Tag: Holidays

Thankful, Grateful, Belly-full, Chad-less

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz26 Comments

We had an amazing Thanksgiving in the Mountains and all my chickens came to roost.. Or visit. Or eat. You know what I mean.

Lolo was scheduled to work, but at the last minute her sergeant gave her some time off; she and Mattis drove up on Wednesday. (She’s on light duty, still recovering from knee surgery, so she wasn’t ‘needed’, for which I’m thankful for)

Nathan has been away doing intense Bomb Squad Training in Alabama for six weeks, so it was only a 3 hour drive for him to come and see us.

My Cuz Patrick came to visit my Aunt Trisha and Uncle Jim who are only 8 minutes away. I still pinch myself that they are so close.

Linds, her BF Mike, Coach’s dad and step mom flew up on Wednesday, so we almost had the whole FamDamily.

It had been terribly cold prior to their arrival; mornings at 27*-30*, with afternoon highs of 43*. I know for my Canadian and Northern friends, that’s nothing, but for us thin blooded Florida people: It was freeze random-body-parts-off-cold. On Wednesday, the weather Gods threw us a bone and we were now having temps around 55*-60* in the afternoon. We could finally use our deck and porch area, which is always a good thing.

Wednesday night was Pizza Night. The Coach loves making pizza in his authentic wood fired oven; this is a fun time for all of us. He’s got mad pizza tossing skills!

FUN FACT: Did I ever share that Coach worked in a popular pizza restaurant in our home town while in High School? This place was the bomb and I should know because my Mom was a waitress there for many years; I spent many an afternoon filling up salt shakers and stealing maraschino cherries from behind the bar. We moved from the area only three years before Coach started working there.

Back to present day…

Our time together involved lots of dog holding, lunch on the deck, fire pit s’mores, a ‘when is this game gonna end’ of Uno and lots of laughter. Oh, and FOOD.

Cue the Random Photo Montage:

YOU REMOVED WHAT?

Recently, we had some trees removed because of invasive Asian beetles and the tree guys took it upon themselves to rid us of our hanging chad. Had I been here, I would have asked them to leave it and let Mother Nature do her thing in time. I had a love-hate relationship with Chad. RIP CHAD.

Our view has forever changed, but I’m really NOT complaining.

So, how was your day?

Did you have endless amounts of fun mixed in with endless amounts of cleaning up pee accidents? Those, by the way were not from the humans laughing, but the dogs.

XOXO

Birthday Reflections, I Love Presents And Lillie Is Making Strides.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz34 Comments

Thank you ALL for your positive comments on my Lillie post; your words mean a lot to me. Also, everyone who shared what ‘we would do together on my birthday filled my heart with love. 

It turns out that my day was all about eating. We met Coach’s Mom, Step Dad, Linds, my adapted daughter Halie, (not adopted since her Mom wouldn’t give her up, so we all adapted) our dear friends TW and Mo for a long lunch that was delicious for our bellies and great for my soul. 

Saturday night, we had dinner with Coach’s Dad, step Mom, and Linds. Linds made out with two free meals on my day! I was showered with thoughtful, sweet gifts, and you know what I realized? I LOVE PRESENTS, even if it’s a little thing like a kitchen scrubber. 

While at dinner, two other tables near us were also celebrating a birthday which I thought was total BS. IT’S MY DAY; STOP TRYING TO BOSS HOG MY DAY! 

SOME FAVORITES

Linds gave me the absolute sweetest card with words from her beautiful heart. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I’ll pull that out and reread it. 

Isn’t the written word priceless? We laughed that she could only find a pencil in her apartment. Now I know what I’m getting her for Christmas.

Much to the horror of my MIL, my FIL bought me a kitchen scrubber and dropped it in the gift bag she had with a few other items. He said:  You will love this and he was right. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. *giggle* He knows me. 

I received lovely flowers from my girls (adapted & DNA) and Nathan. My kids know my weakness for Reese’s. I had one cup on Saturday and one on Sunday; I’m satisfied for a while. 

THE BEST BEST GIFT

I think it was Thursday when Lillie turned a corner which was a surprise since she doesn’t even have a driver’s license. But as I was feeding the crew dinner (we had Max for the last month), Lillie all of a sudden perked up and was excited about meal time. I was worried it was temporary joy, but she’s been eating her regular food (I don’t have to share my popcorn!) and acting almost like her old self. 

We take her this morning to have her sutures (hopefully)removed and to get an update on the lab results. 

Thank you for all your kind words and love. It means more than you could know. 

Do you have a favorite go-to candy that you might sometimes crave so much that you might push down a human to get one? Just me? 

