Empty Nesters...again...

...*sigh*...

I am sitting here catching up on some blog reading...the sigh isn't about that! Blog reading is fun.

The *sigh* is cuz...

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...our daughter Girly Twirly (aka theLuckiestMrs) and her hubby have already left by plane to get back to KY.

         

           

... our daughter Girly Whirly (aka Little Miss) today, is with their dog Malone driving back up to KY.

...our son Heartbreaker also left today too with Girly Whirly.  He'll be near Atlanta to meet up with his buddies to go camping in northern Georgia.

...and my hubby is at work...

while I am here at home...*sigh*

Massachusetts Christmas (1966 or 1967)

...It seems that when I have been the one to leave after a visit, it's hard...but I think that being the ones left to stay when family or friends leave...is harder.  It takes a bit of time to get back into the "regular, pre-visit" routine.

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..for the next few days, I still do not go to work...so, I hope to keep busy. ...put away decorations. ...take a nap. ...do a few more drawings. ...relax. ...organize some things. catch a few winks. ...catch up on some more blog reading. ...sleep.

Sleep sounds like a re-occuring theme here! lol

But first, here's a little clip of what I have to put away! A bit of Christmas cheer...that I'd love to leave up all year round!

...but before I do any of that napping & snoozing...I thought I would finally post an award (aka blog hug) given to me & that I would like to pass on (sorry that it has taken so long!):

This lovely "Splash Award" was given to me by the lovely and talented Mary Anne Gruen at Starlight Blog.  Stop by and say hello! She is an artisan with jewelry, theater actress, and much more!

The Splash Award is given to alluring, amusing, impressive, inspiring blogs. Thank you Mary Anne for including me in your picks.  Now is the hard part...picking only 9 to pass it on to! 


1. The Southern Housewife @ Her Southern Charm...her posts are full of creativity! Lots of variety! In fact, her latest post encourages and inspires one to think of what word that can foster a positive change in our own lives.


2. Angie & Gina @ The Shabby Chic Cottage... simply oozes with ideas! Very impressive! Also a fellow-Etsy-er... so much to see on their blog and they are fully willing to share their ideas.


3. Ave @ MadeinCanarias...ok..I dont know how she managed to do this, (she is amazing!) Ave only started blogging in June 2009 and already she has 299 posts! Wowzer! I am excited if I can get one post a week...and lately, its been one every 2 weeks.  (But while I'm off, I hope to get a couple other posts up...)


4. LV @ Thoughts from Meme's Corner...Love this blogger :o) So sweet! and as her profile says..."I am a young 80 who is enjoying life to the fullest...." I dont know how she keeps up with all the posts that she does!  It's fun to read her posts and see her photos.


5. Teresa @ Teresa's Treasures...very talented and busy blogger! Her adorable grandbabies grace her blog with their sweet little faces. She also has a holiday decorating blog with wonderful ideas.


6. Lynette @ Dancing Barefoot...she is all about family (Her family's adventures are full of fun!)...and her blog is also all about connecting others.  She has a wonderful idea on how to connect other bloggers...with her "Getting to Know YOU!" posts.  


7. Mama M @ My Little Life... oh. my. goodness! I love her sense of humor! I would love to meet her in person.  Her posts are truly delightful! Hilarious! and fun, fun, fun to read!


8. Chari @ Happy to Design...I marvel at her beautiful tablescapes! I do well to get our table set, now that it is just my hubby and me. (usually, I will go ahead and dish up our plates and bring it to the table or the living room, with a fork and a drink.  At Christmas, I did bring out my parent's china).  And she has other awesome design ideas to share.


9. Nan @ MomstheWord...oh my! oh my! You will love following and reading her posts...if you dont already! I love how she looks at things and shares her fun and hilarious moments...of which seems to be a constant affair.  She is encouraging and has many ways and ideas about "Making Your Home Sing".

&&&&&&&&&&

Oh...also here are some of the requests from this post: Ask a Blog Hop Question
(You can click on any image to bring it up a bit larger for viewing).

1. Kathie @ my net finds asked about a fleur de lis... or a cat (I'll show some cats in a future post)...

 

2. Ave & Heather asked about beach inspired drawings...

Please go to  "P.S. HI & FL Beaches"
and also  "P.S. GA & HI Beaches! Part 2" to see some already posted beach ones.

3. Alicia asked about crosses...

4. Bearly Sane asked about the rooster in color...

5. Becka asked about trees (these are a few) or "fall-related" drawings (I've done some others, but will also show those on another post)...

This was a lo-o-o-ong post... but it has been way past due in getting those requested drawings shown. Thank you for asking about these and for your patience!

HAU'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU!

