December 2018

We made it to December and we kicked off the most wonderful month of the year by celebrating my 36th birthday on December 3rd.

Throughout the day I had several sweet surprises show up on my doorstep, beginning with these gorgeous flowers from my friend and fellow liver transplant sister, Lisa.

Then, I found goodies from my friend Becky...

I LOVE the Rae Dunn collection so these gifts made me so happy! I have the most thoughtful friends and their thoughtfulness helped make my day extra special.

After school Kyndall and I treated ourselves to a birthday Icee, my favorite sweet treat!

Even Kyndall's friends from school wanted to make my day special...

"You are beautiful"

"You are kind"

"You are fun"

Matthew and Kyndall surprised me with a very generous Amazon gift card so that I could purchase the vinyl machine that I've been wanting for many, many years!

Dinner at my favorite restaurant, Oscar Delta

Cheesecake for dessert!

A few days prior to my actual birthday I celebrated with my "twin", Ashlie. She and I not only share the very same birthday and the same name, but we also both had liver transplants and we both relocated from Jackson, TN to the Dallas area in 2016 due to our husbands' jobs. Our friendship is definitely God ordained and I love sharing my day with her each year!

The weekend of my birthday we also went and picked out our Christmas tree. Last year Kyndall really wanted to start the tradition of a real tree, so we carried that on into 2018.

Before.....

After!

Kyndall has her own tree that she puts up each year as well

I let her decorate it however she wants and I promise not to change it, which is a hard promise for this perfectionist to keep!

We set out all of our decorations and made the whole house feel like Christmas

We started counting down the days!

Along with the Christmas traditions always comes the much anticipated arrival of Candy Cane, Kyndall's scout elf. This year she showed up with these pajamas for Kyndall as a gift.

Over the next few weeks Kyndall enjoyed seeing all of the ways Candy Cane revealed herself each day. She would fly back to the North Pole every night while Kyndall was sleeping and then return before she woke up the next morning and we never knew where we'd find her! Her job is to keep an eye on Kyndall and report back to Santa so that he knows whether or not she's being a good girl.

Here are some of the things Candy Cane did during her time here...

Look closely at our faces and notice the marker in Candy Cane's hand...

She spelled out the phrase "cookies?" using white chocolate chips and left a cookie mix for Kyndall

She took an "elfie" (elf selfie) on Kyndall's phone

Kyndall's friend Karli gave her this adorable cookie which she held onto until Christmas because she couldn't part with it!

Kyndall wrote letters to Candy Cane which we then shrunk in the oven and left for her to deliver to Santa. Candy Cane brought them back after Santa saw them and they are now keepsake ornaments for our tree!

Is it really even Christmas if you don't decorate a gingerbread house??

Since this time of year is absolutely CRAZY, the three of us decided to sneak away for a much needed little escape. We rented a quaint cabin in the beautiful hill country of Texas, just outside of Fredericksburg. We loved the peacefulness and isolation that the cabin offered but also enjoyed all the sights of downtown Fredericksburg. 

The road to our isolated cabin was full of all kinds of wildlife and livestock. We saw lots of deer, cattle and a few goats.

The view from our cabin was gorgeous!

Up early and ready to go explore

Lunch in downtown Fredericksburg

We strolled through all of the shops and took in the sights. Kyndall got a kick out of this t-shirt!

I talked him into buying this for his desk...It was too perfect!

Warming up with cookies and hot chocolate

After a day of walking and shopping, this one was worn out by the time we got to dinner!

Deer watching on our last morning at the cabin

We got back into town just in time for Kyndall to perform in the church Christmas program on Sunday night. She wasn't feeling very well but she sucked it up and did her best!

Church friends

Just a few nights later we attended Cookies with Claus at Kyndall's school. Kyndall has the sweetest friends and I love seeing them together during school events and activities.

Ella, Malani, Ashlyn, Kyndall and Adara

Kyndall and Karli

Kyndall still wasn't feeling very well and was actually diagnosed with strep and had to miss a few days of school. Her friend Karli made her this adorable cookie to cheer her up.

Each week one student from the class is chosen as "student of the week" and Kyndall was very excited that her time had finally come!

On the night of 2nd grade open house, we were able to see her student of the week display

2nd grade open house and Christmas program--Kyndall and Ashlyn

Kyndall and Bailee

2nd grade Christmas program

Kyndall and Malani

Kyndall and Tynlee

Ashlyn, Malani, Aubrey and Kyndall--Friends since kindergarten

Kyndall and Mrs. Colquette--the BEST teacher we've ever had!! I wish we could just stay in 2nd grade forever!

I love my Friday lunch dates with this girl and I look forward to them all week long!

I also love when I get to see what my girl does while she's at school each day. Her art teacher sends me pictures regularly and I enjoy them so much!

My heart was so happy when a friend of mine from back in Jackson sent me a picture of a piece of mail she received from the blood center. I'm glad that my story is still impacting people and hopefully encouraging them to donate!

Our neighborhood hosted an exotic animal encounter up at the clubhouse and our little animal lover was in her element!

This little otter did not like being left alone in the crate so Kyndall went over and comforted him. He was so pitiful but he held onto Kyndall's hand and that made her day!

