Christmas Detox!

As you can see from my previous posts, the days leading up to Christmas were BUSY!  We had so many engagements and although I enjoyed them very much, I must admit I was looking forward to some down time just to rest.

The day after Christmas we packed up and "moved" over to my parents' house in Tallahassee.  We try to split the time evenly between the two families, so we spent 6 nights in Thomasville and 6 nights in Tallahassee.

Normally I keep my days in Tallahassee completely booked up with lunch dates, dinner dates, play dates and every other kind of social event you can think of.  I don't waste a single second sitting around when I could be seeing the friends and family that I miss so much.  But this time, my health kept me from doing that and I was kind of forced to hide out and take it easy at my parents' house.  It was torture, but I had to look out for my own best interest.  More on that in another post.

I did, however, break the rules a little and venture out for a very special lunch date!  My childhood best friend, Amber, who now lives in the Atlanta area, was in town visiting family as well and I couldn't possibly pass up this opportunity to see her!!  Somehow, we have the worst timing possible and we can never seem to coordinate our trips home to Tallahassee at the same time!  It's been way too long since I've hugged her neck!

Annnnnnddddd......She had some very exciting news to share!  Baby #3 is on the way!!  So happy for Amber and her family!  I'll start thinking PINK thoughts now!  =)

Our kiddos, plus Amber's nephew TJ, who also joined us for lunch

Our sweet Mamas, who are also BFFs!

Grandmas and their babies

Yes, this really happened.  While Amber and I visited outside, the boys rolled in the ditch next to the highway!  My little prissy girl just watched from afar but these boys had a big time!

Sweet!!

I was able to see a few other friends, and I'm so thankful that they were willing to come to my parents' house just to sit and visit with me since I couldn't get out and about to do fun things.  I did muster up the energy for a girls night out to a nice dinner and then back to Betsy's house to play cards.  It's always great to see my high school friends and catch up with them as well.  Miss them all so much!!

The rest of our time was spent lounging in our PJs with my Mom and playing with all of Kyndall's new Christmas gifts.  I was a hunting widow all week, as Matthew left every morning before daylight to go deer hunting with my Dad, and didn't return each night until after dinner time.  I'm glad he was able to do this, because it's something he looks forward to all year long and he really enjoys spending the time with my Dad.

 Of course, we had to try out her new flying toys and she had a blast with both of them!  I must admit, so did I!

I only had to shimmy myself up a tree once or twice to retrieve this thing for her! 

And as always, we spent lots of time doing this............

Girly girl and a tom boy---the total package!

The only other semi-exciting thing we did before heading home to Jackson was go out for a big family New Year's Eve dinner.  My in-laws came to town and everyone met up for an early dinner and then went back to my parents' house to ring in the new year.  Usually we build a bonfire, roast marshmallows, shuck oysters and play games.  But we were all just SO tired from the week prior and we also had a long drive ahead of us the next day.  Everyone fizzled out before midnight except for me, Mom and Matthew.  Together, we watched the ball drop on TV and toasted with sparkling grape juice!

New Year's Day was spent driving home and although I was dreading the traffic, it wasn't bad at all.  We made it home around dinner time and opted for an early bedtime!

Since then we've been decompressing from our Christmas vacation and getting back into our routine.  Kyndall hasn't had a nap in over a month and I'm realizing this week that we've probably now lost any hope of restoring that.  Not cool.  Mama needs her rest each day too!  We'll have to keep working on that.

It's been so cold here that we haven't even left the house since returning home last Wednesday!!  It's currently 7* outside with a wind chill of -13!  Yes, we will gladly stay inside where it's warm until this arctic weather passes on!  School has been canceled the past two days, not because of snow or ice but simply because of the frigid temps!  Definitely a new concept for this FL girl!

My Mom is coming up on Friday and we're looking forward to that!!  I'm having two medical procedures done on Monday the 13th at Vanderbilt and she'll be here to help me with those.  Now that she's retired, she has the freedom and flexibility to come up whenever she's needed and that brings me SO much peace of mind!  It's so hard not having family close by, especially when you're constantly in need of their care.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, beautiful, blessed Christmas and a safe and happy new year!  I'm looking forward to what 2014 will bring for our family.  2013 was not a banner year for us, so I'm hopeful that 2014 will turn that around!