Our year in review....2016

JANUARY
We started the new year cleaning up

Christmas!

and then of course I became a weather fanatic watching and

waiting to hear the words I love......SNOW!

There was rumbles of the "big one" coming our way but 

we know how that always turns out, big disappointment

but not this time.....Jan 22nd it started snowing and it didn't

stop for a long time

by the next day, we had 15 inches with 18 to 20 inch snow drifts

and Jan 23rd our grandson John Thomas turned 2 years old

FEBRUARY

was a terrible month as we lost our sweet daddy only
17 months after losing our momma.
It was heartbreaking but yet we all knew he was ready
to go be with momma again. He struggled to breathe so we
all knew it ended his suffering. But never easy....and we all
miss him so badly. There is not one single day in my life now
that I do not think of momma and daddy

MARCH

March 8th another grandson, Declan Liam, turned 3 years old
We hung out with my little sister and her husband at the
Irish Festival and we celebrated Easter at our home
the weather was bad so had to have the egg hunt inside
Even though the weather was annoying, hiding eggs in the house
can still be interesting

I turned 60 years old!! OMG
And my sweetheart husband surprised me with
a party at Maggianos
My siblings, kids, grandkids and a few close friends were all
in on the surprise.
I still can't believe he pulled it off!

APRIL

My siblings and I continued with cleaning out Daddy's house....not
an easy nor fun task. Though we did run across many items
that brought back great memories and laughs.
Our middle child, Jacquelyn Diane, turned 29 years old
And we left for Myrtle Beach at the end of the month
to visit with our dear friends Glenda and Jerry

MAY

May 6th our son Jake turned 28 years old
our granddaughter Avery Grace turned 1 year old
Our son's fiancee celebrated her birthday on May 28th
It would have been our daddy's 83rd birthday on May 31st 
and Johnny and I celebrated 37 years of marriage.
just a big old month of celebrations!!

JUNE

My darling husband turned 63 years old on June 22nd
Our daughter Jacquelyn and her husband Bucky bought their first home
and right around the corner from us!!

We hosted an engagement party for our son 
Jake and his fiancee Kayce

JULY

As we do every year, we headed down to the Chesapeake Bay
to spend a week with Tommy and Joanne. By far our most relaxing
vacation each year. Just a beautiful place to be, hanging out 
with the best people and just having so much fun!!

AUGUST

Our daughter Nicole Renee had her 33rd birthday
We picked up our new addition to our teddy bear pack
Miss Khaleesi Rue

We went to my momma's 80th family reunion 
weird to be there without momma but such fun to see all of our cousins

SEPTEMBER

We headed down to our most favorite place on earth.....
the Outer Banks of North Carolina
Hurricane Hermine had been downgraded to a tropical storm
but knowing how bad those can be, we decided to head down one day early
it was crazy but fun
we had one moment of thinking "did we make a mistake" by
coming down. We're driving on Beach Road, a lot of it flooded
then we came upon power lines down and across the road
so we headed over to the bypass highway, so windy it was hard keeping the
car in our lane, ended up hanging out in the parking lot
of the Kmart until things died down a little
the rest of the trip.....AWESOME!!

OCTOBER

Always a fun month

and we decided to have our first ever Halloween party

that sure was fun and there will def be a second one in 2017

Our daughter Nicole coordinated the 2nd annual

Walk to raise awareness for Apraxia.

Apraxia is what our oldest grandson Maddox has

we are so proud of the work our daughter does to

help people understand about this neurological disorder

NOVEMBER

We decorated for Christmas, had Thanksgiving dinner

at our home for 16 people and then celebrated with my

family.....I think it was 32 of us!!

Johnny and I with all of our grandchildren....love them so much

our children.....all grown up

we continued to enjoy our newest puppy, Khaleesi Rue
even though we are still dealing with moments like this

DECEMBER

We just had the best Christmas ever!

our traditions changed but that is ok

our family is changing and growing so much that we

knew that day would come

And now we just have so many things in 2017 to look forward to

and changes for our children.....Jake and Kayce getting married

Tyler entering his 4th year of trade school on his road to 

becoming an electrician

Jacquelyn starting her new job at Capital One

Nicole experiencing 3 kids in school and only one

home with her now and planning her 3rd Annual Apraxia walk

and Bucky continuing big success in his job

so much to be thankful for

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

later.....