In Conclusion...

This post may be a bit jumbled... so crazy that 2017 ends tomorrow today!! (I went way past midnight writing this post and getting the Flipagram together. lol)

So these pictures are one year apart. ❤

In the time between the two pictures... I've done my first zipline and helicopter ride over the awesomeness of Niagara Falls, tried the delicious Junior's cheesecake, witnessed the view from the top of the Freedom Tower, finally learned to appreciate NYC (thanks to Tom), pushed through a difficult conversation, disconnected from an unhealthy friendship, taken Sam-Puff to obedience classes, celebrated my "Jesus year" birthday in a way that felt unique and perfect, improved my cooking and hosting skills, started friendtimacy-building Friday night dinners, said a painful goodbye to the girlfranz, been present for the birthdays of my niece and nephews, enjoyed a long break from public blogging and from Facebook, survived a legit bomb threat at our crazy courthouse, played the photographer for three families I love, honored Mom's cousin with a Navy Seal collage, celebrated the news that the Wilsons are expecting a baby, said goodbye to a resilient friend who moved to California, reconnected with Jenny, grown my friendship with Tiffany, made two wonderful new friends (Sarah B.and Elizabeth W.), participated in a radio interview about the coming kingdom of Christ, listened to sooo many audiobooks (yay for Hoopla and Audible), really enjoyed my MoviePass subscription, never cut my hair, de-cluttered and completely redecorated my house (with the help of family and friends), and strengthened my overall confidence and sense of identity!  Huzzah!! lol

Here is my official Flipagram of 2017, featuring one of my favorite songs from The Greatest Showman (although 9 out of 11 count as favorites!). ❤ I saw it again today, and I'm inclined to believe every critic who gave that movie a bad review is a cynical, narcissistic fraud. As Barnum says in the movie: "A theater critic who can't find joy in the theater. Now who's a fraud?" 

Anyway, 2017 recap - go! lol
DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE BY VIGO VIDEO. =(

There have been plenty of hard things, too -- tears, frustrations, anger, tension, and misunderstandings -- but overall, my "Choose Life" theme has held strong, and I am thankful to say 2017 has been a great year! ❤❤❤

Shifting gears here... for Christmas, Mom got me a Beachwaver curling iron, a QVC find where the curling iron automatically rotates back and forth with the touch of a button. For whatever reason, it's working and making me a bit braver and more willing to curl my hair! The Miss K doesn't know it yet, but someday, I hope she will appreciate that God gave her these amazing, naturally beautiful spiral curls!! #presh

 A couple more recent pics... Jaceman spent the night while I was there for Christmas week, and I got a few pics of him helping Mamaw bake the chocolate cake. =) 

I got to have lunch with Elizabeth, who is genuine and fun and just delightful, and we shared the Mini Pizookie Trio at BJ's!  Yummers!! =) #noragrets lol

Fun side note:  I moved into my apartment at The Mansions on this day 11 years ago, so officially one-third of my life has been lived in Tulsa (and Jenks)!  Thankful for all the memories and friendships I've made during that time!! 

*These are all 2007 pics - the top one is one of two pictures I have left from the 7 months at my apartment. I got rid of so many after the letter, and several of them are unrecoverable. =( Anyway, yay blonde hair. Perhaps I'll try it again in 2018! lol

I've chosen my word and verse for 2018, and I have a few resolutions in mind... but I'll post about all that on New Year's Day! ❤

For now, I'm excited to ring in the new year with friends at the Farmhouse!  My 2017 will end in the exact same place where it began, and I love the symmetry of that. My 2016 also began with friends at Chet and Karli's -- they just hadn't moved to the Farmhouse yet. I'm sure no one but me cares - that's just free random factoids that my mind keeps track of. lol

Anywho, I hope you've had good memories and growth in 2017, and I hope you have a happy New Year!! =)

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Brace yourself for a gazillion pictures!

