Turning 22

I don't know about you, but I'm feelin' 22...

(sing along ala T.Swift!)

Everyone in our family has a birthday buddy.  

Mary Grace and John Paul are a mere 

six days apart by dates.

It's a busy time of year for us!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we couldn't make the drive to go see JP this year.  

But thank goodness for Door Dash!  

This mama sent him a lemon Bundtini to celebrate.

(IYKYK)

He had a quiet evening hanging out with his friends at his apartment.

You know, it's a mother's job to teach her children not to need her anymore.

The hardest part of that job is accepting success.

Even at 22, you'll still always be my sweet little boy!

Turning 12

Our Mary Grace turned 12 and we celebrated 

for three whole days!

When you're the youngest of five and the only girl, sometimes you have to be a little bit EXTRA.

We started off with a trip to the mall for some shopping and getting her ears pierced.  

She was such a trooper and didn't even flinch!  Now she can hardly wait for the six weeks to pass to get some fun and funky earrings to wear.

 

I had taken to FaceBook to ask about fun places to have lunch or dinner to celebrate.  You all gave some great ideas and I was excited to take her out.  When lunch time rolled around, do you know what she wanted?  

Mall pizza and her favorite drink from Starbucks!

The next day, we had a girls night out and went to see the Taylor Swift ERAS TOUR movie.  It was so cute seeing her sing and dance to the music.  She even came prepared with friendship bracelets to trade!

The last day of celebration stole the show!

Our #3 son, and Mary Grace's best buddy-John Paul, came into town to take her to her first concert.  They ventured into downtown Houston for Suki Waterhouse.  And honestly, I have no idea who she is or what she sings!  But Mary loved it and rode that high through the weekend.

Oh, and there was even a solar eclipse in her honor!

Fitting, don't you think?

But I don't know how we'll top THAT next year!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Y'all, SURELY I'm not old enough 

to have a 26 year old!

But that's the year we celebrated with our sweet Kyle this weekend.

This son of mine is a "no-fuss" kinda guy.  

He wanted to keep things simple this year so all he asked for was a homemade peach cobbler, a weighted blanket, and an afternoon out with his dearest friend.

He's also a creature of tradition.

So I put out a  Creamer birthday breakfast of kolaches, apple fritters (his FAVE!), and donuts.

He also got his homemade peach cobbler with vanilla Blue Bell, of course!

I asked him why he didn't want to go out the Astros game or the shooting range for his birthday and he said, "Mom, as you get older you just want to keep things simple!"

Son, you are preaching to the choir on that one!!!

Happy simple birthday, my sweet boy.

You are loved more than you'll ever know.

A Busy Week!

Every June, there is a week that is book ended with Father's Day and Doug's birthday. 

Last week was that week!  

 

Doug and his dad

We celebrated Sunday at Doug's parent's house with a massive dinner, chicken fried steak, country gravy, black eyed peas, squash casserole, and the most delicious banana pudding...

all prepared by our kids.  

It was a good 'ol southern Sunday supper FEAST!

And then on Saturday, we did it all again 

for Doug's birthday!

All the kids were home and we had a wonderful celebration with food, drinks, and two cakes!

My whole heart in one picture!

(even if they do drive us a little crazy!)

Doug, you're like a fine wine 

that just gets better with age...

and sometimes you make me a little tipsy!

Hope you've had a wonderful week,

we love celebrating YOU!

Where Has The Time Gone?

I have intended to sit down at this space well over a dozen time over the last few months but could never actually muster the strength to unclutter my mind and share all that's been going on.  Truth is, I cherish my down time, and I'm very selfish with it!

  But to catch you up to speed on the family life....

Our #3 kiddo, John Paul, moved to College Station back in August.  He has the cutest apartment, tons of friends, and most important - TWO JOBS!  Also, he's living his best life as a hippie artist in his down time.  I miss him terribly and his move away was a sucker punch to the gut for me.

And then there's baseball.

Well, at our house there's ALWAYS baseball!

Between practices and games it seems I'm always in the car going.  It's fun though and this is a pretty awesome group of young men.  I've enjoyed watching them grow up on the field over the years.  And speaking of growing up, that's my favorite catcher on the left!

And around here, baseball doesn't end 

with high school.

Kyle has been playing in an adult league for three years now.  His team won league champs last year and are in the play offs this year.  

I don't get to watch him nearly enough...

Doug and I have taken several weekend trips.

It's so nice to get away with just the two of us even though we just have two kids at home now.  

We never had time or money when all five kids were home...now we're making up for lost time!

