Mother's Day 2010

Guess what??
Turkeys apparently like the snow...Pete finally got one today..

Mom and Cody were less than cooperative with their giggles and blinks today while I was trying to get a cute photo of them...


Fortunately, Cody did a better job with a pic of me and Mom! This one is a scrapbook page, for sure!! Stay tuned!

Back to reality tomorrow!
**Keri**

Easter Weekend Re-cap...

What a quick weekend it was! The weather was gorgeous, and that just added to the great holiday weekend! It was busy, as usual-errands to run, chores to get caught up on..I found myself cleaning the chicken coop at 6:00 pm last night, Easter night! Duty calls, right?
Friday was a great day, I actually had a bit of time to myself, and I spent is outside reading a great book! After a trip to Plattsburgh for groceries on Saturday morning, the "boys" got the "boys" out...Pete, Cody, and Brock, got out their respective oxen teams out of the barn for some fresh air. Red and Jacob were happy to be out with Brock, as were Hawkeye and Humphrey with Cody. It was *very* warm that day, so they weren't pushed too hard..
Here is Cody with his team:

Both teams together for size comparison:

Humphrey gettin' a little lovin'!

I gotta say, this whole oxen training/commands thing is SO hard to get my mind around...I just stand there and take pictures..it really drives me NUTS when I don't know how to do something, and this situation fits the bill for sure!

Apparently, Easter is not what it used to be at the LaClair house. I had to DRAG my 14 year old out of bed at 9 am yesterday, and MAKE him look at his Easter basket...you would think the candy would be a BIT tempting!

Here's to a great week-thanks for dropping in!

**Keri**

Easy Valentine's Day Treat...

Happy Sunday everyone! Thanks for being faithful "checkers" of my blog--things have been crazy these past few weeks, but I did want to thank you ALL for your kind words and sentiments at the loss of my Grandmother. You all were such faithful supporters of hers, and I appreciate you all so much!
My two daycare babies are keeping me VERY busy...I have not had much time at all for craftiness-but things are getting better and moving along much smoother, so I hope to make more time in the evenings to get things back on track!
One thing that is an added benefit of having babies in the house again, is the baby food jars! I don't have a lot of them yet, but enough for me to think up something cool to do with them! I cleaned them up really good, and spray painted the lids, some pink, some red. I decorated them with strips of Valentine paper, and embellished them with cute little stamped pieces. Last but not least, I filled them with Valentine red, pink, and white M&M's! These are gonna be the perfect little treat for the sweethearts in my life! Bring on the baby food jars!!

These guys are really cute, and really easy to make...anyone can spray a lid with a bit of spraypaint--and if you don't have babies, but applesauce or bananas and stir it in with your yogurt so it doesn't go to waste! Patterned paper is available by the sheet, or the pack, in the craft section at WalMart, Joann's, or Michaels. And I got regular and PEANUT BUTTER holiday M&M's at Walmart!!

Have a blessed day!
**Keri**

Handcrafted Christmas...

We got the greatest surprise on Christmas morning! My younger brother made everyone some beautiful handcrafted gifts this year!
The first gift was this great towel/cloth drying rack to go by my kitchen sink. It is made out of hardwood, and protected with Tung oil against wetness! It is perfectly made, and I just love it! It is very simple and has beautiful lines. And above all else, useful!

Our second gift was this gorgeous handcrafted trinket box. It is made of reclaimed redwood, and reclaimed pallet wood. There are no nails or screws, and it was done completely with a table saw. Every single line, and angle matches up perfectly! The lid slides open and closed, and even has a feature on the end of the lid where it "locks" it into place. It is coated with protectant, and is so perfectly smooth and shiny! I just love it. I love both gifts, not only because they are beautiful, but because they came from the heart!


I think I may have my brother talked into making some stuff for me to put in my shop! I think the towel racks would be a good seller, as he can produce them quickly and they are very versatile-something everyone can use, and they would be a great gift for the hard to buy for person! I may also make up some dish cloths to include in a package deal.
SO--he is quite the talent, right? I am impressed, but I am also very biased! Totally cool!
Have a great day, and thanks for checking in!
**Keri**

Peace...Harley's Last Christmas...

A layout I completed yesterday of a pic of Harley from last Christmas. HER last Christmas, little did we know. She *loved* to lay out in Peter's trophy room under the tree, or just sit next to it and look out the door. She also hated to have her picture taken so every photo I have of her, was either taken while she was distracted by something else, or not paying attention to me! I tried to keep it simple-let the photo speak for itself.
Paper is K & Co., snowflakes are felt cut outs from SU! Letters are chipboard Buzz and Bloom, painted green.

