My Last Post About SweetCheeks....

I went to pick

SweetCheeks up from school.

I couldn't keep her for the day

because I had lots of running

to do.

Here she is..

all dressed up for the

school

Christmas party.

Her teacher loves her

and says she is a

very good little girl.

(REALLY?)

SweetCheeks other grandmother

said she would watch her for the day.

She is an artist and always

has some fun project

for SweetCheeks to do.

SweetCheeks is very excited to

see her house.

Gramma comes to the door.

SweetCheeks spots her

standing in the door.

Lookit, Nana!

My Gramma has been standing there

since I lefted before

watching forh me to cohme bachk!

Didju knoawh that?

Nope, sure didn't.

Welllll, Hers wuz.

I'm sure she was,

SweetCheeks..

cuz your Gramma loves

you just as much as I do.

Pffffttt...I knoawh dat!!!

Chome on Nana an' take my picksure

wiff my other Gramma.

Did yoah know yoah

is my gramma too, Nana..

effen though I call yoah Nana?!

Really? No kidding!?

For reeeal, Nana..Get it?

I got it!

Can you believe it is

New Year's Eve day?

A whole 'nother Christmas has passed.

A whole 'nother year of

loving on my beautiful family..

A whole new year coming up

to do more of the same.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Blessings to you and your family~

Oh...and the Header

My Last Post About

SweetCheeks Header?

Yeah...the one up top..

I meant for THIS YEAR!

Bwahahahaha

Random Christmas Takes

My wonderful daughter-in-law,

TheSecretAgent,

whose picture does not appear in my blog

cuz she is so dad blamed cute that my
son worries that someone will see

her and spirit her away

thought she was

VERY CLEVER

giving me a

Starbucks Christmas ornament.

She said her first thought on seeing it was..

What idiot would buy this?

Her 2nd thought was

Oh, my idiot Mother-in-law would

probably like that..

Although she never mentioned the

2nd thought to me.

Here is my son-in-law,TheBrawnyMan's ,

Packer village.
I think my daughter got a bit

carried away with the SNOW.

It looks like the town was

ploughed under in a blizzard.

Sorry, TPot, just sayin....Our kids draw names to exchange gifts

but there is a caveat on the gift.

It must be made or purchased

for $10. or less.

This is MamasBoy in his

Pizza Snuggie- (styling, buddy, styling)

My daughter who was the

roller skating queen of the 7th grade

got a pair of next-to-new roller skates.

(which she will use with her kids

at the local roller rink-the same one

MyHero skated at as a boy)

Mimi got a birdhouse made out

of signs..and it spells out her last name.TheBrawnyMan made this

for TheIslandScout-a hand-turned pen..

a pretty great "gag" gift..No GAG to it.

I got one too...it is gorgeous!My daughter, TPot, also got this..

She loves family photos.
Her sister, Mimi, had her kids

lay in position so that she could

make "letters" -The letters

spell our their last name. Cool, huh?

You can see the O K E here.SweetCheeks got another dress up gown.

This one is Ariel.She is magically transformed into a Mermaid

just by donning the gown.

Nana-Look- Iff Ih pull my ghown upp

Ih'm a baby mermaihd~Hearh-Lookit hearh..

If I phull it dowhn ...

Ih'm a beeyootifull groawn up mermaihd

Nana- Do yoah know whut this is foarh?

(whispering now)

Thiss iss my Brawh for my Boobies.

Cuz..Mermaihds have big gurhl boobies.

giggle...giggle...giggle..MyHero got a kite from the

grown up kids..

Do you think there was a hidden message there?

Like when he asks---

Do you want some advice?

in his deep no-nonsense voice.

Instead of saying NO

They could just hand him this box..And, every Christmas afternoon..

we play

Pictionary..on an easel..

Lulu drew these..

and guess who guessed them right?

The only one that got them?

SweetCheeks...

That is a CARROT on the far right..

and an Astronaut on the left..

