Our Last Holiday Gathering, My FIRST Selfie Stick Photos and Wishing All a Happy New Year!!!

My sister, Deanie, gave me the best gift EVER!!!!

A SELFIE STICK!!!!

How fun is THIS???

This is my very first pic EVER using a selfie stick!!!

That's Deanie's husband behind me, Charlie!

We were photo bombed by my sweet brother in law, Jerry!!!

I have the best brother and brothers in law EVER!!!

That's Lonnie (my one and only brother!) to the left and Nita's husband Mike beside Lonnie!

I left Louis Dean home alone - again!! - and drove over to Fort Worth for one last gathering of the clan for this year of 2015! This was a special night because our sister from Alabama and her family were in town to join us!

Nita put on quite a spread of Mexican casseroles, salad, and dips!

It was FUN like a PARTY!!!

This is Shari, who is our youngest sibling, with her granddaughter and Lonnie.

Trish is Deanie's daughter and so talented!!!

She makes the best Christmas gifts and that night she gave Nita a lovely wreath made of fresh rosemary and tied with a burlap bow!!! I'm going to make one for ME!!!

Nita is a perfect hostess!!! She makes throwing a party for 14 people AFTER a full day of work - arriving home only 45 minutes before we all started arriving - look EASY!!!!

It was a fun evening full of laughter and cutting up!!!

Just look at all the smiles!!

Mother had seven children in all. Five girls and two boys.

Shari - 4th in line - had a twin brother who was stillborn.

So Lonnie is our only surviving brother.

And a precious one he is!!!!

Here are the sisters all lined up but not in order of birth!

I am the oldest and then Deanie, Nita, Luann and Shari.

This is Luann!!!

Our story is a complicated one but Nita, Deanie and Lonnie are all full blood siblings with the same mother and father. Shari and Luann are full blood sisters with the same mother as we but a different father. I, on the other hand, am the 'odd man out' with the same mother but unknown father.

It is amazing how life works out! Though we did not all grow up together, God had an ultimate plan for our lives and we are all grateful for where we are today.

I am a firm believer in Romans 8:28!

"All things work together for good for those who love the Lord."

And we all DO!!!

He has done that for all of us......

We talked and laughed and yes, we cried a few tears together.

You couldn't tell it by these happy faces!!!

It was a wonderful way to end our year!

It's ALWAYS a good thing to spend time with family whenever you can.

None of us know when it will be the last time!!

As everyone was leaving, Mike and Nita and I were playing in the LED light display on their front lawn! We were all dancing in the lights and Andie hopped out of the car and joined us!!!

I am here to tell you that we had so much fun!!! We couldn't capture it in photos but it was cold outside and Mike would blow on the lights and it looked like fireworks going off!!!

Andie was outlined in the colors as she danced around!

I'm glad that at 67 years old, I can still 'dance in the light!!'

I spent the night at Nita's and her guest room is one of THE most special places on earth!!!

The bed is a Sleep #! Her curtains have black out fabric! She has a fan for noise and sleep is more blissful here than anywhere else I can think of!!! Nita sprayed the pillows and sheets with some essential oils and had a bottle of water beside the bed. I slept like a baby!!!

This morning I drove over to Deanie's to have one last visit with her and mother in 2015!!!

Mother loves it when I take pics of us together!!!

She always likes to look at them on my phone and she picks which one she wants me to post on Facebook!

Here are a few Christmas pics I missed earlier!

Mother on Christmas morning!

My sweet sister, Deanie, and her daughter and granddaughter!

This is a pic of me on Christmas morning as someone STOLE my Christmas Quilt made by my niece, Leah!!! Never fear! I 'Stole' it back!!!!

Mother and her niece, Paula. The two oldest members of our family.

Deanie took Mother to visit her last week and Andie went along and played her flute for them!

Now here we are on New Year's Eve!!!

I cam home this afternoon and we popped corn and watch Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider.

I have a bottle of bubbly chilling for when 2015 turns into 2016.

We will be heading down to the ranch soon and I close with this photo from my favorite winery - which just so happens to be located not too many miles from the ranch!!!

Wishing you all a Happy and BLESSED New Year!!!!

YOU have the power to make it so!!!

No matter what!!!

I Left Quadville and we are Home Together Again.....

It was so nice to have Louis Dean spend the night with me in Quadville on Monday!

He had a rough night after starting out in the guest room together.

The allergy 'stuff' meeting the asthma 'stuff"is what is causing him such a problem!

Amber texted me around 3:00 this morning wanting to know if he was okay.

He was coughing and gagging and choking and hacking. 

She was frustrated because she couldn't get downstairs to check on him and I was asleep and not answering the text! Louis Dean was being gracious and went in the living room where he would not disturb me ......not realizing Amber would be concerned!

While LD and Amber slept on.....Kailey was the first to wake up this morning and since I had slept a good 8 hours I went up up and brought her downstairs and tucked her into bed with me!

She dearly loves looking at 'pishers' on my iPad!!!'

We had a very nice day in Quadville!!

Louis Dean spent quality time with the quads and played his guitar in the guest room where they could hear him - and Kailey went in to sing with him for a few minutes!

Mid morning we had a Nail Salon event right there in the living room!!

Amber is so good at keeping things interesting with the quads!

She painted a total of 50 fingernails - which included her three daughters and herself and ME!!!

I was reluctant to get MY nails painted since I have ugly hands. I have been a life long nail biter and just recently stopped. BUT I relapsed and have bitten my right hand only - leaving my left hand in pretty decent condition. Amber was so gracious and gave me a very nice set of nails.

