Life back to normal?

After a week long trip to Florida, coming home to beat my brother and his family here by only 1 hour, having them here for a few days, it's back to normal.... but what is that?  haha

As I type, I sit on the couch with Kaya next to me, Fred on the other end and Baby sleeping on the love seat. Yep, that's our lives: me, Fred and the cats.  Not bad, really.

Another thing that is becoming 'normal' is Mom is in the hospital again. Not a good sign when the ER nurses and respiratory folks remember you.....

I don't know what is in store for her. She is miserable, understandibly. Tired of all the meds that don't seem to be doing much good. Of course, she is sure the doctor's objective is to make money off her so he keeps her on meds..... gee
She is determined to change doctors when she gets out of the hospital. I would sympathize with her if it wasn't that she feels this way about every one of the doctors she has had. She loves them at first, then they become the enemy.

In other family news...... don't know if I have mentioned before, but since we moved to Texas, my brother has been wanting to move over here. Well, Sara got a really good paying job with a children's hospital in Dallas. She starts in March. One of the reasons they came last week was for my brother to pass out his resume.  They are planning on finding a place to live somewhere between Dallas and us. That would mean they would only be about 1 hour from us. That is MUCH better than 19 hours!
I am looking forward to having them closer and being able to spend the holidays with them.

We will now have Fred's brother/family and my brother/family in Texas. Just need to get the rest over here and we can take over!  haha

Here is a picture of my 2 nieces and nephew.  I am so glad they got along great!

tea time with Savanna

Savanna wanted to have a tea party, so she got some iced tea and, what she called 'fru fru' food. She took some doughnuts and cut them 'bite size' and placed some peanuts 'strategically' on the plate.

She was so cute, she wanted to make a good 'plate presentation'.....

(she watches food network with her dad a lot!) 

Coming home!

I have to say, staying with Bill and Evelyn was so great!!! I truly miss their 'parental' love for me and Fred! :)

We left Brandon on Friday at 4am. The drive was pretty smooth and minimal traffic, so we made it in 16 hours, the same amount of time it took us to drive down. Not bad....
My brother and his family planned a trip to Texas. They left Friday afternoon, but took their time, so we actually beat them to the house by 1 hour!  haha
The timing is perfect. It will keep me busy enough to NOT get depressed after leaving my kids in Florida.

The last time, in September, when Freddy & Steph came to visit, I got really down when they left. So much so, that Fred actually let me get a kitten to lift my spirits!  So I joked with him that my brother's visit was going to spare him from another kitten!!  haha

Day 7 of our Florida Trip

Our last day in Florida. I wanted to just spend it with Andy. He wanted me to bring him breakfast, but the place he wanted it from doesn't DO breakfast anymore!  I told the lady my son, who JUST had surgery, was going to be very disappointed!!  haha
So he opted for Xaxby's instead....

We didn't do much. He really is not supposed to do anything except sit or lay down. He has a catherer bag for a week, and the Dr. emphasized  he needed to "chill". His full recovery depended on it. But my son has a high pain tolerance, so he thinks he is better than he truly is. It's hard to keep him down!

This is all we want him to do for a week.....

Fred, on the other hand, had a job. He was to make 'stuffed grape leaves'.

Andy loves them, and so does Bill Hofrichter

We are hoping Andy will stay with the Hofrichters till AT LEAST Monday,

 maybe longer.....

As long as he has to be on pain meds, he really needs to be with someone

who would keep an eye on him.

Leaving him Friday night was one of the hardest things I have had to do in a

LONG time....

Just awful!!!

Day 6 of our Florida Trip

Andy's surgery was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, so in the morning,

 I went to Yates Elementary and see my 'little friends'.

I wanted to bring them something "Texan" as a gift, and I found these great little wind chimes that had cowboy boots, hat or horse and they could color them. I told them to think of me every time they heard the chimes! I had to go to a couple of other classes to see the kids who had changed teachers. It was so great to see them, I really miss them! (most of them... lol)

Then, we went on to St Joseph's Hospital for Andy's surgery. Andy was born with 'hypospadia'. I have learned it's a very common thing, but NORMALLY, surgery is done when the child is a newborn- 1yr old.

So, Andy ended up in the pediatric ward.

Our pediatrician told us his case was not severe enough to do surgery, that he would be 'fine'....

Well, as Andy got older, it has become and issue, so he requested the surgery. Of course, as in most procedures, it can be a bit more serious as one is older. I have really been worried about it, but after speaking with several people, including some pediatricians, I was assured he would be fine. Now, he would be fine AS LONG as he did EXACTLY what he was supposed to do.

So, he is staying with the Hofrichters, basically his '2nd' family.....

 I know Debbie would take good care of him!

While Andy was in surgery (a 2 hour procedure) we ran real quick to a spanish store called Mi Pueblo. My mom had called ahead for some items that you just can't find in Texas, real Latin stuff!

