Weekend Update: Thanksgiving Edition, Part 2

Here we are, a week after Thanksgiving, and I still haven't finished talking about Thanksgiving weekend!  And since I'm getting not one, but two snow days, I figured there is no excuse.  :)

After we bid adieu to Zach's family, we stopped by to visit our friend Jonathan and Jordan for a bit.  Then we drove to NLR and checked into our hotel.  Once we had grabbed dinner there, we headed over to my stepsister Kim's house to visit with her, my other stepsister Shelly (who was in town from Chicago), Kim's daughter Amie, and Amie's daughter Harper.  I didn't take any photos since it was so late, but here is a #throwbackThursday pic of (some of) my dad's side of the family:

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at our hotel and headed down to LoCo (Lonoke County) to Carlisle to visit with my best friend Monica, her fiancé Rob, and their little girl Autumn.  Rob's two kids, Lauryn and Caleb, were also there!

I didn't get to attend Autumn's birthday party because I had to work, so we brought her present (literary and artistic board books) and visited a bit.  We ended up doing an impromptu photo shoot, and I got some pretty decent shots of this growing little family!

Lauryn declared that Jane Eyre is scary.  *lol*  That's your Auntie "Lorelai" for ya, Autumn!

I love this one on the right!

sweet growing family

Awww, I just love these folks!

After Monica's, we headed back up the road to Lonoke to see my mama, Matt (one of my brothers), and Will (my nephew).  I didn't take many photos because my mom's hip was bothering her, and she felt horrible, and my brother isn't much on having is picture taken anyway.  But here are two photos:

I'm praying that Mama feels much better very soon and that we will get more photos in next time.  Then we were on the road home.  We stopped in Morrilton, where we saw the most beautiful sky:

Isn't it spectacular?!

Well, that is our Thanksgiving weekend, minus Sunday.  But I'll try to talk about that tomorrow because that's when we decorated for Christmas.  :)

Be Grateful #1

Well, we have returned to the daily hustle and bustle of everyday living.  My classes start in one week! I am halfway ready and halfway prepared.  I've worked on various things but haven't completed any.  I am still dreaming of the holidays, and it doesn't help that we haven't had time to take down our decorations yet.  (It's happening this week!  We have a kitty tower to put up...)  It also doesn't help that I have bronchitis (sorta), finished my antibiotics yesterday, and still have drainage issues with a cough that comes and goes.  I'm just praying it doesn't turn into pneumonia.  I have toooooooo much to do!

Zach, Will, me, Matt, Lexi, and Mama

Will had to dress up as Phil Robertson (from Duck Dynasty) for church for some reason.  (I didn't ask.) That's why he is wearing all camo; usually, he is dressed to play football!

Also, I didn't get to fix my hair that morning, so it is WILD!

1)  I'm thankful we got to spend lots of time with family this weekend, even if it meant being away from home another weekend.  Saturday, we travelled to Batesville for the Pharr family Christmas with all of Zach's aunts and uncles and cousins.  I don't know some of them as well because they do live far away, and additionally, we have missed the last three gatherings in four years because of various reasons.  But Zach and I spent the night with his aunt Brenda and uncle Davey, so we could travel to Lonoke the next day; that allotted us an opportunity to visit just with them (as well as his cousin Lindsey and his uncle Chuck, both who also stayed since they live in our part of the state).  I didn't get any pictures, including the traditional full family shot, because I know lots of cameras were clicking, and they will eventually be sent to us.  On Sunday morning, we drove down to Lonoke to have Christmas with mama, brother, niece, and nephew finally.  (We had to head back home early at Christmas because of the snow and missed seeing them.)  We all had a lovely time over lunch, opening presents, and watching part of The Walking Dead.  *haha*  I'm so thankful God has seen that old wounds have been healed and that broken relationships have been mended.

2)  I'm thankful I've only gotten almost bronchitis.  (The doctor said it looked as if my body is trying to get it, but it's not full blown bronchitis yet.  At least it wasn't full blown last Thursday...)

3)  On that note, I'm thankful I can work from home when I feel cruddy.

