Catching Up....

So I think it's safe to say I have a LOT of catching up to do! It's almost been a year since my last blog post (that sounds a bit like a Catholic confession ha!). I've been thinking about everything that has happened since then, and trying to figure out how I'm going to update everything and get back into the swing of blogging without getting either overwhelmed, or providing entirely too much detail.
I was talking to Eddy about it & said maybe I should just say, "So this, this & this has happened". He seemed to think that would be the easiest way to start, so here I go!

Since Eddy & Hillary got us this awesome laptop for Christmas & made blogging possible again, I will start there.  Eddy & Desiree got divorced. They are no longer together & I have a brand new "almost" daughter-in-love! Her name is Hillary. She is a nurse. She is beautiful. She is so good to/for Eddy and they are completely in love.  We love her too! She is SO great with the grand babies, and that has to be hard for any young woman - 3 kids all 5 and under! She's never been married and doesn't have any children of her own - YET!  That is going to change sometime around March 15th! YES, they are having a baby & I am going to be a Nana again! And it's another BOY!  He has proposed, she HAS accepted, and there will be a wedding coming up. But I don't think they are in a hurry or trying to rush that. They are living one day at a time, happily I might add, so when they set a date we'll be there!

Brittni is STILL in Manchester, NH.  She didn't get to come home for Christmas this year and it was extremely difficult on all of us (especially me & Brittni - oh and Rob & David of course because THEY had to put up with us ha!)  She came home for an "extended visit" the first part of November & stayed through Thanksgiving.  She thought she wanted to come home for good.  She packed up her car, quit her job at Fidelity, and headed home.  Somewhere in New York she called & played her "Allen Card".  It means she picked up the phone & said "look, I can DO this if I HAVE to (drive all the way home by herself)...but I don't HAVE to!  I try really hard not to ask for help unless I really need it, and I REALLY need it.  SOMEBODY needs to come get me & bring me home.  Eddy was all set to fly out there, but at the last minute David decided he needed to be the one to go save his little girl.  We put him on a plane that afternoon & he flew to Columbus, OH & Brittni met him at the airport.  And he brought her back to Arkansas!  We LOVED having her here.  She LOVED being here - home.  But in the end, after much discussion, Rob flew out here & she went back to NH.
They DO have a game plan though.  Within the next year, they are going to try move within 4-6 hours of here.  Rob has to be in a metro area for his work. Brittni has to be close enough to home that she can get in her vehicle on Friday afternoon, start driving, and be in Fayetteville sometime that same evening.  I have so many words I could say here, but they're just words. Bottom line is that if all goes as planned, Brittni won't be 1700 miles away for too much longer.  I always say you can do anything if you have an end in sight!

The grand babies......they are AMAZING!

And just look at how they've grown! Awni just turned 2, Davin 3 & Hunter is 5 already! These three definitely have Peepaw & Nana wrapped around their fingers!! They are just precious & I can't imagine our lives without them.  They make my heart happy!

Ok, so that's the rundown on the kids.  I think I'm gonna wrap this one up & catch up on me & David later....

So til next time......me.....  and I sure am happy to be here!  Life is good!

I'm Back!

Did you miss me???  Well you won't be missing me from here on out.  Thanks to David getting us back to the 21st century by locating an Internet provider for us out here in the woods, AND to Eddy & Hillary for giving us a laptop for Christmas, I will be able to blog on some type of regular basis.
This is just a test to make sure it all works, but you can be sure I have plenty to say!
Til next time........me

Davin Cole

 Yesterday morning D-baby had to have eye surgery.  The first time I noticed his eyes were a little bit crossed was at his first birthday party, and someone asked me about it, until then, everything seemed fine. But after that, his eyes seemed to get worse. And it wasn't just one eye that crossed, it was both, and at different times. He has perfect vision, but his muscles weren't working properly. So for the next year the kids went through several different treatments - glasses (which he wouldn't keep on), eye drops to dilate his eyes (dilate a different one each week to try strengthen the muscles) etc. Finally yesterday, they did surgery to correct it.  Of course this Nana had to be there, and my sweet little boy was so glad to see me!

