Thanksgiving- Round 2!

I had dreaded Thanksgiving day a little for obvious reasons. My Mama wasn't going to be there, and I couldn't do anything to change that. HOWEVER- I knew That I had to do my best to make it a good day for not only myself, but for Nina, Aunt Kim, Kyson, Daddy, Josh and the girls. We ALL needed a good Thanksgiving day where we talked about Mom, didn't avoid the "elephant in the room", and enjoyed each other! I was determined to make that happen. That's exactly how she would have wanted it to be!
But a bit of a damper was put on our best laid plans on Wednesday when Becky had to be admitted to the hospital for an infection in her hand. It had gotten pretty bad and wasn't getting better with just antibiotics. So she needed an iv, which meant hospital time. She sent me a text asking me to do her a favor. She told me that she wanted everyone at our house on Thanksgiving and for us to go on with our meal as planned. I said "Don't do that to me!" Her response? "yes I am. You can do it." So- against what I WANTED to do (or not do)- we carried on with our plans- minus Memaw.
The girls and I got up on Thanksgiving morning and got the coffee going and turned on "My Macy's parade" as Macie Claire calls it. (She even asked me one day why there wasn't a Brenna's parade! ha! I love that kid!) Much to my surprise- their interest in the parade was much better this year than last year! They usually watch about 5 minutes of it and are DONE. But they loved it this year, and only complained during the dancing. Can't blame them. I can only take so much of that myself.
We were all happy when Daddy got home from work! We hadn't seen him since Saturday!! But when he got there, the hustle started! Turkeys to fry and sweet potato casserole to make!
I told Nina and Aunt Kim to come over early and hang out like we always do. Thanksgiving has always been a DAY of being together for us. We usually gathered at Mom and Dad's in the morning and spent the day together. Cooking and baking and just BEING TOGETHER. It has always been a wonderful day- and I intended to make this year just as wonderful. I was excited to see them all drive up about 1:00. And I was SUPER excited when my Nina handed me this!!!

A Pie, you say? Not just A PIE. It's a pecan crème pie!!! I'd attempt to tell you what it is, but all I can say is that it's a Huffstuttler thing! And it is Yummy in my Tummy!
We enjoyed hanging out and visiting while I got things finished up. Even if Aunt Kim can make her great nieces squeal louder than anything I've ever heard!!! I had to send them all THREE up stairs to keep my sanity! haha! But I guess that is what Aunts are good for.... having the type of fun that Mommies won't let you have! I have so many wonderful memories of hanging out with my Aunt Kim and doing fun things when I was little. And it warms my heart to watch my girls have that same relationship with her. Memories in the making!!! (however if they continue to make their memories so LOUDLY- I'm gonna have to ask them to make their memories at Aunt Kim's house before they come over! haha!)
Seriously- in the family department- how did I get so blessed to love and be loved by so many wonderful people?? These two are always in my corner, and I couldn't do it without them!

Despite the pouring rain, everyone started arriving around 4:45. The weather was absolutely awful. But that wasn't gonna put a damper (no pun intended) on our evening!
When the food was all set out and ready to go, we joined hands to pray. But it just didn't feel right. SO many things were missing in that room. Mom was a big missing piece for all of us, but we knew this day was coming, and we had all mentally prepared ourselves for the void we would feel. But there was more. Not only was my Mama not there, my other Mama wasn't there. Josh and I were BOTH missing our Mama's in that prayer circle. My heart wasn't prepared for that. It didn't dawn on me how hard that would actually be to not have BOTH of them there until that moment. I knew it would be hard without Mom, and I knew it would be hard without Becky....but when the reality of those two situations together set in.... well, it wasn't pretty. As we all got quiet and ready to pray, Papa said "can we get Becky on the phone?" Um- YES WE CAN! Better than that- we can face time her! So that is exactly what we did. We all had Mom in our hearts, and now we had Becky "there" too. Now we could pray! And that is exactly what we did. She saw us. We could see her. It was far from perfect because her laugh couldn't be heard all over the house all night long, but we made the best out of a crummy situation!
Everyone filled their plates with more food than we could possibly eat, and gathered in various locations.

