Christmas Day

This was a different kind of Christmas Day than any others. We woke up Christmas morning and it was just Chuckie and I. This is the first Christmas for Colby and Sarah as a married couple, so of course they weren't here. Brandon spent Monday night with Ken & Kris, which is really his second family. So that left just Chuckie, Newman, Ollie and I. I felt a little sad. This is just a glimpse of what our future will be like when Brandon moves out. I really miss having small kids & waking up with them so excited on Christmas morning.

Luckily, I knew we were all getting together at Karen & Jay's home that afternoon. Kason is big enough this year to  unwrap presents, so it will be exciting! 5:00 couldn't get here fast enough!!

Chuckie and I slept in which was nice! We even made Buckeyes together which was fun. He was better at it than me. To me that is just funny!!

By the time we got to Karen's everyone was already there! Daddy didn't come because he's still recovering from the flu. We sure missed having them there with us. Kason was a pure joy as always.

Kason wanted to help Brandon carry presents in from our car. 

Kason asked could he have "one" present? So I said, "of course you can!"

(yes I'm a sucker for a cute little boy who asked very nicely)

This present was from Colby and Sarah. He had so much fun unwrapping it!

I think he was amazed this was his! I love how he's just sitting there looking at it!

These are the Buckeyes Chuckie and I made. This is the second time I've made them and the first time for Chuckie. I did make them smaller than the last ones Sarah and I made. These were easier to dip into chocolate. 

These cookies were delicious. I think Jay's Granny and Aunt Kathy made these snacks.

Sarah brought these chocolate brownies. They were very good!

Colby and Sarah got a gift card from Aunt Karen and Uncle Jay. I think it was to a restaurant.

Sarah unwrapping her gift from us. I apologized for using a bridal gift bag. It was the only one I had that was big enough to hold her gift. Haha!

She liked her chest. When she opened it up it had another smaller chest in it. 

Their pretty tree!!

Colby's western shirt from us. I just love that it's orange and blue. Go Gators!!

Brandon looks just thrilled. He really dislikes having his picture made. Maybe this is because I always have a camera in my hand? I tell him one day he'll be glad he has all these pics. He did like his Duck Commander t shirt. :)

Sarah loved her Old Navy jacket!! It's so much fun buying clothes for a girl. I'm sure not use to that!!

One of Kason's items on his Christmas list was an umbrella and a two tar (guitar). So I found him a little Elmo umbrella. He LOVED it!!! (Santa brought him a guitar that morning.)

He was trying to protect Karen from the rain. haha

I found this shirt at Tractor Supply which fit Colby to a "T". It said, "FBI, farm bred intelligence!!!"

Daddy and Moma bought Kason this John Deere tractor with a trailer! Kason LOVED this present!! He loves anything that is battery operated and loves having a trailer. Nanny told him they would have to pick up sticks for Pa & would put them in the smoke house!!

He jumped right on it!!

Special memories in the making!

Zoom Zoom!!

This little tractor goes pretty fast!! He loved driving it!

Two of my guys!

There's pure talent! Kason riding a horse with his new umbrella. Priceless!!

We were in the bathroom with Karen while she was bathing Kason. Jay sure loves picking on Moma. It's funny to watch them. :)

We brought chili over and Moma fixed her home made chicken noodle soup. Yes, I had chicken noodle. It was so very good. There was enough left I was able to take a bowl home with me!!

I gave Moma and Daddy & Karen and Jay a dvd of all the videos I had of Kason for the first year of his life. We watched most of it and they loved it!! I waited until Christmas day to compile all the videos and Karen's dvd turned out fine, but when I went to play Moma's dvd no videos showed up!! So I've got to reburn hers. That's what I get for waiting till the last minute. I want to be organized but I think that's not going to happen. I'm going to work on it in 2013!!

We had a wonderful time at Karen and Jay's. We always do! They have such homey home & they have plenty of room. Thanks, Karen & Jay for offering to have Christmas at your house. We love y'all so very much!!!

Until Next Time~

Merry Christmas!!

