The Amazing Sleeping Dancing Baby~SweetCheeks Video

Yes, it's true.

I am easily amused.

And we have

LOTS of ongoing

things to amuse me

happening all the time.

Now I'm not saying we

have the proverbial

DANCING BEAR

in our family

BUT-

I'm betting

THIS

will put a smile on your

face in less than 20 seconds.

Maybe my daughter

should have been a

puppeteer?

A SweetCheeks Original Christmas Song-Video

So, Nana, didju knohw I

writed a speschul

Chrissmass song?

Nope!

Wehll I did!  Do yohu

wanna heahr it?

Well, you KNOW I do!

And, because

SOME OF YOU CRAZY PEOPLE

have asked for more

you get to hear it, too!
This was the first
SHORT 10 second version.

Then I asked her to please sit

and sing the
WHOLE song
so that BigBoyE could hear it.
Can you
HEAR MY EARS?
huh....?
This is the 45 second version.

Make sure to listen

for the

WARNING

at the end!

Yeah...You better be
looking over your shoulder!

A Little Christmas In The Hall

We usually enter our house

from the garage.

As you head up the hall

you pass MyHero's office

which shall NEVER be shown

on my blog because I can barely

stand to look at it myself...

just sayin'..

hmmm...maybe I should use

THAT for a copycat

room makeover?

As you continue up the hall

there is a niche I had built in.

I love to change this little area

up with each Season.

This year it is home to

a little Christmas garden theme.

There is a small tree

with ornaments from

Marjolein Bastin's collection.

I love the sweet simplicity of them.

A little watering can full

of flowers, surrounded by

terra cotta pots.

The little clay

HOPE

was sent to me by

Laurie over at Heaven's Walk

last year.

Here's another of her little clay tags.

There's a little sled on the tree,too.

Right in front of it stands

a wonderful Pfalzgraf Santa I have

had for many years.

I love him as much today as

the day I got him.

I love his sweet face~

To the right of it is a

big, old snowman.

He was a rescue when someone

moved and left him behind.

He doesn't care.

He loves it here.

Did you notice that

I gave him a little redbird

to keep him company

when the lights go out

and we are sleeping?

And, speaking of sleeping,

the master bedroom is just

across the hall.

We have a little sitting room

off the bedroom.

In the original house this

was part of the old family room.

We kept the fireplace in

this room.  It is made of

chunk marble which is not

readily available anymore.

I don't do much in there for
Christmas but I do deck the
mantle a bit.
And this is where I hang my
big kids' stockings.
They are made from the good parts
that were left from one of my
Gramma's quilts. 
I made them in 1979 the year
MamasBoy was born.
A shot taken at night....

And...IN MY BEDROOM...
on my bed waiting to be unpacked
is this..

I am home for now~
leaving Mimi and BigBoyE
and Charles-In-Charge
at their own home.
We have been together for
just over a month
and Mimi feels recovered
enough to try it on her own.

Hmmmm...wait until she finds out
that
COOKIE
 was the
Secret Word
for BigBoyE's
continued cooperation!
shhhhhhh..

Okay....I'm lonesome...
HOW LONG
have I been gone?
5 hours?
Seriously?
That's it?
Gonna be a long few days
until Christmas!

I WANNA HIPP-HOH-POT-OH-MUSS FOR CHRISSMAS-SweetCheeks Sings!

SweetCheeks

NEVER stops talking

or SINGING.

If the car is is motion,

her mouth is moving.

If we are at home,

her mouth is moving.

If she is awake,

her mouth is moving.

However,

I, being THE NANA,

dote on EVERY word.

But I especially LOVE

to hear her sing.

She has her own little

repertoire of Christmas carols.

I will share this one

with you today..

but trust me..

there are more coming.

Now tell me..

How do YOU feel about

Stinker-dinker toys?

Well, apparently,

STINKER-dinker toys

are NOT NEARLY

 as good as a

hipph-oh-pot-ho-nuss~

Here is her

"Quiet voice"

so that her

"cuzzin Efthan"

can hear all the worhds!

He is enjoying it-

I think~

Are you smiling now?

Did it change YOUR Christmas

wish list?



Little Tree Of Angel Swingers

I have a collection.

