MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE HAMMER RANCH!

Tressie's Christmas Tree

I am so tired of fighting with blogger.....Anyone else having problems? Download the pictures in the order that I want them and then when I preview them, they are in a crazy different order??? Any suggestions?

OK, so to the post....This is Tressie's Christmas tree! This picture was to be the last picture so that you could see the finished tree at the end.

We had this little tree that we used while we lived in the trailer as it was "trailer size". Haven't used it for several years, but thought that it would be fun for Tressie to have a tree that she could decorate and touch and enjoy. It fits just perfect in this corner and we have had such a fun time making decorations for it and then she loves putting them on "her" tree!

Grandma put a string of lights on the tree and the next day we made this paper chain. She really had fun! Yes, Grandma did finish it up, but she stayed with it longer than I thought she would! She would pick which color of paper strip to put on next and she also had TONS of fun with the glue stick! Good thing it cleans up easily with water.

Our next decoration was little green Christmas trees that I cut out of scrapbook paper. I had some little star stickers and she was quite good at taking them off of the sheet and putting them on the trees!

I also decided that this was a good place for all of her Christmas books. They only come out at Christmas and she enjoys having them read to her and also reading them herself!

I think her favorite project was making the candy canes out of red and white pipe cleaners! She kept saying that we needed more, more.....so we made more, more! These were super easy for her to hang on the tree!

On Tuesday we finished up the tree decorations. I remember Tressie's Mama making some decorations when she was little with macaroni. I cut circles out of poster board and then she glued macaroni on them. Grandma then sprayed them with gold spray paint. I also cut out some Christmas stockings from scrapbook paper and she put stickers on them. So, to see the end results of these projects and the finished tree, you will need to look at the first picture in this post!!!

Notice the plain little yellow star on the top of the tree.....would have looked really pretty with some gold or yellow glitter on it. Only problem is, this Grandma doesn't do glitter! She will endure alot of messes but not glitter! Sorry Tressie!

We are all enjoying Tressie's little Christmas tree in the corner!

Countdown to Christmas with Tressie!

The other day while Christmas shopping, I was looking for a new advent calendar to use with Tressie this Christmas season. I was thinking the little paper calendars with the little flaps that you open one every day until Christmas. You know, the kind like I had when my sister and I were little. Well, while looking at those, my eye caught this Little People nativity advent calendar by Fisher-Price.

Have you seen these? This is the cutest calendar for someone Tressie's age! It will also be Gunner's when he is old enough. It is a cloth banner with individual pockets for fabric pieces. Each piece has velcro on the back and makes it easy for Tressie to attach the pieces by herself! Each day a new piece is added to the scene until Baby Jesus is placed in the manger on Christmas morning! She is going to have a hard time waiting until Christmas morning to put Baby Jesus in the manger as it's only day 3 and that is the one that she wants to put on every time!

Tressie absolutely loves it! The only problem is where to hang it. She wants to be playing with it all of the time. That wouldn't be a problem except that she is a little rough when pulling the pieces off and her Mother declared that it was NOT something that she could play with, but something special to do each day at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

So glad that I found this as I think it will be something that Tressie and Gunner will look forward to getting out each year at Christmas while they are younger and who knows.....maybe even when they get older!

Our New Grandson!

Once more, a post that is way overdue, but too important to pass over!

Our grandson, Gunner William Golding, was born on October 10, 2012!

We had waited for what seemed like a really LONGGGG nine months to meet him! He has the most beautiful soft hair! I kept telling his Mama that I thought he was going to have hair. She had a hard time envisioning that because Tressie was born with only a very small amount of hair. We laugh and say that Gunner already has more hair than his big sister!

Speaking of his big sister.....she absolutely LOVES her little brother!

Gunner is a very good baby! He has alot of very expressive faces that he makes already! One of them is wrinkling up his little forehead when his sister is standing right over him yelling his name over and over and telling him "Hi"!!! I am sure that they are going to be great friends as they grow up together over the years!

Although, he might get tired of his big sister blaming things on him! We were sitting down at the table eating supper one night when Tressie's Mama asked about the fingerprints all over Grandma's window. She didn't even hesitate.....she immediately said....."Gunner did it"!!! And the poor little guy was only a week old!

Grandma and Grandpa are very blessed to have them live so close to us and we enjoy them and love them both more and more every day!

Chocolate Praline Layer Cake

I am very behind in the blogging area of my life.....Alot has been going on and I really hope to get caught up with several posts in the next few days...

Moving right along....Saturday was my best friend's birthday. He is also the love of my life! It was Tony's 54th birthday and I made him this cake.

I stumbled onto this recipe quite a few years ago in a Pillsbury Bake-Off Cookbook that I bought. You know, you stand in line at the grocery store and you get suckered into buying something on impulse. Then, you feel obligated to try at least one recipe! Well, I think this is the only recipe I have ever made out of this cookbook, so I guess I picked the right one! Tony loves this cake and I try to make it every year for him.

I posted a picture and birthday wishes to Tony on FB and I received about 6 requests for this recipe. So, here it is. Your friends will think that you really worked hard and spent lots of time on this cake. When in reality, it is very easy and uses a Devil's Food Cake mix!

Cake
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 Devil's Food Cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

Topping
1 3/4 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Whole pecans, if desired for the top of the cake
Chocolate curls, or grated chocolate if desired

Heat oven to 350. In small heavy saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup whipping cream and brown sugar. Cook over low heat just until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Pour into two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans; sprinkle evenly with chopped pecans. In large bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs at low speed until moistened; beat 2 minutes at highest speed. Carefully spoon batter over pecan mixture.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pans onto waxed paper. Cool completely.

In small bowl, beat 1 3/4 cups whipping cream until soft peaks form. Blend in powdered sugar and vanilla, beat until stiff peaks form. To assemble cake, place 1 layer on serving plate, praline side up. Spread with 1/2 of whipped cream. Top with second layer, praline side up; spread top with remaining whipped cream. Garnish with whole pecans and chocolate curls or grated chocolate, if desired. Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

My Birthday

Tuesday was my 52nd birthday. We decided to make a trip to the big city to do some things and I called some of my family and asked if they wanted to meet up with us at a family favorite, Fargo's Pizza. So, pretty much overnight, we had plans for a party!

Tressie's idea of fun at Fargo's, is the game room! She was happy with sticking her quarter in this machine and seeing what her fun little "surprise" was! Don't we all remember begging Mom or Dad for a quarter to put into these machines for some plastic something? She also enjoyed "driving" the race car.

She wasn't too happy about leaving the game room to come and eat pizza. In fact, I don't know as she ate any pizza but she sure enjoyed the pop and the birthday cake! She helped me open my cards and presents and then was wanting to go back and "drive the car" as she put it!

What's a birthday party without cake? Emily wasn't able to get one made as like I said, we planned the party on really short notice. But, she was able to run into Safeway and get a yummy cake that I throughly enjoyed! Thanks, Em!

The best presents were being with my family and being able to spend time together! I also got this pretty candle and good smelling lotion! Emily, Justin and Tressie are giving me a "special" necklace that is in the mail and on it's way! I will for sure blog about it when it gets here and let you know why it is "special"! I also received some money and am thinking about maybe ordering a new Vera Bradley purse? Oh, who knows.....so hard to decide what to do with it when you have birthday money!

A fun birthday for me! Thanks to my family and friends for all of the cards and birthday wishes!

Happy 30th Birthday, Emily!!

Today is Emily's 30th birthday!  Where do the years go?

Happy Birthday, Emily!  We love you and wish you many more!

Love, Mom and Dad