All the Christmas Things

(I have no idea what is going on with this weird spacing thing at the top.  I"ll get on that in 2016.)

We have had a busy december as usual around here.

We visited Gatlinburg with my sister and her family and rode the Polar Express in Bryson City.

Carsyn got down to a little bluegrass and Hank tried to lift a boulder out of the display for his rock collection.

We stayed at the Buckberry Lodge again and stayed warm by the fire.

The babes thoroughly enjoyed every minute and I think they just might be on Santa's good list.

No trip is complete without visits to Dollywood, Mellow Mushroom, Bass Pro Shops, and Apple Barn.

Happy Birthday Aunt Mel!

The sweetest cousins!

We spent afternoons baking cookies, decking the halls, and decorating trees.

Sometimes we'd hang at our local favorite for lunch.



We managed to make a few trips to EKY to visit.



We celebrated Rosie's birthday.

I celebrated with my new neighbors.

We visited the tree lot and consumed no less than 39 marshmallows.

Of course no Christmas is complete without visits from Noodles and Blue Thunder.

We also sang Christmas carols with our classmates.

And wrapped it all up with a visit to Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

American Girl..

Check.

Tiffanys..



Check.

Green Hills Mall..

Check.

One hour wait for dinner at the hotel..

Check.

Naps..

Check.

Frustration with shopping too much..



Check.

Making up with momma..

Check.

Only one more sleep till Christmas!

Thankful Thoughts

Wow. I cannot believe its already the ninth day of December.  Where did November go?

Y'all probably know Thanksgiving is my favorite, favorite holiday so before we get into holiday spice flat whites (which are the yummiest), trees full of sap, and little elf spies, lets recap a few thankful thoughts.

Thankful for these 2 blonde beauties and all the love they hold in their hearts..

And of course these 4 babes who are always up to something or conspiring together.

This beauty who happens to be an amazing SIL and aunt.

This woman who prepares a Thanksgiving feast suited for a King but doesn't bat an eye at the request of a PB and J.

This man and all he has taught my husband without ever failing to listen.

These 2.. 

Because everything from buying groceries for a Thanksgiving feast to waiting 2 hours while your car gets serviced is always an adventure.

This little girl, who celebrated her big 2 year birthday and always puts a smile on my face.

These people..  Who have tolerated my boot wearing grouchiness for countless weeks.

This girl, who never complains and smiles incessantly..

Cute cousins that can make it through an entire Charlie Brown movie when supplied with plenty of popcorn and diet coke.

The opportunity to see Broadway shows in your own backyard and family members that trust you when you insist they accompany you

So, that's it.  Guess I'd better get back to decking the halls with these little turkeys.

Greetings and Recap

Hello friends!

Figured I'd do a little recap of what's been going on.

You probably know if you follow me on Insta that I fell a little over a week ago and broke my foot.

I have a fracture at my fifth metatarsal and the Orthopedic surgeon told me to take it easy and wear my boot and use my crutches and I might not have to have surgery.

I was sitting at the Doctor's office awaiting my boot when a nice fella sitting next to me asked what happened. I told him that I fell down my front steps chasing a cat and fractured my foot. I asked what happened to him and he told me he fell down a goat hill in Afghanistan.

#humbled

I asked if I could steal his story to sound more heroic but so far nobody's buying it.  In all seriousness I've wallowed in a bit of self pity but that put things in a bit of perspective. At this point I'm telling myself I'm fortunate I didn't crack my head open or injure my foot worse. Supposedly it would have been worse if I'd torn my tendon, but thanks to running those are nice and strong. So when my ankle turned over my tendon stretched but my bone snapped.

And when I get really down and can't sleep I watch Flo videos on youtube.

I mean if she can get through Ship to Wreck without hopping of that stool and breaking it down surely I can make it a few more weeks.  Hmmm..... wonder how she broke her foot? Maybe I'll google her story and use it?

Ok.  Back to my own problems.  

My foot hurts a little still, but mainly wearing the boot is just annoying. I've been taking it really easy though. Rosie and Shane have been taking care of me and the kids. So grateful for those two!

Speaking of which I think Rosie might be doing my job better anyway.

Kids in coordinated outfits out shopping and posted on Instagram!

She manages to drop the kids off at school ON TIME and bring me home Starbucks. Then proceeds to do my laundry. And clean.  And cook dinner.

#silverlining

So enough about that...

Last weekend was all about Midnight, Carsyn's class pet. Each weekend a different student gets to take Midnight home with them and keep a journal of everything they do. To say Carsyn was excited is an understatement. 

Here she is the day she got him.

They went to the library..

And then loaded up to head to EKY for visits at "Camp Rosie" and Shane's mom and dad's house.

Midnight visited the local pizza shop and got to plow potatoes with Pops and Hank.

Saturday Midnight got to visit my bestie's house for her daughter's birthday party.

Midnight also got to have a tea party in the playhouse Sunday morning.

When I broke my foot I laughed and told Shane I'd finally get to ride one of those motorized scooters at the grocery store. 

I took midnight along to buy snacks for the classroom for the week and we tore up those aisles..

They see me rollin..

Here we are looking "bootylicious" at Meijer.

This weekend I got a little scared because my foot hurt a lot and I figured I'd be feeling much better.

I made it to Carsy's ballet lessons on Saturday but other than that I just alternated between Fox News and Hallmark movies.



Its ok though..I had these littles to snuggle up to.



And Carsyn picked out some movies for us to watch together.



I kid.  I did not let her get that!! But it was seriously what she picked.

This kid.  Such personality.  But she did a wonderful job picking out her own outfit Monday :)

So that's about it.. How are y'all?

Got any broken foot advice for me?  Hopefully just 2 more weeks!