Trip To Chattanooga 2013 - North Pole Limited

Doug, Bri and I have ridden the Santa Train in Chattanooga, TN several times, but it was so much fun riding it with friends this time! D, B and I drove up to Chattanooga the Friday before Christmas after school and met the M family at the Tennessee Railroad Friday evening.

Briana had been asking for a long nightgown, so I bought one for her as an early Christmas present. She was thrilled...

The temps in Chattanooga the weekend before Christmas were very nice - not too cold at all. There was a threat of rain that weekend, but we managed to avoid it.

Bri was so happy to be with Chani on the train...

We exchanged Christmas gifts on the train. I got the girls matching pink owls...

We had a pretty view as we strolled to the "North Pole"...

We once again went through the "magic tunnel" and arrived at the "North Pole" to pick up Santa...

This is "North Pole Station"...

Here comes Santa Claus...

Mrs. Claus made an appearance too...

Bri and Chani played and they also joined in the singalongs...

We arrived back at the Tennessee Railroad station and I got some really cute shots of the girls with the Christmas lights...

Doug photo bomb...

It is a little hard to see, but the guys' faces are in the tall flowers and the girls are in the small flowers...

Christmas laughs...

Sweetest angels ever...

Both families headed to our hotels and had plans to meet up the next evening to go to Rock City. We crossed all our fingers and toes that the threatening rain would hold off. And it did! More on that soon... :)

Briana's School Christmas Play and Party

(I am finally getting my Christmas posts put up! Bear with me! LOL!)

On Dec 19, Briana's class put on a little Christmas play for the families. They performed "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!" Briana tried out for Cindy Lou Who (along with all the other girls in the class but one), but she got the part of Who #6. That was ok with me because B had a bunch more lines than Cindy Lou's part did (only one line). Briana wanted to dress up for the special performance. She looked so stinkin' cute...

And the one little girl in the class that didn't try out for Cindy Lou Who tried out for the Grinch instead...   :)

Little Cindy Lou Who...

The kids said all their lines very nicely. Briana did an amazing job. Super expressive, per usual...

The Grinch dressed as Santa...

Breaking in the house...

At the end of the performance, the kids sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"..

Once they finished, the teacher told the kids they were going to get to play some games. The excitement was apparent...

Briana was pretty happy...

Doug was forced by the teacher volunteered to help with one of the games...

The parents also drew pictures for the kids for pictionary (that was pretty funny) and the parents also had to throw cotton balls into a small plastic cup - and I actually got my cotton ball in! Pretty impressive.

Briana and her friend T...

Briana and Doug...

Briana and Gramma and Papa...

Bri pointing out what she drew on the wall...

Briana and her teacher Ms. H.

 Bri LOVES Ms. H...

We were allowed to check Briana out of school early that day, so our family went out to lunch after the play/party. It was a really nice day. I was so glad that I was finally feeling well enough to go and enjoy it!

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year everyone! We had a wonderful time ringing in 2014.

Looking forward to a happy and fresh new year.

So much to blog about. Lots of posts coming in a few days. :)

New Year's Eve

It is around noon here in the eastern time zone of the United States right now. Doug, Bri and I have plans tonight with some good friends. I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.

Asia has been doing a bit better the last few days. Eating a bit better and has a bit more energy. She has an ultrasound this afternoon - we will see what it reveals.

I still have a lot to blog about regarding Christmas, so I apologize that you will be reading a lot of it in January of 2014. :)

I've had a lot of good moments this year but it has been a tough year as well. I am hoping for a fresh and less eventful 2014.

Have a good one everyone.

A Short Post (We Had A Good Christmas)

We had a very nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Briana (as you can see) loved every second of it. She got everything she wanted and as she puts, "I even got extra presents!" So cute.

I have so much to blog about - including Bri's class play and party at school, our trip to Chattanooga over the weekend and all the Christmas brouhaha.

I have a house that kind of looks like a bomb hit it right now - and a sick cat.

Asia seemed to be rebounding a bit on Christmas Eve (eating and drinking again), but on Christmas Day, she refused to eat or drink and had some nasty potty problems that I won't go into. She is losing even more weight - it makes me nervous.

She is eating and drinking a bit better today, but I'm still not happy. So, off to the vet we go again. She did seem to like the new blanket I got for her for Christmas. I guess it was a good present for my sick gal...

I'll be back soon with all my updates. When I get my head on straight again.

Happy Holidays 2013

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Can't Catch A Break

With all the sickness we have had in our house, I've been so happy that Asia has seemed to be the healthiest one. After her surgery, she seemed to be her old self again and I was shocked and happy. She was running around - had most of her energy back. But when I got sick in early December, Asia started throwing up a bit. Not every day, but enough to make me wonder what was up. I wondered if maybe her food was not agreeing with her.

We have been in survival mode for about a month now with all our sickness, so Asia unfortunately had to go on the back burner. She seemed to still be eating and happy, so we weren't overly concerned.

This past week, she has been throwing up daily. We went on an overnight trip (Friday into Saturday) and we found she had thrown up 5 times while we were gone. She has nothing in her stomach and she is still trying to throw up. So, I asked Doug to please take her to the emergency vet (I'm staying home with Briana). I just don't want Asia to get dehydrated. But I'm worried. She is a cancer patient. And she is 15. I am very, very worried.

In the back of my mind, I have been bracing myself that this might be my last Christmas with her. But I never thought she would get this sick now.

 I'm not sure why our household can't seem to catch a break.

UPDATE (12/22/13, 7:21PM) ~

 Asia is home. She was given a medication for the vomiting and fluids for the dehydration. Blood work looked good but her xray showed some inflammation in her bowels. He felt some suspicious lumps in her stomach, but the xray didn't show anything there. She really needs an ultrasound tomorrow. If Asia didn't have the lumps and didn't have a cancer history, he would diagnose her with IBD. That could be it, but we just don't know. At least she is home and resting now.

Week In Briana Fashion - Last For 2013

Well, we missed a couple of weeks in Briana's fashion life, but she was sick and I was sick and Doug was sick. But, I finally got back on my feet and I was able to snap photos of Miss B all this week - the last week of school before Christmas break.

MONDAY (Bri in her new sweater) ~

TUESDAY (Pajama Day - she got all panda crazy) ~

WEDNESDAY (Her favorite sweater dress) ~

THURSDAY (all prettied up for her Christmas play and party at school) ~

FRIDAY (Pajama Day #2 - I was surprised too. Her music teacher requested it on Tuesday and her main teacher wanted the kids in jammies today. Go figure.) ~

Hope you have enjoyed Briana's fashions for 2013. She will be looking spiffy in 2014 too - so stay tuned!