York Rite Installation and Christmas program

My husband is very involved in the Masonic Lodge and it's affiliate organizations. 

Here are some pictures from the York Rite installation and the Christmas program.

The Christmas observance is the prettiest ceremony I've ever seen.

Tyler turns 15

 My baby turned 15 today.  It's so hard to believe my 6'0" tall oy is growing up so fast. 

Every age so far has been my favorite.  Tyler is smart, sensitive, athletic, caring, funny, and just an all around great kid.  I honestly love every minute I spend with him.  We laugh together more than I ever imagined.  I didn't know what to expect but this journey has been one of pure joy. 

Tyler is a member of the student council, starts offense and defense, as well as kicker on the football team and plays basketball and soccer also.  He's in all honors classes and making terrific grades.  He just took the PSAT and his results said that he scored higher than 77% of Sophomores and he's only a Freshman. He spends most of his time trying to better himself, whether it's reading the Bible on his own, working out to get stronger or practicing many extra hours at the football field.
To say that I'm proud of him would definitely be an understatement.  He's a leader and has a sweet heart. 

And he loves his Momma and JimDad..that's the most important part.

We went out to eat just the four of us, then a couple of days later took my Mom out.  It's also my Mom's birthday the same day as Tyler.  How's that for a daughter!?

Hunter and JimDad

We even had winter weather for Tyler's birthday!

Allie wasn't sure what to think

Hunter and Tyler in 2003

Tyler at his Freshman football game - when did he get so big??  This is my favorite picture of us together!

The birthday kiddos!

Nana was singing Happy Birthday!  She's 76 and he's 15

 

Christmas decor

School year 2013-2014

Today was the first day of school for my sweeties. Tyler is a Freshman and Hunter is a 7th grader. It's so hard to believe they are in high school and middle school.  Time flies so fast!  

I had to laugh at some of Tyler's buddies because they were calling asking what time he was going to get there and what he was wearing.  I guess all the guys were wearing v neck t-shirts, khaki shorts and Sperrys.  You know, those are important decisions on your first day of high  school!

Shingles and a Happy New Year

If you've ever suffered from Shingles, you will know why I have felt horrible for the past month. 

Shingles stink!

Add a cold on top of that.....and I am down for the count.  I've never felt this bad for this long in my life.  I've had an achy, fever feeling for a month now and can't shake it.  I've missed two weeks of work and I feel horrible about it.  

We are spending a quiet night at home for New Years, just how I like it.  I'm really a homebody so it doesn't bother me at all to spend the evening with the boys and the hubby watching football.

We fixed hamburgers, fried potatoes and corn for dinner (the hubs request).  We also had chips with French Onion and Spinach dip, so bad yet so good.

We bought two bottles of sparkling grape juice for the boys to drink at midnight.  Small Fry loves the sparkling grape juice, the last time he had it was at our wedding three years ago. He probably had five glasses of it. He felt so grown up drinking it!

I'm not making any resolutions this year because they tend to never stick anyway-ha!  I am going to say that 2013 is going to be a great year. 2012-I will not miss at all. It ranks among the top three worst years behind the year my Dad died and the year of my divorce. Such a hard year concerning my Mom and having to make very difficult decisions, which I'm not good at doing at all.

I will say I would never have made it without my husband this year. What a rock he has been throughout this hard time. He never let's anything get him down and keeps me calm when I feel like I'm going crazy. Thank god for my sweet husband.

I wish all of our friends and family a Happy New Year!!!  May 2013 be the best year yet!

You say it's your birthday....

Yesterday was my 41st birthday. 

It really seemed like just another day.  We had two basketball games in different cities so we spent the evening watching basketball and traveling.  The one difference was.....

We went in my new SUV!!!!  We got a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  I am in love!!!

It has so many gagdets, I'll never figure them out!

Finally Happy

We moved my Mom into her assisted living apartment on Saturday and she seems to love it. What a relief for me!

Now I just have the task of packing her house up and storing things. How do you decide what is worth keeping and what's not worth it? That's one if my toughest decisions.

