December-2018 –Birthdays, Opryland, Great-Grandmother in Hospital

Extended Family with Grinch



Willow & Papa



Cousins

Annie the Dog

Beautiful Girls with Santa

Beautiful Girl in HMS gym after school

Mallory Garver Carson & baby Jacob



Jimbo's with Granny while parents celebrate their birthdays

A warm December day!

December includes birthdays…markers of time passing. Angela & Kristina both turned 39 and Brock turned 44.Unfortunately December included 3 nights in the hospital in Mobile with my Mother. I drove back to Birmingham New Year’s Eve in the dark and rain, which I don’t want to do again. But fortunately the year ended without me spending a night in the hospital as an in-patient; although it did include a recent day in the emergency room. We had a wonderful family trip to Opryland Hotel which was perfect--other than dealing with horrible traffic and the challenge of not getting lost in the huge hotel. It is such a joy to see Lyla and Willow enjoy being a part of our extended family of Stuedemans, Greens & Browns. (It still delights me that Kristina went from Green to Brown.) Lyla went with us to Shari & Eric’s beautiful home to celebrate Kristina’s birthday. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed Breakfast with the Grinch & a family-only boat ride & a circus as well as a private group dinner. The Rotter family came to our house on Christmas Eve Day to open presents and eat pizza. Everything Willow got was associated with her currently “best buddy” Peppa Pig. And Lyla got a lot of little collectable things she likes. They were both happy with their gifts and it was a fun visit. Angela had to work Christmas Day and Wayne and I had a relaxing day at home. I truly enjoyed having a “low stress” Christmas Day. The day after Christmas Wayne & I went out to a movie, Vice, which was about former vice-president Dick Chaney; a reminder that politics has almost always been full of vice. I’ve been fortunate that Wayne and I agree on politics. And I often have to caution him to remember the Mobile-branch of the family is not like-minded. I can remember on our first trip to Mobile in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for president. Wayne did not get a good response to his enthusiasm for the soon-to-be president. Enough rambling…this blog is supposed to be about my time with Lyla and Willow. It is such a joy to be part of their lives. They are growing up so quickly. Their school is so convenient and such a special place of friends and learning. There are plans for them to move in the relatively near future, but they will always be alumni of Hilltop Montessorri School. It’s hard to believe in 2020 Jacob will be graduating from high school and Jackson will have his Bar Mitzvah. But right now it’s 2019, the year my mother will turn 99 in April and the newest family member Jacob Carson will turn one in October. Life goes on…and I’m glad to be a part of the lives of people I love.