Kids? What kids? Oh yeah. They were eating on the back porch and watching cartoons! They were in complete heaven, but I never thought to go out there and take a picture. Out of sight, out of mind. Right? Yep- Mother of the Year right here! Just mail me my trophy.
We all ate till we were beyond STUFFED!!!
Just a variety of other pictures that I stole from Jana and Sue's facebook pages...
Jana and Dude... oh, and SUE!

My Daddy! You're never too old to curl up in your Daddy's lap!

Everyone needs a goofy Aunt Jana!!

And a Mommy photo bomber!

Sweet cousins..

But don't let the sweet smiles fool you. This is the side of them that we see way more often!

Aunt Rhonda, Abel, and Nana

Probably the BEST picture of the night! Hanna and Papa doing the "duck face"!! But Hanna was laughing so hard she couldn't do it.

Nana, Rhonda, Sue, Steve, and Jana:

Nana and Hanna: (Nana, Jana, Hanna, Brenna..... it seems that we like names that RHYME around here! Either that or we like to cause as much confusion as humanly possible when we are all together.)

I would attempt to tell you what is going on in this picture, but with the group pictured, I am just gonna assume it was all a bunch of BOLOGNA! :)

I love these ladies so much! I am blessed to be a part of the Jackson Clan!

The GIRLS!!! We took this picture-

And I said "This isn't right! Memaw isn't in it." So we fixed that!

And this right here is where the Jackson Clan got started:

These two people right here- well, they are pretty awesome.
While we were all focusing on missing Becky at the dinner table, we had no idea that one week later our precious Nana would be taken to the hospital via ambulance for what we thought was a horrible stomach bug that hit right after Thanksgiving. It was a scary night, as she was so very sick. But thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses that took care of her, she is headed home as I type!! She had a small bowel obstruction that required a tube in her nose and no food for almost 10 days. Now we just have to get some calories in her and keep her moving in the right direction!!!! We are thankful for our sweet Nana and thank Jesus for healing her so that we get to keep her a little while longer! He knew we weren't done with her yet. Neither was He!

An Oklahoma Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approached this year, I knew that the Alabama crew would be in El Reno for Thanksgiving. I wanted so badly to make a trip work out so that we could be there with them at some point, even though I knew I couldn't make it happen ON Thanksgiving day. But knowing that I was hosting the Jackason/Pool clan as well as Nina, Kim, Kyson and Dad on Thanksgiving Day.... I almost wrote it off completely.
HOWEVER- with a little LOT of persuading from my Aunt Bit and some determination on my part, and the support of my amazing husband.... I made it happen!! It took a lot of work and prep and support, but it happened!
On Sunday morning, the girls and I loaded up and headed NORTH!

Next stop.... MIMI'S HOUSE!!!
It took us a while to get there since we had to stop for headphones and lunch and a couple of potty breaks, but we finally made it about 1:00! As many times as I have made that trip, I still get giddy when I see the Country Club road exit on I40! We were all happy to get a Mimi hug.
After some lunch and ice cream, we settled in at Mimi's for a relaxing afternoon. The girls got out all of their stuff and set up shop, and Mimi and I settled in for some good one on one visiting, followed by IRONING! :) I know it sounds crazy, but I love to do her ironing. First of all, after seeing the shape she was in this summer, it is great to know she isn't doing her ironing and hurting herself again. And second, it gives me an excuse to go to El Reno! It's my purpose! :) And I managed to get it all done before dinner was ready! Hopefully I'll have another closet full waiting on me when I get back for Christmas!
Aunt Susan (better known to Macie Claire as Uncle Susan) came over just in time for dinner and visited. It was a great time of just RELAXING! We knew the Holt's would be rolling in some time late that night, but they didn't end up getting there until almost 2am!
Mimi and I watched a hallmark movie and the girls ended up crashing (since they got up at the CRACK of dawn excited to head to Mimi's!). This was the view of my bed when I got ready to call it a night.

