Meow Wolf Mom Day

Colton has been wanting to go to Meow Wolf for months and we finally made it happen today on his Mom Day. We headed straight to Grapevine Mills Mall this morning and got a quick bite to eat before heading to our 11:30am entry time. It was so much cooler than either of us even expected! We spent about 3 hours in the exhibit and even solved the mystery. We found out what happened to Jordan and we found the magical creature, Happy Garry. There was so much to explore and we both loved it.

After Meow Wolf, Colton picked out his one souvenir, a small Miles Tails Prower lego set from the Lego store. As we were wandering around, we noticed some signs for an Escape Room. Neither one of us had ever done an Escape Room before so we decided to check it out. The exact room that Colton wanted to do, The Playground, had a group going in 4 mins after we arrived! We quickly signed up and joined a really kind family of 6 for the experience. We "escaped" with 2 minutes to spare! We were all really engaged and it was so fun! There was another little boy Colton's age and they were so excited to work on the puzzles and challenges together. I would definitely do another Escape Room!

We wrapped up our day with an early dinner together at Rain Forest Cafe. Colton loves the "thunder storm" and we got to sit right by one of the beautiful fish tanks. 

Colton is looking over my shoulder right now and he says his favorite part of the Mom Day was Meow Wolf. He liked the washing machine slide the best. 

Oh! And now that I am thinking about it. Colton's Mom Day actually started last night when we stopped at Sonic for dinner on the way home from the farm, per his request, and he got to ride a horse! Only in East Texas is there a super nice young lady on a horse ordering her dinner at Sonic. Then, we stopped at the drive-through Country Christmas lights display and the boys had a great time hanging out the windows and looking at the lights.

I asked Colton today if we would continue Mom Days forever. He agreed it needs to be a forever thing. I love that idea and I love this creative, funny, and passionate young man. 

Rear View Mirror

I am so excited to finally be saying this - my journey to do everything I can to prevent breast cancer is behind me. It was so much longer and complicated than I ever expected, but I am through it. 

What has this included?

• Aug. 30-Sept. 4, 2022: Double mastectomy and longer than expected hospital stay due to complications
• Dec. 15, 2022: First reconstruction surgery (outpatient)
• April 20, 2023: Second reconstruction surgery (outpatient)
• Oct. 3, 2023: Third and final reconstruction surgery (outpatient). Essentially, I wanted the ladies to be much smaller. I wasn't sure about having this surgery, but my body didn't feel like my own and I felt large and awkward. I requested that they be reduced by 30%. The stiches took much longer to heal with this one, but once I was healed I was so grateful I had done it because I finally felt "normal."
• Dec. 16, 2023: One final minor touch - DONE!

I finally feel 100% healthy and like myself. It is like a weight has been lifted. I will never be 100% the same, but my goal has been to "forget" about how my body has changed for 95% of the time, and that has finally happened. When I see myself in the mirror and as I am moving through my life, my mind doesn't generally think about what I have been through and I don't feel different. I also think it took my brain a bit to catch up to new things. Kind of like when you cut your fingernails and you notice the change for a small while until your brain gets used to the new normal. That had to happen, but on a much larger scale.

While the last 18 months have been more challenging than I anticipated, I don't regret the decision. It feels like people all around me that are my same age are having health challenges and I am grateful I could make a choice to prevent a scary diagnosis that was more likely than not to occur had I not gone through this.

The flowers in the picture were from my friend Lorelei at work. Everyone has been SO supportive. Thank you Jesus for walking with me and protecting me every step of my life.

JR Christmas Choir Concert

 I got to see Jack Ranger sing a solo at NorthPark! He did so great. The concert was really festive and lots of shoppers stopped to enjoy the music in the atrium near the food court. I also got to stop in to Colton's class Christmas party!

JR Confirmation

We are so proud of Jack Ranger for completing confirmation at church this past semester. Our church uses the Alpha Junior curriculum for confirmation and I think it does a good job encouraging teens to consider how to make their faith their own. JR was in a group with Chandler Phillips as his leader and I led a table of girls in partnership with Ashley Shull. Our group of 5 girls were lovely! Our table group included Bea Haddock, Peyton Prieto, Caroline Mcafee, Eva Novakowski, and Madelyn Jennings.

In the back of the program there was a "Confirmation Class 2023" article and Ranger was quoted saying, "being a Christian is not just a title, but it is a process and God is always there to help me on that process."

The process included:

Confirmation Begins – September 10th at 6:00pm in the Bell Center 
Alpha Retreat – October 6th – 8th – Sky Ranch Van, TX 
Faith Statement Week – October 29th – November 3rd 
Confirmation Sunday – December 10th 

I had a small breast revision surgery on Oct. 3 so I only went to the Saturday of the retreat, but I had a wonderful time and was so glad I was able to attend some of the retreat. I had wanted to go, but sleeping in a bunk bed wasn't the best decision for me so I stayed at the farm and went out early Saturday morning and came home when the kids went to bed. The weather was beautiful and I got to play around camp with the kids and participate in 2 lessons.

We are so proud of our young man who is growing in stature and in maturity.

Sky Ranch Christmas Family Weekend

About a week before our Sky Ranch Christmas Family weekend Kelly Evans called and asked if we could keep her girls overnight so she could celebrate her 40th birthday with Roman and their friends. While I wanted to help, I thought it may not work due to us being at Sky Ranch. But then, I thought.... maybe the girls could come with us! I called Sky Ranch and they said they could easily add them to our reservation. It ended up being so much more fun with Kiyah and Rilyn! The girls were super well behaved and they said they had a great time. Rilyn and Colton played together and Ranger and Kiyah played together. Sadly, we missed Cadie because she stayed behind with DD and Big John to run the lights for a production at the high school.

We did ALL the things at Sky Ranch. Zip lines (Rilyn was 50.4 pounds and you had to be at least 50 pounds - she was SOOO excited), giant jumping pillow, mini-golf, laser tag, Christmas party, rockets, and Bucees on the way home! Rilyn was so sad (and tired) that she cried when she had to go home. She was such a snuggler and even let Grant carry her around a bit. Kiyah and Ranger had a good group of kids their age and they played ga-ga ball late into the evening both nights we were there.

Wonderful memories with wonderful cousins!

Thanksgiving at CRC

This year was fun, calm, delicious, and refreshing. The weather was cooperative, everyone contributed to the meal and we had tons to eat, Jess and her friend Dan came and we laughed until our stomachs hurt, the family played "Neanderthal poetry" and it was so funny, Jerry told lots of stories about when the "siblings" were young (his birthday sleepover at John and Dawna house when he was a teenager, and a waterbed that John and Dawna turned into a couch!), Austin planned a really special garden party with build-your-own oven-fired pizzas, and everyone chipped in on cleanup and many hands made light work.

We cut down a Christmas tree and decorated on the porch, the Hamm Bowl was a success with a great crowd and no players injured, the new TV mounted in the shop for football and movies was a big hit, the kids spent lots of time in the hot tub, Wes stayed in DD and Big John's room on the floor and it was his first overnight at the farm, and I found a local cleaning crew that cleaned the week of Thanksgiving which was so helpful. 

Another highlight of the break was Cadie getting her learner's permit! We were able to get an appointment at the Athens DMV and they were very helpful and the process didn't take long. Of course, it took forever to get all the documents required to actually get the permit, but once we were there it was easy. I can't believe we have an almost driver!