New Years 2015

I am certain that 2015 is going to be fabulous! I just have a feeling!
This will be a quick post...
We loaded up and headed to the farm to celebrate New Years. We went with Daren & Rachel, their girls, their neighbors (the Wards) and their 2 girls. The Jacksons came down for the day on Tuesday.
We had a wonderful couple of days! The only drawback was that upon our arrival, we found that the house had a bit of a mouse infestation. If you know me, you know that I was not happy about this discovery. We finally have a GORGEOUS house to stay at when we go to the farm, and now its infested with MICE! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Basically, we found mice poop everywhere. We also found lots of bits of acorns all over the place. They made themselves at home downstairs where the kids sleep AND all over the kitchen, AND in all of our beds. G-R-O-S-S! I got a little cocky when I went into our bedroom, and I didn't think there was any mouse poop in our bed, until Rach quickly came and showed me several little pieces all over our comforter. Kill me, kill me now!!!! We had to clean EVERYTHING! We looked up some home remedies and discovered that mice don't like the smell of mint and they don't like dryer sheets. So, we rubbed dryer sheets all over ourselves and our beds AND I slept with an open tube of toothpaste (mint, of course) on my bedside table. We had no other choice that night because it was sooooooo late!
The next day, Rachel and Jennie-Blair went to Walmart and spent almost $100 on mice repellants. Who knew that they had plug-in mice repellants?? So cool! We ended up catching one mice in the middle of the night in one of the traps. We know that there are many more! We are out to get them!!!!!
Here are several pics of our time at the farm. Several times, we heard the kids say that they were having the "best experiences of their life"!

Christmas 2014

First of all, one of my goals for the New Year is to start blogging more again! I have done horrible for the past few years and I am determined to be better!

 I ended up with the flu the week before Christmas and it totally kicked my rear end! I've never felt so horrible in my entire life. Everything they say about the flu is true. My whole body hurt, even down to the follicles in my hair. On top of the flu, I also developed bronchitis, and I'm pretty sure that was coupled with a severe sinus infection. For about 3 days, straight blood was coming out of my nose. That may be TMI, but its true! I think I waited too long to go to the doctor because once I started the Tamiflu, I was too far gone. The Tamiflu made me puke, so I had to take Zofran on top of that. It was pretty much the week from hell. In the meantime, I was not able to finish ANY of my Christmas shopping. (just like last year...you'd think I'd learn my lesson by now and maybe try to finish all of my shopping a little early) And, I had to miss BOTH of my kids' class Christmas parties. Broke my heart. Thankfully, my mom took them and went in my place. It still wasn't the same as being there, but at least they got to go and have her with them. Dennis was a complete rock star that week. He had to do EVERYTHING for the kids, including finish my Christmas shopping! The whole week is a total blur, but I'm pretty sure one thing I will never forget is how horrible I felt!
On a more positive note, we thankfully got to enjoy our 4th annual sleepover at Opryland Hotel on Christmas Eve eve. Below are a few pics from our special night!

The kids did a reindeer scavenger hunt all through the hotel that night. Stay tuned to see if we won a free 2 nights stay at Opryland...!!!
Christmas Eve, we woke up at the hotel and came home to get ready for the days festivities. We started out at Deb's house, went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and then headed to mom's house to end the day there. It was such a fun day!

Once we got home from mom's, we let the kids put out the reindeer food and set the cookies/milk out and then it was OFF TO BED! Santa and I stayed up until after 3:00 a.m. this year...probably the latest we've ever stayed up on Christmas Eve. I was beyond exhausted!!

Christmas Day was wonderful!!!! Poor Sadie woke up at 5:45. Kill me now. Luckily, she held herself off until about 7:00 when the rest of us got up. They were sooooooo excited to see what all Santa brought them. Sawyer's big surprise was a basketball goal and Sadie got a soccer goal!

Dennis surprised all 3 of us BIGTIME and gave us a trip to Disney World for Spring Break. I was completely, 100% shocked. I had absolutely NO idea and it was the best surprise EVER! The way he did it was the sweetest! He had wrapped up a huge box and he had notes that went along with it that we had to follow. In the end, the kids each had a box to open, and I had a little bag to open. On the count of 3, we all had to open them together. Mine had our Disney passes in it. Sadie's had a huge stuffed Minnie Mouse and Sawyer's had a huge stuffed Mickey in it. I was screaming and crying and went straight to hug Dennis. Then he started crying. I think the kids were confused as to why we were crying! LOL We were all soooooooooo excited!!! It made my whole entire Christmas and the countdown is ON! I've been dying to go back since we went almost 3 years ago. I seriously cannot wait! We were able to chill all day long and we made a huge French toast breakfast. Dennis made a huge prime rib for dinner and it was delicious! Such a wonderful day!

