Gotta sweet tooth?

Thought I would put together a post about some recent goodies that have been floating around the LaClair house...like I need ANY treats??
Being a wife and mom, I once again this year made my *own* birthday treats. I opted for cupcakes this year-easier to share with people..less for me to eat! My sweet friend Brenna made cupcakes like this on St. Pats, and I thought they looked SO COOL that I decided to try some of my own for my birthday..they were SO GOOD and everyone loved them! All you do is make a white cake mix, and color the batter with food coloring!

I also got SO MANY treats for my birthday this year...A whole gift bag full of berries..yes, a GIFT BAG full of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries...a platter of chocolate heart shaped brownies, and a fruit pizza. Thanks Jenn! It all was wonderful!
Lisa made me brownie bites..they were so good!
Tiny brownie cups with white filling, and a strawberry slice on each one. They were divine, too! Judy brought me a whole plate full of Puddles of Yum...needless to say, I was not starving that week, and I walked a WHOLE lot to make up for the sweets!

A couple weeks later, for Easter, I made some easter egg cupcakes...obviously, this was my first attempt at frosting grass, and these tinies had been to Mooers and back before I took the pic. They were mini cupcakes, so three of these = one regular one...munch away!!

For Easter dessert at Mom's, she made they cool little pies in canning jars. She did chocolate, strawberry, and blueberry. They were so good! We found the idea for them online, and they say you can make them up and freeze them before baking, then pull them out of the deep freeze and bake! These are a great gift idea!!

Back to work tomorrow! Where did the weekend go? Furthermore, I had a few days off last week...where did they go? Here's hoping the weather is better this week! I have never taken the phrase April showers so literal until this year!
**Keri**

The newest innovation in oxen headgear...

You are not gonna *believe* your eyes, this is such an awesome idea! LOL...it all started a few weeks ago, after one of the big boys scraped up the other one with his horn one night. He had huge scratches all over his side, some of them even bloody. It happens from time to time, along with other horn related mishaps..Several people have been on the receiving end of a nasty blow to the melon while trying to get these big guys their fresh water. I have not, thank goodness, but I hear it will knock you to your knees. They don't do it on purpose, mind you, they are just SO BIG and there isn't a huge amount of room to maneuver inside the barn. Brock said something one day about putting metal tips on their horns, I am sure there is a name for them, that I don't know, but I said, well, in the meantime, just stick some rubber bouncy balls on the tips of their horns...then that turned into tennis balls...and we said--man, wouldn't it be funny if Pete came home from work some night, and went into the barn, only to find Jacob and Red with tennis balls on their horns?? We could act like we thought it was *THE* coolest idea, and were serious, and see if we could get him going. So being just before April 1st, we decided that would be a good day to try it. WELL, those darned buzzards looked SO FUNNY with those flippin' tennis balls on their heads, that we could hardly stop laughing long enough for Peter to notice them...well, once he did, he actually LAUGHED!! Most people who know Pete, know that it has to be REALLY FUNNY for him to laugh...so although our trick didn't go off like we hoped, it was funny, and I got a couple cute photos!!

3 Generations of Farmers

So, I had this *GREAT* idea about a month back...of course, I thought it was great, but try getting 4 human beings of the MALE persuasion to pose for a photograph..HA!! Well, I thought, they can't get away at Easter...and Peter and Cody have to do what I say...Daddy? Mom can handle him...he has to do what she says...Kent? I just bugged him to death til he did what I wanted just to shut me up! Since Cody started taking Ag in school and joined FFA, he has had some very pleased relatives in his father, uncle, and pa. Daddy was in FFA back when NACS was Ellenburg Central School, so his coat is 50+ years old. Peter and Kent were in FFA back in the 80's. And of course, your FFA coat is something you NEVER part with...right up there with a wedding gown, prom dress, and scout uniforms! I thought it would be such a great idea to get a pic of the 4 of them together, all with their jackets! Of course, 3 of them had to hold their jackets as they are a bit bigger now than they were in the past, but they all cooperated very nicely and look at the cute photo I got! Daddy had bragging rights cause he had so many medals on his coat, then Kent pointed out the fact that you are only supposed to have a small amount of them displayed on the outside of your jacket-the rest have to be hidden on the inside...They were like 4 kids! I have some FFA scrapbooking goodies on the way to me from Ebay, so look for a scrapbook page soon!

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**

9 Hazels and Buttercup...

Say hello to our newest additions: 10 Red Star laying hens. They are all pretty much identical, so instead of giving them all names, I named them all Hazel. BUT one of them stands out (at least to Cody) and he can tell her apart from the rest, so she is Buttercup.

