Merry Christmas!

We celebrated our Christmas last night. The Ohio grandkids and their parents are staying the nights at Amy's mom's house since Joe has shingles again. But last night was one of the most wonderful nights I have ever had.

We had everyone here except Ryan. Long story, don't want to get into it. I'll tell the tale with pictures. It's been a while since I have posted pictures here.





My precious!



Emmeline





Mia



Aubriella (Auby)



Leah









Of course, no visit to Trailboss' house would be complete without visiting Jones. Apparently Auby and Mia ask about her a lot.



Don't forget me Grandmother!







Helping the girls give Jones sugar cubes was a bit difficult. They don't understand to keep their hands flat and fingers where she can't get them by accident.







Abby is a pro at feeding Jones



How gorgeous is this young lady?







Have I ever missed this sweet thing!



Aunt Stephy, Mia and Auby



Looks like Santa left one of his reindeer in Kansas!



We had a white Christmas this year. My son in law made this wonderful snowman



I mean really, how cute is that?

The girls got some must needed riding in



In more ways than one!



Dinner time was great





Time for more riding and some sit n' spin action



Busy busy busy!



The time finally came to start opening presents. None too soon for my precious!



See Leah there? Her goal in life is to put as many bows as possible on her head and/or in a box.









I hate pictures of myself but here I am thanking my sweet daughter for her presents for me.







This was one of Steph's favorite presents. It has men in it. Good looking men. I might have to borrow it for a while.

Love this mess!



Kids are so funny. The girls loved the little school buses more than anything!



It was so much fun. They are coming out tomorrow too. I am looking forward to it and have my Cannon ready for more picture taking!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I have just spent the last several hours with my most favorite people in the world. Here is who was in attendance today:

Abby....my precious and first grandaughter
Her sister Leah...she is a redhead and I could just eat her up!
Mia.....my long legged grandaughter from Ohio
Aubriella (Auby) her twin who is only a few minutes younger than Mia
Emmeline....my sweet and growing way too fast for me grandaughter who is the sister of the Ohio girls

Oh, and their parents were here too...except for Abby and Leah's daddy who was hard at work. Actually, it was so good to see Amy and her husband Jeremy, not to mention Amy's sister Beth (mother of my precious Abby and Leah). Don't get me wrong. I love seeing all of my kids. It is just that I can not get enough of ALL of my grandkids. Anyone reading this that is a grandparent knows exactly what I mean.

They have left now for Amy's mom's house where they will be spending the nights while they are in town. My sweet Joe has shingles again. I have to give it to him to day though. I know he was hurting something awful, but no one would have ever known. He acted just like he was fine. We all had a good time.

All of the grandkids went with everyone up to see Jones. I didn't have as many sugar cubes as I would have liked but we made the best of what we had. Jones seemed to really enjoy it. Bless her heart, she loves any attention she gets. Stephanie took all the grandkids (plus my darling son-in-law Jeremy) on the golfcart around the yard. They screamed with delight!

Tomorrow we will gather together and have our Christmas. I can not wait to see all of the kids open their presents. There is nothing else on Earth to compare to watching these precious kids open their presents. It's gonna be a good time in Kansas.

Rainy days and Mondays

It is raining like crazy in my neck of the woods today. Rainy days don't get me down but Monday sure can do the trick. Unless I am off of work that day which rarely happens. But I am happy to be gainfully employed and also that I enjoy my job. I have a lot to be thankful for in that regard. The past 3 jobs I have had literally landed in my lap. Well, that isn't true. They didn't actually appear in my lap but I received a phone call offering me the jobs which really is the same thing right? I guess I have done a good enough job with my past jobs that when these employers needed someone I was recommended. I have to say I am quite proud of that item.

I have 2 Christmas lunches to attend this coming week and I admit that I am looking forward to both of them. The first one is on Monday. It will consist of some very good chili and all the fixings, cupcakes, brownies and we all get a neat little gift bag. Plus all I have to do is literally walk across the street from my office and I am there. It is something that I have enjoyed for the past 4 years. The next one is on Wednesday given by my place of employment. We will enjoy some good ole bbq and all the fixings from a local restaurant by the name of Backyard BBQ. Oh my! Their food is to die for. At least I think so. Plus doesn't it always taste better when it is free? Or when you don't have to prepare it yourself? I think so.

