Music with Dad

January Is Almost Over....Yikes!

January has been a busy month.  It started with family in town for the new year, we tackled the chicken pox (yes you can get them even after you get the vaccine) and we are wrapping up with the final stages of potty training.  My baby is getting bigger everyday and becoming a little boy!

My family all came for the new year.  We postponed Drew's tonsil surgery.  Several days with my mom, sister Jane and their wild boys, including my brother-in-law Kevin.  Drew had a wonderful time with Dalton and Tom Alan.  He is big enough now to play with them and they have enough energy to keep up with Drew.  Lots of ball playing in the yard and a trip to the Natural Science Museum.  Gigi and Papa came the next week and poor Papa was worn out by the time he left.  I stopped counting after about 10 games of hide-and-seek.  Drew loves to be scared and my dad loved scarring him.  Having 3 girls was not a good thing when it came to scarring kids...we were not enthused!  Drew, however, is making up for it.  He would laugh so hard when he was scared that he would fall on the floor. 

Kevin has been able to sneak in some duck hunting here and there and I have taken a couple of work trips. Our four day MLK holiday weekend of rest was interrupted with a mild case of the chicken pox. As Drew told us "I stay home. I got the Pops." The chicken pox these days are nothing like they used to be. The vaccine helped to shorten the run and the symptoms were fairly mild. He had about 10 bumps on his back and neck and then several on one hand. He never complained and never ran fever. We were very lucky! Kinda like the strep infection in his sinus cavity last year it is one of those 1% chance things. I am hoping he continues the trend and his 1% carries over into his school studies and he is top of the class!

We took advantage of the rainy weather last weekend to spend some time at home and gave up diapers!  (WOOOHOOOO....I feel like we get a raise this month!)  Drew did great!  He figured out real fast he would get a (sur)"prise" if he went on his own and by the end of the day he had two trains, a garbage truck, two bags of skittles, Cheetos and three stickers.  I think he would stop and start just to get another "prise."  By the time Kevin came home Sunday Drew was VERY proud of himself.  I had to run to the grocery store and left Kevin and Drew with strict instructions to remember to potty.  When I got home and asked Drew if he had gone to the potty he was very excited to tell me Daddy had let him "pee-pee in the flowers."  Lovely! Lord, please help me.

2012 has already started off with a bang and we are looking forward to a great year. 

Happy 2012

Christmas and New Years at the Gay house was WONDERFUL!  Drew got over his sickness just in time for Christmas, but not soon enough to go ahead with his tonsil surgery.  (That will have to wait til a later date!)  We attended Christmas Eve service at Galloway and then Christmas morning service as well.  Since Drew had been sick we let him stay in "big church" for both services.  He did pretty good.  I have to admit the candle lighting during the singing of Silent Night made me a little nervous (flashbacks to my sister catching her hair on fire!)  When the song was finished Drew exclaimed "Happy Birthday Jesus - we can blow the candles!"  In the eyes of a child it looked a lot like a birthday party!  We did have a little issue on the way to church trying to explain where Jesus was.  The weekend before we took Drew through the live nativity at another Methodist church in town, affectionately known as "Mr. John's church" since that is where Kevin's law partner John attends.  As we pulled into the parking lot Drew explained "Jesus not here.  He's at Mr. John church."  Kinda hard to explain.  Even better part was that he told us later when we drove by the church that had previously had the live nativity "Jesus went to Mr. John's house."  Funny what he comes up with!

Christmas morning was a blast. Only one rookie parent mistake to note - for future reference don't park a motorized toy in front of your shins or the Christmas tree! Drew loved his John Deere tractor, Woody doll and collection of wooden blocks. It was cold and rainy, but we found a quick break after church to take Woody for a ride in the trailer! Skype has truly changed the world! We were able to Skype with just about all our family so Drew could tell everyone about what Santa brought. It is so much fun to watch Christmas through the eyes of a child!

Getting ready for Santa on Christmas Eve

Setting up the Nativity Scene...with a few extras

Christmas Morning

My family came in shifts over the New Years weekend and Drew couldn't have been more excited.  I have yet to download pictures from my camera, but will post those pics soon.  I am in DC tonight and missing my guys.  Love this place, but it was home many moons ago.  Ready to be home. 

