New Year's Eve is here.....

Since my last blog on Tuesday, we have had an interesting few days. On Wednesday, we got up and moving around and went back to Aunt Becky's house to visit with her and Uncle Wes before we left.  We sat around there and chatted for a bit, promised to keep in touch and visit more now that we know one another!!  Aunt Becky told us about the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, and that she thought the kids would love it.  So we loaded up and headed to Springfield.  We got to the Bass Pro Shop and OH MY GOODNESS!!!  That place is AAMMAAZZIINNGG!!!  I have never seen anything like it.  I thought Gander Mtn was "cool" but it has NOTHING on Bass Pro Shop.  All of the areas of the store were ssooo neat and interesting.  We LOVED it so much that we were there for 4 hours.  We then went back to the hotel and just laid around.  Thursday was a day of driving....we loaded up and left around 930 and got home around 4ish.  We unloaded stuff, loved on the dogs and then left again.  Only to go get our new addition, Bentlee.  He had quite a few accidents last night, but he's still a puppy.  He has not gone poo in the house yet, until this morning and that was on a pee pee pad (YAY!!).  It will be an adjustment that's for sure.  Jim got up with him all night because Bentlee is a whiner.  LOL.  Not sure what this evening holds for our family, but I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year!!  Be safe and enjoy!!

Well, it finally happened......

We made it to Ava, Missouri and met some of Jim's biological family.  We came to the hotel first, unloaded the vehicle and then headed to Aunt Becky's house.  When we arrived there, it was such an "odd" feeling, but not in a bad way.  It was Aunt Becky, Uncle Wes, Aunt Frances and Wendy and Bill.  Becky and Frances are Jim's Aunts, and Wendy is Frances's daughter, Bill is Wendy's husband.  We were welcomed with the words of "were looking, yeppp....were looking.......uuuhhh hhhuuhh, yeah, I see it" as well as hugs from many.  We had a wonderful afternoon and evening of going through pictures and talking about Jim's dad and their family.  They had an AWESOME pot of chili, hot dogs, and cornbread.  Delish meal!!!  We then sat around after dinner and talked more, we asked questions, they had answers, they asked questions, we had answers.  Aunt Francis, Wendy, and Bill will be heading back to Iowa in the morning, so I doubt we get to see them again this visit.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Wes want us to come back to the house tomorrow, to go around and do a few things.  We're game!!  Again, this day has been long awaited and I think that everyone was quite pleased with the end result.  I know I was.  It is great to finally meet some of the family that Jim didn't even know he had, up until 4 years ago.  Thank you, God, or this opportunity!!  I am sure there will be more to come tomorrow!!!

Christmas....Been Here and Now Gone

Well, it's hard to believe that Christmas has been here and gone. I feel that, overall, it was a pretty good Christmas.  Of course, there were some "issues", but such is life.  The boys left at noon on Christmas day to spend the rest of the break with their momma.  Trenton, Sammie, and I went to Menards today and made some MAJOR steals on some Christmas lights for next year!  YAY!!!  Jim went hunting with Tim and he got a doe, FINALLY!! 

Starting to, personally, get nervous/anxious about going out of town to meet Jim's biological father's family.  His father passed away when Jim was 11 and he never had the opportunity to meet him or his family.  That is about to change on Tuesday.  I know that Jim has looked forward to this day for MANY years, so it makes me smile to think how excited and happy that it will make him to mark this off of his bucket list.  I hope that we will be able to keep in close contact with the family after this visit. 

Well, duty (laundry and packing) calls.......so I must sign off.  I wish you all the Happiest New Year and will update and blog when I can and have time!!