A whole lot of happy in not a lot of time

This past week was my birthday, and my mom came to visit for the weekend. It was a quick, but fun, trip. There were quite a few Christmas activities: neighborhood Christmas parade, visit to Santa, dining and playing in Downtown Disney, and celebrating our first round of Christmas.

Enjoying the sights at Downtown Disney

The Lego store - so much (free) fun!



Dinner at T-Rex

Thanks for the visit, Mia! We love you!

Christmas around our place

Although the month of December started out differently than expected, we have been celebrating Christmas with various activities this month. We also have our elf, Jingle, visiting us for awhile. So far there has only been one day when Jingle stayed in the same spot... until nap time, when he "mysteriously" relocated. Oops! Here are some pictures from the month so far.

Jingle even made it to Louisiana while we were there for Nanee's funeral!

Big Brother playing at Sea World's Christmas celebration

My little ornament maker 

He was so proud to get to decorate his own little tree.

Little Brother has done pretty well with the tree so far.

...and a funeral

I don't even know how to fully capture the beauty of the life of Papa Bear's grandmother in a blog post, so I'm not going to attempt. I will say that even though I only knew her for about ten years, I loved her dearly, and she will be missed. Papa Bear lost his grandmother suddenly this past Sunday morning. Later that day, the little boys and I flew to Louisiana to be with family. Papa Bear joined us Tuesday for the funeral, which we are all so grateful for. This was a time to celebrate Nanee's life and impact, and I am glad we were able to share memories of her. I want to share one thing (of many) that was both cute and sad over the couple of days there:
How much can a four year old grasp death? Oh, we can talk tenderly of what has happened, explain the person's absence and share the hope and joy that Nanee is now happily with Jesus and Big Daddy (her husband who passed about a year and a half earlier), but I know that my oldest son didn't really "grasp" it. And yet his beautiful innocence still surprised me when we showed up at Nanee's house, and he asked where she was.... and his same innocence touched me when I explained to him that Nanee's body (but not her soul - her soul was freely dancing with Jesus!) was in the closed casket. When I told him her body was in the casket, he said, "But how? I can't hear her laughing." Oh, how that brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. It still does as I write this. Big Brother remembers Nanee's laugh, and she did love to laugh. She was a happy lady, and we will miss her SO much. We already do, and I know it has only started to sink in. Until we see you again, Nanee, we love you!

Exploring Nanee's awesome backyard

Playing at Nanee's

A final picture at the standard "photo couch" :)

This is our picture with Nanee from our visit in January... a memory and visit I will treasure, and I'm glad she was able to meet her latest two great grandchildren.

Texas wedding weekend

This past weekend we traveled to Texas for the wedding of one of my sweet cousin's. Unfortunately the only picture I took with the gorgeous bride is on her phone (and I'm not going to bug her for it while she is on her honeymoon!), but I am so happy that my family was able to celebrate J & B's wedding day. While we were in Texas we also were able to see a lot of family (yea!), my best friend and her husband (yea! yea!), and make a stop at our alma mater. When we arrived in Texas the weather was in the 70s and the following day it was in the 30s! Crazy cold! I was glad to enjoy a fire, though.

Last weekend's corn maze

Last weekend we went to a 6 acre corn maze with friends. We had gone once before when Big Brother was about the age the Little Brother is now. It was a fairly overcast, dreary day, but we had a fun time and Papa Bear took some cute pictures.

 
Here is our leader.

Sometimes our leader let Little Brother carry the flag. 

We made it! 

Papa John's quick visit

Papa John had a business trip nearby and came a few days early to hang out with us. We had a fun couple of days, and then the boys enjoyed splashing around his hotel pool. Yes, it really is November. Thanks for the visit, Papa John!

Where does he get those silly expressions from?

Happy Veterans Day & Happy Marine Corps birthday (yesterday)

I came across this picture that my husband, a Marine, took. I thought it was appropriate for today.

Halloween and Grandpa Adams' visit

Grandpa Adams flew out to visit us on Halloween and the following weekend. We had a fun visit, and Big Brother really enjoyed trick-or-treating this year.

Grandpa Adams brought a few books for the boys that were his as a kid. Big Brother really liked that, even though he can't grasp how special it is for Grandpa Adams to part with them.

Thanks for the visit, Grandpa Adams! We love you!