The Big 40!!!

I have no idea how this happened but today I turn 40!!!!  I don't know what to do with myself  because I am still in shock (ha-ha).  It feels like just last week I was walking around my college campus.  It is so unbelievable how fast that time has gone by.  All I know is I feel great and am blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends.  And my best present ever is my son Kyle.  No, it was not my plan to have my first child at 39 but I guess life would be boring if it always went the way we wanted it to.  I look forward to many more birthdays and wonderful adventures and can't wait to see where the next 40 years will take me.

Linda

Back in business

The hubs says the computer will take longer to fix so he hooked up another computer for me to use for now.  I am back in business. 

Linda

Computer problems

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We sure did here.  Our little guy turned 8 months old yesterday.  I will give you more info on that later.  I am having computer problems.  My laptop screen has gone black.  I don't think I lost my information but when you research the problem they call it the black screen of death.  Lovely.  My husband is in the process of trying to fix it.  He said he thinks he can fix it but it is a pain in the you know what.  I will try and check in when I can using one of the hubs computers but he uses them all for work so it's a challenge.  He just ran to a doctor appointment and the little guy is napping so I thought I would drop a note.  Hopefully I will be back blogging soon.  Have a great week!! Hope you all on the east coast are digging out.

Linda

Merry Christmas

I want to wish you and your family a Very Merry Christmas.  It's snowing here.  Just perfect for Christmas.  I will be signing off for now.  Lots to do before guests arrive.  Some bad news, my husbands grandmother had to be taken to the hospital last night.  She fell in her condo yesterday and has pneumonia.  Hopefully she has a fast recovery. 

Linda

Christopher Pop-in-Kins

Probably 8 years ago my old boss had told me about Christopher Pop-in-kins.  He has 3 children and would get Christopher out every year.  I love the whole story so back then I bought 2 sets one for my sister for her kids and one for me for my future children.  They have since updated the doll and the book but I still love my original one.  Christopher is similar to the Elf on the Shelf I think.  He comes out after Thanksgiving to make sure the kiddo's are being good.  When my niece and nephew were smaller I would call them up after Thanksgiving each year and tell them Christopher Pop-in-kins was just at our house so be on the look out. They were so cute and would yell to my sister "mom Christopher Pop-in-kins was just at aunt Linda's."  It was so fun and my sister would always say how much it helped because the kids would behave until Christmas (ha-ha). I don't have the Elf on the Shelf but I love that this little elf has a name and can't wait to get Christopher out for Kyle each year as he gets older. 

Merry Christmas

Linda

Another Walmart find

I don't know if you saw this post but I like using bandanas for basket liners.  I was in Walmart the other day and found two pink and green Christmas ones.  For only a $1 each I got 2 of each pattern.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week.  Trying to get things done around here since my husbands family is coming over for Christmas Eve but the little one must know I have stuff to do because he has not been good about his naps this week.

Linda

Nautical Toy Box

My sister-in-law made this adorable toy box for Kyle.  I just LOVE it!!  I can't believe what a great job she did.  We did his room in nautical and she couldn't have matched it any better.

 

Visit with Santa

Merry Christmas everyone :-) I hope you all had a great weekend.  Of course like everyone we have been super busy.  It is so crazy how fast December goes by.  Last week we finally got a chance to take Kyle to see Santa for the first time.  He was so funny. He didn't cry but we couldn't get a smile out of him.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday.

Linda

Snowed In

Well if you read my last post from last week I said maybe we will get stuck in Michigan due to the snow well we actually did.  I wouldn't have normally loved this if I had to get back to work but with not working I was loving it!!  My parents were loving it to.  Not only did we get to stay longer but they got to spend more time with Kyle.  We just got back last night.  We got quite a bit of snow Sunday and then Sunday afternoon my parents lost power.  We waited for a couple of hours thinking it might come back on but it didn't.  The house was getting too cold especially with the baby in the house so we were all off to my sister and brother in laws house that is only a mile away.  Then around 10:30 pm we heard from one of my parents neighbors that the power was back on so we went back.  Lots to take back and forth with the baby.  Thanks to my husband for loading and unloading so much.  My sister was loving all the snow too since all the schools were closed Monday.  She is a school nurse and got the word Sunday night while we were there.  The roads were really bad thank heavens for a short drive.  Then on Monday we heard that Indiana was getting lake effect snow up to 14 inches and that is the area we have to drive through coming home.  So my husband said we better not head out especially with Kyle this year.  Yesterday when we drove back all was cleared up.  Oh our party on Saturday was great.  It was so nice to see my whole family this weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend. 

Linda

Road Trip

We are off to Michigan again today for a Christmas party this weekend.  Sorry for my lack of posts this week.  I have been running around trying to run errands, bake, pack, finish decorating etc. all while trying to keep the little one on some sort of nap schedule.  He has not been wanting to go to bed at night this week either.  He is teething though.  He is getting his 5th yes 5th tooth already and he is only 7 months old.  Crazy.  Needless to say I decided to stop nursing.  We were doing both nursing and bottle but with all these teeth momma thinks it is time (ha-ha).  No actually he is drinking 7-8 ounce bottles and prefers that so weaning him off has been easy.  And he enjoys all his baby foods so far even the vegetables.   We have been having so much fun with him with all the Christmas decorations and lights and he loves anything santa.  It is so cute.  Next up is to see if we can get his picture taken with santa.  Not sure how he will react to that.  Here is a picture of us the other day.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  They are predicting more snow this weekend maybe we'll just get stuck in Michigan :-)

Merry Christmas,

Linda

E-Cards

I wanted to share with you some great E-cards.  Have you ever heard of  Jacquie Lawson.  If not be sure to check her out.  At this time of the year I enjoy sending cards out but I know postage can get expensive if you have a lot to mail.  My husband has been using these e-cards for a couple of years now.  He'll send b-day wishes to friends or just thinking of you messages to someone who needs it.  Everyone always responds back to him how fabulous these cards are.  Yesterday the hubs sent me the advent calendar for my desk top.  It is so cute.  I can't believe how detailed her work is. You'll just love it.

