widow...

For those of you who know Superfreak, this will come as no surprise but his greatest passion in life is waterfowl hunting. From November 1 to January 31 he lives and breathes it. He tries to pretend like he has some control but the truth is he is completely OCD. To make matters worse, he is doing everything he can to insure that this disorder is passed along to the next generation.
This was Zman's first experience in the blind.
Here he is with today's kill. TG they don't expect me to "cook it up"!

Christmas Marathon - Day 2 - a Double Header

On Day 2 we enjoy two celebrations. We get up early in the morning and opening our family presents around the Christmas tree then celebrate with the Whitehurst clan. This year we added a dirty grab bag. Everyone brought a little something from home then we took turns either opening a gift or stealing someone else's. It was a great addition to the festivities, thanks for the inspiration Bookworm.
A meeting of the minds!
Aunt Debbie wins the award for most creative wrapping. This is taking "Going Green" to a whole new level!
Two HOT mamas!
Creative C and Antlerman got themselves a fabulous new addition to their Thanksgiving tablescape.
We're bringing Superfreak over to the dark side.

Christmas Marathon - Day 1

Christmas Eve... This is our day of leisure as we don't have to be at Superfreak's parents until late afternoon. Actually this just means everyone else sleeps in late and I run around a quiet house trying to finish up the last minute details before loading the car and heading to St. Louis where we spend the evening with Superfreak's family. Once the gifts are opened and everyone is thoroughly stuffed and exhausted, we load up the car and head home. Superfreak always drives the first 30 minutes with me chatting it up in the co-pilot's seat. Then somewhere between Lebanon and the interstate he'll announce that he's just too tired to drive. At which point we pull over, change places and he promptly falls asleep so that I get to finish the last two hours belting out Christmas carols to a sleeping family.Boys will be boys...Can anyone guess Zman's favorite gift?DitzyDanzer uses her psychic abilities to guess this present.Can you tell these two are related?Max was obviously having a bad hair day... we won't even discuss the outfit.

Wagy Candy Factory...

Every year just before the holidays Sassy Seamer pulls out her candy making supplies turns her kitchen into her own version of the Hershey plant. For the past five years Bookworm has gotten in on the action and this year Creative C and I were honored with an invitation to join them. So today, in the middle of an ice storm, everyone loaded up and braved the treacherous roads to meet at Sassy Seamer's for an afternoon of confectionary bliss. We were even blessed to have Rahel hang around and oversee the entire operation. What would we have done without him...Creative C put lived up her to name as she spent hours doing the intricate work necessary to create these beautiful little masterpieces...Notice that Rahel is giving C pointers on proper chocolate techniques...
Six hours and a mountain of dirty dishes later...

Hidden Talents...

After years of working in the flower shop, Sassy Seamer can make the most beautiful bows. She has tried repeatedly to teach me this skill with absolutely no success. Then to my utter amazement Ditzy Danzer asked Nana how she did it. After a 10-minute lesson and one practice bow, Ditzy Danzer is now my designated box maker. We have the most beautiful packages under our tree this year thanks to Ditzy Danzer.

The First Leon

This year our church's youth choir presented our Christmas program, The First Leon, Saturday night before our annual soup supper. The story is about a group of school kids so worried about presenting the perfect pageant that they have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. Everyone, that is, except for Leon, the school's science geek.

Meet Leon...

DitzyDanzer gives some advice to Leon on what it takes to be a star...

NoNonsense played the part of the school stud...

DitzyDanzer got to use some of her dance skills...

SuperFreak even got in on the action as our Tech Guy... (Note of interest, this is the same job that Creative C's 9 year old had in their program. No judgment, just an observation.)

And no great show happens without a GREAT director. Thanks Sally, we couldn't have done it without you!

Girls' Day...

I happen to think one of a girls greatest luxury is her time at the salon. DitzyDanzer and I treated ourselves to a visit to Jess today for a little beauty pick-me-up. We both got ourselves a new cut and I suffered through the eyebrow waxing. DitzyDanzer had seriously been mulling over the idea for herself... she is obsessed with her eyebrows... OCD is apparently hereditary... however after watching exactly what happens she decided that the she'll continuing tweezing a bit longer. After that momentary torture we thoroughly enjoyed the next hour and a half of pampering and girl chat. Beauticians... a girl's best friend.

