November and December 2022

November fun... Keatyn got to be a ball girl for the Lady Mocs with some of her teammates.  And we switched from soccer to basketball at school.  

And Trace started rock climbing with the new CCS team.  He has really enjoyed it and kind of got a double membership with working out at High Point.  They have a great gym there as well, so he can climb and workout in the same place.  He took a belay class with his sister and they loved dropping each other in mid air to the ground.  Lol!

Thanksgiving looked very different this year.  Jim was put in the hospital in early November and ended up being there for 5 1/2 weeks.  It was really rough and they weren't able to leave to come home for Thanksgiving.  For years, we've all spent Thanksgiving in Destin and although we weren't expecting to do that this year, we certainly didn't expect him to still be in the hospital.  On Thanksgiving Day, I cooked and we ate at home and then made plates for Sisty and Grandad and took them to the hospital.  He was able to walk down to the lobby and wore masks and visited for a while.  We tried to make the most of it and were grateful to be together, however that looked.

The next day, my mom's family met up at Camp Columbus for our sides Thanksgiving.  Dad and Tommy have worked so hard to make it really nice up there.  They had a deck built that is perfect for family dinners.  The kids loved playing ball and running around the yard.  We got really lucky with the weather that day and it was perfect.  We missed Nanny terribly, but she just isn't well enough to bring her out of Regency anymore.  She had been sick and just gets very confused when she's moved.   

December

Trace at the Winter Social and before with friends at dinner.  Buddy the Elf is famous around town but is also the Algebra teacher at CCS.  So, he made an appearance.  Lol!

We had not been to Alabama for Christmas since 2019.  We convinced Sisty to go down while Jimmy stayed with Jim at his house.  I was SO good to see everyone and return to some normalcy after all Covid and Leukemia has changed.  These kiddos have grown up so much.

The next morning, we got a call from Jimmy that Jim had fallen in the kitchen and was being taken by ambulance to the hospital.  We rushed to pick everyone up and flew back to Chattanooga.  Luckily, he was ok but had a broken nose, a few missing teeth and lost a lot of blood.  It was terrifying but after a few nights in the hospital was able to come home.  Poor Jimmy.  I can't even imagine how awful that was for him.  

The Fab 5 had plans that evening to do boxes for the military families we were sponsoring for Christmas so after we left the hospital, we went to Iris'.  I had literally gotten dresses seconds before Sisty called about Jim falling.  Trace and I left the hotel so fast, I looked like a mess the rest of the day.  But so very thankful all was OK and we were able to end the day with ALL of our children and this picture.  That was not easy to pull off!

We had a great Christmas at home...

We finished 2022 very thankful to have Granddad home and healthier than he had been months before.  We spent New Years Eve in Cleveland trading Jimmy's truck on an Expedition in what may have been the longest car trading day in history.  Cheers to 2023!!