We Have a Winner, Punkin'

Sorry, guys. I intended to get this posted YESTERDAY. But it has been a little crazy 'round here. Tired, bored kids (too much rain!!), tired momma, two sick kids, one trip to the doctor, a broken printer, all the regular stuff, plus one long discussion about the phases of the moon (random homeschooling moment). I just couldn't sit down long enough to churn this out. And then there was today. All still tired, one ear infection, lots of nose wiping, cooking for 12 people (tomorrow's lunch), speech, dance, hungry mouths...Ahhhhkkkk!!!! But finally...here it is.

Drum roll, please.

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

wait.

You don't think I'd give it up that easily, do you????????????

'Cause....first.....

we have some "housekeeping" to do. Just kidding. Did y'all have teachers that used to say that? Like before class REALLY got started, they'd have some mundane business to tend to like passing out papers or doing a sign-up sheet for group projects or reading the announcements for the day?? MY teachers always called that "housekeeping." Ha! I figure if I'm not going to do ACTUAL housekeeping (umm...'cause I'm not), then I might as well do "housekeeping" here. Maybe, just maybe, I'll feel like I accomplished something.

If you're wondering why I'm not using THIS time to get on the ball and actually clean my (real) house, well I'll tell you. I'm waiting for the baby to fall asleep...again! We have officially entered what I like to call the "12th Month Nap Scare," in which baby goes through a growth spurt at 12 months and just CAN'T sleep!! This causes Mommy to briefly freak out that we may be dropping the morning nap...and that just can't be! Right?! Really...I know it's probably just a phase. My kids have all gone through it. A couple of weeks of this and we'll be back to normal...for now!

FYI: According to research by Dr. Marc Weissbluth (I'm a fan), most babies through 12 months and up until 21 months still require two naps a day.

For us, usually right around 16-18 months we are dropping down to one nap.

And DID YOU KNOW?

Interesting, huh? Yep. That's me. Just FULL of interesting facts. Like, for instance, how I divulged the "best-tip-for-apple-lovers-ever" last year when I wrote about Honeycrisps. Remember that? Man. I've been waiting and waiting (very patiently, of course), and FINALLY they are BAAAACK!!! And the best part is they are way cheaper than they used to be. Right now they are running $1.96 per pound--about 60 cents per pound more than Granny Smith. A small price to pay, I'd say, for a TO DIE FOR apple!!

Okay. Okay. I suppose I've "kept house" enough. Besides, little man is finally snoozing, so I have no excuse for sitting here with the laptop. Got to move on with my day. So...without further ado..........

After assigning a number to each of your entries and then entering them into my random integer generator.............The winner is #3. (I had a copy of the page complete with time stamp to prove when the results were generated, but every time I pasted it here, it ballooned into this ginormous THING and caused some of the other text to balloon as well! I couldn't figure it out. I'm sure it was fixable, but sometimes dealing with html is NOT what one wants at the end of two ultra-long days.)

That MEANS.............................................................Monica!!!!!

You ARE the winner, Dear!

Monica "The-Non-Blogger-So-I-Cannot-Offer-You-A-Link" Monica!

But hey, it pays to be my friend on Facebook apparently! Ha!! Congratulations, Monica!! And to the rest of you, thank you, thank you, thank you for participating! I had so much fun. (Man, I don't know how 'Becca didn't win!! She had like 7 entries! Ha!) I enjoyed getting to know some new followers as well! Kathy, your family is just precious. "Jensoup," any friend of 'Becca's is a friend of mine. (smile) And "Jmberrygirl," you're so young and fresh! Oh, my goodness! How nice to have you all here!!!

Monica, I'll be gathering up your Pumpkin Packet and getting it to you soon! Yay!!!

Speaking of pumpkins...

See what my mother ("Mimi") did for my kiddos?

Between our schedule and the rain, this may be the closest thing we can find to a pumpkin patch this year!

Noah the Pumpkin

(Noah likes to tell something and then wink at you while clicking his tongue.)

Saylor the Pumpkin

Gabriel the Pumpkin

Atticus the Pumpkin

(Atticus scrunches his nose up and smiles so hard his eyes are practically closed.)

Cute, huh?