Welcome To Our World...

Lochlan Bradley McKee

MEANING: (Gaelic) "Warrior From The Land of the Lakes" - The Vikings plundered Ireland in the 9th and 10th centuries and the native home of the Norwegian invaders was known as Lochlan "land of the lochs." Lochlan became a popular name and was generally given to boys that had fair or red hair – a tribute to their Viking ancestors.

Hopefully he'll never plunder Ireland!.. but red hair would be interesting.

Personally, I think he looks exactly like Jade!

And I think being born on the 25th was perfect because:

• His birthday will coordinate really well with my every other year travel plans.
• It will be a really easy and special date to be able to remember.
• He is destined to be 'bonny and blithe and good and gay'... (Sunday's Child written in the 1800's :)

Cannot wait to meet this little guy!

And not to be sacreligous or anything... but I just thought, in a way, that this song might somehow fit in here.

"Welcome To Our World" ~ Sarasota, FL ~ from LAST NIGHT.

A View From The Tour Bus...

Not that I was there or anything...

Clay's Christmas Tour launched last night in West Palm Beach, Florida. Here's the view from his quarters this a.m. in Sarasota. At least he's up!

So be sure to check out your local venues!.. even if you DO happen to live in a cold place. You would think it would make more sense to start north and then go south. I mean travel-wise, right?

At any rate I'll be missing the whole dang thing this year. But at least I have a lovely new screensaver. : )

Photo courtesy of Twitter @clayaiken.

One Little Thing At a Time...

In regards to getting rid of things that is...

It's overwhelming sometimes... thinking about moving. There are just too many things that need to be done with this house and yard first. But if I start now and do just a little tiny bit every year I think I'll eventually feel comfortable that I'm handing a decent and un-junky piece of property over to somebody else.

It's been a LONG road.

But today took a big huge piece of the weight of my back. I mean deck.

I've been dreaming about this moment for years!

Bye Bye Hot Tub...

And thank you Dwight!

And so does all this make me feel a little bit sad???

You betcha! But anyway...

Next on the agenda?...

Bought a new cover at Godwins today.

Now I just need to figure out how to get those rusted screws off of this old one and get the new one attached. I had planned to ask Dwight if he could do it, but after that (more complicated than expected) Hot Tub disassembling fiasco it just didn't feel quite right to ask my friend from work for any more "Honey Do's."

Eventually.

Five!!!!!

And Alive!!!!!

Happy Birthday Miss Jade!

Happy Birthday Rachel Mae!

Two!!

Going on...

...Timeless

You'll have to click on the pictures to get the full effect...

All I Want For Christmas...

...is to not spend money on presents for my children or grandchildren that they do not want.

And it's really hard when you live 2,000 miles away and really have no idea what they need or what their interests are. And the last thing I want is to get my grandchildren presents that their parents don't want them to have!

And though I always love the idea of surprising them all (the grandchildren and their parents alike) I think I'm gonna need some guidance this year.

So... given that, here are a couple of things I've found. Some input please?

Smart Snacks has several fun learning toys that I thought were pretty cute.

Sorting Shapes Cupcakes

Counting Cookies

Alpha Pops

Rainbow Color Cones

And Learning Resources has the cutest set of vegetable cans for learning how to count...

But a choking hazard possibly?

I love this little Laugh and Learn Tea Set by Fisher Price and this little Picnic Basket by Leap Frog for learning how to share and identify shapes, and plus the tea pot makes sounds when it pours as well as the basket lid when you lift it.

And how cute are all these little wooden food toys by Melissa and Doug?

Fruit Slicing

Sandwich Making

Pizza Building

And whatd'ya know? Sushi!

(I can't imagine any of the kids would want that but maybe their parents wood? :)

And now for the tricky ones... But what little boy (or girl) wouldn't want one of these sturdy toys by Melissa and Doug?

Pounding Bench

Pound and Roll Tower

With the "tricky" part being how to teach them not to "pound" on each other or their younger sibling with the mallet... or find that their favorite time to play with it is when baby is sleeping. But still, it could provide for some great teaching/self-disciplining opportunities.

And then there's the toy that even their parents might enjoy... for those times when they feel they just need to "get away" from things for a few moments.

6' Dinosaur Tunnel by Pacific Play

And for those with discriminating culinary tastes...

It might not improve the pickiness, but it might keep them at the dinner table a little longer...

...before they run off to get back to this.

Perplexus by PlaSmart

Check this out!
I want one!

So anyway, there you have it. My ideas.

To My Kids... Please feel free to browse Amazon and check out all the details and reviews. And while you're in there, if you see something else you feel your child(ren) can't live without, please let me know asap.

And if you find something that you'd like for yourself, letting me know that too would be very helpful as well.

Happy 58th To Me!...

The great thing is that my birthday's on a Saturday this year!  And it's cold and windy and rainy... so I don't even have to rake!  And plus, I've heard from mostly all of my loved ones!

And I also got this card from my sister Alison, which easily made it into the top 10 things that made me smile today.

*Christmas Wish List*.. (besides being with my family)

A nice sweater...

lol