Roller skating the day away

What do you do on a rainy Georgia day?  You go roller skating for the first time!!

Layla and Hayden skated for the first time and it was a wild few hours.  There are bruises and bumps to prove how fun and frustrating it all was!!

Our friends have all skated before and they took a few minutes to get their balance and they all rolled away from us.  I needed some time too.  I haven't skated since I was a kid, but I did ok getting myself reintroduced to my wheels!

These two were very frustrated and wanted me to get them a walker, but no way Jose.  I just told them to take their time and go slow.  I'm not gonna lie, I was worried they'd hate it forever.  Layla fell and was so stinkin' frustrated she shed a few tears.  In the end they both started liking it and felt much more comfortable by the end of the day.

We all refueled with a snack and then headed back out!

What a fun way to spend a rainy day!!

Netsie and DeDe were here

We enjoyed a visit from my parents this week.  They drove 12 hours on Christmas Day to visit with us for several days.

They came with gifts for the children.  They got guns!  Layla was appreciative, but doesn't understand the whole gun thing.  I was the same way as a little girl.  Hayden was thrilled and ready to go shoot!

The weather was perfect the entire time they were here.  It was crazy December weather!  We spent a lot of time outside on the porch and even had several bonfires.

Cheers!!

DeDe learned all he wanted to know about the Wii U.  They played tons of games of bowling, golf and tennis.  I think DeDe wants his own Wii now!

As always we took them to our favorite Mexican food spot.  It was very enjoyable and we stuffed ourselves full of good food and Texas Margaritas.  

Baylor played in a bowl game and my mom wore an LSU shirt.  She's lucky she got to stay in the house.  My dad is a huge Tech fan and LSU played Tech that same day.  So ..... mark this down as the year she brought the wrong shirt.  It was funny!

My parents always get lovin' from our dogs.  Lily was gazing at DeDe!  It was so cute and of course Daisy followed him around the whole time he was here.  They threatened to steal her from us.  No way Jose!

My parents gave us a popcorn popper for our basement.  What a wonderful gift.  We are so thankful!  We have made popcorn every day since we got it.  We have finally mastered the arrt of popping yummy corn.  When I say we, I mean Gary.  I need to pay attention in case I want popcorn for lunch one day when he's at work.  HAHA!

Layla is so focused in this picture.  I just had to post it!

Thank you for the fun visit Netsie and DeDe!!

Christmas is here!

Santa was good to us this year!

Lily really loves her new toys.  She climbed onto the couch to show us her new chew toy and refused to let go of it.  Her jaws were clamped tight with excitement!

We had a fun Christmas toast and enjoyed a huge brunch.

We played with our toys and went to the movie theatre to see Daddy's Home.  Then we waited for my parents to arrive.  They drove to GA for a visit from TX.

Merry Merry Christmas 2015!!

Christmas Eve Pj's

We opened a gift on Christmas Eve like we do every other year, and it was PJ's!  Yay!  We all got new pajama bottoms and we love them!

Merry Merry Christmas Eve!

Much love!!

Christmas Eve is my favorite

We all enjoyed our traditional crab leg dinner tonight.  It was so good.  It's hard work breaking open the crab legs, but we love the yummy taste!

The kiddos baked cookies this morning and then decorated them.

Gary had to work for half the day and then he arrived and helped the kiddos decorate Santa's cookies.

Oh Daisy Mae!  You are a sweet pup!

We can't believe the weather here in Gerogia today!  It is a Sleeveless Christmas Eve!

she said no to hospice

The last week was a wild one emotionally.  As I mentioned in my last post, Gary got on a plane to Texas for work meetings but ended up visiting his mom in the hospital the whole time.  She was in pretty bad shape and due to her dementia and a possible stroke she failed 4 swallow tests.  She made it clear she didn't want a feeding tube, so hospice was the option the family agreed on.  She had moments of clarity and moments of unknown (to her) anger.  She was a roller coaster of emotions making her kids emotional also.

After 2 days in hospice she woke up and said she was hungry.  We knew she couldn't swallow, but she did.  We couldn't believe it as she ate soup from a spoon!  Now she seems to be eating well and even got out of bed to walk a bit.  What?  We are all in shock.  She isn't taking any medications.  She can't swallow pills, but she's doing good even without her blood pressure medicine.  Her mind is fuzzy due to no dementia medication, but all in all she seems to be proving the doctors wrong at 79 years old.

What in the world?  We have no idea what to think.  We are just taking it day to day.  A few days ago we thought she was dying and now she is making jokes and high fiving the nurses.  It's never easy with Gary's mom.  She's always been a fighter and I guess she just wasn't ready to meet Jesus.  One thing I have learned and continue to learn is doctors are practicing medicine.  They may not always be right, so never give up!  We are still day to day with MeMaw.  We aren't sure of the next steps but knowing her she will choose her own path!!

Ugly Sweater fun!

We got all dressed up in our ugly sweaters and ugly socks and headed to celebrate the season with friends!

Selfie stick fun y'all!  Lily stuck her tongue in my FACE!  And Daisy is not a happy camper!

My hot date, as you can see, is Cousin Eddie!

My little Kate!

Layla really worked hard on our Santa hat dessert.  It was a fun pinterest idea and they tasted amazing!

I sure do love my little creative chef!  She's great in the kitchen.

This is sadly the only picture I took of our night with friends.  I was just having too much fun and isn't that Sangria gorgeous?  Honestly my new girlfriends aren't that into social media and they don't even have Instagram.  What?  It's all good, but maybe I can talk them into joining! ;)  I really am doing a good job putting my phone away lately though.  I'm trying to be more present this holiday season.  It's hard for me to not take a million pictures!!

Christmas Break starts NOW!

We are starting off the Christmas break with a bang!

I have to be honest.  I was terrified of the Chipmunk movie, but it was my favorite one yet!

We are excited to turn off our early morning alarm clocks and enjoy some Christmas activities.  Tomorrow night we are busting out our ugly sweaters and joining friends to celebrate the season.  We keep praying for Me Maw, but we know she would want us to have some fun for her!

Merry Merry!