I can hardly believe that Christmas is so close. We haven't even put our tree up yet! Steph is out of town for a few days visiting her aunt in Illinois. When she gets back we will get the tree down from the attic and get to decorating it. I love the evenings when it is dark in our great room with only the fireplace burning and the tree lit. We really need to get a new tree. I have had the same one for 17 yrs. I remember when I bought it. Steph was a baby and we had waited way too long to buy a real tree so Ryan and I ended up going to Walmart and buying it. It was $80.00 and has paid for itself over and over again. But it is really time for a new one. It's ok and all, I just would like to have one of the newer ones that look so much more real than this one does. Every year I look at the after Christmas sales on them but my word they are expensive. So we just keep pulling out the same one every year. I just had an idea. When I had my oral surgery last month I should have asked to keep one of the teeth and put it under my pillow with a note to the Tooth Fairy to please forgo the $1.00 and bring me a new fake Christmas tree. Drats.....foiled again.

We will have a nice Christmas this year. Due to some recent mending of fences we should have the whole family together. Except for one person. I'm not sure that my son will be here. I haven't heard from him in a few weeks so I'm not sure what is going on with that. It scares me, a lot, but I put it in God's hands. I surely can't do anything about it. Only He can look over him. I pray that he is ok. But I am not going to concentrate on that. He is a grown man and is responsible for himself.....I have raised him as well as I knew how. The rest is up to him. That's all I have to say about that.

Amy and her family will be here for Christmas and I cannot wait to see the whole family. Oh who am I kidding? I can't wait to get my hands on those babies!!!! They are growing like weeds of course and talking up a storm. It's gonna be a good time. I am thankful to have a 4 day weekend so I can be here for all of the festivities.

I really need to post some pictures of my puppies on here. I haven't done that in a long time! I don't blog like I used to as many of my used to be fellow bloggers don't. Some of my favorites blogs are no more. I miss them but I also understand that blogging can take a lot of time. Maybe someday they'll start back again, if only for a while. I made a lot of blog friends and I wonder what is doing on in their lives.

Twlight Series

Steph and I watched Eclipse yesterday afternoon. I couldn't believe that it was at Redbox. I don't know what it is about this series of movies that intrigues me so much. She and I have seen the first 3 movies together at the theater and we both have truly enjoyed them. Joe not so much but I understand that. He isn't a "going to the movies" type of person, much less a movie about vampires.

I think what fascinates me the most is that the relationship between Edward and Bella seems so pure. I admit that parts of it are a bit on the odd side and Heavens knows I don't believe in vampires but these movies hold my interest. I have not read the books, unlike Stephanie, so I never know what is going to happen next. She always knows though. Like when we were watching New Moon at the theater and I whispered to her that I just HAD to go potty. She said, "no Mom, wait a minute because it is almost over." I was glad she told me that because I would have missed the ending or at least most of it. I have never been much of a reader although I am a bit tempted by these stories. Steph told me yesterday that the author actually dreamed one of the meadow scenes. From that dream she wrote the entire story.

After we watched Eclipse she made chicken alfredo which was delicious. I was actually about to eat everything except the broccoli. I hated wasting it as I love broccoli but it was just too hard for my still sore mouth. Speaking of that, I am healing up well, it just takes time. I have to tell you that I am so tired of this. I have eaten my weight in potatoes and pimento cheese! It's a good thing I love both. But it will all be worth it in the long run. I keep looking at the big picture.

The temperates in West Kentucky are starting to feel a lot like Christmas. We even had some spitting snow over the weekend. Steph and I were out yesterday when I stopped to get gas. Let me tell you that wind was so cold that I got it started pumping using the debit card etc. and made Steph finish it! Isn't that why we have children? To do the things we don't want to do? I am only kidding of course. I love all of my kids. But I have to admit, Miss Stephanie does come in handy from time to time.

We are all doing well. The pups are happy, everyone is healthy and we are all looking forward to the holidays. It's going to be a fun on this year. It had been way too long since we have had toddlers in the house on Christmas morning. I can't wait to see (and of course take pictures) of the entire event. It's gonna be a good one!