Well, here we are, vacation is almost over! I have a few more decorations to take down, but I am really not feeling it today!! The chicken coop needs to be cleaned, too, but I am not feeling that, either. I am only feeling COLD right now!

Have a great day!

**Keri**

The Sweetest Gift....

I got such a surprise in the mail today! The Lord gave me a very special friend several years ago-and we are truly two of a kind in most ways! She surprised me with a Christmas gift that has to be the SWEETEST gift ever! You know, one of those presents where you don't know what to expect, and you start choking back the tears, then you realize there isn't any way they are gonna stay choked back?? Yep, I balled my ever lovin' eyes out in the middle of my kitchen floor!
Judy sent me this lovely wall hanging from clear across the state. She lives out in Central NY, and she is also my Stampin' Up! demo. She told me she had loved this photo ever since I posted it back last summer. Unfortunately, shortly after this photo was taken, we lost our old girl. We were and still are heartbroken. The holidays had us feeling a bit lost-Harley loved her presents and wrapping paper! Judy said she was a bit apprehensive about making and sending this gift, but in the end decided she would. Am I ever glad she did! What a heartwarming and special gift...it is something I will cherish forever!! The frame is just as beautiful!

Here is a pic of the card that accompanied my gift--and let me say that I would not want to make more than a few of these!!

Just beautiful, and so tedious and complicated! WOW!! I love the colors, too!!

So, even though I have already spoken to the creator and expressed my thanks, I thank you again, JUDY, for the wonderful, and thoughtful gift!! They were happy tears!!

Have a great night, and stay warm!

**Keri**

Christmas Trees AGAIN!

Here are the last two trees..I ran out of time yesterday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas today! We are very tired tonight, after opening presents here this morning, we spent the first part of our day at Mom and Daddy's. Then the second part of our day was spent in Churubusco at Peter's Mom's house! I am glad to be home..
Tree number 5 is our family tree in the livingroom. It is 7.5 feet tall. It holds all of my handmade ornaments, Cody's ornaments, etc. I call it the mish mash tree. I put colored lights on this tree, and the topper is a Boyd's Bear santa-hugging the tree top.

This is tree number 6! This tree is in Peter's trophy room. It is 9 feet tall and I have white lights on it. This tree has all sorts of rusty ornaments on it. Snowflakes, stars, jingle bells...as long as it is rusty, it will fit in! It also has a LOT of pinecones, berries, and of course, my german stars! It fits in very well with the rest of the room! I always hate to take this one down!!
Have a great night!! Merry Christmas!

**Keri**

Trees 2, 3, and 4!

Good morning! Would you believe I had this window open all day yesterday, and never got the post up? Things are slowly coming together at the LaClair house-my elves started wrapping gifts last night...that was a great relief-plus, it kept the elves out of my hair while I was baking!
I was very productive yesterday, got a LOT of baking done, as well as many other loose ends...including getting photos taken of my other trees!
Here is tree number 2--this one is up in our bedroom, in the dormer. I have always liked these white trees, they seem kind of retro to me, and it goes in our bedroom perfectly with all the blue and white...it is blindingly bright at night, with white lights ON the white tree...I have strictly blue and white decorations on it--I found some great snowflakes at Michaels this year to add.
Here is tree number 3. This is a new addition this year--I got it for Cody to put in his room. He barely has any decorations on it--if you look closely you can see Homer Simpson hanging on for dear life as the topper!! He has M&M lights of different colors on his tree.
This is tree number 4. This is also a new addition this year. I have accumulated MANY John Deere ornaments over the years. Mom let me use this extra smaller tree she had, and I added solid green, and solid yellow strands of lights. I also made some green and yellow star ornaments, and some baling twine wreaths. Topped it off with the hat! It looks really cool in the dark!!




So that is it! I will try to get trees 5 and 6 posted later today, or tomorrow! Have a great day!
**Keri**

Tree Number ONE!

Here is a pic of tree number one. It is the "Grandma" Tree. I put it up in our kitchen. It is a 4 foot tree, and I decorate it using vintage ornaments that belonged to my Grandmothers, as well as Peter's Grandmother. They are very old, very breakable, and above all else, very beautiful! I finish it off with old fashioned lights, and tinsel like Omi used to use...adding one strand at a time!

Here are a couple of ornamnets I added to the tree, that are my favorites from childhood that Mom gave to me. The cheesy retro santa and elf from the 60's!

Thanks for stopping by, I will be adding more of our trees in the coming days!!
Have a good night!
**Keri**

Re-cap!

