Christmas cuteness...

Hi there! If you're interested in entering my contest just scroll down to the post before this one to read and enter. I was going to create a link for you but if you're too lazy to scroll down ONE measly post, you don't deserve to win anyway. ;) Incidentally, all comments left on THIS post will get you an additional entry so comment away people, comment away!

I thought I'd end the year with a few of our Christmas pictures, just some random shots of The Son. I'm sure just about everyone in blogland is Christmassed out right now but I have to post these anyway for posterity, he's too cute not to, ya know?

Here he is as a reindeer in the school Christmas pageant. He LOVED these antlers and wore them throughout the entire holiday. I love the imagination on this kid...

Christmas Eve...he had a little treasure hunt organized by The Husband. It resulted in him finding his new holiday jammies and his outfit for Christmas. I think he enjoyed the hunt more than the actual present.

Christmas morning...The Son was especially excited that Santa put presents in his stocking this year, I'm not exactly sure why it was so exciting but he loved it nonetheless.

unwrapping...

and unwrapping...

We always visit my Dad's cousins on Christmas morning and this is what they all got him this year. Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised! I might have to dedicate an entire post to how cool he thinks having his own vehicle makes him but I'll need to remember the camera next time he takes it for a spin around the development.

He wanted to bring along his shepherd costume so that he could sing "Away in a Manger" for everyone on Christmas morning. It was very sweet. The Son has performing in his blood I guess. "Sing OUT SON! Sing OUT!" No, I'm not a stage mother at all.

Lastly, a picture of The Niece, she was thrilled with her Bitty Baby gift from The Cousins even though it doesn't look like it in the picture, I swear, I can never get a good shot of this little gal. Trust me though, she's as cute as can be.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and we'll see you around the blog world next year!

It's my birthday and I'll have a giveaway if I want to!

Hi Everyone! It's finally the day for my giveaway. I say finally because I wanted it to be for my 200th post and then I just couldn't get my act together. I decided to have it on my birthday instead because I knew I'd have a lot more time after Christmas was over so...here we are. Let's celebrate turning 39 AND having 206 posts! Yippee.

I realize other bloggers can give away amazing things like coffee makers and vacuum cleaners but here at CityMomma/CountryMomma, we're low budget so my giveaway won't be anything even close to that exciting. I am giving away two of my handcrafted items. First is a set of my notecards. They're cute, they're functional and when I give them as gifts, people usually really like them. I gave the same set to The Son's teachers for Christmas as well as a set to my Step-MIL. Here's some pictures for you. The set I give away will be very similar but may differ slightly because remember, they're handcrafted plus, I'm not sure if I have any more of the paper for the bag below.

cute little storage bag...

the notecards...

the envelopes...

The other thing I'll be giving away is one of my Scrabble Tile Pendants similar to the oneI've posted below. Again, it's hand crafted so the one I actually make, may differ slightly. This is a picture of one I gave to The Son's teacher...I hope she liked it!

So, in order to enter this giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Some of you have already commented on previous posts and you will have extra entries as per the instructions on those posts. (am I confusing you yet?) Lastly, you can get an additional entry by mentioning my giveaway on your own blog and linking back to this post. Please let me know in the comments if you do that. I will run this contest until January 1, 2009 and will announce the winner on Friday, January 2, 2009. Good luck everyone and thanks for entering!

Here's what's going to happen...

Hi again everyone! Am I just the biggest blog/giveaway slacker ever? I think so. But the thing is...I'M BUSY! It's two days before Christmas Eve and that means lots of baking, crafting, gifts for the teachers, a stupid, useless, not going to tell us anything new at 6:30 PM meeting at work that I agreed to bring cookies to, cleaning the house for family on Christmas day and wrapping the presents, not to mention all the normal everyday things like laundry that have to be done. I haven't uploaded pictures for the giveaway yet although things are pretty much complete. I might add another craft to it since I've been taking so long to make it happen...that will mean two winners!

I didn't figure that my 200th post would fall at this very busy time of year and now it's making things difficult on me. I have decided that the giveaway will happen on December 29th! We will be celebrating my 200th-ish post AND my 29th - I wish 39th birthday all at the same time. You'll get presents and I'll have fun giving them.

So now, we know I like comments and you want entries so...for every comment you leave between now and the 29th...I will give you an entry. (One per post please) I can't guarantee that I'll be posting a lot but who knows, I might need a break from the aforementioned chores. I will also have an extra entry if you mention my giveaway on your blog but you should probably wait until I have an actual giveaway post to which you can link back.

I'm off to bake some cookies now...the batters are mixed and chilling and my oven's heating up. The Son is at pre-school and I have two hours before I go back to get him so I must get busy. Have a great day everyone, I hope your holidays are going well so far.

Remember that give away I mentioned?

Well, it will be happening, just not today. I'm having a really lousy (or insert your favorite swear word here) day. I can't manage it today. I AM having it. I AM excited about it and it will be happening soon. Probably tomorrow. Or the next day. Please come back.

Hey! Let's do this...if you actually came here for the give away and you leave a comment on this post, I'll give you an extra entry. That should really make your chance good considering probably ten people read this blog daily anyway.

Either that or no one has a chance and Darlene will win. ;)

Back to regularly scheduled programming soon... thanks.

Christmas at Longwood Gardens

Last weekend the whole family took a trip to Longwood Gardens. Longwood Gardens is a wonderful place to visit. I've linked to their website if you want to see more pictures or read about the history of it. It's a well known place in this area. When we tell people the town we've moved to, they often don't recognize it but when we say, "It's right near Longwood Gardens," they know exactly where we are.

I took LOTS of pictures. Lots. Of. Pictures. The pictures don't do it justice as it was absoulutely beautiful. I was unable to get pictures of the outside lights because besides being totally frigid last weekend, it's just not really possible for my little digital camera to capture the beauty. The website has additional pictures though of the outside and you can check them out if you wish. Also, some of my photos aren't as clear or as bright as I'd like them to be. It's kind of dark in some of the areas and my flash isn't all that powerful. I still wanted to share them though because some of the decorating ideas are really unique and definitely "doable" at home.

I'll share some of my photos with you and try to keep my commentary to a minimum which many of you know, will be difficult for me.

There were lots of beautiful trees and various decorations:






There were lots of beautiful flowers and wreaths:





But the most beautiful thing of all at Longwood Gardens last weekend was...






The sweet little girl is The Niece by the way. You sure can see the family resemblance, don't you think? I hope you enjoyed my pictures. We'll be going to Longwood again next weekend. It's a great place to take visiting family.

Last but not least, I should mention that this is my 198th post! I am planning on another new post for Kimba's Christmas Open House on Tuesday which will be #199 and then... on Wednesday... I am having a giveaway for my 200th post! It will be a small giveaway of something I've handcrafted, but it will be a giveaway nonetheless. I hope you'll come back to enter.

See you Tuesday! Have a great weekend!