Curious George WINNER

And the winner is........

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8

Timestamp: 2009-12-18 02:55:59 UTC

kathy pease said... 8

http://twitter.com/klp1965/status/6738551556

Congrats Kathy! Send me your mailing address and we'll get this out to you. If I don't receive your address within 3 days a new winner will be chosen.

Getting There

I've almost got this place all cleaned up. I think it's looking good so far. I am still working on my buttons for the navigation bar but hopefully those will be up soon. After I get that done I will weed out my blog roll and get rid of the dead spaces where people have removed their buttons. I also have to redo my Blog Roll page to match. It is so good to not have baseball up anymore.
I really have to give credit to Amy, she stuck with me through most of the changes. She approved/disapproved of many choices and then just when she thought I was done I went and completely changed everything. I mean completely. I had a bright orange and green theme going, it looked good but I was having difficulty finding exactly what I wanted for some of the elements and I wasn't thrilled with the color scheme. It wasn't really "me". I happened upon this kit in one of the hidden folders on my computer and wha-la it was love at first site. This color scheme screams me. I can even easily change out the background occassionally if I want to mix things up a bit. I like the brown though, how bout you?
Be sure to check out the left sidebar for my new button too. I'm trying to figure out how to change my picture without having to have ya'll change yours too but it may take a while.
Thanks for baring with me, and if you happened by during some of the many changes thanks for not deleting me off your list because of all of the confusion. Some of the things we tried we truly awful.

Please Excuse the Mess

Please excuse the mess. Blogger decided it didn't like something on my blog (even though I hadn't changed a thing) and so I had to revert to a template. GASP! I know, I know. Please bare with me. I am working on a new design as quickly as possible but with homeschooling, wife-ing, mommy-ing, christmasing and all the other ings going on right now it may take a while.

Also in case anyone gets confused by the sig I will change it soon. My good friend Amy was nice enough to let me hijack her template info so I didn't have to start completely over. So I got all her info too. Bare with me please and I will have this place cleaned up soon.

Yes, I am aware that none of those are really words but hey, it's my blog I can say what I wanna.

Please check out my Curious George giveaway while your hear and if you can handle my torture of the English language come back and see me again soon.

A Very Monkey Christmas *Giveaway

Around here we LOVE Christmas. I actually had the Christmas music out before Thanksgiving. Don't worry we waited until Thanksgiving to actually decorate but the music had to come out early because we just couldn't wait. We listen to a wide range of Christmas music from Martina McBride to Veggie Tales so I was thrilled when I got the chance to review Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas. This is the soundtrack that goes with a new Curious George movie that came out for Christmas this year. We don't watch regular tv so we haven't had the pleasure of viewing the movie yet but I plan to borrow it soon so we can watch it. The cd arrived today and we immediately popped it in. We loved it. Oldest's and my favorite song was #4 Our Christmas Song, Youngest really liked #2 Christmas With A Monkey. It is definitely on of our all time favorite cd's for the season. Curious George is one of Oldest's favorite characters and since I grew up with George also it is special that I can share this character with my children.

A little about the cd from the site:

Curious George A Very Monkey Christmas

The soundtrack follows the story line of the movie through song and music: George and The Man with The Yellow Hat are having a very merry time counting down the days until Christmas. There’s only one puzzle: neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present. The Man is having trouble reading George’s wish list and George doesn’t have a clue about what to get for The Man who has everything. Will they be able to find the answers before Christmas morning?

Airing Throughout December Across PBS' Nationwide Network Starting This Thanksgiving!

If Curious George is one of your kids favorite characters or if you just love Christmas music you should really add this cd to your collection. To help you do that I am giving one away to a lucky reader. To enter leave me a comment about your favorite George story. For extra entries blog or facebook or twitter about this giveaway including a link to the giveaway. That is three chances to win. Giveaway ends at 9:00 pm EST on December 16. Open to US residents only.

For more chances to win check these other FRN member sites:

Rockin' Mama
All Because Two People Fell In Love
Seeryus Mama
She Scribes
Maria's Space
A Couch With A View
The Mom Reviews
A Simple Kind of Life
The Mommy Files
A Nut in a Nutshell
Happy Healthy Families
Sage and Savvy
Mamma Blogs Alot
An Island Life


And if you don't win it then be sure to check out one of these great retailers to get your own copy. Amazon, Target, Walmart, Overstock.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for Denon Records, who supplied the CD for review and giveaway.

Christmas Letters

To write or not to write. I really enjoy getting letters at Christmas that catch me up on the goings on of people I only hear from once a year. I love to see and hear how the children have grown and what everyone's interests are but does everyone else enjoy receiving those kind of greetings too. Would you rather get just a quickly signed card or an informative letter? Also do you want just the good highlights of the people or do you want the true story of how they are doing? I've noticed this is a big topic in the blog world this year. I got a good laugh reading this letter http://www.lisawhelchel.com/journal/archives/2006_12_29.html . I kind of lean toward a good mixture of both. The real moments help others to feel like they aren't alone and to focus on the true meaning of christmas and the happy moments let everyone know you're really doing ok and not sitting in a big depressed lump on the couch.

So what is your opinion? Help me know what I should send out this year. I have drafts of both ways but I also have a box of cards ready and don't worry I 'll post a copy of whatever I send on here so all my bloggy friends can know how our year was too.