Happy New Year 2019!

Well, our New Year's Eve was nice, but not very exciting!  Barrett served up some delicious filets again while the kids and I worked on a puzzle.  For some reason, this Christmas break, I was drawn to doing a puzzle so I was excited to finish this one after a couple of days.  Kids and I were working so diligently on it while watching a movie that I didn't even realize it had turned midnight.  In some ways, I was pretty disappointed that we didn't do anything more for NYE, but then I think back to the many nights that I wasn't content enough to "just do a puzzle" that I am thankful to be at that point.

Sam, Our Elf & His Reindeer, Winter

I must admit that I am surprised at how much entertainment Sam, our elf, provides for the children.  They talk to him and swear that his eyes move.  Bonner interacted with him alot this year - making him snowflakes and writing him letters.

"Dear Sam,

What you are seeing below is a wall hanger for your house.  It will make you feel warm inside and out.  It is supposed to be a poinsettia flower, but you can make it anything you want.  I LOVE YOU SAM."

Sam's reply - I thought I took a picture of him doing snow angels in the sugar ... Bad Sam!

"Sam, Yep, I've made another. I hope you LOVE it. Have a great night. -Bonner

P.S. We made cookies"

Sam's letter to Ian and Bonner before they went to their dad's on the 17th for the week

Sam's letter for Christmas Day (the elf and any of his pets go with Santa back to the North Pole)

Christmas 2018

Well, it seems that Ian & Bonner were on the Nice list again this year and Santa stopped by with a few things for each of them.  I picked them up late last night and they were sad to have to tell Sam and Winter "Bye-Bye", but they were excited to be able to hold Sam before they kissed him "Goodbye!"

She is in wonder that she can actually hold him ... and Ian is just a sweet kid!  As I look at this picture, I can see him leaning in on his little baby one day with this same sentiment!

Good Bye Sam & Winter!  Until 2019, we will miss you!

Ian worked hard to get Santa's cookies and milk together.  He put on this Santa hat when he got home and actually ended up sleeping in it Christmas Eve!  Too Funny!

GranConnie sent this halo and Nutcracker bow-tie.  The kids thought they were pretty fun!

Funniest thing was that on Christmas morning, the kids were going through their stockings and realized that Santa had put Ian's stuff in Bonner's stocking and vice versa.  Oops!  As if that wasn't bad enough, Ian's stocking was in front of Bonner's gifts and Bonner's was with Ian's stuff.  Santa must have been pretty tired by the time he got to our house :-)

Bonner got a Ukelele as her big gift.  And Ian got the Harry Potter Great Hall lego set.  They got games and books to share and Nerf guns for hours of entertainment!

We had a surprise doorbell ring at 8:08 a.m.  We went to the door to find Stewart with his iPad.  When the kids asked him why he brought his iPad, he said "Well, I wasn't sure if you would be awake yet."  So, basically he showed up as he is allowed to do on Christmas morning and rang the doorbell with the intention of waking us up if we weren't awake ... and he spent the entire morning with us which just made for a very uncomfortable Christmas morning.  I guess he was upset that I wouldn't give the kids to him from 12:45 to 5 p.m. so out of spite, he left his wife on Christmas morning for 4 hours.  So very sad for her and for him.  Bonner was counting down the minutes until he left.  I only let the kids open a couple of gifts from me while he was here - I hated it, but I was not going to give him the benefit of seeing everything Barrett and I had to put together for the kids.

Gift # 1 for Bonner was the Cricut machine.  She wasn't sure what it was - she actually thought it was a mini oven!  But once we got the app going on the iPad and I showed her some of the things it could do; she actually said "This is fascinating and completely satisfying to watch it cut!"

Bonner with her Ukelele (left) and the Cricut machine (right)

Once Stewart left at noon, my parents came over and we opened presents with them.  We finished up opening gifts about 3 p.m. Ian worked on his legos all afternoon and Bonner did several Cricut projects with lots of paper!  Barrett and I made a delicious "Not Yo Mama's Mac and Cheese" and he grilled out steaks and chicken for everyone to enjoy.  My mom went to see Elijah, but Steve was able to join us for a yummy supper!

Christmas Eve in Spartanburg

Barrett and I picked up Palmer and went over to Spartanburg to celebrate the big day with his parents and Blair.  Blair cooked up some yummy appetizers and we all enjoyed exchanging gifts.  We gave Palmer a new laptop and printer and Barrett's parents gave her a new comforter for her bedroom.  It was a nice time having everyone together - we missed the twins, but we have come to understand that we have to seize the moments we get with Palmer as they are, unfortunately, few and far between.

