Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!

It has been a busy, but happy Holiday for us! We spend the weekend before Christmas in Sparta, MI at my youngest brother's house. We had such fun. This was the healthiest I have felt in a long time too! Below is a picture of those of us able to attend the family festivities!

Family Christmas 2015. I am in the back row with the gray striped sweather, blond hair. My daughter are right in front of me on the end of the sofa

I made dessert for this gathering - 6 apple pies from scratch! 

One of the 6 Apple Pies I made! They were delicious! 

On Christmas Day, it was just me and my daughters. We got up, looked to see what "Santa" left us in our Christmas stockings and then opened the presents we got each other. My daughters got me a camera accessory package with lens filters, macro lens, wide ange lens and a fisheye lens and more! They also got me a beautiful cardigan! We spend the rest of the day playing games and fixed a nice dinner! And even though I was feeling a bit under the weather, we had a great time together.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and will have a great 2016! I look forward to sharing more dolly stuff with my new camera accessories!

BTW, my giveaway will begin right after the first of the year!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

Me and my daughters forever frozen at ages 11 and 15 and me much younger than I am now!
Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from my family to yours!

Hannah (far left) is an OHC doll rebodied on an extra small Pure Neemo body and Alyssa (far right) is a Puffi Ami Umi doll rebodied on a small Pure Neemo body.

Remember the Gordons?

I still haven't been able to work on my dioramas because of health issues, but I did manage to build up more of the Gordon family story. Grandma and Grandpa Gordon are planning a visit to Hanaly Corners soon to see Michael and Sharmaine's new home and visit other members of the family living here. 

Michael comes from a large family. His parents were hard working and did everything they could to give their children the best life possible. Michael's father, Keegan Gordon worked in a steel mill near Chicago for over 30 years. Keegan's wife, Dasia, worked hard raising 9 children and worked from home as a seamstress. They are both retired now, but still live in the humble home that they raised their family in.

Meet Keegan and Dasia Gordon:

Keegan is a 1993 Hasbro baseball legend (I can't remember who though). Dasia is a Big Beautiful doll.

As I mentioned, Keegan and Dasia have 9 children. There are 2 sets of twins in the family.

Back Row, L to R: Louvenia (31), Shemar (40), Dant'e (20), Michael (37), Victor (34), Veronica (34)
Seated, L to R: Danisha (28), Nichelle (24), Nia (24)

I will tell you a little more about each family member and introduce you to their families, if they have one.

Shemar's Story:

Shemar is the eldest of the Gordon clan. He is 40 and is married to Kimani, age 38. They have 3 children: Courtney (14), Tamika (11) and Kadeem (8). Shemar has a degree in Architectural Design and Construction. He met Kimani in college -- they both went to Chicago University, but she was from Hanaly Corners. He was a very talented architect and worked for a firm in Chicago.  When Carter-Winthrop Enterprises built their headquarters in Hanaly Corners, the Chicago company was hired to oversee design and construction. Shemar was assigned to the project. Because of the magnitude of the project, Shemar and Kimani decided to move to Hanaly Corners which brought them closer to Kimani's family.  Shemar did so well, that Carter-Winthrop made a substantial investment to keep him in Hanaly Corners and he started his own Architectural Design and Construction company. 

Back Row, L to R: Courtney (14), Kimani (38), Shemar (40)
Front Row, L to R: Tamika (11), Kadeem (8)

Victor's Story:

Victor went to undergraduate school at the University of Illinois and Law School at University of Michigan. He specialized in Corporate and International Law. He spent the summer after his junior year in India and met a beautiful young woman named Jasmine. They kept in touch, and while Victor was in law school, Jasmine came to the U of M to complete a master's degree in mathematics. They married shortly after Victor was hired by Carter-Winthrop as part of their legal staff and they moved to Hanaly Corners where Jasmine is a professor of Mathematics at the local college. They have 2 children, Asia (6), Kalani (3).

Back, L to R: Victor (34), Kalani (3), Jasmine (33)
Front: Asia (6)
Jasmine is the new Disney Store Princess Jasmine doll rebodied on an older Nikki Fashionista body

Veronica's Story:

Veronica is Victor's twin. Discovered by a modeling agent while in high school after winning a modeling contest, she embarked on a career in modeling while in college. She quickly rose to being a top model and moved to New York where she met and married Remi Townsend who is a news anchor for a national news network headquartered in New York. They have 2 children: Pasia (6) and Sidney (2). Veronica continues to model on a limited basis while she now heads a New York based modeling agency.