Sorry kids- Mama can't sleep with both of you! Brenna ended up on the floor this night.
The next morning brought breakfast with Byron, Bit and Grayson! We were so excited to hug their necks!!! Even if they were completely exhausted from only getting a half night of sleep. They headed off to go see Taron and Nolan and Mimi and I MAY have sat around and drank coffee in our pajamas until well after 1pm. I think that's what I love most about being at Mimi's. We just take it easy. No schedule. No where to rush off to. No hurrying. And the girls love it too. We just soak in our time of talking and playing.
After the Holt's and Taron got back to town, Roby and Kyson joined the party too! And no party is complete in El Reno without SIDS! As Daddy said when I sent him the picture "It looks like Mimi's crew took over SIDS!" Yes we did!
Poor Byron!

Roby and Grayson were THRILLED to have their picture taken...... or maybe not.

We had to eat at Senior Citizen hour to be able to get that many seats, but oh well! SIDS is good at any time of day....even 4pm!
After we got home, us card players did our thing.....the guys did their thing (whatever that is)....the kids played.... and then the Abners brought Krispy Kreme! YUM! 4pm dinner followed by Krispy Kreme for dessert....YES PLEASE!

After we jacked the kiddos up on sugar, Aunt Susan got brave and volunteered to take all 3 home with her for a slumber party! ummmm- OK! However she wasn't SUPER brave....because she took Aunt Bit with her too! Because- reinforcements! I think they stayed up until like 1 am watching movies. Not sure that's an idea Aunt Susan will have too often! haha! But her great nieces have been talking about their fun slumber party at Uncle Susan's ever since! One crazy night for her (and Aunt Bit)...but it made memories for the 3 kiddos! Priceless.
But as soon as they all left, it got REALLY quiet! Grayson went with Taron and Nolan to the Abners, so it was just Mimi, Uncle Byron and ME! And none of us are too hyper- so it worked out great! We did come up with a story that made us sound way more exciting than we really are.... it involved loading up in the Buick, grabbing Aunt Bonnie and taking on the Casino until we got kicked out because Mimi was dancing on the tables...... yep. That makes us sound way more exciting than heading straight to bed to enjoy a good night of quiet sleep!
I did enjoy my quiet morning coffee the next morning with Mimi before everyone got there!

Coffee just tastes better at Mimi's kitchen table.
But the quiet was short lived, and the munchkins returned for breakfast with Aunt Bit. The quiet was nice, but I sure enjoyed watching these cousins play together!

2nd generation of cousins to play in Mimi and Papaw's living room floor. Melt me!
And to compare.... This year compared to Christmas 5 years ago!

They also enjoyed the Wubble Bubble Ball in the garage!

We finally got dressed sometime around noon.....because MIMI'S HOUSE! And Grayson the Great delivered SIDS! Doesn't get much better than that!
These kiddos curled up for some movie and IPAD time on Mimi's bed.

They had the absolute best time together! I loved watching them play.
Before long, it was PIE TIME! If there is one thing that Johnson's do well, it's eat PIE!

And the kind of pie they eat best.... CHERRY PIE!

Brenna observed Mimi's pie baking skills for a bit.

We also eat PECAN PIE- my personal favorite! (but don't get me wrong, I like me some cherry pie too!)
Taron and Macie were in charge of keeping it mixed while Mimi tended to other things.

I won't tell you about the mess they made..... (no worries, we got it cleaned up quickly, and Mimi was none the wiser!)
After dinner, we all gathered in the living room to watch some old home movies that Uncle Dave put on DVD.

It was so fun to hear Mimi narrate where each thing was and to hear stories behind the videos. I really wish Daddy had been there to join in on that fun.

These two were so excited to open their Christmas present from the Holts!

Did you ever see anything so cute?? Not me!
We still had one cherry pie to make, but it was time for Dancing with the Stars..... Who knew that our Mimi was such a huge fan?! Not us! But she is! So while she watched that..... I attempted her cherry pie! I was a nervous wreck. I knew I could follow the recipe. But it was MIMI'S CHERRY PIE people!!! That would be like going to Mrs. Field's house and making her cookies! Or to the Pillsbury Dough Boy's house and making biscuits! (ok ok- that last one may have been a bit of a stretch- but you get my point. STRESSFUL!)