Rach had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" Party for Jace's class last week, and the pictures make me happy!  That pic of Jace and the girls blowing out the candles is the very cutest! =) Then it's him and his good friend, Ryer. Then him and Ryer with all the ladies! lol

Mom took these also, and I cracked up hard at him trying to make "snow angels" in this ridiculously tiny amount of snow!! LOL

Okay, on to Christmas weekend!  The MWC LifeChurch has this lovely photo area setup - didn't get a family pic there, but it's pretty even without people in it!

Rach made this awesome chalkboard for them (by the door as people leave)!

This = my gifts for Triston, Carter, Jace, Kyndal, Sam Puff, & Ella Belle! lol  

Dad and I got to go see them for about an hour yesterday afternoon!  It was great getting to play with them and see that they're being well loved, and I brought them some of their favorite edible bones for a Christmas Eve treat! =)

Carter Lee was excited about his Space Scooter - (it's a scooter you can pedal by putting both feet on it and pumping back and forth rather than having to push off the ground) - a bit pricy, but it was his Christmas and B-day gift from me! =)  Jace and Kyndal got the Junior version of that, and T-man asked for money from everyone, so he did pretty well this year! lol

We had Christmas Eve dinner at Pelican's, and the Miss K came to sit by me for a minute!

This pic makes me laugh every time - Uncle Mike is a funny one, and JB being so cheerful right beside him as he's lamenting more pictures = hilarious!

I sat by T-man at dinner, and he was full of entertaining commentary! =)

Kyndal:  Are you gonna sing Happy Birthday to Jesus?

JoBug:  Well, sure, I will! Just let me put down my wine first. 

Jace:  I'll sing it with you!! =)

The fancy pink bike with fun streamers, the Princess Poppy helmet, the walkie talkie, and the adorable Miss K!

Babah made Rach laugh right before this pic was taken!

Grandkids with Babah and Grandad! =)  Blake seemed happier and lighter than I've seen him in a while, and that really made me happy!

Carter Lee on his new hoverboard... craziness!!  

The Parrish fam actually all smiling at once... it's a rare treat!  The Miss K recently learned to snap, so she's proud of that! lol

They decorated  A LOT, but didn't actually put up a Christmas tree this year... so Jaceman bought this tiny one at the CHA school store and told Rach he'd "made all her dreams come true!" So I had to get a family pic of them "under the tree!" LOL #savingChristmas #gottahaveatree

Josh and Rach wanted to get me something nice as a Christmas gift and thank you for taking their family pics... they did really good!!  I'm super excited to try the Instant Pot, and I already know this book will be one of my favorites! ❤

Soooo, in the super-awkward and memorable department... Rach bought Christmas sweaters for all of their fam, then Josh's coworkers asked yesterday why he was wearing a pentagram... (they looked it up to prove to him that it was indeed a pentagram)... Rach got it on Amazon, and it was labeled as a  "Hail Santa" sweater, which is an atheist, anti-Christian thing, but she didn't know that and none of us noticed that morning...

Josh: I wondered why Santa had red eyes!!

Josh again:  I wore it to church this morning. Proudly! lol

Mini Miss K with her new Barbie doll... so much cuteness!

Mom and JB getting ready to serve dessert!

Jaceman hugging Grandad after Grandad opened his awesome handwritten note. =)

A little blurry, but I like that this captured the chaos of Christmas and everyone passing out the gifts!

"Night vision goggles!!!" Jace was super psyched about this gift from Mamaw! lol

Our family pic turned out great! =)

JB with her new Integrity Security mug! =)

Some petit fours from Babah... these are better than others I've had. The red ones are mini red velvet cakes, the black are chocolate, and the rest are white cake. Yummers.

Triston has been emailing me lately, and this one cracked me up... they went to Brooke's after opening all their gifts last night, so they missed our Christmas morning breakfast...

I printed this sign and got a family pic to email back to him at breakfast this morning!! lol

The Jaceman said the Christmas morning prayer for us:  "Dear God, thank you for all our presents, and tell Jesus that I said Happy Birthday!  Amen." 

