My New Years resolution

My New Year's resolution has a lot to do with my word for the year.

Simplify

I have come up with a plan to do just that. I am resolving to clean my house weekly. I know I should be doing this anyway, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. So that is going to change. If I clean it weekly, it will be less work in the long run. This will simplify my life.

I love to do so many things. So I am going to set aside an evening each week for a craft I love. I will be able to get more of my projects done. I will be able to get back to making homemade gifts for my friends and family for birthdays and holidays. This will simplify my life.

I am going to organize my craft room closet. It has been utter chaos since we have moved into our current house at the beginning of September. I will have my crafty stuff out of boxes and more importantly, out of the basement. I will be able to see what I have and not spend money on items that I know I already have, but can't locate. This will simplify my life.

If these things don't happen for a few weeks, I am not going to stress out. I work in a high stress job. I teach children with behavior and emotional disorders. The less stress I have in my life the better. I will start asking myself before I take on a project, be it for myself or others, "Will this add stress to my life." This will simplify my life.

I plan on updating how I am doing on my resolution from time to time. To keep myself motivated and to see how far I have come.

Have a great day.

Donnelly

Wedding part 3

I finally got the photos together that I wanted to post. First up is Rick walking Cassie down the aisle. Cassie had one of her mom's best friends walk her part way, her stepdad walk her partway and Rick walk her the rest of the way.Once we get the professional photos, I will show more of that.

Cassie has never heard Hannah sing as she had moved to Alaska in 2000. Singing is Hannah's passion and she is really good at it! Cassie asked Hannah to pick a song to sing. Hannah picked "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts.

It made both Cassie and Chris cry.

Here are our bride and groom just after they had been pronounced man and wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Chapman

Here are Cassie and Chris cutting their cake.

Here they are deciding if they are going to behave while feeding each other their cake.

Chris getting the garter for the garter toss.

Cassie and Chris's first dance

Father Daughter dance

Cassie with her neices, Sophie and Mya. They did an awesome job as the flower girls.

Here they are hamming it up for the camera.

This is Cassie's nephew and our grandson, Isaak. He and a friend were the ushers. He is rocking a pair of vintage Ray Ban's that Rick gave him for Christmas.

The next two are of Cassie's best friend, Melina and Hannah. They had quite a lot of fun dancing!

Here is our son Jake, his wife Becky, their son Jackson and their daughter Lilly

I think I am now caught up on my Christmas vacation sharing. Hope everyone's Christmas was filled with as much chaos and joy as mine was!

Have a great day!
Donnelly

Wedding part 2

I was going to post photos of Cassie and Chris's wedding today, really I was.

That being said, I have a confession to make.

I didn't take any photos during the ceremony. I am feeling so guilty about this.

Our professional photographers are friends of ours, they took our son Brady's wedding photos. The trust in my friends and Cassie's total planning threw me a little off-guard. I was way too relaxed, I was enjoying the moment!

Who doesn't take photos of their child's wedding? Me, I have to admit.

Thankfully our neice, Devin, took some that I can blog with until we get back the professional photos from Paris Studios. Now I just need to go through Devin's photos to see which ones I really want to post. And I can tell you know that I will post quite a few of them. Devin did an amazing job!

I have decided to show the bridal party gift bags that I made for Cassie to give to her maid-of-honor, her bridesmaids, flower girls and ring bearer.

This is a basic burgandy gift bag from Micheals. I forgot to take a photo of just the bag, so here is one with the tulle beginning to be attached with hot glue.

Tulle and gold ribbon, I cut the gold ribbon in half because it overwhelmed the tulle.

Snowflake ornaments from the Dollar Tree

Bridal gift tags/accents from the Dollar Tree

Burgandy bags dressed in tulle

Burgandy bags dressed in tulle and gold ribbon

Bags almost completed, pictured with some of the loot

Bags fully loaded with loot, waiting to be opened

Close-up of a finished bag. None of the "dresses" were duplicated. I used glitter gift tags that I bought at Walmart last year to identify each bag.