Happy New Year!

...A blessed New Year's greeting from all of us to all of you!

Blessings & Aloha!

Let's Celebrate!

Hope everyone has had a blessed Christmas full of family, friends, food, and fun!  From our  Georgia home to yours!

                

(Hawaiian...google images)

(Tagalog...graphic by PinoyXpression)

(Portuguese...google image)

(Chinese...google image)

(Feliz Navidad...Spanish...google image)

(German...image by VintagePostcards)

("Merii Kurisumasu"...Katakana...Japanese

...image by PeachyPaperCrafts)


~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Our family celebrates the wonderful birth of Jesus!

...and our family also celebrates...

Mr. B's birthday :o)

48 years ago... the Botelho's Hawaiian Home was blessed with a big (10 lbs. 4.5 oz), beautiful, bouncing baby boy!

Hope you all have a blessed, blessed time with those you love!

Blessings & Aloha!

Happy, Happy Birthday to our "Girly Whirly"! aka "Little Miss"

Once upon a time... 
there were 5 lovely princesses...

...and of these lovely princesses...

was our very own darling daughter...

...Girly Whirly...

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once again...as I looked for past birthday photos, I say to myself: "I really need to organize the bazillion photos that we have "safely" stored in the many Rubbermaid boxes, and albums, and envelopes, and shoeboxes, etc...

..but thankfully, I found these that I was able to put on a little clip.

~~~~~~~~

Without further ado...

I am so thankful that we have the wonderful photos, videos (and even some old cassette recordings)  of our three children and of our family and friends... photos, videos, recordings...all help to bring back memories of those days gone by! Sweet memories...

Blessings & Aloha!

(Also...stop by our other daughter Girly Twirly, aka theLuckiestMrs, for her first giveaway that ends at midnight tonight).  And I really will post some most recent drawings, awards, and requests in my next post). Thank you for stopping by and commenting!

*****Added Note*****
(on Dec 12, 2009)

Thank you for the well wishes for our daughter's birthday :o) I call our daughters similar sounding names on this blog (older daughter (www.theluckiestmrs.blogspot.com), I call Girly Twirly) and our younger daughter (Little Miss, I call Girly Whirly), so I thought I would mention it here :o) They are 3 and a half years apart, but get asked often if they are twins :o) And when I call them and they are together, I even have to ask who I am speaking to...cuz they sound alike! haha

...so, it is our younger daughter that celebrated her birthday on Weds ...and our older daughter, who is married and has a blog (www.theluckiestmrs.blogspot.com)

Just a quick hello!

Hello! A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

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This post is written to let you know that I am thinking of all of you and can't wait to catch up on reading your blogs...can we establish a "National Catch Up on Blogs Day"? ...um...actually for me it would have to be "National Catch Up on Blogs MONTH"...before I get caught up!

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(Thank goodness, I don't have to operate one of these vintage computers (1944 Colussus Mark II) when it comes to blog posting and blog reading!)

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Here's a bit of an update around here... My hubby and I had a wonderful, wonderful time during our visit to Kentucky for about 4 days (more like 3 if you take away our driving time).  We left after I got off of work on Wednesday.   Ah! It was a great time at our son-in-law's parent's home for a Thanksgiving feast and fellowship... awesome food and fun! And then we had fun at our kid's place, relaxing and putting up some Christmas decorations.

We planned on leaving early-ish Sunday morning...but was a wee bit late on our start ...and whew! the "weekend-after-Thanksgiving-traffic" was un.be.lieve.able!  (I tried to take a photo of the steady stream of white lights heading northbound and the steady stream of red tail lights heading southbound...but the glare was too bright... It really was pretty and looked like a string of Christmas lights on the long stretch of highway.)

It was so so so good to be with our "young-uns" :o)  Already looking forward for when they come down for Christmas break!

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(OK...so this is NOT me... and I have definitely not done leisure reading in a lovely tub full of bubbles, but I thought it was a pretty print and it would be great for a relaxing moment to soak in some suds!)

But...I have been drawing up a storm! ...there are quite a number, so...
#1.   I will post them over a course of several upcoming posts.
#2    I also want to post the requested drawings that you so kindly requested to see :o)
#3.   I do still have some awards (blog hugs) to pass on... Thank you to those who have so sweetly passed them on to me!

But for now.....I do want to let you all know that our daughter (theluckiestmrs.) has posted her monogram giveaway... do go by and say hello and if you would like a chance at winning, please check out her blog to get the info on how to enter.

So happy to have those that currently follow here and thank you to those that have recently started to follow! I look forward to stopping by and saying hello!  Come by any time and do leave a comment so that I know you were here. :o)

Blessings & Aloha!