It's a New Year

I know I have been MIA for a while. 

I really have no reason for being MIA other than life happens. 

We have celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. We have had some good times, some great times, some hard days, and just life. 

I will say I am oh so thankful for all of my many blessings. God has sure blessed me even through one of the hardest years I've ever been through. 

We were more than ready to see 2016 come and go. I won't say 2017 has been great yet... I have to get through the first two months which I believe will be rough. It's hard to think that next week Emery should be 1. And then 23 days later, I will go through the 1 year anniversary of her passing. I am just praying that we can get through this and everything start to look up some for us. 

We decorated our sweet baby girl's headstone for Christmas. The girls each picked out a candy cane and Makenzi picked a snowflake and Addison picked out a penguin that says "Let It Snow." My Nanny helped me pick out some beautiful flowers for her vase. We had her all decorated for Christmas. It was beautiful out there. 

We went to my cousin Carl's Home for Christmas concert in Mississippi with my Mom and Nanny. It was not the easiest or most enjoyable concert I've been to. It was like something was missing because my Grandaddy wasn't sitting there with us. However, I am glad we were there. We all needed the support of each other. I had a few moments of breakdowns, but I think we all had a few as we went through the night. 

I went over to the funeral home (which is where they have the dressing room for the musicians) and hung out with my little Addison during one of the concerts. We played and ate. We had a big time together. But I told her she had to sit through the second concert. 

They love Carl so much! We had to snap a quick picture of them before we headed out for the night after the after party. (late nights for little girls) 

We shopped till we dropped for Christmas gifts! 

We started Christmas early at MeMa's and decided that we should just start Christmas break early. Makenzi missed 3 days of school leading up to Christmas break so we could hang with family and enjoy Christmas! Merry Christmas baby girl! 

We saw a few pink sunsets... actually quite a bit but I won't bore you with all the pictures of pink sunsets I took. 

Santa came to visit all 3 of my girls! Makenzi and Addison got a new Barbie dream house and barbies (like they needed more). Makenzi got the cookbook she had been begging for. Addison got legos she had been asking for. They had a BIG Christmas and were oh so happy! Emery got her own stocking and an angel Christmas ornament. 

Our elves came right after Thanksgiving and the girls kept asking if I thought Santa would send them an elf for Emery. My heart just couldn't take moving a 3rd Elf without Emery here. I thought long and hard about it and prayed about it. I just couldn't do it. I explained to them that Emery didn't need an elf because she wasn't here and what she has in heaven is way more than any gift you could receive here. They understood. But right before Christmas Eve, on a really hard day for me I decided Santa needed to bring Emery a stocking and an ornament. The girls were excited and told me that it was so thoughtful of Santa to include Emery. So, every year we will hang her stocking up with ours. I thought that was easier for me than moving an elf. 

We bought the girls Pie Face and played it together one night. Addison refuses to play but Jordan, Makenzi, and me played it and all were pied. We laughed so hard. It was so much fun to just play together. Family game night is interesting at our house now - with pie face and Makenzi just got Speak Out, too. 

With Makenzi's new cookbook, we baked cookies. They were a hot mess, but eventually we will get the hang of it. At least they tasted delicious. They just didn't look very pretty. 

We had unseasonably warm temperatures, so we took the girls to the park the day after Christmas. It was so nice to just be together as a family. 

The girls went to MiMi and Pa Mark's during the week after Christmas, so Mama and Daddy had some time together. We spent our whole week downtown Nashville. We just enjoyed our time together and time with our friends Tyler and Kayla. 

We celebrated New Years Eve together with our friends and girls. I was sick with a cold, but we still managed to put on a pretty awesome party. We played Speak Out and Pie Face, laughed until we cried, rang in the new year twice (because Addison missed it the first time, so we counted down twice and kissed twice), and stayed up until well into the New Year. 

We spent a lot of time in Target because well, we just love it! 

We checked out the cats at Pet Smart. 

We went to see Moana and had the whole theater to ourselves. 

We have just enjoyed our Christmas break! I'm sad that it's almost over and it's back to routine. 

I am going to try to do better now that the New Year is here. I want to share how the first year of grief has gone, and the year without Emery. We made it through the year I thought I would never make it through. It's here. 2017! And I have the best family I could ever ask for. I'm ready to tackle 2017 head first!