The neighborhood also hosted Santa and Mrs. Claus the same day

The following week we made our annual visit to Santa at Bass Pro Shop. We've been doing this since Kyndall was a baby so we had to carry on the tradition!

She asked for an LOL doll house, a phone and a dog. Only one of those things would actually become a reality! Ha!

When at Bass Pro.....

Mary Poppins is my absolute favorite childhood movie and I think I was more excited than Kyndall was to see the sequel! We both loved it!

Making Christmas cookies....

Lunch buddies--Another picture sent to me by a teacher

Kyndall's teacher sent their letters to Santa to the local newspaper. Kyndall had high hopes for a puppy, an LOL mansion and a phone. This could prove to be a very disappointing Christmas!

For the last day of school before Christmas break I was put in charge of the 2nd grade Christmas party for all five classes. The teachers wanted to do a waffle bar for the kids so I agreed to make 120 waffles on the morning of the party. My kitchen smelled just like the Waffle House by the time I was done!

The kids loved it!

After they ate their waffles and treats, they played a game of Christmas BINGO

Mrs. Colquette, Malani, Ashlyn and Kyndall on the last day of school before Christmas break

The day of the class party was also an early release day so as soon as it was over we packed up the truck and headed HOME for Christmas!

Not much has changed since our trip home last Christmas! Totally by coincidence, she was wearing the very same clothes!

We spent the first half of our time back home in Thomasville at Nonie and Poppie's house.

We decided to have some fun by recreating a picture that was taken when Kyndall was just three months old on her very first Christmas.....

Playing with Abbie on Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve Candy Cane the elf made her very last trip back from the North Pole and she left this note for Kyndall telling her how proud she was of her and how much she would miss her until next Christmas.

Kyndall was pretty sad to see her go and she even shed tear over it

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve candlelight service at Grammy and G-Daddy's church in Tallahassee

We decided to break tradition this year and go out to dinner rather than having the traditional Christmas Eve meal that Grammy prepares. We ended up at Village Inn and most of us ordered breakfast for dinner! We all enjoyed it and agreed we should continue this tradition.

Pancakes for Christmas Eve dinner

After dinner we walked around Dorothy Oven park and admired all of the gorgeous Christmas lights

Back in Thomasville and ready for bed so that Santa could come!

Cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer

Remember that elf cookie? She left it out so that Santa could see it but also included a very specific note letting him know he could only look at it and no teat it!

All tucked in and ready for Santa to make his arrival!

We caught Santa on the Santa cam!

Rise and shine! It's Christmas morning!

Before we open a single gift, someone always reads the Christmas story straight from the Bible. It's a great way to set the tone for the day and remind us what we're really celebrating.

Nonie and Poppie generously granted her request for the LOL doll house

Matthew and I upgraded her to a new ipad

Nonie and Poppie made a good choice with this Polaroid camera--she loves it!

Ready to head to Two Egg for Christmas day part 2!

Grandma and Bowen

Bryce and Garrison

This year we decided to have a little fun by playing a game in which a gift card is wrapped up tightly in saran wrap and each person must try to unwrap it while wearing oven mitts. Whoever successfully unwraps it gets to keep the gift card. It's harder than you think!

My first time meeting AnnaBeth

Time for our annual game of Dirty Santa...

Two days after Christmas it was time to move over to Tallahassee where we would spend the rest of our time with Grammy and G-Daddy.

Kyndall loved meeting the neighbors' new puppy, Cooper!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on December 27th since Wyatt and Easton were with their Dad on Christmas day.

Easton and the deer had a moment....

Eleven THOUSAND beads...Thanks, Grammy and G-Daddy....thanks a lot.

A special gift from Grammy and G-Daddy--Her birthstone

My Dad surprised my Mom with this awesome new vacuum!

Every year my Mom gives each of us an ornament with a special meaning. This year Matthew got Princess Belle since she's his favorite Disney character--Ha!

Now I can keep track of her in the neighborhood!

Our ornaments from my Mom for 2018

The aftermath...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOODNIGHT!

We spent the next day at the mall...

And the park....

Playing with some of her new gifts

We made a trip to Valdosta to spend a day at Wild Adventures

Of course, she went straight for the animals....

I'm glad she has Aunt Kelly to ride these crazy rides with her 

On New Year's Eve we celebrated Kelly's birthday a couple weeks early

We spent the rest of the night playing games, watching the festivities in New York and waiting for the ball to drop....

Fun with Snapchat filters....

Kelly couldn't hang

We stayed up until midnight and toasted to 2019 with sparkling grape juice

2018 was a great year for our family of 3. Looking back, it was definitely a year of celebrations. Matthew and I celebrated a decade of marriage in April and in September we celebrated my fourth transplant anniversary as well as Kyndall's 8th birthday and her profession of faith through baptism all in the same week! In November we had an unexpected celebration when Matthew was offered a prestigious promotion at work for which we are very thankful. It was an eventful, BUSY year and I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end. We are looking forward with great anticipation to what 2019 will hold.

We said goodbye to our family bright and early the next morning after ten wonderful days back home for the holidays. We certainly made the most of our time and we made the drive back to Texas with tired eyes but full hearts!