A Star is Born...

Meet the new radio personality on WMCI. Superfreak is now hosting Down River Outdoors a 1 hour talk show that airs each Saturday morning at 7:00 on 101.3 FM or RadioMattoon.com. Someone gave him a mic and 60 minutes to talk about his passion and he's in heaven.

Great Gift Gone Wrong

I have a great boss and to prove it, I got my Christmas present early this year. I've spent the last four weeks looking for a new casual winter coat. Something that I can throw on with a pair of blue jeans. I've shopped and tried on until I want to scream and so far have been unsuccessful in finding anything that fit right, was the right color and was in my price range. That was until Wednesday when Creative C and Antlerman showed up at the office with an adorable aqua blue coat with matching accessories. Fit perfectly, looks great and I didn't have to pay for it. Now that's definately within my budget. Of course I was thrilled last night that we were having our ladies meeting and I had the perfect opportunity to show off my new outerwear. So I got myself all dolled up, and completed the look with my adorable new coat and accessories and headed off to church. Since I've talked it up so much I thought maybe I should let you see for yourself...

Keep in mind, this picture was taken AFTER we got home.

Holiday Traditions... part 3

We couldn't possibly get through the season with the ever popular holiday baking and last night Shelby and I got started with some cookies for our Secret Sister Cookie Exchange tonight at church. I made a dainty lemon tea cookie and DitzyDanzer made her favorite, a Grandma Jackie original, Chocolate Crinkles. They are incredible. Zman and Scott were our taste testers and both recipies passed with flying colors. Not to be outdone by her grandaughter, Sassy Seamer whipped out these chocolate, pecan, carmel pieces of heaven.

Holiday Traditions... part 2

A couple weeks ago while shopping with Creative C we stumbled across these great gingerbread house kits. Well, Saturday evening we set aside some time to put it together and decorate. Believe it or not DitzyDanzer and Zman worked together beautifully. It was a blissful hour and a half with no arguing. This will project will definately be repeated.

Holiday Traditions...

When Scott and I got married, what no one told me was that in addition to vast number of Wagy traditions, I would be expected to incorporated the Huschle traditions in my family also. One such tradition is St. Nick's Day. Had never even heard of it until Shelby Lou was born and my mother-in-law was appalled that I had "forgotten" DitzyDanzer's St. Nick's present. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. The Huschle tradition is that on December 5 before heading to bed, you tuck your letter to Santa into your stocking and at some point in the night, Santa stops by, picks up your letter and fills your stocking. So each year I find myself backed into a corner and running around frantically picking up a few items at the last minute. A personal twist that Scott and I have incorporated is that each year on Dec. 6, in addition to the obligatory gifts, Santa leaves the kids a new ornament for our tree. I take finding the perfect ornament very seriously. I want the ornament to represent their lives for each year. This year I stumbled upon this bedazzled star for DitzyDanzer. She is after all our little star and ZMan got this adorable chubby Santa playing basketball. Take a guess what his sport of choice is right now...

Scott is dedicated supporter of the Hallmark ornament lines. This year he picked up a beautiful ballerina for DitzyDanzer (she's gotten serious about her Pointe and seems to be thriving in those classes) and Zman got his first Corvette (somewhere in the last 12 months, he's become obsessed with cars, talks about engines and such all the time).

The Fun Begins

I started my Christmas shopping several weeks ago and took a big bite out of it this weekend with our annual post Thanksgiving shopping trip. All the shopping fun is just that... FUN. For me, the Christmas season begins when we pull out the stack of gifts and the beautiful paper with the ribbon, bows and tags. Believe it or not, my compulsive tendencies come out with this little ritual. I spend countless hours planning my gift color scheme then picking out two coordinating papers and all the trimmings. This year's theme... gold and cream. Ditzy Danzer and I have gotten started and its officially Christmas time.