L to R: Veronica (34), Sidney (2), Remi (36), Pasia (6)

Danisha's Story:

Danisha graduated from Chicago University with a degree in Engineering. She accepted a summer internship starting in her sophomore year with Carter-Winthrop Enterprises. She met Henry Conlin who was also a summer intern with Carter-Winthrop. They married and both accepted positions at Carter-Winthrop Enterprises upon graduation from college. They do not have any children ---- yet! They live in Hanaly Corners.

Henry (27), Danisha (28)

Louvenia's Story:

Louvenia (everyone calls her Lou) is single and is a doctor. She is doing her residency at Chicago Memorial Hospital in Women's Breast Health & Surgery. She works very long hours and is very busy! She shares a house in Chicago with other residents.

Nichelle and Nia:

Nichelle and Nia are identical twins. They are both attending the University of Illinois. Nichelle is studying to be a nurse and Nia is attending Law school. They live together with 2 other students at the University in a house off campus. They are both very active and single.

Dant'e:

Dant'e is the baby of the family. He has taken after big brother Michael and is attending University of Michigan on a basketball scholarship. He dates, but no steady girlfriend.

L to R: Dant'e (20), Nia (24), Nichelle (24), Louvenia (31)

The Gordon's are a very close knit family. When they get together, they have a lot of fun and make a lot of noise. Hope you enjoyed this intro!

Here is the whole family all together for a photo session. This was very challenging for the photographer, but she managed to get a few good shots. Below are photos from the session. 

The clan with no spouses or grandkids

The complete Gordon clan!

Grandpa and Grandma with all the grands

All the grandkids!

A New Year, A New Dryer!

2014 ended with a bang! Well, actually a fire. On New Year's Eve, my oldest daughter was home while my youngest and I were out getting last minute things for our family gathering which was to take place at our house on January 2nd. She had to work on New Year's Day in the morning, so she was washing her uniform. She put it in the dryer (of course) and shortly after it started, she heard a clunking noise. She ran down to the laundry room only to discover that the dryer had caught on fire! She called me frantically (we had just arrived at the store). She told me that flames were coming out of the back! I told her to call the fire department and get the heck out of the house! I then jumping back in my car and we raced home! She was worried that she would lose her uniform for work, so she had pulled out the dryer, and took her clothes out. Since she turned it off, the flame also stopped. She did call the fire department, and of course, they told her the same thing I did - - - get out of the house. By the time we arrived home, she was totally freaked out and crying. The fireman arrived shortly after I did. The flame was out, but they could see that the fire was not caused by lint, but by the bearing in the motor. They assured her that she absolutely did the right thing and that her quick thinking saved our home. The firemen removed the dryer from the house in case it was still smoldering. Since it was a holiday, we did contact the insurance company, but they did not come out until the Tuesday January 6 only to tell use that because of my daughter's quick thinking, there wasn't enough damage to cover my deductible. So all we had to do was get a new dryer! It arrived yesterday. Because of New Year's sales, we were able to get a nicer one than the old one. Here it is:

I love it! It is a new Whirlpool Duet steam dryer. Because we were without a dryer for the last week and a half, we were unable to do laundry, so I have been doing laundry yesterday and today. It is so much nicer than my old unit that I now wish we could have also gotten the companion washer. Oh well, maybe later! 

We had a great holiday with my family. It was nice to see everyone, but I was also glad when everything settled down. With all of the excitement, I did not get much of a chance for any doll related stuff, but I did get some other new dolls after Christmas which I will share in my next post.

I am just happy that the fire was minor, no one was hurt and the firemen were really cute! 

We did have a lovely Christmas. My daughters got me a serger for Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised. I hope to work on some new doll clothes very soon. I am looking forward to working on doll related things this year and have started working on rooms for my new story involving my Society Hound Barbie who is now Penelope Elizabeth Winthrop Carter. Her husband disappeared 2 years ago. She had 3 adult children, one brother and one sister. Their family owns a major hi tech company which employs a lot of the people in Hanaly Corners. I am working on sets for the first installment of their story. I hope you will all enjoy it!

I am looking forward to 2015 and all the new dolly related things I have planned. Here is hoping that 2015 brings all of you good health and happiness and more dollies of course!