3 More shopping days left!!

I am pretty much done with my shopping, but I can still feel the pressure of only having 3 days left! Do I have enough wrapping paper? What about tape...there's never enough tape! What about batteries? Did I buy anything that needs batteries? There's nothing worse than opening a gift that requires batteries and there are none. Food! I'll need food for the day. My mom and dad are driving down on Christmas Day and will need to eat when they get here. Christmas breakfast...that's a biggy, what am I gonna make? You see? Pressure! Oh, I'll get it all done, but the whole 3 day thing has me buzzing.

I made some lemon cookies with Dilly today. She enjoyed licking the beaters and the spoonula. She sucked on the lemon shells after I juiced them...and loved them! She had batter all over her face...it was precious, just like everything else she does. She even poops precious. Ahhh, I love that girl. She has a pretty pink fuzzy blanket with dots on it and pink satin trim...it's called Dottie McGee. Why? Glad you asked! At nap time, Dilly and I go to her crib and get her blanket and then head into the upstairs den recliner (the cuddle chair) to rock. On the way in there I tell her "Lets go! You and Me and Dottie McGee!" It's one of those things you say once and it sticks. My kids think I crazy for naming everything...but I think it makes it easier. I told Betsy the other day, "if I ask you to go get Dottie what will you bring me?" She got it right! That's alot easier than asking her to go get the pink fuzzy blanket with the dots and satin trim!! Anyway, I'm right...I'm normal.

Well, I've got to get the cookies out of the oven and slip in another batch. Ho Ho Ho!

Sick, sick, sick

I have never been this sick. Me and my entire household have the stomach flu. Dilly started with it on Tuesday, then Katie on Wednesday and the the rest of us started with it yesterday morning. In 25 years of marriage we have never all been sick at the same time. Whew! I am somewhat better today...I am able to eat toast. I made a nice pot of coffee this morning, but I couldn't drink it. Robert and Wes went to work, but not because they felt like it. They are in the middle of harvest and they must be there. I am going to take some tylenol for my headache and try to take a little nap. We are supposed to do a little more Christmas shopping tonight, but I don't know if we will be up to it. Nighty night everybody!

Grainger Family Dancers

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas from Dylann!

A new week

What a busy weekend we had. My hubby took our oldest and youngest up to Atlanta for the SEC Championship...we are diehard Gator fans as well as season ticket holders. The flew out on Saturday morning and Katie, Dylann and Billy (Katie's man of the hour) drove over to Disney for the weekend. It was chilly in Orlando and so we just decided to hang out at the resort instead of going into a park...I was especially glad we did. Taking a 9 mo. old into a crowded amusement park is not my idea of a good time. There aren't many rides that she would be able to lap-ride on, so it wouldn't have been fun. For those of you that are not FL residents or experienced Disney visitors, let me explain: First of all we only live 40 minutes from Disney and we go there 3 or 4 times a year. Disney has 4 major parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Stuios (Old MGM). There are a few water parks as well. There are several Disney resorts where you can stay on the grounds and take the free Disney transportation wherever you want to go inside of Disney. There 4 or 5 luxury resorts and then some mid priced and economy priced resorts as well. We stayed at the Boardwalk Villas (I would not do that again). It's creatd after a turn-of-the-century Atlantic City beach theme and I chose this because it is like a small city surrounding a pretty lake...ie things to do if you aren't going in a park! It was nice and clean, but we had to walk a mile of hallways to get to and from our room because there were a limited number of elevators. Whatever... Disney has a wonderful place called Downtown Disney with great restaurants, entertianment and shopping...this is where we enjoy going in the evenings. So, we all ate dinner together on the boardwalk and then Dilly and I went back to our room while Katie and Billy hopped a bus over to Downtown Disney. I watched the Gators pummel Alabama and then I put Dilly down, then I read for a couple of hours and then went to sleep... Kate and Billy came crawling in around 1 am. We slept in and then headed out for breakfast. It was nice, relaxing and a change of scenery for us. Now we're home and back to the routine, but I feel refreshed.

Christmas shopping is almost done...only a few more things to get. Lights are strung outside...I'll take a pic and post it soon. Come on Christmas!! You all have a wonderful week!!

Dilly went to see Santa today.

This is not Dylann on Santa's lap. Why? Because we were not allowed to take our own pictures... we had to buy theirs...to the tune of $48.00. I was planning on buying a couple of pictures from them, but I needed 3 5x7's for some special "Santa and Me" frames I bought. So, I bought their pictures and now I have to wait until I go in to the office on Friday to scan them. Here is a sweet picture I took of Dilly outside the Santa house...It's even cuter than their pic. She started standing while holding on to something this week...perfect timing for this pose.

"It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas"...on my blog!

I love Christmastime!! And I love The Cutest Blog on the Block backgrounds! What talent!

I have so many things to do to get ready this year. I usually have our family Christmas card pictures done by now, I have one more tree to put up and I have not baked any cookies...well, that's not true, I've baked some, but they have all been eaten. I need to bake more and freeze some to save for Christmas Eve and neighbor gifts. We also have to take Dylann to get her Christmas pics made with Santa. I hope she likes him...not all of my kids were too thrilled with Santa.

Dilly is pulling up now! I can't believe how big she's getting. I was fixing my coffee this morning and I turned around and there she was...standing up in her playpen. I asked everyone if they stood her up and everyone said no...the big girl did it all by herself!! She's been doing it all day now! She will be 9 months old this week. She thinks she is pretty big stuff! She's pretty cute stuff I'll tell you that!! Well, enough for now...I have so much to do today and I'm fighting a headache. Merry Christmas!!