However.... I think it turned out ok! It wasn't Mimi's cherry pie, but it was close! :) Well technically the dish SAYS it's "Mimi's Cherry Pie", but we all know that pie pans can lie.

Aunt Susan and Taron did the crust work, so I can't take credit for that. But we made a great team!
On Wednesday morning, Mimi had to get up to take Aunt Bonnie to the doctor, so I set my alarm to be able to wake her up. But when I got up, she was already up. Soooo- since I was already awake.....COFFEE!
It was quiet for a while since the girls slept in a bit. Mimi and I enjoyed that! (I am sure Mimi REALLY enjoyed the quiet since her house had been a little louder in the last few days than she is used to!)
She got dressed, everyone started stirring, Mimi left, and the Thanksgiving cooking began!
Most of the cooking was uneventful. Except for this one small thing.....the turkey was still partly frozen. Yep- this is the kind of thing that family stories are made up of! And we will be laughing at this one for YEARS to come!
Bit put the turkey in water to help it thaw on the frozen side for a while. And eventually she decided to get the "stuff" out of it and get it cooking in the oven. That's where the comedy show started.
Bit couldn't get the neck out of the Turkey (after figuring out what WAS the neck). So good ole Aunt Susan stepped in to help her. And what transpired next will live on forever in Johnson family legend..... I'll let the pictures do the talking first....

I wish I had the whole thing on video. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. The commentary that went on contained scenes from a birthing room. This poor bird. It's a good thing that neck finally broke free, otherwise there were talks of a C-section! Oh the horror!
But alas, the tongs worked, and the neck was freed. The bird was seasoned and placed in the oven! Pretty sure I was still giggling while I was in the shower!
Everyone started arriving from their respective houses and the family fun was in full swing!

This is my not so little cousin Grayson. You may have heard of him....

And right after Mimi and Aunt Bonnie walked in from the doctor, I got a phone call that there was a special dinner guest arriving down the street that needed a ride. So, I grabbed my keys and snuck out!
I was so excited to see this sight turning on Reformatory Rd!!!

My Daddy was here!!!! I couldn't wait to see the expression on Mimi's face when she saw him walk in! And it lived up to everything I hoped it would be!

There were yells, and tears. It was wonderful!
I had no idea that he was going to get to make it until the night before when he told me he was going to try to be there to eat. But I didn't know it was a for sure thing until he called and said "come get me!" So it was pretty awesome! It did my heart good to see him sitting there and enjoying family time with all of us.

We visited and just enjoyed being together while the dinner finished cooking. And we did another thing that we Johnson's do well.... we laughed. A lot. It sure made a hard milestone without my Mama a little easier by being around so much love and laughter.

And I think it did these two hearts good to be together.

And just to prove that there is never a dull moment in this family:
Before we ate, we all joined hands to pray, and someone said "Wait, Where's Aunt Bonnie?" "Oh- she's in the bathroom." SO we stood there and waited. And waited a little more. And joked about just going in there and joining her and telling her to keep her seat so we could pray and eat. Then, she emerged from the bathroom and we said "We've been waiting on you to pray!" And in the stillness and seriousness of the moment when the whole family was in a circle, all joined by hands, and ready to thank our Lord for this wonderful meal and time with family...... Aunt Bonnie held up an empty toilet paper roll and came right through the middle of our family circle, walked to the trash can, and said "WELL- I WAS CHANGING THE ROLL!" Yep- every family needs an Aunt Bonnie.
It was a wonderful meal. And before I knew it, it was time for the girls and I to pack up and head home for Thanksgiving Round 2!
It was hard to leave everyone there and head home (even though I knew another wonderful day of family time was ahead of me in Texas the next day), but it was made so much easier knowing the wonderful time we had and the memories we made. Nothing can replace time spent with family. I have learned the importance of TIME in the last year, and my goal is to make every moment and opportunity count. I pray that my girls grow up looking back on these times and remembering the love that was felt. I have fond memories of holidays spent in Oklahoma growing up. But I enjoy these opportunities so much more now that I am an adult. I soak in every story, every moment of laughter, every warm feeling. I am so thankful for these wonderful people that God placed in my life. He was doing some of his best work when he made all of us a family.

