Cancer Survivor Celebration

Last week I celebrated my "survivorsary!" I am now a 6 year cancer survivor! I am so happy to be well and enjoying life with my family and friends.

My actual "survivorsary" was on December 10th and we had no school that day due to lots of snow. I loved getting to spend the day at home with my boys. We had so much fun! I took the boys to Build-A-Bear to celebrate the big day. It was Preston's first visit and he loved it just as much as Evan! They both made Rudolph and they had a blast. They both really enjoyed listening to the sound machine and dancing to the music. I am SURE that it was Preston's favorite part!

On Thursday, Carl and I celebrated my "survivorsary"  at The Melting Pot, which is my favorite restaurant. We had a great time and the food was delicious!

I would be remiss if I did not mention that right after I celebrated, my 7 year old nephew, Jackson, was diagnosed with cancer. He has Berkitt's Lymphoma, which is a very aggressive form of cancer. We are all devastated by this terrible news. Jackson is being treated at Kosair Children's Hospital, which has a great oncology unit. We are very thankful for that, as well as for the outpouring of support that he and his family have received. I am very hopeful that Jackson will be cured and that next year, we can celebrate our "survivorsary" together! 

Snow Days

We got our first big snow last Friday. Although there was no snow in the morning, there was a lot of snow and ice predicted, so school was cancelled! Before the roads became too slick to drive, Heather, Jackson, Caleb and Emily came over to play and have lunch. Evan was so excited to play with all of his cousins and I really enjoyed talking to Heather and watching all of the kids play.

We spent much of the weekend outside playing. Preston really enjoyed the snow this year and he spent over an hour outside playing! He climbed the snow banks, rode on the sled, went on a walk, etc. He had a ball. Evan was outside every chance he could get and he and Daddy even went on a long walk in the woods together.

When we weren't outside, we were all inside together playing, watching movies, drinking hot chocolate, etc. It was a really great family weekend and I am so glad that we got to spend so much time together.

Preston liked climbing the snow banks in the backyard.

"I made it!"

This picture was taken on Saturday morning when we all went out to play, but Evan was outside ALL THE TIME. He loves the snow!

The snow made the house look so pretty!

Preston had so much fun on our walk. He was all smiles!

Evan and Daddy had a great time going on a walk in the woods. 

The boys were excited to see that no one else had gone for a walk in the woods. No footprints! 

The scenery was gorgeous!

Here are lots of pictures of Evan. Clearly, he was having fun!

Christmas Pictures

Carl's dad took Christmas pictures of the boys for the Christmas card again this year. We are so glad he did! The pictures turned out very cute, even though Preston was not really in the mood for taking pictures. The first one is the one we used for our card and the rest are ones that also turned out well, but did not work for the card.

This one is actually my favorite one from the session. Preston took a break from taking pictures to play in the window treatments!

It's Christmastime!

Although it is traditional to get started with Christmas decorating and Christmas fun after or on Thanksgiving, the truth is that we have been getting ready for a couple of weeks! I just LOVE Christmas and don't think it is possible to start too early!

We started with making a gingerbread house. Of course, Evan was the driving force around this choice! He had a great time and the house turned out great! He is getting to be quite the artist!

After the decorating was done, Evan enjoyed eating the icing straight from the tube!

The next thing that we did was start to put up the tree. Of course, the process actually took several sessions, since the kids, jobs, etc. keep us pretty busy! We did get it done though and we had a great time! Evan hung lots of ornaments and so did Preston. Preston actually surprised us and knew exactly what to do after watching us! It was so cute!

"I'll help you"

Preston and Evan both had fun placing the ornaments on the tree!

"This was fun!"

We spent more time decorating the inside of the house and then decorating the outside of the house and by the day after Thanksgiving, it was all complete! The place looks great and we are all in the Christmas spirit!

Our stockings were hung by the chimney with care! =)

Our house looks beautiful! I am sure it will look even better tonight, since Carl put on lots of extra lights! 

The boys love the tree! It looks great!

Our tree is complete!

Preston enjoys watching the train go around the tree. Of course, he also likes to touch the train, which makes it crash! Oh well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The past couple of years we have spent our Thanksgiving in Key West with Grandpa and Bonnie Mom, which is a ton of fun. This year though, we were at home for Thanksgiving. Although we missed Bonnie Mom and Grandpa, as well we the warm weather, we had a fantastic Thanksgiving here in Louisville.

We spent the morning here at home making food, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and relaxing. It was really nice and stress-free! We then headed over to Grammy and Granddaddy's house for our first Thanksgiving feast with the Keeling side of the family. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone. Unfortunately, we did not stay long though, because Preston had a terrible cold and got fussy after a couple of hours.

Although he was fussy for a lot of our visit, Preston was really happy when he was in the basement playing with the beads and the box.

Evan and Caleb

Emily

 Evan and Jackson

I am so thankful for my sister, who is not only a great friend, but also takes great care of my boys!

I am so grateful for my sweet husband. He is a wonderful husband and a great dad!

Grammy and Granddaddy (Dad looks like it is painful to smile in this picture!)

After Preston's nap and some medicine, he was feeling a bit better, so we went over to Rachel and Teddy's house for dinner. The food was delicious and we enjoyed seeing Rachel, Teddy, Caroline and Ron. Unfortunately, Preston was still not feeling great and he fussed quite a bit. Luckily, we still managed to have fun eating and playing.

Sweet Caroline (My boys both enjoy playing with Caroline. They had a great time playing together, even though Caroline had a nasty cold too.)

It was a really wonderful Thanksgiving, although we did miss Bonnie Mom and Grandpa. We have so much to be thankful for! As Evan said, "We are thankful for food, our house, our family, our pets, that we are not sick, our toys...." We are certainly blessed!