I get an egg a day from each of them, most days. Started painting up a sign for selling eggs...already have quite a few customers interested!

They are really gentle birds, you can pet them pick them up, and they are VERY curious. Just one problem. they are bullying Bernice...so we are working on that problem now...Rusty protects her, but he is rough with her too..if you get my drift....um. hummm....

Have a great day!
**Keri**

Baby Flapper Hat

Happy Monday!! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had this post half done on Friday, and that is where it stayed..half done in draft form. So here we go again! Maybe I will get it done this time!
A dear friend of mine just had a new grand daughter! Grace Morgin was born on March 16th. And this hat was about 2/3 finished! So that put my bee-hind in gear! As usual, I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, in my head! Luckily, I pulled it off! Take a look at this newborn flapper hat, pure white crocheted, with double layer crocheted flowers as an accent! All hand made by yours truly! Not too bad for teaching myself how to crochet a little over a year ago!



Here is an awesome close-up of the flowers....they are made out of embroidery floss...

I hope they like it!
Have a great day.
**Keri**

Snow Angels

Would you believe that I have had this page half posted for about 3 days now? Walked away to deal with something else, and never came back!
This is the last page I have been able to complete. Have some paper and photos pulled for the next one, but it is anyone's guess what THAT will be completed!
Pete took this photo of Judy and I, the day we went ice fishing...we are barely recognizable! It was SO COLD out there that day, I shudder to remember. I thought these cute little snowmen were the perfect background for these two raving beauties in all their glory....
The paper is MME, SU, letters are MME, and Grungeboard..this one was actually alot of peel and stick..not too involved!


Here is a close up of how some of the elements "pop" off the page...

Here is to a fast flying Thursday. So much to do, and never enough hours in the day. Still trying to get these chickens settled, and have a few projects to finish up for gifts...And as always, people in this house like to eat and be clothed!!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

Our latest oxen excursion...

Happy Friday and a TGIF to everyone! Boy, will this week ever end? Thought I would share a few photos from our latest outing with the oxen. Humphrey and Hawkeye have been suffering from cabin fever, and boy, were they wild when they got outside last weekend! Running, jumping, kicking and romping-it was quite a sight! They have grown so much over the winter, we were unsure if their yoke would even fit. It ended up still fitting, but with no extra room to spare. It is gonna be time to upgrade very soon!

Considering they have been in the barn all winter, they did calm down pretty fast, and they did pretty good with their commands and just walking along together in their yoke. They took a walk up the road, and came back to the house. They were exhausted by the time they made it back to the yard. They immediately started eating the snowbank!

Have a great day!

**Keri**

Puppy Love...

Remember when I said on Facebook that I was gonna scrapbook on Sunday? I did get it done, just not until Monday! I was kind of "stuck" as to what to do with the title...I wanted it in a circle, but I couldn't get the letters stamped evenly. Then I found these "Thickers" letter stickers at Michael's and knew they were perfect! Much easier to position, too! This is a photo that I took the first day we brought Brodie home. She was so tiny back then! And yes, this was in Cody's "long hair" stage, 3 years ago. I had the photo printed at www.scrapbookpictures.com where you can add all kinds of borders and enhancements. I get a LOT of my photos printed there...they have a ton of sizes to choose from, 3 different finishes, and a million different combinations of borders...I just love this picture!! I do believe this was the one and only day Brodie was remotely calm....

Here is a close up of the letters..yep, they *are* glittery! And the sticker in the center had such a cute saying on it...They are from a whole sheet of doggie stickers from the lovely Lisa Renea ! See? I am using them! Love em, LR! I framed the white cardstock circle with a round chipboard ring from Stampin' Up!. Patterned cardstock is My Mind's Eye, solid cardstock is from SU! Letters are Thickers and other stickers are from 7 Gypsies.

The last shot just shows another close up of some of the other stickers from the sheet that I used. I added little "bullets" by each saying, using the extra stickers from the letter sticker package. I think they were periods or colons or some such.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest creation! I have a whole stack of photos and ideas brewing in my brain, so hopefully, more to come!!

**Keri**

3 Pack

Look at this! I finished another scrapbook layout!! Two in a week, miracles happen!
I took this pic of the boys when we took them bowling after Christmas. It was perfect! All smiling, no goofy faces or tongues sticking out, just perfect! The boys have been in school together since Kindergarten, and are quite the threesome. They all have very similar hobbies and have always gotten along very well. They are all very good kids-polite, and always willing to help out.

The paper I used for this layout is from Basic Grey. I loved the colors and had been saving it for something special.

I made the giant "3" and the word "pack" out of chipboard that I had covered with matching paper. I got to try out my new Martha Stewart craft knife on the word "pack"..it worked great!

