Home sweet home
We got back after being gone in Ohio for 10 days on Monday afternoon. 5 days in Ohio. 5 days in the car. 22 hours each way. Thousands of miles in between and yet, Ohio and Texas…they are both home.
Our life together began here. We had our babies here. This is home. But when we go to Ohio and see our family, it’s home too. Family that we adore but family that we don’t see but once or twice a year. The time we spend there is precious.
Grandmas and Great Grandmas
Sisters
Cousins
Our family is a melting pot of races and cultures and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My friends are home to me too. They live so very far and yet are so very close because they also live in my phone…we text and email daily. I love them.
It was a good, good visit.
On the way home we decided to stop in Nashville for the night to see the famous Christmas light display at the Opryland Resort. Um, yeah. You know me with Christmas. This was the most magical Christmas light display I’ve ever seen. I kind of wanted to live there.
But, then it was time to go home. Our Texas home. The home I love the most. Coming back to this
and this
and this.
Ya just can’t beat it.
It’s December which means Christmas is 25 days away. Let the giddy-ness continue.
10 years ago today…
10 years ago today it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Family who didn’t always come in town came that year because we were getting married a couple days after Thanksgiving and they wanted to be there. We had a quick ceremony at 10 am. We said our vows in front of God and our family and friends in a little church. I hugged my mom and cried because I was leaving Ohio that day to move to Texas and I knew that was killing her, even if she was happy for me.
10 years ago today I married my soul mate.
10 years of laughs and crying and trips and babies and love. The 10 best years of my life.
This year on Thanksgiving we not only celebrate everything else in our lives that we have to be thankful for…we celebrate us. Neither one of us would be where we are today without each other and for that I am eternally thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving and happy 10 years to The Man.
One more week…
1 more week til Thanksgiving.
1 more week til the official start to the holidays.
1 more week until our 10 year wedding anniversary.
And just 3 days until we’re back in Ohio where our lives began. I can’t wait. Hoping for a quiet weekend before Thanksgiving for y’all as we head out of town for ours.
Relaxing with a side of holiday excitement
My goal of relaxing was met this week.
Mostly.
I will admit I did conquer some Christmas shopping because now that I’m not working there is no way we’d be able to handle buying it all in 2 weeks like we usually do. The Man and I are last minuters…if that’s even a word. But besides buying a few things and walking slowly up and down aisles at Target a couple times this week, it’s been just the kind of week I planned and needed.
This week included:
Baby E
Could he be any cuter? Word is he got a haircut today. Can’t wait to see him Monday.
Early Christmas gifts
This rocking horse was supposed to be a Christmast gift. We happened to walk by it at Sam’s Club and there was no way we were gonna get out of there without it. Since I was going to get it for her anyway, I just figured she can have it now. She’s 2. She won’t notice she has 1 less gift on Christmas day. Score 1 for Mom. Plus, it made her so happy.
Relaxing at Nana’s
We spend a lot of time with The Man’s mom. Any free time we have we’re usually at her house or out with her. We get to talk and have coffee and the girls get to play with their cousin or each other. It’s a win-win for us all.
Buying a “oh my gosh please stop pointing and whining just take it so we can get out of here” toy. Thanks for tempting my kids endlessly, Target.
Again, she’s happy so another score.
I can almost smell the turkey and pumpkin pie baking. Can you?
Thinking, not doing…yet.
My weekend started like this…
A surprise Taylor Swift concert for Hannah.
My weekend ended like this…
With my girls coloring together. Hannah’s idea. My babies. Loved it.
Yesterday afternoon The Man’s mom reminded me that this is the last weekend we have at home before Thanksgiving. We’ll be traveling to Ohio again as it’s become our yearly Thanksgiving tradition. This is the 3rd annual 22 hour drive that is somewhat traumatizing and yet worth it once we’re there with our family. I said all that to say that since this is the last weekend before Thanksgiving it means that it’s Christmas decorating time. I’ve done this the past 2 years before we went to Ohio and it’s the most awesome thing to come home from an exhausting trip to a beautiful, decorated Christmas tree. Y’all know me and the holidays. But with decorating comes organized chaos so I’m choosing to spend this week relaxing and pulling a bare minimum week because from Saturday on, we’ll be busy until New Year.
That is not an exaggeration.
Sidenote: Hannah turns 9 next month. NINE.
Moving along…
I have Baby E 2 to 3 days a week. Livie was jealous of him for like the first week but since then? She’s all about “the baby”. If he drops his toy, she’s right there picking it up for him. If he cries even a little Livie’s all “MAMA! Baby’s crying!!!!” I remember when Livie was just born, Hannah thought she was a better mom to her than I was and constantly told me if Livie even made a peep. Livie? She’s the same way with this baby. While we’re done having kids, it’s nice to see that if we did ever have another one, she’d be a sweet big sister.
Lots of planning going on in my head about our drive to Ohio, Thanksgiving spent up there, Hannah’s birthday, and of course Christmas. Going to spend the week thinking and not doing…yet.
Thanksgiving is in 2 weeks and this one can’t stop talking about turkeys.
She’s a smart girl.
10 days later
I had 10 days with my family. 10 days with my girls. 10 days off work.
They were a good 10 days.
The usual stresses of being back home were still there. I was annoyed at times and tired most times but it was still a good vacation and I’m already looking forward to the next time I have off work which just so happens to be Christmas weekend (5 days off for me!) and we all know how I feel about Christmas. As I type this there is Christmas music blaring and I’m humming along. I’ve been stressed at work today trying to catch up on work but I just keep singing along because it’s Christmas and dammit, I’m not letting work or stress steal my joy.
Thank you all by the way for your awesome, sweet comments last week during my meltdown. I blog for reasons just like that…because y’all swooped in and picked me up when I didn’t think it was possible to be scraped off the floor. And so with that energy I did what I needed to do at work and packed Friday evening. I will say that driving to Ohio will not be done again for LONG time. Unless there is an emergency, God forbid, I think we all agree that yes plane tickets are expensive and we DID have to drive but driving is up there is NOT happening again for a long time.
Maybe ever.
The girls fought in the back seat. Hannah complained about not being able to get comfortable. The baby whined because she couldn’t sleep well. Someone even got road rage for no reason against us and ran us off the road. It was eventful and crazy and LONG (22 hours) and yeah…not happening again for years.
But we got there safely and visited and laughed and ATE so much (gained 3.5 lbs while I was gone. HEH.) and then Thanksgiving came and went and it was fabulous.
And so after drama on our way home that involved major traffic and our trip being delayed by hours I extended my vacation one more day and took the day off yesterday. I needed it. I didn’t unpack. I didn’t clean my house. I sat around and caught up on TV shows. I even attempted some cute Christmasy type pictures in hopes that Livie would cooperate because I had this grand idea that OMG if she cooperated that I’d get Hannah in a cute Christmas outfit and attempt a cute Christmas card picture. I’m giving myself a break this year and not sending out cards but I still wanted to make one to post on Facebook and send to my mom. Well, Hannah did awesome.
But when I threw Liv into the mix…
Disaster.
So that was the end of that. We’ll try again later this week.
Maybe.
Just a quick short post to let you know I survived my trip and I’m slowly settling back into our normal. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you’re eating lots of this today! Hope it’s FABULOUS!
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