See ya later party

This week our buddies Adam and Amy moved about an hour away and our small group had a dinner for them to say "see ya later."  We don't plan on it being good-bye and hope to see them often! We will miss them in our small group and as friends as well.  Their friendship has been truly sweet.

Amy and Hannah

Me and Amy

Sweet Oak deciding he wants MB's tomato ha!

Two of my favorite people Mary Beth and Amy :)

Whitney and Amy

Lucy and Story

Some of the boys Luke and Eli with Brayden

The girlies...

Such a fun evening and we look forward to seeing them soon!

We love you Adam, Amy and crew!

Friends when life is just hard...

I am quite aware that in the midst of the holidays and all the fun festivities/busyness of seeing family, there are those that are hurting.  Whether it be the loss of a family member, infidelity, miscarriage or infertility, life is just plain hard sometimes.  My heart aches for those and I try not to forget them in the midst of the happy times, knowing it isn't and won't always be this way.  I have several friends going through some of these issues and I know that they will be encouraged with this verse God gave me this weekend.

 Never forget that when it feels like you can't hold yourself up, there is ONE who can.  And He is waiting on you to admit you need Him and that you can't do it alone.   He, indeed, is FAITHFUL!

It's neat to see how God works because I instagrammed this verse and read the comments that follow.  It was totally a GOD thing!!!

---------------------------------------------------------

I am thankful for Christmas decorations, stockings, and a warm fire to cozy up to on cold/dreary days!

Sunday morning I got to keep these sweet peas :)

It was clearly "best friend" day at our house because all 3 kids ended up spending it with their best bud in all the world!

Karis went to Mari-Morgans for the afternoon but then when Paige brought her home, she wanted to stay at our house and play for a while and since we were heading her way in just a little bit, she got to stay.  The girls were thrilled can you tell?!

Brayden with his best bed Eli...

And Story's family is moving an hour away to Oxford tomorrow (Monday) so Story came over so Adam and Amy could pack up boxes/moving truck.  These girls have NO idea how their life is about to change and it breaks my heart.  These two love each other!

Today I am thankful for God's words and friends for without them we would all be one big mess!

Thanksgiving at Lollis

Since me and most of my brothers were out of town visiting family for Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate with my family on Saturday night at mom's house.  She cooked a wonderful dinner and we enjoyed time hanging out with the family.  It was so good to spend time with everyone (we missed you Jonathan and Jenna!).

Matt and Tiff have started being a "friend family" to a 16 year old girl in a children's home.  They will basically take her home on some weekends and on holidays since she doesn't have a family to go home to.  She is super sweet and we were thankful she is part of the family!

Brayden had a random reaction and his lip swelled up really big.  I gave him Benadryl and within a couple of hours it went down.   You can kinda see it in this picture below...

Lucy carrying around one of her favorite baby dolls at Lolli's house...it's about as big as she is!

Sweet Uncle time...

The five grandkids (2 are foster and can't be shown quite yet)....

Brayden was so proud of these shirts that he and "Lil' B" had matching.  It was so cute!

The girls....

Two of my brothers Matt and Allen...I guess facial hair is the trend?!  

I guess these three were worn out from their long day.  They ALL three fell asleep in the living room when we got home.

Of course we got to see this big win when we got home that night!  Way to go REBS!

It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!

Brayden loses his first tooth!

On Black Friday, we enjoyed sleeping in and hanging out in our pj's until the afternoon.  We ended up getting out some later that afternoon when there weren't huge crowds.

But we did have some excitement and we were all 5 there to see it!   Brayden pulled his first tooth all by himself.  It has been loose for weeks and he was scared to death to pull it but today it was just hanging so we told him it had to come out!  Karis was his cheerleader!

 

Before and scared to death...

And immediately after....SOOOO relieved!  We were all screaming in excitement!

Comparison shot...

 We were so very proud of him!  He did so good.  Oh and by the way, the reason you don't see a big hole is because his other tooth had already completely come in BEHIND the loose tooth.  You can see it in the after picture.  CRAZY!  Karis' first tooth did the exact same thing!

Thanksgiving at Nonnie's

 After we left Grace's house we headed over to Corinth to see Jay's family for Thanksgiving.  Pop-Pop went to North Carolina to see his mom and daughters so we missed him.  We got there Thanksgiving Eve and the girls enjoyed some makeovers with Aunt Jessie.  They were in hog heaven!

 

While the girls were doing makeup and masks, Brayden worked hours on this masterpiece...

It was nice to sit by the fire and enjoy the evening!

Karis was SOOO proud to wear Aunt Jessie's hair extensions.  She kept looking at herself in the mirror ha!

Lucy wore Aunt Jessie's nightgown that she wore when she was little...

Snuggles with Nonnie :)

Thanksgiving morning we watched the parade and then headed over to Grandmother and Pinto's house for the big lunch.  The kids helped find/crack pecans in the yard.

Thankful to see Pinto up walking around.  He wants to be out in the yard working so bad but just isn't able to. :(

The weather was absolutely perfect so we took a walk around the neighborhood.

This is a little church around the corner from Grandmother's house that Nonnie went to VBS at when she was little.

I love Grandmother's house which is also the the house that Nonnie and Aunt Judy grew up in.  They take such good care of it and there isn't a speck of dirt or dust in that whole house.  It is so cute and cozy!

An hour before lunch was even ready, Lucy was in her seat ready to eat ha!

Grandmother is the best cook I know, hands down.  I want to be like her when I grow up!
 The food was SOOOOO good!

 The best meal I have had all year!

Obviously some kiddos (and their dad ahem!) were worn out!

While I did some Christmas shopping in Nonnie's shop, Jay took the kids to the park.   I love her shop it is so cute and they have great stuff in there.  This is just about a 1/4 of it.

We checked out some ads for deals on Black Friday and of course the kids threw in their Christmas wish list.

Jay asked them what they were thankful for and this was their response...so funny.

I love these two like they are my grandparents!

We got home on Wednesday at about 8:30 and I turned around and went to Target when it opened at 9 to see what kind of deals there were.  There wasn't anything I had to have and haven't been Black Friday (or Thursday) shopping in years I just wanted to get out in it for a while.  I did end up getting some kids' Christmas presents and stocking stuffers but that was about all.  It was fun though.  I got home around midnight.

It was a great Thanksgiving.  I was reminded once again how much I have to be thankful for and how much I take for granted so often.  I am also aware of where those gifts came from and for that, I am most thankful!