 We were back at the hospital with an hour left to wait. He did really well, and didn't have much pain,

though he was still on the morphine they gave him! I knew it was a good sign when he put in a specific request for breakfast when we left him at Debbie's that night! :)

Day 5 of our Florida Trip

I am so bummed, I didn't take any pictures of the Open House at Bill & Evelyn's house.
Fred and Bill cooked their boston butts, and we got some sides to go with it, along with some Village Inn pies.
There were quite a few folks that came over for a while. The Winfreys, Prennatts, Rice, younger Browns, Ross, Cindy Whitaker and Kim Nibblett.

Later that night, Bro Chuck came over and prayed for Andy's surgery. That was so nice and very much appreciated. Bro Chuck will always be special to us, no matter what church we go to.

We have SO enjoyed staying with Bill and Evelyn! They are our family, my Dad and 'other' Mom!!

Day 4 of our Florida Trip

I think all we are doing on this trip is eating!!  haha

Fred and Bill wanted to have a 'throwdown' in the smoker,

so we went to Sam's to get a couple of boston butts.

That was fun!! The closest Sam's to us is about an hour away. We are considering getting a membership and just going once a month...

Another thing on our 'list' was going to Smokey Bones. We used to go there a lot before we moved, mainly because they have great coupons! :)

We put it our on Facebook to all our friends who could make it, and we got the Lafollettes,Jarboes,Birds, and James Council, who drove from Orlando!!

It was a great time!! God has truly blessed us with some great friends!

Day 3 of our Florida Trip

On Monday, we took Andy and his friend, Noelle, to Chilis. 

Andy has been friends with Noelle for a couple of years now. After a year, they decided to date. But now they are just good friends. Can I say....  I just love this girl! She is a Godly, caring, sweet friend to my son. And I have gotten to know her a little better via Facebook!

I have a 'to do' list while we are in Florida, and one of them is hitting up Publix!

There are things we can't get where we live, so we are making sure to stock up while we are here....

We also wanted to drive through our old neighborhood. Fred and I have been talking about our house in Valrico... how we missed it, how great it was....

Well, we drove by it, and both us had the same reaction: it's just a house.

We realized we are missing the things that went on IN the house. The small groups, the parties, the family.

So in a way, this was very therapeutic!!

For dinner, we met up with Steve and Collen Ross at Village Inn.

For a couple of years, we were meeting with the Ross and the Caddells once a month at Village Inn.

We miss our dear friends!

Day 2 Pictures continued....

here are some pictures Steph took....

Steph and Ricky leading the way

saw a guy taking a picture of the Travelocity Gnome... thought it was funny!

the obligatory Castle picture!

I was so excited to see Disney was still in Christmas mode!

cute!

more Small World pics....

 this is what Andy did during the ride... texting....

this is at Hollywood Studios (old MGM)

Steph HAD to see the Beauty and the Beast show

Day 2 of our Florida Trip

Before I start on our Day 2, I forgot to post this picture of Fred and Bill 'chilling' by the pool.

The weather on Saturday was upper 60s-70....

And, back home, Mt Pleasant got 3 inches of snow!!! I have been looking forward to seeing snow in Texas since moving there last Spring, and it decides to snow the weekend I am in Florida?!?!?  It's just so wrong!!

OK, ON TO DAY 2.....

Thanks to Fred's cousin who works at Disney, we were able to go to the Magic Kingdom!

We started out at Epcot because there was a "Disney Marathon" and roads to the Magic Kingdom

were blocked or crowded...

Steph's boyfriend, Ricky was able to go with us. Poor guy is a police officer and got off work at 4am that morning, so he was going on about 2-3 hours of sleep. What a trooper!

before leaving Epcot, we rode "Soaring", a virtual ride over California. I have a terrible fear of heights and figured I would just close my eyes during the ride...but it wasn't that bad

me and Fred by the giant golf ball!

me and Steph in line for Test Track....

Steph's next car!

just wrap it up, I'll take it!

Then, we hopped on the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom, the happiest place on Earth!!

We felt so special, they had a parade going on when we arrived! 

 

 

This bird was sitting at an area where people were eating.

 He was patiently hoping to get some scraps!

I thought this was funny, when it looked straight at me, his face almost disappeared!

haha 

We "forced" the kids to go in IT'S A SMALL WORLD ride....

this is their dramatization of how they felt....

Steph was just kidding, she liked it! :) 



My camera was being a pain, so the rest of the time we used Steph's camera for the rest of the day and I haven't gotten them yet....

We had an amazing day with great weather and short lines!

I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Day 1 of our Florida trip

We left Texas at 4am Central time and arrived at Bill & Evelyn's house at 9pm eastern time. So we made great time and the drive was smooth. Praise God!! that is always nice.  On Saturday, we went to eat some great cuban food. 

 I have missed this place!!

Yum!!

Then, we went to pick Andy up at his place. He is living with a nice couple in Valrico.

Then we all headed to Orlando to meet up with Stephany. She works at a hotel and got us a room for $5 !! Can't beat that! We went to dinner at Red Lobster.

It was great seeing Steph and Andy together!

It was fun watching them trying to figure out how to eat crab legs!

Hanging out with the man with the wallet!!  haha