A Christmas Gift

Jaye Germany & Kevin Gay
Duck Hunting

Anyone who knows us knows Kevin and I have a very different view of the holiday season.  My holiday season begins with Halloween and goes right through New Year’s Day.  Kevin, however, enjoys Thanksgiving week!  We have had some Christmas misfortune which he cites as the continuing reason for his reluctance to get in the spirit of the season.  After our first Christmas together “my” Christmas decorations (which I might add may have been improperly stored in the attic) crashed through the roof of the garage onto our cars.  Three years later, during the first Christmas in our new house, we woke one morning to find our (once again may have been improperly secured) tree lying in the middle of the dining room with broken ornaments.  I was so distraught Kevin couldn’t say anything other than “we are not going to let this Christmas thing kick our butt – I will fix it.”  I have always loved the holidays.  Christmas Eve is probably my most favorite church service of the year.  It was a family time for us growing up.  For a number of years we spent Christmas Eve with the Rudolph’s and then in later years with the Findley’s.  It was always a time of togetherness, friendship, great anticipation and happiness.  Kevin has slowly grown to enjoy it more each year.

When Drew was born we made the decision to stay home at Christmas.  I yearned to share my wonderful family traditions with Kevin and Drew.  Kevin will even admit that last year was real good.  No hustle, no bustle, just a lot of time together enjoying each other.  This year has been a different story.  Kevin has not been in the mood for any Christmas.  I was surprised he even put up the lights.  Work has been very busy for both of us and it makes getting in the spirit extra hard.  Not to mention the underlying disappointment related to duck season in Mississippi.  Just aren’t enough ducks and both of Kevin’s duck hunting buddies are gone.  One moved and the other is on active duty in the Middle East.  Things just haven’t been too jolly.

And so last week began as another Monday in December inching closer to Christmas Day with very little Christmas cheer at our house.  I continued my daily routine of Christmas music and Christmas décor with no encouragement from Kevin.  He just hasn’t been in the mood.  He told me this weekend, after the events which I am about to share unfolded, that he actually said a prayer on Tuesday on the way to work to please help him get in the Christmas spirit.

The Lord always hears our prayers and this time he answered pretty quickly.  After settling into his office Tuesday morning Kevin received a vague message from his friend, Jaye Germany, in Iraq.  “Can you help me?”  Kevin immediately responded with confirmation of his willingness.  You would have to know Jaye Germany to know you never know what you might be agreeing to help with.  Jaye and Dana have been our friends for several years.  We originally met at church when we were both expecting our first child.  Anyone will tell you Jaye is the life of the party with a unique sense of humor.  Jaye and Kevin have a friendship that is hard to explain…they have nicknames for each other?!?  We will just leave it at that.  We were both sad to see Jaye be deployed in August.  Jaye has two young children and his wife, Dana, was in her final semester of nurse practitioner school.  It was hard to watch your friend go to war and his family sacrifice so much with him away. 

Well the “can you help me” message evolved into a plan to surprise Dana and the kids with his arrival home for the holidays.  Kevin began to reflect on the true gifts of Christmas.  Jaye’s flight was long and delayed. Kevin and I both waited by the phone as spotty messages came from Jaye telling us his status in transit.  We finally got the call that he was in Atlanta and would be arriving in Jackson the next morning.  I can’t tell you how honored we were to walk into the Jackson airport to pick up someone who has given up so much for our freedom.  It was awe-inspiring.  As we stood in the airport watching Jaye walk up the terminal I saw the gift of Christmas.  I saw the light in my husband’s eyes as he welcomed home his friend, the grace of a man who was doing nothing more than coming home from work and the gift of a friendship which we are so blessed to have.   Jaye surprised Dana and the kids with the best Christmas present ever.   Thank you, Jaye, for letting us be a part of your return.  We will always remember what it felt like to help give someone else the wonderful gift of a family together for the holidays.  No gift can ever thank you, Dana and the kids for the sacrifices you have made.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Drew saluting Jaye as he got off the plane in Jackson

Our wish for you this season is that you find a way to experience Christmas through friendship and family. 

Merry Christmas.   

Fun Times!

We rarely remember to use our video camera, so the addition of video to the iPhone is a VERY good thing.  We have taken some video recently and wanted to share. 

Drew LOVES playing "ball."  Any kind of ball will do.  Right now football and soccer are the balls of choice.  I think golf is probably his favorite, but I have outlawed the use of golf tees on the living room carpet so he has put his clubs up for the winter.  He is pretty accurate with his shot which is a good thing since he generally laughs so hard running that he falls down!  Here are a couple of shots from the past week.  The best ones of course are right before bed, which means Dad has on his pjs and Drew is half dressed!

Thanksgiving Fun

Playing Farm!