Isn't it amazing how daughters - my Amber and my Summer are proof in point - see only the best side of their mothers?? I am forever grateful!!!

Do you see that set of miniature manicured nails dipping into my lunch salad???

That would be Logan who is my Mini Me!!! She thinks what's mine is hers and she is so right!!!

Granddad just melts when Kailey tells him she loves him!!

Louis Dean went back home after lunch and the quads went down for their naps.

Amber and I dearly love watching a movie together and we try more times than we succeed!!!

We did it today!!! Both of us folded laundry and got Amber's closet all organized while watching this really cool movie! Granted - it was a chick flick but since we are a couple of chicks - we LOVED it!!!

Amber is recovering nicely after her foot surgery and her knee injections.

The whole purpose of us being in Quadville the last few days was to insure she didn't overdue it!

Telling a mother of four to stay off your feet for a few weeks is a hard pill to swallow!!

After naps Amber had printed out some papers for the quads to watercolor.

She always has some activity up her sleeve!!

She is teaching them to write their name in a multitude of clever ways!

Kailey is very much an individualist!!

She prefers pictures to letters!

Harrison has got it down!!!

I left Quadville this evening after Mike got home from work.

Louis Dean was glad to see me and, after I did a certain amount of Damage Control, we had a nice evening together! Apparently the storm on Saturday had tripped a breaker and and it wasn't until tonight that I could help him figure out which breaker it was!!

Now our coffee pots are all ready to come on in the morning!

And I am ready to go to bed!!!

I close with this picture from 3 years ago!

Here is Uncle Ben with Harrison and Kailey!

This seems like so long ago.....and yet like yesterday!!

Back in 2012 Louis Dean and I were living in our camper down in Katy and Summer and Benjamin came down to visit us right after Christmas.

What memories I have of this time!!!

I am so grateful for all four of my children!!!

I hope and pray I will ALWAYS be a part of their lives!!!

It seems fitting that today I helped Amber as she is is recovering from her foot surgery - which is a direct result of her quad pregnancy. 

And here we all are are in 2012!

Families are all about history!

I do love that!!!

Here we are in Quadville!!

The weather around Texas has been really wild!

While we didn't see snow here in the DFW area - it WAS within an hour's drive away!

I woke up in Quadville this morning to the sound of Logan's voice as she was crouched down on the floor and yelling under the door, "MeeMAW!!! I'm awake!!!"

I had promised her last night when she went to bed that I would listen for her to wake up and I would come up and open her door. Their bedroom door knobs still have those child proof covers on them!

Trystan was awake as well so both of them came downstairs and got in bed with me - along with a few of their toys!

The quads do love their cat!!!

Breakfast was easy peasy! I buttered up a couple of plates of cinnamon rolls and poured up a large sipper cup of milk and they ate at their game table!

Louis Dean called me a little after 8:00 this morning so we could have coffee together via the phone!

Whenever we are apart, he calls me and I go get my cup of coffee and call him back and then we have our first cup together!!!

He was feeling SO much better after the cooler temps and rain had cleaned the air of whatever it was that was making him so sick! He said he was loading up and coming over!!

The quads were listening for his diesel truck and the moment they heard it they ran for the door!!

After waiting and waiting we decided to open the garage doors and there he was!!!

They do love their granddad!!!

His arrived was perfectly timed!!! We had just popped corn and was settling down to watch a Shawn the Sheep movie!

The kids dressed themselves this morning and they were so proud!!!

They have waited on their mommy - bringing her the crutches when she gets up and ice packs for her foot and anything else she needs!

Amber is still recovering from the 'Ten X' procedure on her right foot. She will have the same thing done on her left foot in due time. The doctor said it would be best NOT to do both at once!

She and Mike went to buy groceries and she was excited about going!!!

She had to agree to ride in one of the electric buggies but it was worth it.

It's crazy that a trip to the grocery store is looked upon as a TREAT!!!

While they were gone, Louis Dean fried up some chicken and made gravy while I made mashed potatoes.

Dinner was served and it was delicious!!!

While HE cleaned up the dishes, I gave the kids baths and shampoos!

By the time their parents got back with the groceries the kids were busy playing!

They all four asked me, "Can we play some more before we go night-night?"

Since we're spending the night Louis Dean brought Lucy with him this afternoon.

No kennel so she spends a lot of time in the guest room.

I let her out in the front yard and when she came in Bandit was all poised to run or attack or something! Lucy didn't bat an eye! She just ignored him and walked right past him in search of the kids. They have loved having her and she gets a lot more attention here than she does at home!

Louis Dean and I ended this evening with a glass of wine on the front porch.

It is cold outside and we were bundled up!

This reminded us of the time when we lived in our camper in Katy while we were helping Amber and Mike with four preemies! Seems like yesterday!

So this is where I am blogging from tonight!

The house is quiet and every one's in bed but Louis Dean and me and we are heading that way soon.

I'll close with a couple of pics from our last 'Christmas' gathering!

Sunday afternoon Megan and her two children came for a visit!

Megan is one of my all time favorite people in the whole wide world!

She was Amber's synchro coach for years and years and will always be one of our dearest friends!!

Her daughter, Payton, helped me work on the cardinal puzzle......

while her son, Brady, counted all my Christmas trees!!!

My house is still all decorated and I'm in no hurry to take it down just yet!

We'll be going home tomorrow and we will continue to enjoy how pretty everything looks.