     We celebrated Christmas yesterday at my in laws house. We had a great day watching home movies, eating buckeyes, unwrapping gifts (we drew names this year to help keep the costs down for everyone), riding in the woods and spending quality time together. The guys even delivered hay that morning. Frances my mother in law, received a new video recorder so the guys took it with them to Inverness so we have the guys on camera, "working". We laughed so much watching this video. When you have Colby, Brandon and Dennis on camera, you're guaranteed laughs!!!

     We also took Christmas pics in front of the Christmas tree. We used our tripod (we bought it for $2.00 at a yard sale!) and Sarah's camera. They turned out great! Here's my favorites:

We are going to my sister and brother in laws house Christmas tomorrow afternoon and celebrating with them and my parents. I am so looking forward to watching Kason open his presents! It will be a fun day no doubt!!

Blessings~

A New Weight Loss Milestone!

I've reached several milestones in the past week! First, I started Plexus Slim July 16, 2012. I weighed 267 lbs and as of December 18th 2012 I weighed 233 lbs! That is 34 lbs gone forever!! I'm so excited the numbers keep going down!!! Here's a current pic of me:

Sometimes I have a hard time seeing in the mirror that I've lost this much weight. It's when I look at a "before" picture and then at my current pic is when I really can see the difference. I'm amazed at how 34 lbs makes me look totally different. I tear up when I look at my "before" pic because I remember that day. We were going to Fly Wheelers Antique Tractor Show / Antique Yard Sale. I love going but it takes a lot of energy. I made myself go and put on a happy face even though I felt like crap. I was miserable with my weight and felt stuck, like I had no hope in losing weight. It's a vicious cycle with Fibromyalgai because I gained weight from medicines I had to take just to function and had no energy what so ever, it was impossible to exercise! 

That's why I'm so excited to have found Plexus because not only does it help with weight loss but it also helps with my pain due to Fibro. So it's a win win situation!!!

My Pink Plexus team just keeps growing!! I have 12 ladies on my first down line. This is who I've personally signed up and then 7 more from ones they've signed up! So a total of 19 ladies on my team! I'm amazed how quickly my team has grown. These ladies are AWESOME!! I'm very thankful to have them in my life!!

If you would like more information about buying Plexus or becoming an Ambassador for Plexus please email me at: Amee0521@gmail.com or give me a call at 352 535 5381. I'd love to tell you all about Plexus!

Blessing to y'all~

Part Two!!

     Our fun day continued as I remembered I had a couple of gift cards for Build A Bear that I've had for at least two years! Karen, Kason or I had never been to Build A Bear so this was something brand new for all of us.
     It didn't taken Kason long before he had him a little doggie. It was fun watching him realize they were going to "stuff" him! When his doggie was almost all stuffed she told Kason that his doggie needed a heart. She asked him to grab a heart out of the bag and then told him to rub it together to make it nice and warm for him and then instructed him to put it in. How precious is that?

 It's so cute because after the lady handed him his stuffed doggie, she told him to give him a bath to get him all nice and clean! He loved doing that. What a great idea for them to have a bath tub. Kids love things like that!

I think Karen and I enjoyed Build A Bear as much as Kason did! 

A happy little boy with his doggie!

Kason even got a little doggie that matched his big doggie!

Guess who we spotted? Yes, it was the big guy aka Santa Claus.

Kason was literally dragging Karen over the bridge until I said, "stop, I have to take a pic!" hahaha!

Karen & I couldn't believe that Kason took off RUNNING to go see Santa! We didn't even think he would sit with Santa let along go running towards him! Wow. We were in shock to say the least.

Kason and Santa had lots of things to discuss. Santa asked Kason, "what do you want for Christmas?" Kason replied, "I want a two-tar (guitar)".  I suspect there will be one of these under his tree on Christmas morning. Oh what a fun age he's at!

While we were at the store A Christmas to Remember, Karen bought Elf on the Shelf!! I was more excited than Karen was because I followed a few blogs last year and I knew what it was all about. It didn't take Karen long to see what all the fun was about. Her and Kason read the book that night! Kason named his elf, "George Henry". That little kid does have an imagination!  