Guardian Angels

And I know that we have the very best one watching over us. MeMawMom.
The other night Brenna Grace drew this picture

I wasn't really sure whether my heart should swell with pride or my eyes should burst with tears. So I picked both.
So many days I walk around like a ticking time bomb. Mom is heavy on my heart and I miss her so very much. I really feel like I should be past the point of having such touch and go days by now, but the reality is that I am not. However, I try to keep those days to myself. I know what the hurt feels like and I know how much I miss her, but I know how to just go on about my day and try to push those thoughts to the back burner.
I know that the girls miss their MeMawMom too. But with 8 and 5 year olds, how do you really tell? They talk about her, we all do. Her name is mentioned daily, and sometimes they just go on about their business after something is said. Other days, they tell me how much they miss her. Brenna more so than Macie. Macie usually just follows her sister's lead. Brenna will tell me sometimes much she wishes MeMawMom was still here. I do my absolute BEST to be strong for her in those moments. Sometimes that is more than I can do and I just join her in tears. Some days those cries are good for both of us.
But I think that there are even more times that the girls miss her that they don't even say. They know things are different. But expressing your feelings at 5 and 8 is hard. Heck- it's hard at 36! So this random picture means more to me than just a sweet picture of our Angel. It shows me that MeMawMom is still always on her mind, just like she is always on mine. And I hope that never changes.

A weekend with the Abners

When Brenna's volleyball schedule came out, I sent it to Taron and said that they should come down for a game and hang out for the weekend.  And she told me while we were in Shreveport that they were coming the first weekend of November, which happened to be the last regular season game, and ALSO happened to be our only 8AM game! Not sure they planned that real well..... But they were great sports! 
The girls were SO excited for their arrival on Friday night. (Not gonna lie- I was too!!) Brenna had volleyball practice, so I stayed home and got dinner all ready while Josh and B went to practice. The Abners arrived about 6, we ate, and then eventually put Macie to bed and migrated to the back porch to chill and visit. It was such a fun and relaxing night to just hang out. It's an opportunity that we don't get often enough. Usually when we are together, it is at a family gathering and there is a lot of stuff going on, so us cousins don't get to just visit. So this weekend provided that opportunity.
We turned in early, because we had an early alarm the next day!
Luckily- we all made it out of the house on time and were at Brenna's game at just the right time! And BOY- was it a game!!!! It was the hardest game we had played all season, and was a nail biter! But our girls did great and won 2 out of 3 games! There were some close calls, but they worked together and did it! An undefeated season for the Lil' Divas!

How do I know that these two cousins are awesome??? Cuz they drove 4 hours, got up at 6 am and were at an 8am Volleyball game for this little Diva!

And Graddy.... well- he's something else! He likes to spoil any picture for his niece that he can!

From there, Josh went to the deer lease and we went to breakfast with Graddy and then he and Nolan went to do "man stuff" aka- hang a door, while us girls set off to Sam Moon! No girls day is complete without a little shopping!!
But that shopping wore us out and required Taron, Macie and I to take a nap as soon as we got home! After the boys returned, we played a mean game of..... yep, you guessed it..... HAND AND FOOT CANASTA! Johnson's don't gather without playing canasta! We even texted Mimi our picture! haha!

I had to learn to be nice to Taron. She is usually partners with Mimi, aka- Mrs. Johnson,when we play so I am pretty good at being.....not nice. And since we were playing boys against girls, I had to put my thinking cap on! But not to worry, us girls stomped the boys! And took pictures to prove it!

Jake even found himself a comfy spot to hang out while we played...

After cards, we ate some spaghetti and settled in to watch Bamma beat LSU!
Macie and I cuddled..

And Taron texted Brenna to come down from upstairs and cuddle with her! Because.....hello 21st century! 

MELT me! That girl loves her some Taron! 
The next day we went to church and lunch and the Abners headed north.
It was a great weekend!!! I can't believe that my sweet little cousin that I loved to cuddle with is all grown up and married and cuddling with my babies! Talk about feeling OLD. geesh. But I enjoyed every minute that we got to spend together! Can't wait until we can do it again. SOON!