HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLDEST BABYBOY!!!

....hmph...who cares about New Years Eve???  It's my oldest son's 37th Birthday!!!!

I don't care how many birthdays they have or how high the numbers get....they are still my babies!!!

Not only is he the best dad to his son Austin....

But he also has a little girl,  Josephine, who has him wrapped around all of her fingers....that he is an awesome dad to!!

See the pattern here?? She always seems to be in his arms!!

He also is a husband that is adored by his sweet bride!

As I sit here pulling up pictures for this post, I smile.  Knowing that all of the times we taught, guided and loved him has paid off.  What more can a parent ask for than to see the successes of his life so far??  Happy wife. Happy children. And smiles on his face!!!!

37 years seems like a sparkly ripple on the water...bright and shining but goes past your sight so quickly.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD!!!

So......This Is Christmas! 2016

We had so much fun during the Christmas weekend.  

Everyone started gathering on Friday and the cousin's fun began ... they were busy until the last car pulled out after the big day!

This year took on a new meaning of 'family' ... it was 3 weeks after my son's heart surgery.  All of a sudden, the most important thing to me was BEING WITH my family.  And watching them talk to each other and listening to them laugh.  I made many a mental image in my head of our time together.

Which lead to a very fun activity that I shared with my recovering son!

HEN-DUCKEN TIME!!

Matt isn't able to hunt right now but his dad and brother did their magic and brought some back for him.

Kids gathered round to watch him clean them in preparation for the next step.

Like a professional butcher, he de-boned a mallard duck and stuffed it with boudin!

and then sewed it back together

 then stuffed the duck into a big ol' hen that he once again de-boned like a pro!

and sewed it up again.  By now, a crowd had gathered to watch....ok, it was just dad and brother, but they were totally amazed too!

TA-DAAAA!!!

The bird was delicious but even more delicious was the time I had with my boy....time that I used to take for granted.  No more.

It was a very merry Christmas Eve!

If I thought "I" had fun on xmas eve, just wait till you see how much fun those grandkids had.....

A little PEACE amongst the CRAZY!!

sigh....I'm so far behind on my blog...

I still have pics and stories from Thanksgiving to share ...

and all the lil Christmas elves who dress up like my grandchildren, have had lots of pics of their fun to include in this yrs edition of our diary.

But things have been a little topsy turvy (are those even words?!) this season and I haven't done all the decorating I usually do....and have realized it doesn't really matter.  I do want to have all our stories told, tho, before the end of the year - so I will get to it.

and not to worry.....my CRAZY isn't gone.  I've still gotten my sweet elves out that my daughter in law calls creepy and even found an elf from the shelf to stick on one of their arms!!!

Hope you're having a blast during your holiday season!!!

Hearts to Warm the Christmas Tree!

I'm kind of racing the clock here to make the magic come alive.  I have 6 lil grandchildren (and their mom and dads!) coming to my house a week from tonight for a Christmas dinner.  Nothing makes me happier than to see their faces light up when they see the lights and decorations.....I dunno, maybe it's the "over the bridge and thru the woods to YaYa's house we go" mentality......but I just want to create magic for those grandbabies of mine!
Because I've been at the hospital with my son for the past two weeks, time has gotten away from me.
And because of the realization that healthy hearts are much more important than pulling every single ornament for the tree out, I just put a few of the important ones on and then cut hearts from tissue paper to hang on the tree.  Even got matt's daughters to help make some for me!

It will be very symbolic to all of us this year!

And look who is home?!!!!

This was his victory sign the morning of his "break out"!!!

Truly feeling the spirit of family at Christmas this year!!!

A Christmas Story...and Miracle

Or a story for any day of the year that will warm your heart!

This morning, while standing in line at Starbucks at the hospital, I asked the woman in front of me (who had scrubs on) if she worked here. She said yes so I asked her if there was any kind of brunch or special meal on Sundays in the cafeteria....cuz my daughter in law and I are jonesing for some real food.  The cafeteria here looks really cool but um....not so much.  She looked at me like "Giiiiiirl you have got to be kidding".  We laughed and I told her I just needed something spicy...that these Texans don't even know what Tony Chachere or hot sauce is!!  She said tell me about it. I'm from Baton Rouge!!  she asked me what floor we were on and she'd come find me. Didn't think about it again.

About 11:30 she knocks on the door!!!!  She brings me a menu to BB's Café and says to pick out what we want and she will bring it when she gets off.  I do the usual, NO YOU WON'T!  But she wasn't having it. Hour later, she has me waiting downstairs for her to drop off food for me that she went to get when she got off of her shift.

OMG ya'll.  The BEST chicken and sausage gumbo of all time (cept for Cap'ns)

and a huge container of red beans and rice with a bottle of Crystal hot sauce!!!!!

I just finished the gumbo (down in lobby cuz the smell would have made matt queasy)  It's cold and rainy here and that gumbo tasted like what I imagine the pot at the end of the rainbow would taste like!

She wouldn't give me her name because she said she didn't want me to have to write a letter or anything.  Human kindness - it DOES still exist!   She was the sweetest person with a huge heart.  She just told me to pay it forward.....

I told her just when your world turns upside down and you think the world is at its worst.....I meet her.  And because of her kindness, she has put happiness in my heart that hasn't been there in a while.  That is until my boy got HIS heart fixed..

And she is going to check on us tomorrow when she gets back.

WHAT a wonderful, crazy experience!!  WHAT a sweet person she is!!

And while I'm sitting in the waiting room this morning, because I just had to leave my boy's room - he was having a bad morning... who walks up and sits down beside me???  My new friend!  She appeared out of nowhere.  And how easy it was to just let it all out, cry on her shoulder and she completely understood. And yet no one who I was trying to be strong for, even knew that I lost it. Soon, she had me laughing and we talked and talked....and she went back to her floor to do her work and I went back to my boy's room.  Feeling SO much better!

Of all the Hallmark Christmas movies I've watched and all of the miracles I've read about, I truly believe I have just lived thru and witnessed a real miracle...............

I BELIEVE!!

It's Over!!

Matt's surgery is over and it was successful!!!  There is still a lot of recovery to be done and this hospital is still home for a while, but he is getting stronger everyday.  Another small procedure to be done tomorrow but we are on the downhill slope.

He is so strong and has endured so much..I am so proud to be his mom!  That wife of his is pretty strong too.  Just as proud to be her mother in law!!

Soon.....very soon, all of this group will be surrounding him with love and strength!!

God has shed His light on us.  We are SO blessed.

The Healing Garden

I've spent a few hours here in The Healing Garden this afternoon between ICU visits.  It's at the hospital and it's quiet and it's outside.  A body can only stay within the confines of a hospital for just so long. 

But it's over!!!!  Surgery went well and it was a curative procedure so hopefully we are D-O-N-E.
It's been tough watching my child suffer but he is so strong and such a sweetheart that it makes me so proud to be his mom.  We've got a road to recovery but he will be surrounded by all the family and lots of friends when we get home.  We are just so blessed to have found this problem, to have found the best doctors and to get it taken care of while matt has his whole life in front of him.
                                                                      GOD IS GOOD!
But no matter how strong I wanna be for that boy and his wife.........this still gives me heeby jeebies!

May not be alot of Christmas decorations in my house or presents under my tree this year, but my son has a healthy heart.  BEST GIFT EVER!!!