Lynn Family Christmas Pictures

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandma and Grandpa Lynn's house.

All the great-grandchildren had a good time. :)

Jack, Allison, CJ (2nd cousin), Grant (2nd cousin), Hannah (1st cousin)

Gumdrop tree...carried over tradition from my generation.

My family, my mom, my bro and his family. Clearly some members of the family were NOT up for a photo at this time.

Jack, Grant, Allison and Hannah ... being cute AND sweet!

wow - it's been a while

Wow, apparently it's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Who knew?

I am looking forward to some BBQ with some good friends tonight. No, neither of us are cooking, we are hitting up "kids eat free" night at Dickey's BBQ. :) Hubby worked today at his new Guard gig and came home to a joyous reception from the kids & dog this afternoon. This was his 5th day of waking up at O Dark Thirty...so he's happy to be finished with that for the month.

I've been attempting to keep the kids busy for the past 5 days and convince them that Daddy is simply too exhausted to {fill in the blank} when he gets home. Glad that's over for now!

We all had a great Christmas and spent LOTS of quality time in the van. We drove to Mississippi to see the Jackson family and then up to St. Louis to see mine. All told, we spent 30 hours in the van. That's two 34 year olds, a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 6 year old dog. Are you jealous? I know you are. We really did have a nice Christmas & New Years and got to spend some time with friends & family.

This weekend the exciting news in my world is that my Uncle Bob received a kidney transplant on Friday night. Excellent news, excellent. :) He has (well - had!) polycystic kidney disease and as a result had been on kidney dialysis for a while now. I am so thankful for organ donors. My family has been blessed with FOUR transplants. Amazing. Two have worked out well and two, well not so much. Regarless, God bless the organ donors and their familes. My dad received a kidney transplant in 2003 ... but ended up with some issues and passed in 2005. I also have PKD and my uncle's transplant has renewed my hope.

Seems like there has been more "stuff" going on ...but my uncle's transplant seems to have trumped that.

Both kids are back at school...whew. Jack was truly ready and had missed his friends. Allison ...she wasn't as eager, but I was. {hee hee}

We'll most likely have an interesting spring as Karl has finally received a date for the whole training thing...so stay tuned for those fun stories. I'm focusing on 1)I get a housekeeper and 2) it could be worse.

Jack has a new found LOVE (and I do mean love) of all things Star Wars. It's kinda fun. It's weird though, he's not my baby boy anymore!

I need to post pictures from our Christmas adventures...but that will have to be another post. I have to wake sleepy husband from his nap....

we're ready for Christmas

We actually had our little family Christmas ... due to Karl's schedule and traveling....

The kids visited with Santa after Allison's preschool Christmas program.

We are all ready for Christmas! We'll be visiting family and embarking on the Christmas vacation ... in the van! Here are some Christmasy pictures!

Ice Skating!

Jack and I went to his buddy Jackson's birthday party yesterday. It was at the ice rink that they put up here every winter. We both had a great time and Jack did really well. He used a metal walker type thing on the ice to help with his balance. He didn't fall at all! :) I ice skated too (without a walker) and had a blast.

snow!

It snowed in Houston! For real (as Jack would say). :)

It snowed for a few hours! Jack and Allison did get outside in it - but no pictures -sorry.

This morning my sliding van doors were frozen shut!!!! That made getting to school interesting.

Happy December

We are in the full swing of December! The kids are enjoying the lights, decorations and general happy buzz in the air. Allison is getting ready for her Christmas show at preschool - all the mommies and daddies will show with their video cameras! Jack will have his first non-Christian "winter party" at school. Not sure how I feel about that, but alas we are remembering Jesus' birthday here. :)

Karl had his first "drill weekend" for the Texas National Guard on Saturday & Sunday. Nothing too exciting to report from there. He will have training in February. Could be a LONG spring for me......

I've gotten the Christmas cards out, bought all the presents (with the exception of a few) and now I'm antsy to wrap. I'm hoping tonight...but we'll see what the day throws at me.

Yesterday Allison didn't get a nap and then went to bed at normal time. Well she slept until 8:50am today (usually up at 7:00) and now isn't taking a nap. She is laying on the couch, but I think I've started a viscious cycle. I NEED that nap time to get mommy things done around here.

I think that's all the excitement from here......

Friday!!

Today is my first day without house guests since LAST Wednesday! Whew. We had great visits with everyone! :)

Now we are in CHRISTMAS mode! Woo hoo. The house is all decorated and some of the presents are wrapped. I just need to tie up loose ends ...and then I'll be finished with the shopping.

Karl is on reserve now with Continental - so he's been home a lot. Tomorrow he starts the TX Air National Guard ... 2 days a month. He'll go to UAV training in the spring for that....

My bow business is doing great and I am soooooooo thankful for all my awesome bow customers/friends!! Yeah!

I am hanging with Allison today while Jack is at school. He's 5 1/2 today!! Where has the time gone?

Have a great weekend!