December Recap

I don't know about y'all, but it seemed like Christmas came and went in a matter of minutes. It's hard to believe we are already in 2017. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to start a new year as 2016 sure wasn't my favorite, but I still love Christmas and I always get sad to see it go. 

We decorated this year the week of Thanksgiving, but, we didn't go and get our tree until after Thanksgiving because this year we did something totally new, got a real tree. 

Out of 4 trees in our home, my coastal tree was probably my favorite!

Picking out the perfect tree...

...as beautiful as it was, and boy was she a pretty one, real trees are messy! I kid you not when I say I swept twice a day. We kept it watered properly but the leaves fell all the time and add two cats who like to touch and climb and my goodness the mess, but there is no better smell than that of a real Christmas tree. I wish I could bottle it up and smell it year round.

We took lots and lots of pics in front of our beautiful tree.

In December we celebrate two very important birthdays, of course Jesus, the most important, but second most important, our sweet girl! She turned 8 this year, where did the time go?!

We had a painting party planned. December had been unseasonably warm (some days in the 80s!) and we thought it would be perfect to have an outside painting party, cat themed of course! My aunt even drove up from Orlando to come visit and paint, only for it to turn into the low 50s the day of her party. 

The painting studio won't come to your house and do a painting party outside unless it's at least 65 degrees and our house is way too small to fit everyone who came so we improvised, had a fire to keep warm and just celebrated our sweet girl turning 8. 

My aunt stayed with us for two days and we spent the entire weekend hanging out, talking about mom and how much we miss her. We even did some Christmas shopping. Mall decorations at Christmas are the best!

Our advent calendar kept us busy. It included things like make a gingerbread house from scratch, going and seeing lights from places like Savannah to Beaufort to Charleston, parades, painting pictures, sipping hot chocolate, reading the Christmas story in the Bible, and spending lots of time together.

One of my most favorite things we did was giving back to the hospital. They treated us so well and were so kind and caring when Cadence got diagnosed with diabetes that we wanted to do something special for them, so we took a toy collection and the first week in December we delivered them. I was so proud of Cadence!

Before we knew it December 25th arrived. Cadence received lots of goodies, so did Tarl, so did I. We spent lots of time with his family and mine. Even the cats got a little something from Santa, which made Cadence one happy girl.

I miss Christmas but I know December 2017 will be here before we know it!

Snow way!!!

I'm that person that freaks out about snow. That's me! I'm the one who scrapes up what little bit of dust we get here in the lowcountry, to try and build a miniature snowman, and guess what, it's pitiful. I've always wanted to see tons of snow, play in it, build snowmen, have a snowball fight, make a snow angel, alas, we just don't get that white powdery goodness down here.

Talks of a winter storm was discussed all throughout last week and it just so happened to only be 3 hours north of us, so we did something completely spontaneous on Saturday. We packed up and started driving north until we hit snow, and boy did we ever see snow!

I will say this, it was everything we had ever dreamed as none of us had ever seen snow before, not like this anyways, not that we can remember. It wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be. The snow itself was freezing but the temperature wasn't near as cold as they had anticipated it to be, which made for a much better day. We played for a solid hour. It was a day full of memories that I will forever cherish close to my heart. 

I made sure to pack up a second pair of clothes for each of us, as I knew we would get soaked playing in the snow and I sure am glad we did. Our fingers and toes were freezing, but SO worth it for everything we got to do. 

Once we got changed we headed back home. I will say this about Type 1 diabetes and snow, for Cadence anyways-as everyone is different, it made her blood sugar drop, drastically! We were getting low alerts and immediately checked her blood sugar. Sure enough it was low. We gave her a snack and even that didn't bring her up. Then we gave her a juice and another snack and finally her numbers came back into a good safe range. Scary moment, but we handled it. Forewarning moment for any other type 1 mama's reading this. Weather can change your blood sugar! Now we know.

The rest of the weekend was spent pretty low key as it got pretty chilly. I cleaned the house really well (oh, what fun!) and stocked up on groceries. I started reading The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand. It's been months since I've read one of her books and I almost forgot how great of a writer she is. Ten pages in and I'm already hooked. It's got me dreaming of summer weather and Lilly Pulitzer, which to be honest, the winter doesn't stop this girl from wearing her Lilly :)

We just layer it with super cute ruffle tops and pants, and of course, big bows!

Happy Monday friends.

I'm Back!!!

I have decided, after a very much long hiatus, to get back to blogging. Losing my mom was hard, the hardest thing I've ever gone through, and now, after 4 months, it still feels like yesterday, for all of us, not just me.

Cadence had a follow up appointment yesterday with her diabetic educator, and on the way home, we just cried thinking about mom, her grandma. Still fresh and still raw but I know I will see my mom again one day and the hope and peace that gives me is beyond anything I can relate into words.

I thought my first post in a while and my first post of 2017 should be a Five on Friday, so let's get started...

-one-

Cadence was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 7, eleven days after my mother passed away. Needless to say September was a horrible month for our family! She has far exceeded any bravery that I could imagine for a girl her age. She pricks her own finger, gives her own injections, and is right there learning through all the ropes along with Tarl and myself. She amazes me! Yesterday we received her CGM or continue glucose monitor, which monitors what her blood sugar is every 5 minutes! It's such an amazing piece of medical equipment and gives me more peace of mind throughout the day now that we know what her blood sugar is at all times, plus it will help manage it better. She chose the pink meter, naturally.

After spending two days this week at her diabetic doctor (one follow up and one for the CGM) we decided to head to the mall for a little girls day. This sweet girl sure does love making wishes.

-two-

The Lilly Pulitzer sale that is going on through 1pm today is by far the biggest one I've ever seen. The prices are extremely discounted and they've continued to add items throughout the day yesterday and even this morning. Here are some of the beauties that I've managed to snag...

I've been eyeing both of those tops for a while and now that they are less than half price I don't feel so bad getting them. I also got a pair of mini callahan shorts for Cadence's Easter basket. It's never to early to start prepping for the next holiday!

-three-

There is a mom in our area that has a Type 1 son. We have truly bonded over this experience and have become friends. She got this shirt for Cadence and I couldn't love it more. Pancreatically challenged, chronically awesome. It's a great T1D inside joke!

-four-

Speaking of Lilly, let's face it, Lilly is warm weather clothes and from what I hear that's something that is about to opposite of what we're about to get. They're talking snow, ice, freezing temps. Um...nope! Don't get me wrong, I love fall and crisp chilly weather, but not a high of 32 degrees!

-five-

I leave you with this on this wonderful Friday morning. It was enough to make me giggle.

So true!