It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

After the Christmas Show last week...We were finally able to deck out the Soap Shop for the holiday season....

Wreaths are now hung...

Snowflakes dangle about in the icy cold ...

Even the goose has been dressed in his best Christmas attire!

Christmas cuties are scattered about...

 

Vintage Santa's tucked here and there...

and lots of soap, of course!

 

Did I mention Santa's ???? 

It's going to be a very Merry Christmas....Indeed!



Spooky

With  the boys a little older this year, we decided to decorate a little more on the scary side!

Cob webs are hung...

Spooky owl silhouettes grace the mirrors...

 Old photos on the end tables...

A spooky old wooden Ouija Board centered on the coffee table...

A skull  added to one of our  favorite statues...

Skeletons, precariously positioned around the house....

Headstones in place...

All decorated and ready for a very Spook-tacular Halloween!

Oh so sweet!

I finally had the opportunity to get a batch of Tubcakes made...

All  soap,

 these little cuties look  almost good enough to....EAT!   

Curing now...

Look forward to these being ready in time  for holiday shopping.



4th of July at the Soap Shop

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July. I spent the day working in the shop and making soap and trying to catch up on inventory. We are happily seeing some of our seasonal customers return. Normally we have a big family shin dig with our family at home....This year was a little different with the 4th. being smack dab in the middle of the week. This year was a lay low kind of independence day, but a good day, none the less!

My guys surprised me with a new flower bed around the flag pole at home...just in time for the 4th.

Thanks guys!!!!  Let the planting begin ;-) 



Happy Easter

Hope you all had a Beautiful Easter... We sure did!

( Easter egg dye)

(dyed Farm eggs)

(Easter cupcakes)

And in North Idaho we never did spot the Easter Bunny.... However, we did locate the Easter Moose ;-)

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy New Year

We spent our New Years Eve in Potlatch, ID. with Troy's
brother Ray  and our Sister-in-Law Doris, for the second year in a row....could this be tradition in the making? ;-)

I didn't get any pictures this time, so you will just have to take my word that we had a fantastic time and they definitely make the trip worth it. Ray is the King of Meat and his signature tri-tip steak is to die for!!!

Ray and Doris certainly go the extra mile to make dinner with family a special event. The boys get a kick out of their Uncle Ray, as he is quite the character!

I love watching Troy interact with his brother and I can't help but imagine that someday my boys will be interacting in much of the same way.

We had a great time making memories and left Potlatch a little later than anticipated. We ended up ringing in the New Year as a family in the car on our road trip home...

Welcome 2012... Happy New Year!

Holiday Season

As the snow flakes settle down around us from the whirlwind  holiday season... Here are a few highlights from our Christmas Season

Celebrating America

We hope you are having a Happy 4th. of July!

We are lucky enough to have spent this warm and sunny weekend celebrating America with our family.




Seemed like a perfect time to set our new flag pole and raise the flag high and mighty!








And the perfect weekend to be a kid...





Happy 4th. of JULY

The Gift of giving

Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process. -Jim Rohn

Troy & I had the privilege of taking the boys shopping for a child in need this holiday season. We chose a 3 year old boy from the tree of sharing. My guys had so much fun shopping and finding just the right items they wanted to give.

Although, Levi and Corbin have outgrown playing with their own wooden trains they knew it was the perfect gift to give the young boy on our list.



A flood of cherished memories washed over me as I watched them pick and choose just the right ones...It really was not that long ago that little wooden trains meant the world to them. So many mornings I would wake to a menagerie of wooden clickety clack tracks constructed all through out the house and little boys in engineer hats with wooden choo-choo whistles.





We decided on warm footsie jammies, a new Christmas outfit, a toy train station with trains and a farm animal box car.



Giving is true having. -Charles Spurgeon




I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.-Maya Angelou

Little Santa's

Happy first day of December everybody!

I noticed while unpacking decorations this year, my small but ever growing collection of vintage pipe cleaner Santa's. They may have a more technical name but for now I will continue to call them PCS's.

I just love these little guys!



I love that they are an inexpensive collectible...you can find them hanging out at garage sales, thrift stores, & flea markets, etc.

They are small and virtually take up no room at all in my little, itty bitty, tiny cracker jack box of a house...

Frankly they are cute and just make me smile!

My latest Santa was found hanging out down at our local Animal Rescue Thrift shop, and was in need of a very delicate and embarrassing operation. Looks like he had an unfortunate accident with something very sharp. (((Ouch)))



After the removal, there was very little recovery time. This Santa can now live happily ever after with the other Santa's.

Someday I imagine I will have enough to do a whole Santa themed tree...



Hope you are having as much fun as I am, pulling out your decorations and getting into the holiday spirit!