Closing out 2007

Wow, I let it get WAY away from me for the holidays. But I'm finally posting some highlights. My number one New Year's Resolution for this year is to keep my blog updated once a week. I end up leaving out so much terrific stuff when I go so long without posting.

I have been AWFUL about taking pictures for the holidays this year. I don't know why I did so badly on that, I'm usually a picture fanatic. But I hardly took any photos at all. We had 6 nights of Christmas this year, and enjoyed every one of them. So, in a nutshell:

1. Friday before Christmas we went for a get together with our friends at the "Big House" of Cheryl's and Clay's family's. We took the kids and had a good time with Cheryl, Mike, Clay, their mom Rosemarie, Jason and his son Carson, Steve, and Lysa. I tasted one sip of absinthe for the first time ever, wasn't great but wasn't as bad as rum and tequila and other things I've tasted. Apparently absinthe has recently been made legal in the US again. Anyway, no pictures from that night, or any of the following ones. Kicking myself.

2. Saturday morning before Christmas we piled up in Rusty's truck and went to Alabama for a whirlwind trip to see all my family. It was nice traveling in the truck, it was very very roomy. But I tell ya, I sure missed my Corolla when we made stops at the gas stations. Our total cost for gas going to Alabama and back was $120. In my Corolla it's usually about $50-$55!!!! But we all agreed that it was a very comfy trip. That Saturday evening we went to the Rigsby Christmas at Patsy's house and visited with my Dad and Johnnie and all those relatives. We went back to the lake to spend the night and the next day we had Christmas with the Myhand side of the family. I was so glad to FINALLY get to see the babies, too, for the first time. Brandon and Christie had their little ones there. Emma is enough to make me wish I'd have gone on and tried to have a little girl at some point, she is adorable. And the twin boys were adorable also. I kept thinking to myself......how DO they do it??? I only had ONE baby at a time, and there is 5 1/2 years between them. I can't imagine having 3 little ones, but they appear to make it just fine and enjoy every minute of it. I miss mine being babies quite often. But then, I do enjoy them as they are right now too. Anway, we got to visit with Dustin, Randy, and Glenda as well - just seemed like such a short visit, wish we could have stayed longer. And of course, Mamaw, Papaw, Susan, Rando and their girls, Sherri, Josh, and Hannah, Greg and Marcia, and Brooke and Blake were there as well. We sure missed Chris and Kyle. It was all such a short, quick visit but I'm very thankful that we at least got that much of a visit! We usually don't even get out there at Christmas time. We drove home on Sunday afternoon and got here just in time to see the last half of the Redskins game.

3. Monday was Christmas Eve and we went to Rusty's dad's house that evening for Christmas with that side of his family. We had a good time there, and ate far too much of course. Donnie and Terri and the boys were there with us and we all had a nice, but short, visit with Rusty's dad and stepmom. On that MOnday morning I came to realize just how EXHAUSTED I was from all the chaos in the last week of school, plus the fast trip to Bama and back, and the last minute shopping......I decided I'd have a talk with Santa and see if he might could swing by our way a little early. So, Santa came and brought presents on Monday night while we were gone to Rusty's dad's house. Once we got home though, we were here nearly an HOUR before the kids even realized that he had been here. And we pretty much had to tell them to go look lol. But they ended up happy with what they got. They got less in quantity but more dollarwise than they usually get. They got an xbox 360 and numerous games for it. Tyler got some clothes, pajamas, Amazon gift certificate, and a nice new printer and Tanner got an Ipod shuffle, a cell phone, and some gameboy games. They were very happy. They really didn't ask for much this year. Thank goodness! lol

4. Christmas Day we slept late and then went to Aunt Joni's for a Christmas dinner with his mom's side of the family. We watched some old home movies she had of all of their family back in the 60's and 70's. I love watching old home movies. Aunt Joni has always had quite a collection of cats. And apparently Rusty was just caught up in the Christmas spirit that day because Tanner asked if he could have one and Rusty said YES! There were tons of them to choose from of course. While Rusty was looking at them all with Tanner, he picked out a long haired solid white female that was kinda shy. Tanner picked out a short haired playful Tabby male cat. Rusty couldn't talk Tanner into the solid white one, and Tanner couldn't talk Rusty into the Tabby cat. So we ended up bringing them BOTH home. The solid white female we named Eva, and the male we named Jack. They were obviously a bit ill so we took them to the vet the next day and got medicine for upper respiratory infection, ear mites, worms, and fleas. But they have done well here at the house. Jack is playful and into everything and very loving. Eva stays hidden all day long. Seriously, we don't even see her. But she comes out around 10pm and will let you pet her but not pick her up. And she gets up early and hangs out with Rusty in the early hours. But from 8am til 10pm she disappears to I don't know where. So, basically, Tanner and Rusty each picked out cats whose personalities totally suited each of them lol.

5. The day after Christmas we went to mom's house for our Mississippi Christmas together. We had such a good time up there, it's nice to get together and I hope we do more of it this year. THe kids enjoy being together and we all enjoy watching them be silly. We did a pizza Christmas this year, it was great. I got a new Bama blanket and a digital picture frame that shows slideshows, it's awesome.

The rest of the week we've just been hanging at the house playing with all our new stuff. Brooke has stayed a couple of nights this weekend, and we have Drew now too. So Tanner has been very happy having the both of them here all the time. I finally got the tree down yesterday (Jack had started it for me) and have gotten some minor cleaning done. Rusty got a game called Guitar Hero III for Christmas and we've all gotten addicted to it. It's a lot of fun, and not very easy either. I'm making plans to get on a crash diet after New Years because I've about eaten myself to death since Thanksgiving. Rusty's gained around 20 pounds and I've gained about 25. It happens so FAST.

So, my New Year's Resolutions:
1. update the blog every week
2. take more pictures for the blog
3. lose at least 25 pounds! Fast!
4. enclose the garage as a room, and move my favorite couch back home from the lakehouse lol

and I'm sure there are many more things I need to do. If all goes as planned, I'll be writing again on Friday................