Blatant, shameless...

Blatant, shameless...


and adorable free advertising with the grand-babies.

 So Henry...tell us why you are so happy?

Ah shucks...

"It's my jiggystick lip balm, aren't I handsome?"

Olivia, what do you think about about using other lip balms?

"I don't care for that!"

"Raspberry Vanilla jiggystick is my favorite!"

Seriously, any day with babies is wonderful...

but it's an absolutely perfect day when Olivia and Henry are around!

Knit Loose

Ridiculously laughing out of control, we completely lost it just about the same time we began singing "Knit loose, knit loose...everybody knit loose" sung to the Footloose tune.

You know..."Kick off your Sunday shoes...knit loose."

Over the holidays, Lawyer Girl, Momma Cass and I got a wild hair and plunged into the knitting world. After all...I quilt, embroider, cross-stitch, smock and even crochet...how hard could it be?


Evidenced by mild swearing, numerous empty Diet Coke cans, frustrated sighs, and Lawyer girl's stress-relieving yoga headstands...pretty difficult!

That's what you get when you try to teach yourself to knit.


So we did what every other self-respecting novice knitter should do...we googled...and quickly discovered Judy-knitter to the stars on You Tube..

"And again you put the needle through, take the yarn and wrap it around, push it down toward you...pull it forward and off the needle" says Judy.

And again..."You just keep going and going and going" says annoying Judy.

Sometime after undoing our stitches approximately 800 times, Judy started to make a tiny bit of sense.

"And again you just get into the rhythm of it!"

By the end of her vacation, Lawyer Girl had become our resident knitting guru!

"And again...you just get into it...practice, practice, practice."

That's enough Judy!

And lastly...Adorable December

Wrapping up 2011...it was easy-peasy to find Adorable things during the month of December.

• Olivia unwrapped her gift from Papa and found a Yo Gabba Gabba Muno doll...he was so proud of himself for picking it out.  The two of them have a little routine...Olivia hands Papa the TV remote, bats her adorable blue eyes, and presto...her favorite show appears on the screen! Everybody wins!

•  And one for Henry too...Roby is the little green guy on Yo Gabba Gabba. 

• Lawyer Girl claims I spoiled the babies for Christmas. But I couldn't help myself, and it seems neither could Papa.

• Chubby little pink arms reaching out to you followed by those smoochy grand baby kisses...are simply impossible to resist.  

• Something she likes to call..."crafter-noon"! Yup, surprised all of us when Lawyer Girl picked up a paint brush instead of her computer one afternoon.

•  Adorable Danny...she's baa-aack!

• Eggs...apparently happy chickens are laying chickens here at The Garlick Press, even during the cold winter months! 

• And finally, the first Christmas card from The Garlick Press since our loss. My adorable friend Michelle gently nudged me into taking this step.

For The Garlick Press, it's been an adorable and remarkable year...thanks for following along with us.

May 2012 be just as adorable for each of you!

Dreaming of Sugar Plums

Oh the memories...


this quilt will hold some day. A gift finished literally last minute for Momma Cass and her babies.

Next Christmas when they are one year older, Olivia and Henry will take turns sleeping under this magical Santa quilt. As they toss around each night during the Christmas season...the tiny tinkling of nine little bells will accompany the visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads.

A similar but well-worn version of this quilt has been snuggling with my children for many Christmas seasons in the past; The Teenager still sleeping under it this year, and Lawyer Girl too when she arrived. The bells are tarnished and a couple of them no longer jingle...but yesterday as I folded and put it away for another year, I couldn't help but nestle up to it myself. 

Although the batting is no longer as lofty as it once was...merry dreams of Christmas' past billowed from the patchwork creation. 

Childhood dreams from The Blond one, The Brown one, The Baby Brother...and most especially from The Red One. For just a moment, angel Jocie's magical Christmas dreams were wrapped completely around me...and I felt her warmth envelope me.

Can you just imagine the visions of sugar plums my grand babies are going to have through the years?

Christmas Eve at Alta

Courtesy of Dean's helmet cam...here is just a short video glimpse of how The Garlick Press traditionally spends Christmas Eve. We've been doing this for years...and will continue it for years to come.

Christmas Eve @ Alta from Lisa Garlick on Vimeo.

It's our favorite part of Christmas Eve.