We didn't even know she KNEW the

word Astronaut..

And because she was so cute about it..

we let her draw for quite a while..

as she changed her drawings

right after she would point and say...

YOAH GOTT IT WRIGHTT!

And it broke my heart when we had to tell her..

Your turn is over now..

Poor, poor baby!

Where ISSS Papa?

I am drinking my morning coffee.

Little SweetCheeks makes her

way down the stairs and sits

at the kitchen island.

she props herself there for a

minute as she continues to wake up.

Nana, Where isss Papa?
He's sleeping, SweetCheeks.
Oh..Does hims look like thisss?
Umm-hmmm..
pretty close!I gonna go push hims
eyeballs open
like thisss.
okay, Nana?
Go for it, SweetCheeks!Guess what our favorite book
flavor-of-the-month is
right now?
It is

Papa has his sleep mask on..

cuz he wants to stay pretty..

er...I mean...because

he had surgery several years

ago and he is light

sensitive.

He also has his special

BLUE PILLOW CASE

because he doesn't care about

color coordination..

he just likes his

BLUE PILLOW CASE.Uhhh...ohhh..

HOP ON POP!

"Pop" rolls her off

and she runs away

screaming..

Saffe me, Nana..

Saffe me!

Christmas Day afternoon

finds Papa

sleeping on the

sofa in the family room...

whilst Nana & Mama

are busy cleaning TPot's kitchen.

SweetCheeks pats his

head to wake him up.

Oooops! THAT doesn't seem

to be working.

Hey, Nana,

Whatch thisss..

Ih'm gonna

HOP ON POP.

Wait! There's no how to

do it on the couch..

I gonna hop on his head,

Okay, Nana?

Go for it!

Papa wakes up and

tries to push her off.

She does a bit of a

contortionist act..

And then runs away

screaming..

Saffe me, Nana..saffe me!

I suppose by next year,

like her sisters before her..

she will no longer hop on pop

to wake him up..

nor will she pretend to be

scared and run away screaming..

So...

just for today..

I will enjoy this moment

of unfettered childhood pleasure...

and I will SAFFFE her

from the ogre!

Run-SweetCheeks-Run

Post Christmas Post (Get it?)

Remember Christmas when you were a kid?

If you were fortunate enough

to have parents that could

afford to make some of your dreams

come true?

When I was growing up

we had very small Christmases.

I didn't realize until I was grown

that there were families that had

BIG Christmases.

I don't ever really remember asking

for any specific thing..

but I always got something I liked.

Our two little granddaughters

both had something on their

"special wishlist".

FIRST~

Ria, has the heart of an artist,

she is blithe soul...

a slip of a girl

with a grace and beauty

that enchants those around her.

She really enjoyed her first present..

and grinned over her second one..

(She has a BIG time crush on Justin Bieber)

Not only did she get Justin Bieber

pjs...she got a Justin Bieber shirt

with matching leggings.She was a bit perplexed looking at the

next gift. It was a long box..

WHAT could it be?Oh- it was a violin!

A violin that she wanted last year..

A violin that she didn't get because

NO ONE

really thought she was SERIOUS!

A 5 year old that wants a violin?

Seriously?

Seriously!

This year she STILL asked for

a violin...and her

Auntie Mimi found one!

This little girl hardly put

her violin down long enough

to eat.

We heard her
"practicing" all day.

She has

THE TOUCH!

The MAGIC Touch!

Not ONCE did we hear

the screeching that is common

when one first starts playing the violin.

I see lessons in her future.

I see an elfin child

with talent here.

I see music scholarships

in the offing..

I see dreams being fulfilled.

And she got a wonderful

pillow pet~ and ~ being the

sweet little girl that she is

she immediately gave her

other one to her cousin,

BabyE. SECOND-

Our dear Little Lulu~

A sweet little girl

who doesn't ask for much of anything.

She loves listening to her Mom

read the Christmas story..And she has her special pjs on.