All in all, this was such an awesome day. I love seeing things through Kason's eyes. It makes me realize how fast time flies. It seems forever a go when my boys were this little. I have not taken these moments with Kason for granted! Thank you Karen, for sharing this special day with me. We were missing one person: our sweet Moma. She couldn't come because this is there busy season at the meat department so she was busy working. :(   (they have their own meat processing business & with it being deer season this is there busy time of year).

I thank God for all of my blessings which are many. I'm thoroughly enjoying being able to work from home and having a flexible schedule!

Blessings~

Thought & Prayers

     We are all still in shock over Friday's tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. My heart breaks for everyone involved. It's something that is completely uncomprehendable. When the pics were released of the children and teachers it seemed even more real to me. I've cried tears for what was and could have been for these families. It's hard enough that this happened and with Christmas being so close it's going to make it even more difficult.
     I was able to spend time with my little nephew this weekend and as I snapped pics and videos of him I thought, we never know how much time we will have with a loved one. It's made me realize how precious our time is. You never know when you take a picture of someone, will it be the last one? I know we're not suppose to worry about whats to come but sometimes it's hard not too. I do know that we are blessed to have an avenue of prayer with our heavenly Father. He's always ready to listen to us and knows what we need before we do. He's just waiting for us to talk to Him..
     My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved. (((hugs))) to all of you.
Blessings~
   

To Look Through A Childs Eyes

     I love spending time with my sister and her little man aka my sweet nephew. It doesn't matter what we do as long as we spend time together. This day actually happened several weeks ago but I'm just now getting around to writing about it. :)

     I met Karen and Kason in Trenton and rode with them to Gainesville. Karen had a dentist appointment so I went with her so I could watch Kason while she could be seen.

     Kason and I sat in the waiting room when Karen was called to the back. I'm so glad Kason has manners, he's not hyper, and just a well behaved little fella. What did we do you may ask? We read books, I took tons of pics of him with my iPhone (forgive me for the quality of these photos), he played with his trucks, we ate little gold fish crackers, (I totally forgot how good those were!),& we took three potty breaks (for Kason). That meant I had to pack up all of his little toys, books and snacks just to go to the bathroom. I wouldn't dare leave his things in the waiting room. Here's a few pics I took while in the waiting room:

He has a "play" phone!

He loved this book. I took a pic so I can search for it on ebay!

He's busy reading....

I said, "Kason will you go stand by the Christmas tree so I can get a pic?" He said, "yes mam". I love his good manners!

It was fun watching Kason play and reading him stories. It's amazing how something so simple was so enjoyable. We left the dentist office and went to the Family Christian Bookstore (one of our most favorite places to go). Then we decided to go to the Oaks Mall. Karen really wanted to get a personalized ornament so off to the mall we went. We unloaded Kason's stroller and headed inside.

Guess what Kason spotted? Hehehe...those dog gone ride on cars! He asked his Mommy if he could ride one and I mean who could tell the little fella no? So he picked a helicopter but quickly decided that wasn't for him. He then found one that he liked. He rode it and then his ride finished so he jumped out and had go get in another one. He didn't get to "ride" it, just sit in it. He was completely fine with that. It doesn't take much to make him happy. 

He decided this wasn't for him!

Oh the joys of being a kid!

We rounded the corner heading towards the ornament store and guess what he spots? I'll give you a hint: Choo Choo! Yes, the train!!! $6.00 later he and Karen are riding around in the mall! It was priceless. They were the only ones on the train and they rode in the caboose! He thought he was big stuff riding the train! I enjoyed seeing this adventure through his eyes. 

Mr. Happy!

The driver told Kason to holler if he saw rain deer or Santa Claus! I could tell he enjoyed his job!

I've been living life today through Kason's eyes. We had an absolute ball! 

There's more to this FUN day!! The best part will be in part 2! ( hint: Build a Bear & Santa Claus!)

Until Next Time~