XO

All The Birthdays At Once; A Rubik’s Master And I’m On A Shrimp Roll.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz28 Comments

July is a busy birthday month for our family.

  • July 6 MIL Judy
  • July 13 Lolo
  • July 17 MIL Sue
  • July 25 Aunt Trisha

We met Linds and Lolo for dinner to celebrate Lolo’s birthday last week. Sadly, Nathan is in California for a few weeks for Marine training, so he missed seeing us.

What does a 29 year old woman ask for? Naturally, a Rubik’s cube.

Backstory: A few months ago Lolo hurt her elbow while training on a Police Mountain Bike so she was on light duty for a while. During that time she picked up a Rubik’s cube off her supervisors desk and proceeded to master it. As one does.

Linds bought her two different ones; she mixed up one and handed it off to her sister while we waited for our meals…Try to ignore our witty banter, I dare you.

I timed her and she completed the “generic” cube in just over four minutes.

In hindsight, we’re gonna have to blindfold her next time.

IS HE HUMAN?

THE MIL’S

I’m sure I mentioned it before that I have amazing MIL’S. Yes plural. Thanks to the beauty of divorce and remarriages. I have two. 😜

Sue, Coach’s mom lives just over 2 hours away and we meet halfway in a little town for lunch when we can. This time she chose a new-to-us Brewery and the food was great and the company amazing. (I had an apple walnut salad with grilled shrimp)

My MIL Sue, Coach and FIL Bill.

We were out of town for Judy’s actual birthday, then she was out of town celebrating her 60th when we came home, so we finally got together for dinner; about five hours after lunch with Sue. (I had grilled shrimp over risotto and roasted red peppers-I’m gonna grow a tail!)

Linds and G’ma Judy

Judy is so funny. I’ve known her for thirty years, but I didn’t know she has always wanted to go skydiving and she did so just before her birthday this year. I joked that being married to my FIL might make one want to jump out of an airplane. Kidding! I love all my outlaws in-laws!

We had a great day catching up with both sides of Coach’s parents and I got to see Lindsay three times this week; twice in ONE day. That is always a good thing.

I wish I could say I’d be with my Aunt Trisha for her birthday next week, but we’ll have to settle for phone calls and texts.

Does your family have a busy birthday month? Has anyone jumped out of an airplane, on purpose?

XOXO

My Day To Shine, I Just Wish It Wasn’t In My Eyes And Enjoying A Dirty Bird or Three.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz30 Comments

I had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. Lolo was scheduled to work, but had sustained a work/training injury which stinks, but she was at least able to join us on Sunday. {She’s on the mend} Lindsay and I had scheduled Saturday afternoon together doing something fun and creative at AR Workshop. I’d never been to one of these workshops before but I’ve seen friends who created wood stuff like this:

Honestly, it wasn’t looking like my vibe. I’m not into painted wood, things with our names on them, the phrase “Live, Laugh, Love” makes me want to shank someone and don’t get me started on lazy Susans; it’s offensive to all Susans and especially someone who is often referred to as Susan.

But they offered a chunky knit blanket class and I’m all about chunky and blankets.

It took us three hours to create these ONE OF A KIND blankets by hand. We had a lot of fun; there were only five of us total in the class and there was much laughter.

When we finished the child lady who owns this particular franchise said: Let’s go outside where there is GOOD light for a photo.

Um, Linds and I can hardly keep our light colored eyes open in NOT GOOD LIGHT; it was much too bright. Linds was able to fight through it for at least one pic, I could not. To quote my daughter: “You look like someone stepped on your foot”. Hence the blurring out of my pained face.

Do you think we could see them for hundreds of dollars since they are ONE OF A KIND? Prolly not.

Afterwards we had a lovely lunch at Olive Garden of Soup, Salad and Breadsticks MINUS olives because gross.

Guess who loves my blanket as much as I do?

On Sunday we met for lunch at our Marina. It’s always a delightful meal with lots of laughter when we’re all together. I appreciated the fact that Lauren and Nathan drove an hour and a half to be there.

Wait. What? Is that an extra human in our family pic?

My girls always make me feel special, but on Mother’s Day, I feel EXTRA special.

I tell them not to buy me prezzies; just your TIME, undying love and a card is all I require. Lolo {ironically} broke the law with this mug and it filled my heart with all sorts of sassy love.

I can’t think of a better way to start my day other than with a mug full of innuendos.

Amiright or amiright?

Have you been to an AR Workshop? When we were there, the creative wood stuff didn’t look nearly as cheesy as it did online. But you’ll never convince me to have “Live, Love, Laugh” written anywhere in my home.

XOXO