 

Christmas Eve Letter to Ian & Bonner

Dear Ian & Bonner,
First and foremost, Merry Christmas! This is the most wonderful time of the year, or rather it should be! I type this tonight from a heart of sadness for some reason and I have no idea why. One day, I might even regret putting my thoughts down on paper, but you know I have never really held back. The agreement with your dad about Christmas was set in my mind the night everything exploded between us... in my fury, I wrote down a list of things that were vitally important to me and my soul and at the top of that list was “having the kids on Christmas morning!” As a mom, you just inherently want to see the surprised, excited, joyful eyes on your children’s faces come Christmas morning and I vowed to fight for that from day one. It’s probably a ridiculous notion, especially as you have gotten older; but, it’s still something I cling to and value beyond what words can explain!

When I first started the process of negotiating the separation between your dad and I, I told the attorney my request - each year, it would be consistent. You would be with your dad December 17 thru 24 and then I would have you from 24th until school started back. It seemed both fair and reasonable to me at the time because your dad told me once “I can never miss a Christmas Eve with my family because that is our special day.” I added the detail that your dad could come visit Christmas morning to make it even more fair - especially since I know that it’s important for you to see him on the special day, too.

And, honestly, the agreement worked fine for 5 years and then last year, your dad asked if he could get you for a couple of hours instead of coming over in the morning. He even offered for me to get you a couple hours earlier one Christmas Eve which was very nice. I talked to you both about it & you said “Let’s try it this year, mom.” So we did and when you got home, you both said “That was too much coming and going, mom. I don’t want to do that next year.”

You mentioned a couple of weeks ago that your dad had said something about your coming back to his house on Christmas Day and I reminded you both of how you felt last year. Ian still wanted to try it this year, but Bonner, wasn’t too sure. I never heard anything from your dad so I actually figured you had made other plans with him this past week while you were together.

But then this Christmas Eve morning, I got the following message from your dad:

The children have asked to be able to come over tomorrow afternoon. Would it be possible to trade the Christmas morning for me to pick them up at 12:45 and bring them back around 5?

I must admit that I was actually surprised with his gutsiness - not offering anything in return and asking to take you for the meat of the day. I didn’t reply immediately for one reason and only one reason - I was afraid that when he read my response that he would take it out on you and I was trying to avoid that. I figured if I could just respond on my way over to pick you up that I might be able to protect you and your emotions. Unfortunately, he texted me later in the day to ask me if I accepted this proposal so I responded with:

Sorry, we have been gone all day. I’m sorry but I just can’t make that happen tomorrow. You are welcome to come over in the morning at your convenience.

Well, he didn’t like that answer and responded with:
You have disappointed your children. They have been talking about coming over here tomorrow to see their Santa stuff all week. They said that you had agreed.

So, please let me apologize for disappointing you. I am truly sorry, but I made my decision based on the fact the request was not reasonable and not respectful of my time with you. I thought that your being gone 4+ hours on Christmas Day was too much - especially since you have been with him the past week. If he had asked me to get you for a couple of hours and then said “when it’s convenient for you”, I would have probably obliged; however, that wasn’t how he presented it. And, honestly, because he waited until today to even discuss it, I thought it was extremely rude. He has known for the past 364 days that tomorrow is Christmas and he would want you at his house at some point. I want you to know that I didn’t just disregard his request out of spite or anger or anything other than what I have typed here - the request was too much to ask, in my opinion.

The first question you asked, Bonner, when we came to pick you up tonight was “Why didn’t you agree to dad’s request about us coming over here tomorrow?” I replied “Do you know how long he asked to have you?” You both said “No!” I said “from 12:45 until 5 o’clock.” You both quickly replied “Oh no, that’s way too long!” I agree!

I have the feeling your dad is going to fight to get the rules changed and I fear that there will be a Christmas morning in the future where I don’t get to see your excited, joyful eyes first thing on that special day. Until then, though, I will pray and trust God will protect my heart and my emotions and that He will protect yours, too! I love you so very much!

Love,
Moomy 

A Year with Belle

A year ago today, we went to Due West, SC, to see about a little West Highland Terrier.  Belle stole our hearts immediately and we have thoroughly enjoyed having her as part of our family this year! The pictures below tell her 2018 story - which include alot of sleeping in strange ways and in strange places; lots of boat rides; and, more love than she could have imagined (at least, I like to tell myself that)!