There is no heartache that Heaven can't cure...

What a week...
We learned Tuesday morning that our pastor, Bro. David had gone to be with the Lord. Apparently it happened in the early hours of the morning. We didn't receive much more information than that, and although we had all speculated that the time was near, I know I'm not only speaking for myself when I say that we were still holding out so much hope that his earthly body would be completely healed. We learned the night of his funeral that he was ready to meet Jesus, which led me to believe that he must've gotten pretty miserable. For that reason, I am thankful that he got what he wished for. Although I was devastated by the news, and our whole church family grieves the loss of our fearless leader, I also know that he is exactly where he wants to be and he is happier than he has ever been in his life! Dennis told the kids about his passing on the way to school that morning and sweet Sadie leaned her head on the window and started to cry. That broke my heart. I know that she felt a sense of disappointment in her 7 year old mind. She has prayed for him every day for the past 20 months and she has watched me hit my knees by her bedside every night to lift him up as well. I think it was just hard for her to believe that he didn't make it.
That night, me, mom, and Rachel went to a benefit concert at Crosspoint Church for a 20-something year old girl that is battling Stage 4 Colon cancer. It was led by Natalie Grant. Other performers were Mandisa, Plumb, Building 429, lead singer of Casting Crowns, Danny Gokey, and Dave Barnes. It was so, so good. I left there that night feeling restored from the brokenness of learning about Bro. David's passing. I felt hopeful again and my eyes were reopened to what life is all about.
To make a long story short, as soon as I got back to my car, I noticed that I had missed several calls from a friend of mine. I called her back, and she said that she thought I needed to head to Skyline and see what was going on with a friend of ours' husband. She lives across the street from our friend and had seen through her window what looked like him being carried out on a stretcher and put into an ambulance. I decided to turn around and head to Skyline since I was already out. I get to the ER and quickly find out that he had died from a massive heart attack. I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. He was only 44 years old. Their daughter is Sadie's very best friend. They've been in school together since pre-school. Over the next couple of days, I watched my friend go from literally being in total shock at the hospital to having to deal with the grief, to planning the love of her life's funeral, to barely being able to walk, to saying goodbye to him as we buried him yesterday. Those poor, poor kids. They have a set of twin 7 year olds. The same age as Sadie Jane. How will they learn to live without their daddy? How will they be able to deal with watching their momma grieve day in and day out? How will she learn to become a single mom overnight?
So, on the exact same day, November 18th, we lost 2 men from 2 completely different walks of life, from 2 completely different causes. That will definitely cause you to do a quick reality check.
Bro. David's funeral was Friday night at church. It was precious. So many men got up and spoke so incredibly about him and told wonderful stories and truly honored him in every way. Brad's funeral was on Saturday. Completely heartbreaking to watch Cristi and the kids having to tell him good-bye.
I don't know what tomorrow holds...for our church family or for my friend. But, I DO know that "there is no heartache that Heaven can't cure". I heard those words today in a song, and I hope to one day share them with my friend. Right now, she needs to mourn her loss.
During this week of Thanksgiving, I will most definitely have a heart full of gratitude, but at the same time, I will be heartbroken for my friend and the whole Landrith family who will all be having to already learn how to adjust to their "new normal". Jesus be near. Jesus come quick.

Back to School...blah, blah, blah

Summer came and went...and went WAY too fast. We had a GREAT, great, great Summer, but oh how it hurts my heart when it is time for the kids to go back to school. A lot of people go through a sort of depression after Christmas, a big vacation, or after the wedding is over, etc.
Me? I go through mine when school starts. My sweet little kiddos that I've gotten to spend time with, love on, hug on, make memories with and take care of all Summer long, I now only get to see in the morning (when everyone is ill), and in the late afternoon (when everyone is exhausted). It bothers me! Sadie and I literally sat in her bed in the dark tonight and cried. How sad is that?? I think she was just crying because I was crying, but good grief! I couldn't stop! And it's only the 2nd full day of school! I will be fine in a few days...maybe.
They both LOVE their new teachers and their classes, which helps my heart...a little. I was (and still am) a little worried about Sawyer being in Pre-1st, but he has handled it like a champ. He doesn't seem affected by it at all. His teacher does a fantastic job of making those kids feel extra special and I am so thankful for that! I know they will both have a great year and hopefully I can get excited about it soon.
Here are a few pics from the first day of school.