Getting Ready For Christmas...Friday Giveaway

Tis' the season to be jolly...and busy! Madison and Caden have Christmas trees up at their houses.

I haven't had a chance to ask Christina if Cade is bothering the tree very much, but I have a cute tale to tell you about Madison and their Christmas tree.

Brandy has all Disney ornaments on their Christmas tree. Madison loves anything Disney, so the tree is that much more appealing to her. Once Brandy caught her holding two ornaments and making them "talk" with each other. Madison likes to pretend.

Several times Madison has been caught playing with and touching the ornaments on their tree. The other night she was touching them and her daddy told her that if she didn't stop, that she was going to break something. At that precise moment the timer shut the lights off of the Christmas tree. Madison got a scared look on her face because she just knew that she had broken something and was in big trouble! Her daddy said to her, "Uh oh, now you've broken it! Go tell your mama that you broke her Christmas tree!"

Madison went to Brandy and confessed that she had broken the tree. Brandy pretended to be upset. Madison patted her shoulder and said "It's okay mama, daddy can fix it!"

They sent Madison to bed shortly after this tree incident, without telling her that she hadn't really broken anything. The next morning when the timer turned the lights on again, Madison exclaimed, "See Mama, Daddy fixed the tree!" All is well once again...

This weekend's giveaway prize is a magnetic farm set. Perfect for playing with on the front of the refrigerator or any other magnetic surface. To have a chance at winning this set, just browse through my blog and tell me a fact about one of my grandchildren. Your answer must be different than any comments before yours, or it won't count. I'll put the names of all commenters in a basket and draw the winner on Monday morning. Feel free to comment as many times as you wish, with one fact per comment, please. I'll enter your name in the drawing each time that you comment. This contest will end at 6:00 AM EST on Monday, 12/7/09. Good luck! Kathy

Click here to see the entire Giveaway Blog Hop List....

Getting Excited and a Little Sad...

I haven't seen Cade since the Friday after Thanksgiving and I have "Cade-itis". I miss the little fellow so much after 3 or 4 days...I usually get to see him that often or more, but with our family sickness and death this past week, normal life has been interrupted.

I got the cute little invitation pictured above in the mail the other day. Yep, it's almost time for Cade's one year birthday! I don't know where the time has gone. Plans are in full swing for the big day...

Don't you just love the monkey suit? Oh the fun that we can have with this picture when Cade grows up...

I am excited because it's his birthday and I know he'll have a great party, but I am sad because he won't "officially" be a baby anymore. I think one of the first "orders of business" following that milestone birthday is to get Cade a haircut. Ahhhhh...no more baby-fine hair. This will be just the first of many steps into toddler-hood and growing up. Sniff, sniff.

I've bought Cade a recliner for his birthday. I can just picture him sitting in that chair in the years to come--watching sports on television with his daddy. That's a funny thought! I wonder whose NAASCAR driver he will root for--his mama's or his daddy's...

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by...

Tuesday Blog Hop...Christmas Traditions

Madison, Brandy, and MiMi--waiting for the nightime Christmas Parade

Christmas is the best time of the year to me, and I think my daughter, Brandy would agree. The older that she gets, the more like me she gets. We both LOVE Christmas! Hopefully, Madison will grow to love Christmas as much as we do.

One family tradition that we started with Madison is going to a Christmas Parade that is held at night. It is so pretty! There's just something about all of those pretty twinkling lights on the floats... We bundle up, take our chairs, and drive about 30 miles to where the parade is held. By the time the parade is over, we are frozen, but it's so fun! Following the parade, we go and get a bite to eat and warm up. It's supposed to be really cold this Friday night, so we may need to take some hot chocolate! If it's not too cold, Cade and his family are planning to join us for the parade this year. I hope in years to come, to be able to enjoy the night parade with both grandchildren.