Every year at Christmas we buy all

the grandkids new pjs and drop

them off on Christmas Eve.

They get to open that one present

Christmas Eve...and wear their new pjs

to bed.

The ones this year said..

Staying Up For SantaLulu was excited to open

her presents this year.

Auntie Mimi made her some

papier mache hot air balloons to

hang in her room...which is

going to be decorated in a Paris theme.

She thought it was quite funny when

Papa, quite seriously,

asked if they were pinatas.

I said...Sure they are!

Go get him a stick, Lulu!

Lulu looked horrified until she

realized it was a joke.

(I forget how literal she is sometimes)But by far-

HER DREAM

HER HEART'S DESIRE

was realized too.

She is our athletic girl..

full of cartwheels and bounce

and sturdy outdoor activities.

She got a snowboard from Santa..

And, Nana & Papa,

trusting that Santa would provide

THE SNOWBOARD

gifted her with a helmet.

She begged someone to take her

snowboarding down their backyard hill.

Uncle MamasBoy said he would

as soon as he tried on his

PIZZA PIE SNUGGIE

that his sister so lovingly sewed for him.

Sorry folks, we won't be taking

any more orders for this item.

It is sold out...one of a kind..

SweetCheeks wants to see it

up close and personal because SHE

thinks it is really cool!So, MamasBoy agreed to take Lulu

out back for a hour or so of

snowboarding.

His wife, being the practical one in the family,

asks him what he intends to wear..

being as he came in dress clothes..

and shoes.

Why!

He will wear his

SISTER'S COAT

his

SISTER'S BOOTS

and his

SISTER'S HAT...

Of course he will..

Doesn't bother him a bit.

MyHero looking at him,

turns to me and

asks..

Doesn't he just make

a Dad proud?

'Deed he does!

'Deed he does!

Baby E's Christmas Morning

If you have been following along

you may remember I told

you about

A Different Kind Of Christmas Story
It's the tradition my daughter

started with her children when

they were babies.

Now every year she

reads the true

Christmas Story

to her kids..

before they go find

their 3 gifts from Santa.

This year, BabyE listened

as she read the

story about the Nativity

Pardon my picture taking ability..

but here are the kids

all sitting under the tree

listening raptly to the story..BabyE gets up and wanders over

to the story-teller's corner..

causing much giggling

between his cousins.The giggling turned to laughter

when he proceeded to kiss

the animals on all the pages.

Afterwards, Auntie TPot

gave him a big hug...

She loves her little nephew.He had 3 gifts from Santa under

the tree too..

One of his gifts from Papa and Nana was a

Nativity of his very own..

made by Fisher Price, it

is the same ones his cousin's share..

After opening a couple of presents

he could not contain his

excitment. He bounced

and danced with every gift

opened.

Mama helped him get

the paper started.

He looks on with anticipation.
What IS it?

Oh how cute!

It is a bubble gum machine

with balls for the gumballs.

Just imagine all the fun Mama

is going to have picking all

those up everyday.

Another bright and colorful toy

to capture his attention.Uh-oh..

I think there is mayhem afoot..He wants to see SweetCheeks

new baby up close and personal.Lookit, Eeeefan,

I khurled my baby's hairh wiff my

curling ihron and putted a bow

in her hairh for Kristmus..

And now Ih am feeeding hers..

and yoah chan't touch her

cuz hers duzn't like enybuddy

to thouch hers when hers

when hers is eatting..GET IT?
I guess

HIMS GOT IT..

because HIMS went over

to his other cousin to see

if he could help her open

her gift

being as she is a bit more

tolerant and all.

After everything was opened

I noticed BabyE's little

butt!

Who said,

Poop on Santa?

'Twasn't me!

It's been a wonderful year..

watching this baby

grow into a dear little boy.

A beautiful baby

last year..A beautiful little boy

this year...I can only imagine how

precious and grown up he

will be as a toddler next Christmas.

I love you, BabyE...

You are a light in my life!

Nana