Catch-up

Whew! What a week! We have traveled what seems like the entire state of Texas in the last week, which is no small feat. But we are now home and in the process of celebrating Advent!

Last Friday the girls and I left San Antonio and drove to Odessa, where my parents live and where my grandmother is now living in a nursing home. The home is only about 2 minutes away from my parents' house, so it was very convenient to go and visit with Grandmama. She was very ill back in February and March and is no longer able to live by herself. So once she was well enough to leave the hospital in her home town of Abilene, she moved to the nursing home in Odessa so she could be close to my mom.

We had a great visit with my parents and grandmother. We even celebrated a birthday while we were there, though I'll save the details for a later post. I didn't get to post much while I was gone but that's because I was too busy spending time with family. My mom and I baked and cooked a birthday dinner, went to visit my grandmother, and even did a little shopping. The girls played and watched movies.

On Wednesday morning we said goodbye to my family and loaded up the suburban for another trip, this time up into the panhandle to a farm outside the little town of Dickens, Texas. Kelly's grandparents have farmed there for decades and his aunt, uncle and cousins live there as well.

Kelly stayed home in San Antonio the first part of this trip to work on Monday and Tuesday. Then he caught a flight to Dallas early Wednesday morning. His dad picked him up at the airport and then the two of them drove to meet us at the farm. When we were planning this trip the tricky part was how to get Kelly to the farm. Kelly's dad had already planned on spending Thanksgiving at the farm, so we found a cheap ticket to Dallas - cheaper than gas would have been for him to drive. His dad was thrilled to have a driving companion at least one way. So it worked out quite nicely.

The kids had a blast on the farm! There is so much room to run around out there and there were tons of cousins to play with. Technically I think they are either third cousins or second cousins-twice-removed, but who can keep up with that? They were Kelly's cousins' kids, and they all had a ball. As usual, my allergies and asthma went haywire, and I had to use my nebulizer quite a bit, but fortunately I can play dominoes one handed. Kelly's allergies acted up too, and now he's fighting what seems to be a sinus infection, but it was still a good trip.

Saturday we finally made it home (squeezing a 5.5 hour trip into 6.5 hours) and are settling in for the Christmas season. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!