Happy Valentines Day - check out this yummy giveaway.. - CLOSED!

Things have been crazy hectic in my house the last week or so. I'm so relieved it's finally calming down.

Thursday is Quinn's surgery - please say a prayer for him. Even though I know it's just a band-aid to his diagnosis, it makes me feel better knowing it's not going to split open.

One of the moms in Cai's class called to see if we could send anything for Valentine's Day. She wanted to have crackers & cheese, fruits, etc...I signed up for crackers, cheese & plates. I got up at 5:45 this morning (gross!) and cut out 60 little hearts from the cheese. Only for her to get a snow day. Grrrr....

It's wrapped up nice & tight, ready for school tomorrow.

Dennis & I do not celebrate Valentine's Day in the 'romantic dinner & flowers' type of way. I usually get him a movie (Tower Heist this year) that's just been released that he's anxious to see - and some cute boxers (as in they hearts or some ridiculous thing on them). He gets me chocolate and a new soft blanket to curl up with in front of the fire. In honor of our Valentine's tradition I'm giving away a $25 giftcard to Godiva, the Notebook dvd and a pink snuggie!

Giveaway Rules…
To enter for your chance to win the gift cards, please do the following & leave a separate comment for each entry:

TO ENTER YOU MUST
1. Become a public follower of my blog & leave a comment saying you’re following (or comment that you already are a follower).

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES (these will not count if you are not a follower):
2. Comment & tell us your Valentine traditions
3. Blog about my contest w/the following link: http://stacey-dellfamily.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-check-out-this.html then comment w/a link back to your post
4. Facebook my contest w/the following link: http://stacey-dellfamily.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-check-out-this.html then comment w/a link back to your post
5. Tweet about my contest w/the following link: http://stacey-dellfamily.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-check-out-this.html then comment w/a link back to your tweet
6. Follow me on Twitter- Cadence1228 & comment back that you’re a follower (or already were)& tweet this contest: http://stacey-dellfamily.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-valentines-day-check-out-this.html
7. Follow me on Pinterest – Melissa Stacey-Dell & comment back that you’re a follower (or already were)

This giveaway is open to readers in the US & Canada - the winner will be chosen via the Random Number Generator on 2/19/12 & announced here that evening.

Thank you & Good Luck!!

Quinn

He’s been with us since he was 6 months old…he’ll be 10 in May. He’s my boy. He can break your heart when he hangs his head…he can drive you crazy when he counter surfs (yep – 110 lbs never slowed him down!) and he truly is better than any electric blanket we’ve ever used!
Yesterday the vet told us he has cancer. My heart broke. He has this large lump on his leg – he’s gotten them before…it’s a build-up of fluid on his joints. The last time it was drained (Apr ’11) he was 102 lbs. Down 8 still but still about 20 over.
Yesterday he weighed 79 lbs. And the rate and size that the growth grew this time was alarming. Even the vet was taken aback at how large it was this time.

She started to draw it out & it was blood. She looked at it under a scope & concluded my boy has cancer.

He has surgery next week to have the mass removed. We’re not going to do further testing on him. We talked about it last nite and came to the conclusion that even if we could do radiation, I’m not going to put him through that. He’s 10 yrs old. He’s still active, this mass has NEVER slowed him down (see above counter surfing!) and I don’t want treatments to age him.
Dr. F feels that just having it removed will be all he needs. And even that isn’t necessary, the concern to leaving it is if it continues to grow – it could split open, which is very painful.
So if you could say a prayer for my boy, I sure would appreciate it.
He holds this family’s heart in his 79 lb body…

How we spent our 2011 holidays..

The last few months have been crazy. Between w/my broken heel, Dennis’ motorcycle accident that led to a broken leg & two blood clots, switching Cai’s school b/c her teacher was negative about Cadence’s school work, getting Bry’s speech evaluated, blogging was basically non-existent. As long as I keep waking up early, I thought I’d take some time to blog about Cai’s school change, Thanksgiving & Christmas 2011.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun – we got up – watched the Macy’s Parade, cooked dinner & had my family over. The kids had a lot of fun & we were all exhausted by the end of the night!

I’ve always been really worried about Cadence & any learning disabilities she may/does have. Her speech was/is an issue, she’s not at a 1st grade level in language and I worry about that stuff. I expressed concern to her teacher about 6 wks into the school year. She blew me off saying by the 1st of the year it would ‘click’. 6 wks later she tells me she’s worried about Cai and how behind she is. WHAT?!! You couldn’t have contacted me before this? Now we’re into mid-Nov. Come on!!! I was flipping out. When I asked what I could do – she blew me off again saying ‘she’ll always be behind & in intervention.’ Unacceptable. If she’s going to be behind and NOTHING will change that – FINE. BUT I won’t sit by and just let her be behind – we will put any & all resources available to work for her.
I contacted the local Catholic school two days later & the Monday after Thanksgiving, she started a new school.
She LOVES it there. The first few weeks were rough – besides a much earlier start (she has to catch the bus @ 6:55 instead of 8:15) and being the new kid (she has a really hard time w/change & adjustment anyway), I expected that. She continued to tell me she wanted to go to 2nd grade at her old school – but she’s now excited about going to 2nd grade here!
THANK YOU GOD!
I prayed and cried and prayed some more. I knew God would put her where she belonged. I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Christmas Eve was the traditional evening at Marge’s. First we went to Mass, then to her house, had dinner & opened gifts. When we got home, the girls opened their Christmas Eve gift from us…matching pj’s for Christmas morning.