Another tradition is going on an out-of-town shopping trip with Madison and her parents. We usually spend the day shopping somewhere, then look at Christmas lights on the trip home. I believe that we got stopped by a state patrolman last year on the way home because our tag light was burned out...then he began to fuss at us about the type of carseat that Madison was in...talk about putting a "damper" on a holiday trip!

This past weekend my husband took me to see a live performance of The Nutcracker. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The sets and the costumes were beautiful, and I've always loved the music. There were many mothers, daughters, and grandmothers there. Next year I'd like to take Madison and her mother and go to see it again. That would make a nice holiday tradition!

This year I decided to help start a new family tradition at Madison's house this year, so I ordered an "Elf on the Shelf" and had it sent to her. The package arrived marked From the North Pole and it had a note from Santa on top of the box. There was a little pixie elf in the package, along with a book telling about him. The story goes...the elf is sent-- by Santa to keep an eye on boys and girls from December 1 until Christmas. Each night the elf returns to the North Pole and gives his report to Santa. By the next morning the elf has returned, but has found a new spot from which to watch. Part of the fun is that children are not allowed to touch the elf or he will lose his magic, and each morning they have the pleasure of searching for him in his new resting place. I was so intrigued by all of this, and I had a great time playing on Santa's website, too. If you're interested, check it out at http://www.elfontheshelf.com/ It's fun just to check out the website.

Santa didn't send an elf to spy on Caden this year since he's so little, but I'm having mixed emotions about that. I just may have to have a talk with Santa!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my Christmas traditions with my grandchildren. Thanks for stopping by...

Not Me, Monday...

Hello everyone! I have survived the week from heck! I'm actually more happy than usual to see this Monday...perhaps this week will be more normal than the last, but it's not looking very good...

Let me begin by saying congratulations to my weekend giveaway winner, Hayley. Hayley won a Christmas puzzle, which will be in the mail as soon as I get her address. Thanks to all who participated! Another giveaway is in the works for Friday, stay tuned...Now for my weekly Not Me, Therapy!

I did not arrive home from doing my Thanksgiving grocery shopping, to see my mother-in-law's car driving up behind mine. The lady who stays with her during the day did not drive up and tell me that she thought my mother-in-law had suffered a pin stroke! They had been out shopping together when my mother-in-law started to act "funny".

I did not ask my daughter to put away my cold stuff, grab a peanutbutter sandwich, and proceed to drive my mother-in-law to the hospital emergency room. She did indeed have a pin stroke and was admitted to the hospital for observation. (she's out now)

I did not buy a 20 pound turkey to cook for Thanksgiving. It was so large that I could hardly pick it up! It filled up a very large space in my refrigerator, as well as my oven!

I was not in the middle of cooking Thanksgiving dinner when the hospital called and said that they were releasing my mother-in-law and that someone needed to come and pick her up...I did not send my husband...

I did not get a call on the evening of Black Friday that my uncle had passed away...just after I had gotten my Christmas tree out of the box and in the stand.

My Christmas tree is not still sitting in the corner undecorated...my house does not look like I am moving due to boxes of Christmas stuff everywhere...

In the middle of dealing with my mother-in-law after her stroke, my uncle's passing away, and my house in shambles due to Christmas decoration boxes, we did not have to travel out of town to see "The Nutcracker" because I'd bought the tickets a month ago for my Christmas present...

I did not thoroughly enjoy viewing The Nutcracker for the first time...It was not a beautiful show...All of the men in the family did not give my husband a "hard time" for going to see The Nutcracker! My husband did not say that the men in the show needed a few more clothes on, while the women needed a few less...Those were not the tightest tights on men that I have ever seen...they appeared to have been sprayed on.

My front yard does not look absolutely beautiful because I took time to put up the outside lights and decorations before we went to see The Nutcracker. I can not believe that I decorated the yard before the house this year...

That's going to do it for my Not Me Monday post. Be sure to have a great day--as for me, I'll be putting up Christmas decorations until time to go for my uncle's viewing tomorrow evening...