Have a great weekend.

Linda

Had a great week

We are finally home.  We had a great time in Michigan though.  I miss my family so much I wish we could move back :-(  Kyle is so good at my parents house.  They hardly know he is there.  They just have the best time with him.  It was also nice to see my brother and sisters this trip along with my niece and nephews.  We are going back next Saturday for a Christmas party so I will get to see everyone again.  Here are a few shots from the visit. 
The hubs feeding the little guy.



We had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year just the 7 of us.  My one sister and brother in law were there.   It is so hard to get everyone together these days especially with my nephews now being married and starting their own families. 

One of Kyle's favorite things to do while we were staying with my parents was once my mom got up to get ready I would take Kyle in to lay in bed with his grandpa. I don't know who liked it more Kyle or my dad.

Oh my word the kid is only 7 months old and will soon need a haircut.

Back home I put Kyle in his crib while I was putting some things in his closet.  Look what he does now.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.  Now I am trying to get things put away and get the Christmas decorations out :-)

Linda

7 months old today!

Instead of hitting the Black Friday sales I will be spending the day with the person I am most thankful for this year :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and your family a Very Happy Thanksgiving.

Traveling

We are off to Michigan today and I won't have internet for a few days.  I wanted to wish you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Linda

Worlds Largest Christmas Store

Since it will soon be the Christmas season I wanted to share with you a place I have been going since I can remember.  It's Bronner's the worlds largest Christmas store.  This store is located in Frankenmuth, MI and if you ever make it to Michigan it's a must stop.  This store was created in 1945 and has gotten so big since then.  Definitely put on some walking shoes if you are going to go in here.  The store is the size of 5 1/2 football fields.  Yes you heard me right.  Can you believe it.  It is so fun.  I have always wanted to take my husband and we just have never made it and now with Kyle I can't wait to take him someday when he gets a little bigger.  My sister and I got our personalized glass ball ornaments with our names on them in here when I was so young.  Lets just say I stilled believed in Santa when we got these.  We would put those ornaments on the tree every year.  It just wasn't Christmas until those ornaments went on.  What great memories we have going to Bronner's with my parents.  I will always cherish them.  If you can't get to the store they have some things on their website.  In fact I need a new advent wreath and candles along with a 1st Christmas ornament for Kyle so I may need to check the website out myself.   Here are a few shots of Bronner's. 

And if you are not too tired after shopping through Bronners the town of Frankenmuth is so cute.  It is worth a little stroll through.

After working up an appetite with all this shopping you must stop at Zender's for lunch or dinner.  They are famous for their chicken dinners.  Oh this is such a tradition in my family.   I miss going.  My family goes up to Frankenmuth every year.  My brother and sister-in-law just got back.

Oh besides all this the area also has an outlet mall if you still want to shop more.

Happy Holidays and Happy Shopping this year.

Linda

Drink Dispensers

I don't know about you but I don't have a Dillard's up in my area but they have them here down south.  Well look what I spotted recently in the ads.  These adorable drink dispensers.  Now I really don't need one myself since I bought a drink dispenser a few years ago but they are so handy I thought some of you might want one for your holiday entertaining this year. So if you don't have a store in your area you can find these all on their website.

The Holiday

Oh I should go to bed since it's almost 11:30 and Kyle will be up before the sun shines but I just came across The Holiday on tv tonight.  If you haven't seen it you should.  It's a cute chick flick.  I have already seen it about 3 times but love it and have to stay up and watch it especially since the hubs is sleeping too.  Wow the tv to myself.   Yeah!!   Night, night all.

Last weekend

Well this is our last weekend in North Carolina before heading to Michigan for Thanksgiving.  My husband has been working on so many projects trying to get things done but we decided to take a break tonight and the three of us headed to Bahama Breeze for dinner.  It was very yummy and felt good to get out. 

Our little guy has been up to so much lately.  He will turn 7 months next week but his third tooth has popped through.  Two on the bottom and one on top now.  He is crawling all over the place and can sit up on his own from a crawling position.  Yesterday he was supposed to be taking a nap and I heard him moving around in there and found him standing in his crib attempting to chew on the rail.  Oh lord I guess we are going to have to lower that mattress.  Kyle has a little busy seat that he likes to sit in well today he was crawling around the living room and decided to play with the toys on his busy seat from the outside this time.  He first got up on his knees then before I knew it the little stinker got one foot underneath him then the other and was now standing on his own playing with the busy seat toys.  Of course my camera wasn't where I could reach it.  He are some pictures of him with his busy seat as we like to call it.

He is changing so much every day I can't believe it.  We are loving every minute.  I can't wait to get back home to decorate for Christmas and see his face with all the lights.  I am so excited.  My parents especially my mom made Christmas so fun growing up I hope I can pass that on to Kyle as well.
Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Linda

Gingerbread Houses

Check out these updated versions of the gingerbread house.  The gingerbread manor and the gingerbread chalet.  Aren't these cute?  Both can be found at Sur La Table

Snowman crazy

Are you a snowman lover or do you like to decorate in red and white?  Well if you do be sure to check out Sur La Table  They have some new red and white snowman items out for the season.