4)  I'm thankful for my husband.  Very few things make my heart sing as when he turns to me in the car randomly and says, "I'm glad you're my wife."  He is my best friend, my champion, my lover.  We both understand that when we got married, we also married into each other's family, and I am thankful for that understanding and for the love we have for each other's relatives.

5)  I'm thankful for the new gold sheets Zach surprised me with!  He got them for Valentine's Day, but he was worried I wouldn't be pleased with them and didn't want me to be disappointed on the holiday, so he gave them to me early.  :)

6)  And it may be silly, but I am thankful Downton Abbey has started again.  Who's with me???

7)  I'm thankful for the good evaluations my students gave me.  Yes, it is nice to have my self-esteem and ego boosted, but mostly, I am happy to see that they are learning and enjoying my classes, even when they find them challenging.

8)  I'm thankful I got approved for the Remistart Extended Access program for this year.  This will help with our out-of-pocket costs for my Remicade treatments, which I have every other month; the medicine itself costs around $3,000 in Arkansas, which means it is worth $18,000 for the year.  We don't have to pay anywhere close to that amount because our insurance is GOOD, but since I still only work part-time, it does help to have some assistance.

9)  I'm thankful for randomly cheap raspberries at Sam's, so we can have raspberry chocolate chip ice cream.  As well as raspberries stuffed with white chocolate chips.  :)

10)  I'm thankful it's a new year with fresh opportunities and second chances to become a better me.  I feel a bit silly, but I am taping this (somewhat altered from the original in The Help) next to my bathroom mirror:  "You are kind.  You are smart.  You are beautiful.  You are important.  You are loved."  Because we all are.  :)

How is your New Year going thus far?

Photo a Day in September #2

2.  Above

Today was a busy but great day.  :)

We got up early, loaded up the car with my mama's luggage, and headed to Lonoke County!  Unfortunately, we were running almost an hour behind and then had to stop at Walgreens...and wait for the pharmacy to open.  Argh.  We finally arrived at my brother's church at 11:30ish and visited for a bit, letting my nephew Will open his birthday present.  (He turns TEN on the 25th!  We got him some LEGO bricks, of course.)  But I didn't get any pictures because we were rushing to meet Monica and Rob at Nick's for lunch!  (I'll get some with them when we go pick my mama up in three weeks!)

Awww, how I have missed Monica and Nick's!  Monica was one of my best friends in college, and we used to spend many nights going to local shows, talking about our books, classes, and teachers to the chagrin of my roommates, and overanalyzing our current romantic predicaments all. of. the. time.  I spent many weekends in LoCo at Monica's mom's house, and we would always go to Nick's for catfish, fried pickles, and fried pies.  (It's just about the only place to eat in town, so thank goodness, it's GOOD.  Too bad I forgot they brought back the corn fritters!  ;)

Monica is expecting a little girl named Autumn Gabrielle Elizabeth in November, and this is the first time for me to see her since she found out she was pregnant!  It was also my first time to meet Rob!  The last time I saw Monica, my Pearl (I'm her Ruby), was last summer when she came up to see HP 7.2 with me.  She had just started dating Rob at that point, so she was filling me in on all the details.  I have to say that I can now give my stamp of approval!  He's no longer a Snuffy but a nice guy.  :)

I also brought Monica her birthday present (honeysuckle lotion--her favorite) and some things for Baby A:  a blue dress with roses, pink ballet slippers, and...

Yep.  She's pretty much gonna be the coolest witch at Hogwarts when the time comes.  After all, she will have spit up on a DA bib!!  The day Monica found out she was having a girl, I ordered this.  It looked like the Etsy seller only had white and blue left, but THANKFULLY, she still had pink, too.  I was panicking until she emailed me back.  ;) Monica would only indulge me with a picture like this.  *lol*  And I HAD to get Zach to take a picture of us together, which he took while towering over us (hence, above).  Ah, how I have missed this lady!

Then we rushed back to Little Rock to make a 3 p.m. showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX theatre.  We had already seen it, but Zach wanted to see it in IMAX, and as his parents hadn't seen it, they joined us.  It was just as good this time around.

Good day, folks!