They took him back for about 45 minutes & then Dr. Henry came out to tell us that everything went great! What he DIDN'T tell us is that Davin doesn't come out of anesthesia very well, and he was one unhappy boy! It broke my heart to see him in recovery. He couldn't (or wouldn't) open his eyes, and he was crying & very hard to hold still. I know I let a few tears fall, but I tried to hold it together for Eddy & Dez. They really amaze me at how patient & loving & tender they were with him. It really sunk in yesterday that although I still consider them as "the kids", that "the kids" are grown up now, with 3 kids of their own.  And they're doing a pretty fine job as parents if I do say so myself.

THIS is what Davin looked like when he finally got home & got some rest.  The light still hurt his eyes, as you can tell, and that is a Desiree face/look if I ever saw one!  Such a sweet precious boy he is. So glad this is all over for him now.

Til next time.....me

It's Friday - And YES I DO miss Brittni!

I am SO thankful to get this week out of the way! (Well, almost, it IS only 8 in the morning ha!). To say that it's been hard, is an understatement. I'm still kinda in a fog - a daze. I can't believe Brittni is REALLY gone!
I still talk to her & text several times a day.  They made it "home" last night around 5:30.  That made me cry, when she said "We made it home", because HOME is no longer in Northwest Arkansas.  Home is 1600 miles away. Home is now New Hampshire to her. Again, so happy, so proud, so in absolute AWE of my daughter & her accomplishments, her determination, how brave she is to do this....but yet STILL SO DAMN SAD that she's so far away. She goes in for orientation on Monday at her new job. I'm glad she's got 3 days to settle in before she hits the ground running.  I think she only has to actually GO to work though for a couple days, then they will send her home & PAY her to study for the next 7 weeks for her stockbroker's license. WOW, just typing that impresses me. :)  Anyhoo I am still here, still alive, still breathing so that's good.  I told everyone weeks ago when she left it would KILL me. But I was wrong...and I guess that's a good thing. HA! Til next time....me

The "After Party"

So after Brittni's Official Commencement Ceremony at the University of Arkansas, we put together a little "after-party" for her. Brenda's church (Calvery Chapel in Fayetteville) graciously allowed us to use their facilities to have the party. We went on Friday night & decorated everything.  The party went great! The weather that day was awful, and it was also the Saturday before Christmas. But I must say, everyone came together & put out such an effort, to make her day extra special!  Below are more pictures from the party. I did not get one of my friend Sherry.  She is the ONLY friend of mine & David's that we invited, that showed up.  That says something there....something about the kind of friend she REALLY is....Kayleigh - Brittni's friend came too. Everyone else is family (Which is who are TRUE friends are anyway. My dad always says, you can't really count on anyone but yourself, and your family- wise man he is!).  Anyway again, most of this is just so I don't ever forget - how truly special this day was.  Brittni Dianne - we are SO proud of you! 

Brittni's College Graduation Pictures

We took over 400 pictures for Britt's graduation pictures. We made a day of it. We met Aunt Bev at Harp's & took her car & started off at the U of A campus. It was VERY cold! Then we went to Dickson Street, then Wilson Park & finished up at Mt. Comfort. Brittni didn't know about THE CROSS!  Of course I hadn't been there in probably 25 years....it was a special time.  Then we took Aunt Bev to lunch & went back to Harp's to get my truck. From there we headed up to Roger's to my friend Sherry's house.  We started at Bogle Park in Bentonville, then finished up at Crystal Bridges (my first time there - I definitely want to go back to explore the museum - it is AWESOME!).  Then we left, went to Starbucks, Pizza Hut, the liquor store, grocery store & called it a night.  It was a perfect day, one that I'll never forget.  I just wanted to make sure & get a few pictures on here before it got away from me.  Oh my, how they grow up so fast!

The Day Brittni Grew Up & Moved On....

Today, January 7, 2014....Brittni Dianne Allen pulled out of the driveway of my father's house and headed for Manchester New Hampshire.  She, Rob & Ladybug all piled into her Sonata & drove off into the sunset. (Or sunrise, as it was morning....)  The hole I feel in my chest is indescribable.  The fear I feel is tangible. My very best female friend just moved 1600 miles away. And there is a very real possibility that I will not see her again until Christmas. Although words cannot express just how proud of her we are (she DID just graduate college in December - she DID get hired on at Fidelity Financial in New Hampshire before she even moved there - she IS taking her Stockbrokers License test - she IS amazing.....) I'm more afraid that words cannot express how very much I am going to miss her, how much I already miss her.

There is SO much more to say, and hopefully soon I will be able to, but for right now, I just can't breathe.

Til next time (whenever that may be)....me