The girls and kids loved them. Made for a happy bride. Made a mama happy, happy to have been able to make these for my daugher, happy that everyone loved them.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

Hello

I was going to post my catch-up photos from Christmas Break today with a post of Cassie and Chris's wedding photos.

Cassie and Chris are leaving tomorrow, Cassie came out to spend time with us tonight so the photos will have to wait until tomorrow.

I sure will miss Cassie and Chris...just saying.

Have a great day!

Donnelly

P.S. Thanks to my neice, Devin. She took some amazing photos.

Christmas, Part 4

To say that Christmas Eve was chaotic would be an understatement.

We started Christmas Eve at my mom's church in my hometown, 15 miles from where we live. The Christmas Eve service is always so simple and so beautiful. Takes 30 minutes tops. Hannah sang "O, Holy Night" for the service and more specifically for my mom. It is my mom's favorite Christmas carol.

On Christmas Eve, we had 22 people crammed into our house. We had Rick and I, Hannah, Cassie and Chris, Karen, Christy, Jake and Cassie's mom, and her husband Dan, Dan's daughter Bernadette, her husband Chris, their daughter Mya, Cassie's best friend Melina, our neice Devin, Rick's mom (she lives with us), our daughter Christy, her husband Brent, our grandson Isaak, our granddaughter Sophie, our daughter-in-law Becky, our grandson Jackson, our granddaughter Lilly, my mom and my dad.

To say that the present opening was a frenzy would be an understatement! With 4 little ones and two teenagers how could it be anything but crazy?

Here are two photos of the chaos.

This is Karen, my older kid's mom.

Cassie and Karen looking through a photo book of pictures of Cassie from when she was little that my mother-in-law made for her.

Isaak, Hannah, Cassie and Chris in their bomber hats that we got them for Christmas.

Grandma Verna and Lilly, who slept through the chaos

Rick watching the frenzy. Yesterday, I mentioned that Rick and I weren't going to get each other a present. Well, I didn't follow the rules either. Rick has an awesome Resistol cowboy hat that didn't have a hat band, so I bought him one for Christmas. I think it looks really nice.

The outside gang: Chris and Cassie, Karen, Brent and Christy and Rick

Hannah and Jackson in his Christmas jammies. Santas and reindeer in spaceships.

Hannah and Cassie posing for the camera

Here's hoping that your Christmas was as great and happy as mine!

Have a great day.
Donnelly

Happy New Year and Wedding, Part 1

First off, I want to say Happy New year! Hope the new year brings health and happiness to everyone!

This is my word for 2011.
Simplify.

I am going to make an effort to be happy with what I have, use what I have, organize myself a little more and enjoy the simple things that make me happy!

So, in the middle of Christmas celebrations we had a wedding to prepare for! Our middle daughter, Cassie and her fiance Chris, flew from Anchorage, Alaska to spend the Christmas holiday with us and to get married on the day after Christmas. These photos are from rehearsal on December 23rd.

Cassie chose The Historic Ballroom http://www.historicballroom.com/ in our town as the venue for her wedding. It is a beautiful old building that used to house the Elk's Lodge in town. Now it holds parties, weddings, and concerts.

This is the marble staircase leading up to the ballroom where Cassie and Chris got married.

Here is how Sara, the owner, dressed up the chairs. I love the bows.

This is the stage where Cassie and Chris got married.

Hannah and her niece, Lilly.

Hannah and her nephew, Jackson. Jackson was the ring-bearer. He was very tired. Rehearsals were late and he didn't have a nap. He was not a happy camper. I let him use my purse camera to take photos during rehearsals and he calmed right down.

Here is what Grandma Donnelly looks like in the eyes of a budding 3-year-old photographer. I love it!

Here is Rick walking Cassie down the aisle.

Here is the run-through. Our choice for Pastor, Jenn Miller, is a friend of ours. She did an amazing job!

That is about all for the rehearsal photos.

Have a great day!

Donnelly