Seriously?

Me?  A collection?

Yeah...well, I swear I

DON'T have collections

and then I start looking around.

Okay..

I collected these

Heirloom ornaments

when my girls were little.

It was on the

pay-as-you-go

method.

Otherwise,

I would not have been able

to buy them.

There are 12 of them in all..

but I will show you just a couple

of them here.

Each one is about 2 or 3 inches high.

They fit perfectly on

this little tree that

sits in our upstairs hallway

on the way to the room the

little girls sleep in.

You know..

The one with the

PINK TREE!

This in one of my favorites,
the little angel with the fawn.

Each angel has a little

bluebird on it somewhere.

This one is sweet, too.

Praying for world peace?

Swinging on a heart...

A magic star angel

A angel on a lucky horseshoe..

A heralding angel..

This one has to be

The Baker's Angel,

don't you think?

Another cute little swinger...

If you look closely

you will see some beautiful

icicle type ornaments

made by my wonderful, sweet friend,

Donna from

Shabby Chateau.

She is just a lovely person..

and if you don't know her

you need to pop by her blog.

She is fondly known as

The Glitter Queen

and has an Etsy Shop

with

A glut of glittery goodies

(say that fast 10 times-

go ahead-I'll wait...back?

Doncha love the way that

rolls off your tongue?;>)

Another one hidden in the tree.

One laid out flat.

They don't photograph nearly

as beautiful as they look in person.
They are just gorgeous!
They match the beautiful quilted piece
my daughter, Mimi, stitched for me.

Well, that about wraps that
little tree up.

What's that you say?
You want to see one more swinger?
Well, here you go...
but, guess what?
It's never gonna be
1969 again!

Oh-those swingers!
Wonder how many are living
normal lives now?;>)

Little Pink Tree

I want to thank everyone

that has been visiting me

and commenting.

You know I love you!

I have been so busy with

new baby and trying to

get ready for

Christmas that I haven't been

around commenting as much

as usual.

I got most of my daughter's

Christmas stuff up for her.

Would you believe she put

her outside lights up herself

a day or two before she

delivered

Charles In Charge?

We have been back and

forth...her house to my own.

She lives 120 miles South

of me.

But..when I came home last

night I wanted to get

the tree up that fills the

little girls' room with

Christmas Cheer

when they sleep over.

So...here you are

a

PINK TREE!

It's about 3 feet tall

and sits atop a little decorative chair

between one twin bed

and SweetCheeks

"ohwn liddle bed".

The only new decorations

I bought this year were

some white ornaments

from Hobby Lobby..

on sale.

I spent less than $10 for

all the glittery white

and pink ornaments.

Can you see the little Santa

that is also a crystal?

A friend gave him to me many

years ago for helping her on a project.

And this little angel in a rosebud

has been around since

my first daughter was born

in 1976,

This is one of the balls

with beautiful glitter on it.

A few more sparklies

and pearl strands that I've

had for 100 years..okay

maybe 30 years!

And, nestled midst the branches

is a little book from a blogging

friend of mine...one that she crafted.

She wants no recognition

for the books or the tags she

sent me but I will say

that she is

SIMPLY THE BEST!

Here's one of the tags

that she made hanging

in the

LITTEL PINK TREE.

The room is painted cream

but with the tree lit it

glows a soft pink.

I would have loved to had this

when I was a little girl.

SweetCheeks has to sleep

with her head at the other

end of the bed

so she doesn't have

nightmares...

Because when she looks up

she sees

THIS!

The Invasion Of The

Towering Pink Tree.

Maybe I'll slip a little

vodka in her

pink lemonade so she

sleeps through...

Hmmmm....Do we even HAVE

any vodka?

Just kiddin' , MOM!

An Angel Came To Visit~

Did you ever feel

like you were visited

by an angel?

Did she look like this?

Or maybe she looked more

like this..

Or even like this...

Well, guess what?

The newest angel in our

family looks like

this....

At least for now..

(we do have actual ultrasound

pictures but I didn't want

to post that without

the kid's express permission)

And in about 6 months time..

a little angel

will be living with these

two-

MamasBoy and My Daughter-In-Love.

We've been waiting a

long time for this

annoucement..