We sent them outside to leave treats for the reindeer…

The next morning – both girls were excited to see what Santa brought them. They were both happy w/all the loot…it took 2 days to clean up…haha..no really – it did.

We went to my sister’s for dinner – it was nice. We usually host – but she just moved into a house & was excited to be the one to do dinner. I was too – w/our foot/leg issues, hobbling around to make a big dinner sucks.

For the New Year, we went to my friend Selena’s house. She & her husband are getting divorced and so I thought company would be nice. We left around 10:30 (Bryleigh was beat) & got home around 11:15. We put Bry to bed – Cadence, Dennis & I stayed up & watched the ball drop. Everyone was in bed & asleep before 12:30…that’s just how we roll in my house – ha!

Starting later this week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I will be giving away a $25 gift card to Godiva, a dvd of The Notebook and pink snuggie to cuddle in!
Check back later to enter…

It’s My Party & I’ll Cry if I Want To…AND winner

Getting ready for a b/day party usually includes running around last minute, frantic over forgetting something (like ice cream!). I love my kids to death – but they definitely add to my last minute-I’m-forgetting-something-stress.
I had a brilliant idea – they could stay the night w/Aunt Sisa! Duh – why didn’t I think of that before?!

They were both excited – and it appears the dogs were happy to have two extra kids to sleep on.

The national worry about how vicious pits are is quite obvious as evidenced above..

Staying with my sister usually means the girls do not get enough sleep. They come home tired and crabby. I did not figure that into the equation of no kids in the way while I did my last minute things.

O.M.G. were they crabby on Saturday. Cadence cried about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. It was stressing me out more than if they had just stayed home the night before.
We got through MOST of the party without a tear, but before and after were a true test of my love to her. Grrrr.

Dennis didn’t want me to make her cake – he said I’d make a mess (true) and be stressed (true) and really pissed if it didn’t turn out (beyond true). He ordered one from Meijer & we threw on some LaLaLoopsy mini-dolls.

The only downside…Dennis ordered a SHEET cake. As in it could feed a small village. We did not invite a small village over, so we have probably ½ of it left. That is even with us giving everyone that came to my house pieces the size of a brick to take home!

I was looking forward to sleeping in yesterday – or trying to – since I’ve been getting up uber-early as of late. I was actually heading in the right direction until 7:10 when I heard a loud boom & Bryleigh started crying over the baby monitor. I jumped up to get her - she was already coming out of her room. She had fallen out of her bed. My poor pumpkin. I brought her to bed w/me & she fell right to sleep. I did too, for about a ½ hr. That was the latest I’ve slept in about 2 wks!

Yesterday the kids had their Valentine pictures (our photographer was doing a V-day special – no we do not always get V-day pics!) and this is one of the outfits Cai changed in to during it…

After we went to dinner @ TGIF – a gift card from my momma from Christmas & stopped at Walmart after to pick up a bed rail so my baby doesn’t fall out anymore…and finally home to relax. Dennis made a fire & the girls played w/the Lego Friends Cai got for her b/day. The family room got hot FAST – the girls faces were beet red…. Mine probably was too – but I didn’t take photographic proof..the girls looked cute..me – not so much!

Finally, the winner of the ‘One for the Money’ movie give-away…

Jacqueline @ Expanding Experiences

On your mark, get set…PARTY!!

Tomorrow is Cadence’s 7th b/day party. Not only am I NOT prepared, there is no excitement or energy available for the prepping.
I’ve been getting up early every day this week…for no reason – just waking up early. I mean – early. Tuesday I was up @ 3:55. Two days I woke up at 4:45. I mean, come on…can I get 6 hrs of sleep please!

Cadence opening a gift on her actual b/day!


I was extremely bummed when the lady who has done Bry’s 2 cakes called me & said she couldn’t do Cai’s. It was my fault. Dennis getting diagnosed w/DVT’s, my foot, cheer practice & Bry’s speech testing have taken over my life. I just kept forgetting to call her with the final details.

I’m going to TRY to make her a cake. It’s a LaLa Loopsy theme – so it shouldn’t be too hard. I have no doubt it will be edible..I’m just hoping it’s pretty too. I’m not really into treat bags to go home – I don’t like when the girls get them & I don’t like giving them. They seem like a waste of $. All those little trinkets end up in the trash w/in days of the party. I’m going to make button cookies & tie them together w/ribbon. I also am thinking of making a punch wall (nothing like waiting until.the.very.last.minute.) and put like little candy bars in it..maybe a pencil or small box of crayons.

She really wanted an ipod touch – but I can’t bring myself to spend that much $ when she doesn’t take very good care of her DS. I did find a used one on ebay for $60…I think I will give her that & Bryleigh a leapfrog tab in their Easter baskets.
Her present is new bedding for her bunkbeds, a new lamp for her nite stand & a few other little pieces for her room.

Speaking of beds – Bryleigh is now in her ‘big girl’ bed! She’s been sleeping in it almost a week & is doing GREAT. The first 2 nites/naps were a bit of a test – but after realizing we weren’t joking, she doesn’t push and falls to sleep as perfectly as she did in her crib! Yay Bug!

Wish me luck tomorrow – I’m hoping I’ll get a shot of energy to finish everything up. Two more days until I announce the winner to the Movie Pack!