This 'n That

I can't believe I haven't written in my blog since early November! I was going to be so faithful about it too. Now, weeks have passed. Thanksgiving has come and gone. Birthdays have occurred and passed into history. Mine included. Wasn't it just yesterday we were all worried about the Millennium Bug? Good grief, Charlie Brown.

At least I wrote about the birth of grandchild #13. Mr. Brady Robert Garland. He is so dear. I got to see and hold him at Jess's baby shower Dec. 8. And another precious little one is about to be born. Our New Year's baby.

Shannon, Melissa and Kimberly went together to host the shower. This was the first hostessing effort of any of them. They were very nervous about it. They needn't have been.

They did a great job. The party was at Kim's house. I don't know how she got the place so sparkling and took care of Sophie at the same time. Power of being young, I guess. Jess was properly surprised. I wish I had a photo of she and Mike walking in the door. She thought she was stopping by to use the bathroom. LOL If you've ever been 8 months pregnant, you'd know why she didn't suspect a party. We had a few guys there. Mike, of course, Steve, Derrick, Mike's brother, Kyle, and Uncle Chris.

The girls had some fun games. One we've done before was that we were each given a ribbon with some baby charms to hang around our neck. Then, you couldn't say the word "baby". If so, somebody could yell out and take your necklace. The person with the most necklaces at the end of the party won a prize. I had about 8 of them around my neck for all of 10 seconds before I slipped up. We laughed ourselves silly.

We also did the melted Tootsie Roll in a diaper game. A variation of the one Amy did where you had to guess what the candy was in each diaper. This time, we had to guess how many Tootsie Rolls were melted in the diaper. Trust me, this looks gross and like the real thing. Although it did smell nice and chocolate-y. Too bad the real thing isn't that fragrant.

The food was perfect for a shower. Nosh type stuff and a delicious cake. I thought it was a perfect first effort for the girls. Amy says she passes the torch to the next generation of hostesses. LOL I don't know about that. She and Jenn have done some fabulous parties over the years. And Gregg ought to be a party planner in his spare time.

Since I last blogged, we've had some nasty, bitter winter weather. A bit early, IMNSHO. However, it's all gone now and I even took my jacket off in the car today. The forecast for Christmas Day is in the 30's and sunny. This is good news for the family football game. The teams are composed of anybody who wants to get out and chase other family members around the field. From 50+ Jim down to 3 year-old Austin. It's a Garland family Christmas tradition. After that, we get down to the serious business of opening presents. Oh yes. We eat first. Got to keep our priorities straight.