I love his prayers and I need Rach to write them all down for me. lol ❤

He tried scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes this morning... big stuff! lol

And finally, here's J&K in their awesome bike helmets! =)

We were at the Parrishes till noon, then Dad and I went to see Jumanji at Harkins (much better and funnier than the first one), and now it's about time for our Christmas dinner of pizza, followed by chocolate cake... for Jesus' birthday, of course! lol

Vintage Christmas Memories

Merry Christmas Eve!

Before I take and post any new pictures for this year, here are a few tales of the glories from Christmases long, long ago! lol  Well, it's really just the pictures. It'd take way too long to go into all the stories, but they all hold good memories for me! ❤

Christmas at 9121... I think these are from 2004 to 2006(ish).  Trish and Jackie coming to help decorate our huge tree, my calligraphied Joy to the World dining table centerpiece, a few family pics by the tree, and a cousins pic on the stairs!

Our 9121 balcony and stairs all decorated, more pics by the tree, and Grandad with his four grandkids (2006)! =)

Some random 2008-2011 pics!  (The big NYC tree at Christmastime, Wintery cuteness at the Rhema lights, JEM and Chet giving me the cute Anthropologie mug, posing by Bobbi's little Christmas tree, and hot chocolate with Natalie at Bobbi's Christmas Shenanigans party! =)

Christmas 2008... my "halo" pic at Bobbi's PJ party, my first tree with the non-traditional Christmas colors (probably a 2007 pic), Babah and Rach decorating sugar cookies, girl cousins pic!, Rach and I at the Chickasha lights, and the fake presents Mom wrapped to make my house cuter! lol

2009... my skinniest Christmas! lol  Rach and I holding the new-ish puppies after the major Christmas day snowstorm!  And the DDLG celebrating with the Eugene Field class Christmas party!

2010... Christmas celebration in Texas!  A cousins pic and a fun pic of the "Muecke Bunch" siblings! =)

2011... still one of my favorite memories! Mom was still recovering from the wreck and hospital stays, so we did a breakfast-for-dinner Christmas Eve at home!  Rach was pregnant with Jace and got a few baby gifts, little T-man "helped" Babah in the kitchen, Josh made biscuits and gravy and pancakes, and Carter held the Lee Middleton doll as a "practice Jace." LOL

2012... Jaceman's first Christmas (and full photo session! lol), my 12-12-12 LG Christmas party, Karli's White Christmas & sugar cookies party, and caroling with the lifegroup at Aberdeen!

2013... The mini Miss K's first Christmas!  ... A stool we made for JoBug, Mom and Jace at Nancy's, the tiny presh puppy girlfranz, my snowy front porch decor, me and K-Faith in her presh snowman dress, me and K-Faith in her cuddly Christmas PJs, a LG ladies PJ Christmas party at Elizabeth's, and T&C excited about their new hats! lol

2014... The grandkids with Grandad and Babah, Jaceman's new Jack-in-the-box, photobooth fun at Nancy's, my awesome 52 favorite memories gift from Rach, Rach with the boys before their Christmas program, and me holding Miss Kyndal Faith with her fun fountain ponytail!

2015... Christmas day breakfast at the Parrishes, Grandad and Babah with their four GREAT-grandchildren, me with J&K (and K's new doll), our very memorable surprise gift from Babah and Grandad, caroling at Saint Simeon's with the lifegroup and JEM, Sarah and I at the Rhema lights, and Christmas dinner at PF Changs with Lindsay's lifegroup!

2016... Fake ice skating pic at Big Cedar with Tiffany - lol, family friends party at Mom and Dad's, more LG caroling at Saint Simeons (this time partly in German - lol), celebrating TK's birthday at the Farmhouse, the kids opening their long series of presents on Christmas Eve, the boys with their gingerbread houses, J&K with their happy walkie-talkies, and me and the Miss at Christmas Eve dinner!!

That's all for now.
Happy Christmas!!