Family Update and The Beginning of the Countdown

Whew! Can I tell you how relieved I am that our lives have slowed down tremendously since our last post? I am not sure how much I whined about it, but from August-the first week of December was the busiest season of my life! I am telling you--those of you who have a kid or two or more in all season sports and/or weekly practices, work a couple of jobs, teach your kids and maintain a household--I do not envy you AT ALL.  Being too busy can suck the life out of you! In addition, I also made a fatal, stupid, ignorant mistake. I pushed a power button. I knew better, but I had forgotten I was doing an IOS update on my MAC, actually installing a completely new one. And there was no going back. I had already prepared myself to lose everything, so when the phone rang to let me know there was nothing that could be done other than to start over, it didn't come as such a shock. Over 17,000 family pictures and videos...gone...resumes and cv, years of lectures and syllabi, and a family heirloom I was working on!! ALL GONE..and to add a little icing to the cake--that night I hit another button to reply to a text and that went all wrong as well. Lesson learned: be careful when you press buttons. AND WHEN YOUR BRAIN SAYS "YOU NEED TO BUY AN EXTERNAL DRIVE AND BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER...DO IT RIGHT THEN!"

I am thankful for this blog and Facebook, at least we have some salvaged pictures! So, I have a little catching up to do. I'll start with our local trip to Tishomingo State Park. It is our favorite park in MS. We love the Outcroppings Trail because there is plenty of beauty, and it is not just a "walk in the woods" like most MS hiking. And of course, I can't forget the time we took a group of teenagers hiking and wandered off the trail a little too much during our climbing and exploration and well, lets just say we kinda lost our way a bit. Actually, it resulted in me staying with the group, Johnny running until he found a road, then a house, then a ride...then coming back to retrieve us. It was dark when we got out! I loved youth ministry. We have so many fun memories. However, I am pretty sure we could not deal today. I mean, can you imagine what kind of disaster that would have been in the cell phone age? They would have all texted to their parents they were lost, parents would have left work, called the police...good grief! They learned a valuable survival lesson that day. When you are lost in the woods, it is best to stay where you are when you realize you need help--don't keep wandering! I have got to stop--that just triggered another fun memory. Back to my topic: here are some pictures of our day at Tish.

When we were done hiking, we ended with a picnic and the boys played a little football! 

We have also celebrated both boys' birthdays. John turned 12 on the 14th of December. He had 3 of his friends come spend the entire day Thursday and the night with us to celebrate. I love the stuff they come up with to do. Here, the three decked out in the pj's ran and hid while the other two hunted them down with nerf guns. I still cherish that John loves to play and has friends that will join in!

We had our traditional family party to celebrate as well. Since having John's is always a bit of a scheduling problem due to the date, we decided to host a dinner at Granny's house (Johnny's mom) since 3/4 of our families houses are in Nettleton. We had a few that were unable to come. But as always, I am so thankful our family can all come to together, laugh, and talk to each other. It truly is a blessing (in case you are unaware, both sets of our parents are divorced and have remarried). See, it is such a blessing.

 And, the silly picture...

 John even sported the facial hair for his 12th year celebration!

Just so you know, EVERYBODY needs a Granny like this one in your life! When you come visit Granny, you can sit in a chair, hollar her name and your need/want, and bam...it appears. You cannot judge our parenting based on our children's behavior at her house. She does what she wants! And just so you know, I plan to be just like her if I am ever a Granny!

And then, Christmas. In addition to our home, we had 6 family celebrations! Here a few highlights! Kiss your man...all the time, not just a Christmas! I just realized I didn't take very many pictures at all!

 John read the Christmas story at mom's house. She did a Jesus birthday party theme, complete with party food, cakes, and balloons!

 And they entertained at all the places that would give them the attention-lip syncing and dancing!

Love this, John was pretending he was little again. Oh, where did the time go? I am glad he didn't decide to jump on me like that. We would have probably had an ER visit. #mansizedchild 

After Christmas, we took a 3 day trip to Gulfshores and then made an overnight stop in Birmingham to spend a day climbing at High Point (an indoor climbing facility). We all had a great time! By 3:00 all our arms were like jello! I didn't take any pictures there, but here are a few from the beach!

And then there was cold...it stayed cold for so long, the lake froze over with an extremely thick sheet of ice. John Gannon could jump up and down on it and water would not come through and it would not break. Just to be on the safe side, I made them stay on the shallow side, but they had a blast.

 And, then there were ideas...

 And more ideas...let's get the ice out of here, and scoot it all over the lake (like ice hockey). Worked like a charm!

 I wish I had all the falls on video. We have lived here almost 18 years (March) and this is only the 2nd time it has frozen enough to get on. The previous time, we were hesitant to do so.  I looked out the window one morning and one our horses was walking around it. So, we geared up and the three of us skated around (Jackson wasn't born yet!)

And then we celebrated Jackson's upcoming 8th birthday ( Jan. 8th). New Years Day, three of his friends that he doesn't get to see often, came over and spent the night.

 It was SO cold. I set a timer for 20 minutes to let them at least be outside for a bit. They were in before it went off!

 And today (6th) we cooked breakfast for all of the family to come celebrate.

Now, we have nothing on the schedule, except my one day of work out of the home, Johnny's work and just normal life. From this point, we are preparing for our move in May. From today, it is exactly 19 weeks! A few minutes ago Johnny told me to make a list of what we need to do around here before we leave. Oh boy, did he say list? I love making lists! 

In the meantime, if you know of someone looking for a place to rent, we are willing to move on out in March! We are about 5-8 minutes from Toyota in Blue Springs (1 mile off of Birmingham Ridge); We are the first house in Union County-so it is E. Union school district--around 1500 sq feet +tons of indoor storage, almost 7 acres (fenced for horse), an outdoor storage shed, small barn, kids' clubhouse, and about 1 acre pond with all the bream and bass you want!

Live a Meaningful Life!