6-1/2 years

from the wedding day.

And we are

Okay-

You know Mother-In-Laws are

NOT SUPPOSED

to give advice..

but then

YOU KNOW ME!

Here's my ONLY advice for her~

Drink LOTS of milk,

Get LOTS of sleep,

And make him

do everything...

just sayin'

Maybe it'll work for her

cuz it NEVER worked

for me~

And, guess what..

Today is my birthday and this is

THE BEST

birthday present EVAH!

Dead Santa And Other Eye Poppers

Ha!  Got your attention

with THAT title,

didn't I?

Well, as I was bumbling

along last night

looking for

decorating ideas.

I came across a

website

I didn't want to make

you cry too early in

my post

so I am softening the

blow a bit

by showing you

some off-the-wall

what the heck were they thinking

crazy ugly (did I say ugly)

decorating ideas.
How about THIS?
I call this one
ELECTRIFIED~

Do you suppose this mailbox

is ashamed of itself?

And this one?

This one is

 for all you

PINK LOVERS.
I call it
Flamingos In The Snow
Emergency Flight To Florida.

And, speaking of Florida,

if I lived in a condo in Florida,

I just might

never in a flipping million years

wear this outfit when

I stood out on my balcony.

I think this could do dual purpose...

put it up for Halloween and

leave it up for Christmas.

I call this one
Spider On The Roof~

How about this one?

I call this one-

The White Arches..

I'll take 3 carolers to go, please.

And look at this~

A place for everything
and everything in its place.

She's a beaut~
And, last but not least~

Here-as promised is-
DEAD SANTA!

Poor, Poor Santa...
Just look at those poor penguins faces~
They look as sad as I feel
leaving you with this
heart-wrenching post~
Uh-huh~
And as they say at
Walmart-
Have a nice day!

I Asked About Her Cut-SweetCheeks Video

Did you ever ask someone

a

SIMPLE QUESTION?

You know, a question

like

What time is it?

and they tell you how to

build a clock.

Well, Mama went to school

with SweetCheeks.

To graduate from

KIDDYGARDEN

you have to have all 4s.

SweetCheeks has not hit

KIDDYGARDEN

yet- she is still in

4 year old pre-school.

Mama wondered how

SweetCheeks was doing.

She was at all 2's and 3's

EXCEPT FOR

talking.

Talking?

TALKING!

She can build a story like

no one else in her class.

She has complete thoughts

and sentences.

Seriously?  Our SweetCheeks?

A story teller?

She has a 4+ in that area.

Proof in point follows!

I noticed she had a little

owie on her finger.

I made the mistake of

asking..

So, how did you cut your finger?

Uh....Yeah...

The D is the D Key on the piano..

How does she know that?

AND that story leads right

into the

WATERPARK story..

which I will share another day.

Glad you didn't break your leg,

Imagine THAT story!

Bits And Pieces Of Christmas Here And There

I'm back in Milwaukee

for a couple of days.

BigBoyE needs someone

to corral him whilst

Daddy is at work

and Mama is recovering.

Before I left my own house

 I got a lot of my

littles done.

You know

The Littles~

The little things you do

after you dress the

tree.

Like a little

side table that sits in the foyer,

 with a candle holder on it,

surrounded by a few greens

and a rose.

Here's a close up of the candle

inside. 

I love these candles.

I bought 3 of them several

years ago.

I have never seen others

quite like them.

Across the entry hall

sits a 40" tall candlelabra

with a floral arrangement.

It sports a

Merry Christmas

sign and one lone

mercury ball.

A little different angle..

There are a few sugared pinecones

on my main mantle.

Love those pinecones-

I've had them for years.

0

The candles are lit in my windows.

And I am almost done..

I had a bit of help.

MyHero helped carry stuff

up from the basement.

He isn't crazy about doing it-

but he did it-

without complaining

cuz he LOVES the way

the house looks

all decked out for

Christmas.

When I get home I will

show you some broader pictures

of the house

with the candles lit in the

windows...

and the porch garlands lit.

But I will leave you with

this...

Whilst I am babying,

decking the halls,

and cooking up dinner,

this is what

MyHero

is doing.

God bless him and all.....

The man can sleep through anything!