December 2018 Catch Up

December is always my favorite... and 2018 was no different. 

We went to the Arts Center to have pictures made with Santa. Bennett had a long list which included a hoverboard. Holden's list was much simpler... a 'mote control dune buggy. 

We started out the Christmas season with our annual Pancakes and Pajamas Party and a visit from Santa.

LOOK at all these babies. Our group continues to grow each year and I could not be more thankful for this village of friends and their babies to do life with.

Holden had his Christmas program at school. It was adorable! He did the Reindeer Hokey Pokey. Hilarious.

We experienced another "first"... the first Christmas without my daddy. I went to the Candlelight Christmas service at the cemetery with Aunt Bennie Faye. It was so peaceful. I miss him more than words but I can't imagine the birthday celebration for Jesus that heaven holds.

December also brought about some unseasonably warm temperatures and rain... B did not mind a bit. Here he is taking advantage of the "pond" in the back yard. Notice the shorts and t-shirt and bare feet.

We had family Christmas pictures made for our Christmas cards. I LOVED how they turned out. 

We went on our annual Christmas movie trip. This year we saw The Grinch. Holden calls him "Mista Ginch." :) 

 

As part of my job as Children's Ministry Director at church, I headed up a Pancakes and Pajamas Party at our church. My biggest love thought he was too cool for this. My little love... he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

My big boy and I took a little time out to do a little crafting while Holden napped. I love being able to do fun stuff with each of them and give them their own special time.

Bo Jingles came and left us some fake snow and a build your own snowman kit in case it snowed. Newsflash... it didn't. Remember the kayak picture with the shorts and t-shirt. Yeah... no snow.

December also brought us SO MANY doctors visits. Two weeks before Christmas, Holden started running fever off and on and complaining his belly hurt. I thought stomach bug but he had a cough and would get choked and vomit but was eating and drinking normally. I was perplexed. We stayed home from school for three days waiting on the fever to stop. On Thursday, we went to school. Within 15 minutes of being there, he was covered in hive-like rashes. I took him to Doctor's C are because Dr. Ellenberg was booked. Yeah, less than helpful. She said it looked like a measles-like rash... or it could be an allergy... that she wasn't sure. She even took pictures. I was the one to hold him in one arm and STREP SWAB him myself with the other. We didn't get a good culture, obviously, so it was questionably negative. We left there with no diagnosis. I text Dr. Ellenberg and he told me to give him allergy meds to be safe but to stop in first thing the next morning. 

The next morning, our hero doctor came through. Strep test was positive and we were all fixed up with good meds. 

This next picture makes me smile. Bennett took some money to shop in the Penguin Patch at school. This is what he came home with for Davis. I love it! 

After much rain, we were finally able to have our Town Christmas Parade. Bennett and some friends and their daddies rode their "toys". Holden wasn't interested in riding. He wanted to watch and get candy. :) 

December also brought about new beginnings. My dad retired from Cooper after thirty something years of service. We were able to go celebrate with him at his work. 

So remember how my dear old dad retired on a Wednesday?? Well, on Thursday, he was put to work. I went to help with Bennett's class party at school while he picked up Holden. Apparently, H was hysterical when he picked him up. H had popped his nursemaids elbow and corrected it himself and wanted me. Well... we finished at Bennett's party...

and had to go get his picture made because the Slay Bells group in the parade won!! After we took pictures, I called Earl and we met at Las Cas. Holden was fine by that point. It was a rainy nasty day and B convinced Earl to take him to WalMart to let him shop for H for Christmas... so he did. He was really busy for his first day of retirement.

After he dropped Bennett back off from shopping, we decided to spend the nasty rainy day playing the Wii. During a golf game and some excessive celebration of a great putt, Bennett fell on the rug. No biggie... not even a lot of tears, honestly. I put him on the couch with an ice pack and a popcicle and went to change the clothes from the washer to the dryer. When I returned, he couldn't remember the passcode to his phone or why he had an ice pack. Upon further questioning, he couldn't remember his class party, the picture with his friends, eating at Las Cas, shopping with GeeGee or playing Wii. GeeGee to the rescue again. He came to watch Holden while Jonathan and I met at the ER. After several hours, tears on Bennett's part and mine, a CT scan, and a long visit later, we left late that night with a diagnosis of a mild concussion and "brain rest" as a treatment plan. 

In case you're wondering, this is what brain rest looks like. No bikes, four wheelers, phones, reading, electronics, etc. It was a hard 24 hours for our very active boy but we made it!

We celebrated Christmas a little early with Gram, PaPa G, Megan, Dustin and Dawson. 

We went to Bennett's Country Christmas to see the lights and inflatables. It didn't disappoint. The boys love some tacky.

The boys got to meet baby Savannah for the first time. They loved her!!!

 

Christmas Eve brought about another Dr. visit. Bennett wasn't himself and I was concerned he had gotten... the flu. I took him for a flu swab and it was negative. He was already on antibiotics for strep earlier in the week. No flu so we continued on knowing we weren't spreading the yuckies... 

We went to Christmas Communion on Christmas Eve...

And everyone humored me by taking our obligatory Christmas eve Christmas tree pictures after we spread our Reindeer Food, read our Christmas story, and set out Santa's cookies and milk.

Once everyone was all tucked in, it appeared Bo Jingles took a few selfies with my phone of him and the boys!!

We woke up to find that Santa had come!!! The boys must have been extra good this year.

Santa did good this year... and even gifted us a Disney Cruise!!!

On Christmas night, we went to Granddaddy's for supper and more gifts. Here is Granddaddy with four of six grandchildren. I'm so thankful for this crew. We were raised like siblings and still are close in daily life.

This gift was a hit! GaGa and Gee Gee gave the boys a GlowFish Tank. It's really neat!

On New Year's Eve, we took a family trip to the bowling alley because we realized that Holden was a great Wii bowler but had never been in real life. We had to fix that, so off we went.

We ended the night at Katie and Matt's for some new year's eve fun! Katie planned all sorts of fun games for the kids. We all loved it!

Even the daddies got in on the competitions!

We ended a great night with friends with fireworks and a milk toast. So long 2018... it was a good year with some heartbreak mixed in. We look forward to 2019 and all the good sure to come with a new baby and new adventures.