where have I been?

...apparently just taking pictures since that is all I have posted since July.

So here goes....
During the summer Alec decided that boy scouts was not for him. He is not much into camping and the outdoors life. He is pretty much a homebody. So anyway - now neither him or Jason have any extracurricular activities. :( At least they are both doing very well in school.

We had several milestone birthdays in the family in October:
Hunter turned 21
Dad turned 75
Brad's grandmother Willis turned 97 (in my opinion - every birthday is a milestone after 95)
Autumn Rayne turned 10

Mom and Dad had a new patio home built and moved in to it in October. No more stairs, no more mowing, no more shoveling snow. It is beautiful and I think they are really enjoying it. Now if they could just get rid of their old house.

In November I went on a cruise with my friend Carla and 3 other ladies to celebrate Carla's 50th birthday. We left out of Galveston, TX and went to Progresso and Cozumel, Mexico. I was gone from home for 7 days but the boys and Brad got along just fine without me. I sure missed them though! The cruise was fun but I think I prefer dry land :) It was my first cruise.

I got back on Sunday night and then Wednesday morning we took off for our annual trip to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. This was our 12th year in a row to go. It is always great to see family that we rarely get to see.

On November 30 - we had a tragedy in our family. My brother was unable to wake his wife on that Wednesday morning. He called 911 and gave her CPR. She was taken to the hospital and they were able to restart her heart -but she never regained consciousness. The next day, after no brain activity was found, she was removed from life support. She passed away with all of her family and many friends surrounding her. On the day of her memorial service - the funeral home was overflowing with people mourning her loss. Her loss was felt the deepest by her children, husband, parents and sisters. Rest in Peace Michelle Renet Wilson Douthat.

We had our traditional Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's. Chili, lots of sweets and Trivial Pursuit. However the loss of one family member made it a very reflective evening.

The day after Christmas - Hunter came to stay for the week. He brought Autumn with him. And then on Thursday Taryn Brady and Rowan came down too. Brad got to take vacation the last 2 weeks of the year - so that was good. I, unfortunately, went from working part-time to working lots of overtime so I didn't get to spend as much time with them all as I would have liked. I was helping out with a big conversion and worked New Year's Eve, New Years day and all the other days after that. I did get to take Friday the 30th off - so that was at least one full day I got to stay home with everyone.

We have had a very mild winter with really only one good snow. The boys have only had one snow day and will probably get out of school before Memorial day for once.

In addition to their new house - my mom and dad also bought themselves a new car. They gave their old one to Jason - so now he has his own car. That was so very nice of them! Now Jay just needs to get his license. We hoping sometime over Spring Break he can take the driving test.

On February 6th I went to Alec's school for the Academic Awards ceremony. He attained a 4.0 GPA for his first semester in middle school. Yeah Alec!

I think that about catches us up. Oh and the reason I am finally updating? I have lots of time on my hands. Feb 16th was my last day of work for awhile. My contract was up and I am required to take 3 months off before I can be rehired as a contractor. I am both happy and sad about it.

Until next time - which will hopefully be less than 6 months.... Adios!