Our Thanksgiving Week in a Nutshell

Our Thanksgiving week was anything but normal, but that's how we seem to roll these days.  

When we found out Bart would be having neck surgery the day before Thanksgiving, my Mom offered to come be with us!  You can imagine how excited I was when she told me she was coming!  And when my sister and Kamryn decided to tag along....that was icing on the cake!  I made sure they got here a few days before the surgery so we could have a little fun first.  :)

(A little funny....My sister overslept the morning of their flight.  And when I say overslept, I mean she had a 6:00AM flight and she woke up at 5:10AM.  (YIKES!!!)  It was by the grace of God (and my Dad's very good salesman-like, persuasive skills that got the people at the airport to hold the gate for them!  All I could think about was them running through the airport, barely dressed, hair flying everywhere, with the tune from "Home Alone" playing in the background.  "Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun"  Haha!  We were SO GLAD they made their flight!)

When we picked them up, we headed to Mckinney for some breakfast as Spoon's.

These two had to have a hot chocolate! Yum!

The next day was Sunday.  We went to Church and then came home and celebrated Thanksgiving early.  We wanted to be able to enjoy it since we would be in the hospital on Thanksgiving Day.  My Mom, sis and I all worked together in the kitchen, and the turkey was gifted to us from our sweet friends, Sacha and Steve (thanks guys).  

Not too shabby, hu?

These two turkeys enjoyed themselves!  

Even Max enjoyed a little leftover turkey too!  LOL! (Okay, okay..this picture was totally staged.  I think he got about 2 bites.  He knew he wasn't supposed to do that, so he was very sceptical.  Ha!)

After lunch, a movie and a little napping on the couch, we headed over to the park.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.

How cool is it when your 6 foot 1" aunt will climb the rock wall?  Haha!

The gang!

Boys...

Mimi and the monkeys!

 And this would be when things went down hill fast.  I started to not feel so great.  Then it turned into feeling like I might puke.  Then, I got all sweaty.  Well, you get the idea.  Remember the picture of that plate of food I posted?  Well, it tasted MUCH better going down than it did coming back up.  Yep, that's right.  I got sick that night.  And I mean SICK. AS. A. DOG.  Thankfully, no one else got it but me.  But my goodness, it was bad.  It will be a long while before I can eat another Thanksgiving dinner again.  It's a good thing Thanksgiving only comes around once a year.  Maybe I'll be able to eat it again by next year...Maybe.  

We had planned a day at the outlet malls and other shopping for Monday, but that didn't happen with me being so sick.  So, Mom and Kristie came to the rescue and took the kids to lunch and a movie so I could rest.  (THANK YOU MOM and KRISTIE!!)

Isn't this picture sweet in front of the fire?  I asked them to hug each other.  They agreed, but I heard one of them say, "awkward".  Haha!  They crack me up.

I felt like a human being again on Tuesday, so we decided to hit the outlet malls and a couple of stores.  I started to run out of steam after awhile, but we managed to have fun still!

That night, we went for Bart's "last meal".  He wanted to go to La Hacienda Ranch.  He knew it would be awhile before he could eat solids again after his surgery.  

I have no words.  She brings it out in me!  ;)

Cousins are the best :)

This is the morning of Bart's surgery.  He was cool as a cucumber, as usual.  

I have to share a little funny... When they were getting ready to roll Bart off to surgery, they told him to kiss me goodbye because he would start to feel the effects of the IV in about 30 seconds.  They asked him if he went by Bart, or did he have a nickname?  His response, "Mr. Incredible.".  Haha!  I laughed so hard thinking about them probably calling him that throughout surgery!  

He's our Mr. Incredible! :)

In true "Mr. Incredible" style, he made it through the surgery like a champ!  He did great!

This is me attempting to feed him some soup afterwards.  

A little not so funny... As I was feeding him soup, I accidentally knocked out his IV on his hand.  I didn't realize I had done that and Bart didn't feel it (his hand was numb).  My sister noticed a HUGE pool of blood on his sheet.  Yikes!  We got the nurse (who was not very happy with me) and she restarted the IV.  (Oops!)  I clearly need to work on my nursing skills. (Picture me with my head hung low.)

Bart wasn't out of surgery 2 hours and they had him up doing physical therapy!  Amazing!

The boys dropped by to see him and got to watch him do some physical therapy.

The physical therapist was fantastic.  This was him giving the boys some pointers on how they could help Bart at home.

The boy woke up from surgery HUNGRY!  He managed to slowly and carefully eat some soft solids (with me feeding him). 

My Mom sent me this picture of my fur baby and Kristie.  Haha!  She wanted me to know they were taking care of him too!

We got the clear from the doctor to go home, so we loaded up and got out of there as fast as we could!!

Woo hoo!  HOME!

In the mean time, the kiddos played and hung out.

I took Mom, Kris and Kam to lunch on Friday before they left for the airport.  Judd stayed home and took care of Bart while we went.

My sister :)

My Mama :)

She's crazy! 

Love these two so much and miss them already!

When we got home, we had this beautiful poinsettia waiting for us from Mee Maw and Pee Paw!  It is the biggest and prettiest one I have ever seen (Thanks M & P!).  It's gorgeous!  :)

Since my Mom, sis and Kam have left, things have not gone so well.  I got pretty sick with what I believe to be the Flu.  It has not been fun at all.  On top of that, I fell and caught myself with my thumb last night and it is really hurting.  I am afraid it might be broken.  I have an appt for tomorrow in case it isn't any better.  It's been frustrating because I have not been able to help Bart out as much as I would like to.  I am also sad that I have not been able to decorate for Christmas yet.  I am hoping the worst is behind me now and things will start to go up from here.  

I am thankful that Bart is feeling better today.  He has had some pretty painful days, so it is nice to see him feeling better.  I am also thankful I am on the mend.  I just pray Bart and the boys don't get what I have had.

As I think of all that this week has held for us, I am reminded of this...

Mostly, I am thankful for God's love, family and friends!  And I am so very thankful for the time I got with Mom, Kristie and Kamryn.  Thanks Big Daddy for flying them here to be with us for the week!  xoxo