I know, I know...this poor neglected blog!!
Here is a bit of a catch up...I promise I will try to do better! The good news is, I have been so busy with etsy orders that I haven't had time to devote to the blog!!
Here are a couple of pics from Halloween:
My trick or treats--most of which Cody ate:

My scariest trick or treater EVER!!

And my Peanuts, along with all of our carved pumpkins!!

Peter's 4 pointer::

Sprinkles the Moose, who has moved in next door to our house::

And the latest picture of Cody with Humphrey and Hawkeye...They are growing fast, all three of them!!

Thanks for stopping by!
**Keri**

Re-cap of a busy week!

Good Saturday morning!
It has been a heck of a week-and I thought I would catch up and save myself a bit of time by giving you all a pictoral recap!!
This is the final result of an order I have been working on for a couple of weeks:
Baby shower favors-tiny boxes with candies inside...

Baby girl shower invitations--all pertinent info is already printed on the inside:

And a matching bedroom sign for the baby's room!

A custom "brain in a book" a friend asked me to make...These things are so great to keep in your bag, so you can right all your lists and to-do's inside and keep them in one spot! I go through at least one a year!



This is a great gift I rec'd from a friend this week. We participated in a Halloween mingle, where we send a halloween crafting supply, and a hand made item, to the person below us on the sign up list...I got this tinnie--an altered tin can..So it is recycled, and repurposed! It will look cute hanging in my farmhouse kitchen this fall! Thanks to Michele for sending me some of her awesome Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps, and some Halloween patterned paper, too!

Code-man also went back to school this week. Freshman at NACS! Hard to believe!

We also said goodbye to a dear friend this week...Our hearts are breaking, but we know she is no longer suffering...Harley would have been 11 in December!

So that is it for now! I can hardly keep up with everything-work, family, and orders that keep rolling in-I will have a new fall slate to share with you very soon!
Have a blessed weekend!
**Keri**

Father's Day Re-cap

Good morning! I thought I would share a few photos from Sunday morning, of Peter and Cody. Cody got Peter these really cool placemats made out of photographs. If you are interested, visit www.TreasureMats.com to check them out. The gal lives a couple towns over and runs a small copy store. She perfected how to make these durable, and they retain their color beautifully! Check em out! Anyway, as you can see, we now have hunting photos on our kitchen table...(eyes wide in slight terror!!)


Here is a close up on my boys--Cody is looking more and more like his father (if that is possible) every day. He is getting so tall, and his face is changing so much! He is now on summer vacation officially--so he is a happy camper up in his bed right now!!

I have been keeping a few cards in a cute enamel dish, at my dear friend's beauty shop, for sale. I have sold quite a few cards so far, and these are a few of the graduation ones I made. The traffic that goes through her shop is amazing! These fit into a business envelope!

I have also been adding more cards to my etsy shop. www.KeriLouNewYork.etsy.com I had my 7th sale last week, and currently have over 40 items in my shop. I got some exciting new last night-one of my items was included in a treasury, and made the front page on etsy!! I am tweaking the store constantly, so be sure to check back for new items often!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!

Good Sunday morning, everyone, and Happy Father's Day to my father, and all the others out there...I thought I would first, share some photos that show the fathers that came before me, the reason I am here today!!
This is my Great Great Grandfather's family, on the family farm, circa 1870's.
John Brooks was his name, and believed to be from Nova Scotia. He is sitting in the chair, sporting the beard. This is the house I grew up in!

This is the next generation, my Great Grandfather, who you see on the far left. His name was Wallace Brooks. My grandfather is the one standing in the back-the middle man.

Next, we have my Grandfather, Lyle Brooks. My dad and his brother and all his sisters, and his Mom. Pa is in the back, Daddy is the younger boy.

This one is Daddy, with me and my brothers, a few years ago. 4, I think. Time for a new pic!

This is another one of Pa, my father's father--just cause I think it is cool!

This is my Mom's Dad and Mom-Papa has been gone for nearly 30 years, and Mom is gonna kill me for putting this in, but I came from him, too! This is the lovely Omi, who you all know and love!!

My Great Grandfather, Leonard Drown, my Grandma Brooks' father:

And last but certainly not least, Daddy and Pa, back before Pa passed, and we spent all of our holidays and celebrations in the nursing home. This one always makes me smile!

I come from a very long, very strong line of men, as you can see! My brothers are no exception. I just want to take this time to thank the strongest one, Daddy- for your kindness, your generosity, and your strength. You have always set a wonderful example, not just for me, growing up, but for Peter and Cody as well. You always do the right thing, (at least in my eyes) and you will never know how much I respect and love you. Thanks for being the best Daddy *EVER*!! I LOVE YOU!
Happy Father's Day!
**Keri**