 Thanksgiving Day

Yummy Turkey!  Dad is the best turkey frier!

 Resting before we head to Moultrie!

 Santa!

Santa's helper!  We love Aunt Wanda!

Not the look of excitement to see Santa we had hoped for!

 Everyone got their picture taken with Santa, but Drew was still not persuaded!

Christmas is officially here. 

Hanging the Wreaths! 

Thankful & Grateful

Thanksgiving is truly my most favorite holiday of the year.  I am sure it has something to do with the fact that we take a full week of vacation together and try to unplug from our busy lives.  This year vacation was on hold a few days as Kevin finished trying a case in North Mississippi.  In the end the defense verdict made it all worth it, but it is hard to be patient when vacation is waiting around the corner. 

We headed to Georgia on Saturday morning and spent the week, as Drew says, "playing farm at Nana's."  He couldn't have had any more fun!  Riding tractors, chasing his cousins and being the center of Nana and Granddaddy's attention.  It was a good time.  We enjoyed a great shopping trip to Thomasville, Georgia.  If you have never been you should.  It is an old Georgia plantation town with beautiful architecture, sprawling plantations, good shopping and of course, amazing food at the never miss George & Louie's.  I love it every time we go!

As always Nana provided more good food than we could have eaten.  Jace and Jackson provided the entertainment.  Granddaddy took care of the sausage balls...well kinda.  And Aunt Julie was the paparazzi.  It was a fun week with family.
 
I am on a plane now headed home from a quick trip to NYC.  It is beautiful at Christmas, but holy cow too many people!  Ready to get home and start some Christmas decorating!  Kevin hates it, but I am ready for a tree!  I can't get more than one picture to download to the blog so it will be tomorrow before I add any, but I wanted to go ahead ad blog since Aunt Sue made it pretty clear I better stay on top of it! (Aunt Sue, some video for you very soon!)

On a sad note, Mississippi lost one of its great leaders yesterday.  My former boss and mentor, Governor Bill Waller, passed away.  Governor Waller gave me my first legal job while I was in law school and hired me as a lawyer the day I passed the bar.  He was a straight-talking gentleman who loved God, his family and the state of Mississippi.  He wouldn't miss a chance to tell you it was "his state" and loved to be called Governor.  He told me one day as I left for court "tell the Judge I was Governor when we passed that law and we didn't intend for it to apply to me."  The best story I have from my time at Waller and Waller, and there are so many good ones to choose from, is when Gov. Waller proudly announced my bar passage in Clarion Ledger newspaper.  I got several calls when the Sunday edition came out telling me to grab a paper.  I was baffled to find a quarter page ad not in the normal business announcement pages, but in the Obituaries section.  Surely this was a mistake.  Nope, Gov. Waller proudly explained "gotta get your monies worth....Obituaries Section is the most read part of the paper."  Hard to argue with that logic.  I want to publicly express my sympathy to his family and all of his work family who he loved and valued, including my friend Susan Woods.  We met while working together at Waller and Waller.  Thank you Governor Waller for all you did for me and the people of Mississippi.  I am grateful to have spent time learning from you.

Happy Halloween..From Woody!

We have had a weekend full of Halloween fun.  Drew was finally convinced, after much coercion, to put on his Woody vest.  He decided awhile back he was not wearing the vest.  Kevin claimed Drew knew vests weren't cool.  I don't know what the problem was, but I got a whole lot of "I NOT LIKE THAT!"  I didn't even try to force the bandanna.  Once I got it on and we all clapped he was ok with it for a while.  The hat on the other hand was a big hit as was the pumpkin.  Toy Story is the only movie he has watched to this point so it is his favorite.  He watches bits and pieces of it just about every Saturday morning.  Loves Woody and Buzz and I have to say it really is a cute movie.

Fall Carnival at school was Friday, but I only got one picture.  This is Drew and his friend John Merrell.  They were so excited to have on the same shirt.

And then Saturday night we had the 1st Annual Timbercrest Fall Carnival.  We had a WONDERFUL time.  My mom, Dalton and Wiggy came in for the weekend as well. As I look at these pictures of our neighborhood I am reminded what small-town southern towns are all about.  4 planning emails turned into a party with more than 100 kids!  It was great.  Drew spent all him time on "his hayride" with Kevin.  What wonderful memories and a great time for us all.

Peyton Woods
Isn't he just too cute!

Wyatt & Shea Long

LOVE this Pic of Dalton, Granny, Drew, me and Kevin