Randoms

1. My 8 year old Jeep Cherokee is having a few minor hiccups. The power steering is going out, my thermostat was shot and my 4th cylinder wasn't firing. I don't know much about cars but I do know that equals a lot of money for repairs. Gag.

2. I got my haircut short in a bob. I like it, it's much more manageable and easier to straighten in the mornings.

3. I love the pic of mr. H and our boys being silly. T just passed his Dad in height. He's now 5'11" tall. He's such a cutie!

Pioneer Days 5K-First Place

This morning we had to wake up at 5:45am-ugh, to go to the Pioneer Days 5K at the new park we have in town.  Every year our little town puts on a fun festival with rides, a 5K, a 10K, pet contests, a beauty pageant and yummy food. 

T and his friend thought the 5K would be fun and were hoping they would place. 

Well, they won.  First place. 

They had the exact same time, which I think was planned.  What great best friends!

Furniture Fun

I've been shopping for furniture for my Mom's senior apartment and of course, couldn't help looking for myself.

I am so in love with this set of Ashley furniture.

I'm in a blue mood lately.  It makes me feel calmer in this storm of my life.  I used to have red but it was too dramatic for me.  I'm sure I'll change my mind at some point but right now I love soothing colors.

I also love this look for the dining room.  So clean and fresh looking.

 

I would love to use white in my living room but I have a 13 year old and 11 year old.  They are boys. 

 

Enough said.

 

I have a deep need to make this.  How cute would this look on my mahogany colored front door?!

 

Moms Big Move

 We have finally convinced my Mom, after a horrible summer of illness, that it's better if she moved to an Assisted Living Senior Apartment.  I've been talking to her about it since January and she never would agree to it, saying she was fine and could handle herself living alone. 

Well, take Parkinsons Disease and add in a flooded house and she's had it.  She now knows that she can't handle her house by herself and she's just not safe anymore alone.  My Mom has a form of Parkinsons in which she will never get the tremors but she falls without warning.  She will get up to walk somewhere and for no reason, black out and just slump to the ground.  She's probably fallen no less than 100 times in the last 9 months.  She's suffered very little injury when falling, which has been a blessing but some of the falls required an emergency room visit.

I've learned a lot of things in the past 4 months. 

1.  Having a Power of Attorney does nothing when the adult you are taking care of can tell medical people that they want to live by themselves.  You can only ask someone to move to an assisted living, you can't make anyone do anything.

2. Low Sodium in an older person is the scariest thing I've been through. It makes the person confused, mean, agitated, combative, halucinate, and just say all around crazy things.  My Mom had low sodium and one day out of the blue became extremely agitated, refusing to go to the doctor, take care of herself, listen to anyone, etc.  I couldn't even get her to go to the doctor to see what was going on.  All this was happening in the middle of the flood restoration at her house and she refused to leave. She stayed in the middle of new flooring, painting, cleanup.  She told the restoration guys she wanted her garage painted red (on a grey house), she wanted to charge up her car so she could do donuts in the yard (seriously-how strange is that request), she wasn't eating right at all (she only ate baked sweet potato fries-that's it) and she was generally pissed off at everyone, especially me. 

By the way, there is nothing worse than hearing your parent tell you what a horrible child and person you were and are currently.  I know she's sick and wasn't talking in her right mind but that is a self-esteem killer right there.  If I hadn't had my husband and kids around, I don't know what I would have done.

3.  Parkinsons Disease just sucks.

4.  The guilt of having to move your parent into an Assisted Living is a killer.  It's like sending your child off the kindergarten by themselves.  I just want to make her friends for her and watch her all day and night.  So hard.



I have decided that I'll do whatever it takes to make my Mom happy and feel content about moving.  She's having to leave her furniture behind because it's too big so we bought all new furniture.  Bright cheery furniture!

Her new little kitchenette in her apartment

Her new cottage style headboard

Her cottage style loveseat-you have to be happy when sitting on this.

Big chair and ottoman

Cute drop leaf table

TV stand