EXCITED ABOUT A VACATION

*****Had to add this ....It is hot off the press...Game Day..Jack is READY

I have only known this for a few days,so little time to get ready.
Jack and I are going on a week vacation, leaving the end of this week.

I have FINALLY finished taking trees down (well not mine), totally exhausted, but so happy  to wrap up the season.
 
ELF Terris is hosting a WRAP party this week…then I will be packing for some COLD weather. 
We are going to CHICAGO, a city we have never been to. 
It is a city I have always wanted to visit. I am really looking forward to it.
  
It’s half business (will tell you more about that later) and half pleasure so am looking forward to some fun days.
 


 
 I cannot remember the last trip we took without a LITTLE.







I need those that have been there to send me shopping, dining, fun things to do and see SUGGESTIONS. 

This will be Jack’s first time to travel since his stroke,as in a long trip and flying. I would love for you to pray that he will not have any problems. He thinks I am crazy to be the least bit concerned, but I guess I will never feel quite as carefree.  
 
If you would rather email me than write in the comments my email is
annah99@aol.com!


Look what my Amanda got this week…She had worn my Moms wedding ring the first four years of their marriage and this was Micah's Christmas gift to her.  He let her design it so she just got it Friday!  I am a so happy for her….(she does need to get her nails filled in)

A NEW YEAR

I am so ready for a new year, a clean slate.    2011 was a year I am ready to put behind me. 

I did not do 2011 very well.  Anxiety from Jacks health in late 2010 really hit me this year and it  was just one of the places I failed. 

I was not a great mom, friend, or anything else for that matter.  There were more “What If’s” , “How will we?”, and “Help” than in any year I can remember.

I hung on to some things too tight and let go of some important things too easily.  To be honest I probably should have seen a counselor.  Oops, did I say that?

I had no patience, little grace, no discipline (especially in the exercise area), almost no motivation to do anything.  I may have even had a touch of post traumatic stress (stroke) syndrome, though that even sounds a little dramatic. 

Whatever it was, I want a different 2012.
 
I want to love more, cover people in buckets of grace (especially my kids), worry less, control less, seize the moment, trust more, walk more, eat less and better, lunch more, give more, want less, and most of all be MORE GREATFUL for EVERY MOMENT and live in it.  Will I do all that perfect? no

They are just goals and now they are on paper.

If you don’t like pictures, stop Here…..But here’s to Counting my Blessings and being Grateful on this first day of January. 

I am so thankful for all my blog buddies.  You make my life richer. Happy New Year!

(part of my problem is I have gone an  entire year without seeing THE MOUSE!)

TAKES MY BREATH AWAY

Do you ever go weeks and nothing seems blog worthy and then you wake up in the morning with three posts you could easily pen in five minutes?  Maybe that’s just me. 

This is probably the last time I can get away with this subject as this boy is about to be a man.  And Grammy writing about him may not seem quite as cool.    I am not going to repeat his story…you can read it here or here.

There are more blog posts on my blog about him than any other subject.  He is the title of my holiday blog, he made me a Grammy, he has taught me life lessons, he and his Mom lived with us for six years, he has traveled with us from coast to coast, he has taught me that I just thought I understood love, he has made me prouder than proud, and has been my heart for almost thirteen years.  But he has also grown up.  Little’s do that.

But from that day in the delivery room in May of 1999 until I walked into Red Lobster on  Christmas Eve, he has taken my breath away.  This time it was different. 

We were running a little late and as we entered the room where the kids had a table, there sitting next to Amanda was this handsome 12 year old in a white button down shirt, with a nice sweater over it, clean shaven (yes he shaves) smiling at me.  Took my breath away…again.  So handsome, so twelve, so much my heart.



I remember the day my beautiful senior in high school told us she was pregnant.  I remember telling her we would all be fine.  Fine…what a inappropriate word.   We would all be BEYOND FINE.  This Baby That Changed Everything is  still changing our lives everyday. 
 I am so blessed to be his GRAMMY!

                parker and grammy