I used an assortment of cardstock on this page-Stampin Up!, Doodlebug Bazzill, and DCWV. Journaling was simple snippits of cardstock labeled, and stapled...Didn't want to dress it up too much, as it is showcasing three boys! So ribbon was out of the question...I did use some tiny blue fasteners on the corners of one of the cardstock layers, and they look cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

**Keri**

another reason I will be happy when winter is over...

But then again--it will just switch from rabbits back to turkeys... this never ends! Here is Cody with his latest rabbit. There are very few things i am unwilling to cook--I have cooked partridge (Shake n Bake), turkeys, deer, goose, heck, I might even consider bear..keep in mind I am saying COOK..not EAT...but I don't think I can cook a rabbit...seriously!!


But I can't help but be proud at the young man he is growing up to be. So responsible and kind. To people, anyway....
Have a Blessed Friday!
**Keri**

Winter has arrived!!

Yup! We finally got some snow! It was so perfectly quiet outside this morning, that I had to go out and take a few photos of the trees. It was gorgeous, even though I LOATHE the snow! You can see the chicken coop on the front end of the barn in this first shot...

Up the road...

Down the road...

Won't be doing any plowing anytime soon...

Spring can come *anytime*!!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

Dear Brother...

Would you believe, that after weeks of these pieces sitting around in my craft room, that I finally finished this page??

Cody took these pics of Neil and I on Christmas day at Mom and Daddy's. They turned out pretty good, and it was something different to be able to scrapbook, rather than the usual dead animal photos!!

This one is really 3 dimensional--lots of thick layers...and I had been hoarding away this paper for something special, I love the color combinations..

All of the embellishments were raw chipboard pieces, that I either covered with patterned paper, or painted.

Here is the finished project- it is a 12x12 page. I used so many different supplies from so many different places, that I am not even going to attempt to list them all. If you want to know something specific as far as products, shoot me an email and I will go confirm the source..

Have a great day!

**Keri**

Valentine Cards

Good morning! I thought I would share some recent creations with you. I made up these Valentines a week ago- I had such fun with them! They are made with a variety of die cuts, and embossing folders, as well as stamps and ribbons.

These first two were made with SU! stamps, as well as Nestabilities dies and the Top Note die from SU! I just LOVE the scalloped square shaped card!! Patterned paper on these cards is from SU! and Basic Grey.

Here are the other two cards I made. I used the SU! Top Note die, SU! stamps, and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The card on the left actually has a circular window in it, with the stamped image peeking through. Patterned paper on these two cards was from my "unknown" stash.
Here is the stamped image. After I colored it, I coated it with Crystal Effects for some dimension. Hope you like em'! Happy Valentine's Day!

**Keri**

First Rabbit....

Cody had another big first yesterday--his first rabbit! If you want to know the truth, I can't believe he shot it...After having Rocky, the pet rabbit for several years, I never thought he would be able to do it, but he is growing up, and he got it! Thankfully, the rabbit was quite "patient" and sat their until Cody got him with the third shot! Dylan was here this weekend and took the photos so I didn't have to see the creature first hand. I have my limits, and this is one of them. Cody was a gentleman and asked me permission to hunt rabbits ahead of time yesterday, cause he knows how I feel about bunnies, and then he resisted the urge to talk about it for the rest of the afternoon after the deed was done. He did tell me that if there ever was a rabbit to shoot, this one was it--it was UGLY looking and DUMB cause it didn't know enough to run away after the first shot was fired. Gave Cody some good practice!!

Isn't he adorable? (Code-man, of course!)

Regardless of my feelings on the matter, I am so proud of my young man for being so responsible, and considerate, and above all else SO COOL!!

**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**

Remembering Omi...

Good morning...I am sure many of you have already read or heard the news, that Omi has gone to be with the Lord!! It is a sad time for all of us, but a time to rejoice and celebrate Grandma's life, and the fact that she is now in Heaven with our Lord and her loved ones who went on before her!! She passed away on Tuesday afternoon, and it has been my task to sort, scan, and burn photos for a DVD presentation at the services. I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you all.

In this first one, Grandma is the little girl. It is the youngest photo of her that I could find. It seems funny to see her as a little girl!

In this next photo, Grandma is standing on a porch with a dog. The back of the photo says that she is 16, and the dog's name is Rollie!
Here is Naomi with her snowshoes...She looks pretty cute with that sassy hat!!

Here is Papa and Grandma. No name of this dog on the photo, but I believe this one is early on, also. Aren't they adorable??

I just want to take this time to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and condolences. They are all appreciated so very much. Please continue to pray for my family over these next few days!

**Keri**