We've even been known just to jump in the car and drive to the beach for a lunch date!

We've celebrated birthdays.

We've lain precious family members to eternal rest.

We've had lots of ups and downs over the past few months.

I'm so grateful for all these knuckle heads 

gathered around my table and I'm excited for the holiday season to start. 

 May Our Lord shower you with His blessings...

I'm SO THANKFUL for all of mine!

Happy Thanksgiving 

from the Creamers!

My Little Bruiser!

This girl will be the death of me!

She has had more serious injuries and broken bones than all of her brothers COMBINED!

I think it gives her a thrill to give 

her mother a heart attack.

SWOLLEN SHUT

Last week she fell off of a Hover Board. 

I tried to play it cool and not give her the satisfaction of seeing me squirm...

I failed.

She literally had a goose egg on her forehead, a bloody nose, and her orbital socket was swelling and changing colors by the minute.

So her nurse mother and EMT father did something we NEVER do,

we took her to the ER.

One CT scan and several hours later,

she got the "all clear" to come home.

No brain bleed and no skull fracture.

Some would argue that she must have inherited her thick 'noggin from her mama.

She is no longer on concussion/brain rest precautions and today she announced 

she was ready to get back on her skateboard.

So...

We went shopping for helmets today!

My Little Entrepreneur

I was planting tomato seeds one beautiful January day and Mary Grace asks me, "Why are you planting seeds when you can just go to Walmart and get plants?"  

I told her that these were special varieties of tomato that you can't find in the stores.  Then she asked if people would be interested in buying them.  I told her they probably would because seed starting is a little hard.  

So she asked if she could start some seeds to sell.

She followed my directions and planted around100 tomato and pepper seeds.  When they outgrew the starter trays, she up-potted them to Solo cups.  

She helped me water them and harden them off outside.

They were finally big enough for sale 

and the weather was warm enough for them to go in the ground. 

 

To sell them, I didn't have to go further 

than my FaceBook friend's list!

You all turned out in droves and bought 

EVERY.SINGLE.PLANT. she grew!

And while I can't get her to EAT a tomato,

she has learned to love them from an economic standpoint!

Hey, I'll take what I can get!

Growing these tomatoes for you has taught her:

Responsibility for living things

Understanding of cause and effect

Encouraged her love of nature

Boosted her self confidence

Thank you for your support and encouragement!

It means so much to Mary Grace

but it means so much more to this mama's heart.

You all have been such a blessing.

So happy gardening to all our friends and I'm looking forward to all the FaceBook photos of your giant tomato hauls and delicious tomato sandwiches!

Mary Grace is already planning for next year's seeds! 

Snow-mageddon 2021

I don't know about you, 

but I am tired of living through major historical events!  

This past Valentine's Day ushered in one of the worst winter storms to ever hit Texas.

And while the above picture doesn't look like a lot of snow, it was enough to bring civilization as we know it to a grinding halt!

The single digit temperatures caused enough ice and snow to accumulate that roads were inaccessible, rolling blackouts of 24-72 hours, burst pipes, a failed power grid, and fatalities that affected every single one of the 254 counties in Texas.

That Valentine's Day evening, Doug drove me into Houston to the hospital where I work.  They were asking employees to come in to ride out the storm days since most employees wouldn't be able to make it in.  I stayed there three days and had it better than most ~ 

I had a warm bed, food, and electricity.

I was safe and so very thankful.

And by God's grace, Doug and the kids were able to hunker down at home with plenty of supplies.  Our area on the Texas Gulf Coast made it through the storm with not too much damage and temperatures that were higher than most.

Now we face the aftermath of the storm, 

the clean up, boiling water, the empty store shelves, 

the failing power grid...

I'll take a 100+ temperatures and hurricanes any day of the week, 

you northerners can keep your snow and ice.

The ONLY thing Texans know about ice and salt

is in the form of a margarita!

January Birthdays

Everyone in the family has a "Birthday Buddy."

We are only separated by a day or two in celebrating our birthdays,

my buddy is Danny.

He hit the milestone year of 16!

That's a BIG one.

We surprised him with an awesome gift this year, 

just perfect for a 16 year old, right?

I also made another trip around the sun...thankfully!

I celebrated year number 52.

We had a wild afternoon of going out to lunch, picking up lumber,

 and getting some wood chips dumped in the yard.

Just perfect for a 52 year old lady, right?

But that evening we had a family dinner where Kyle cooked chicken fried steak and loaded mashed potatoes...

Happy birthday to ME, right?

And my greatest gift this day was celebrating life, happiness, and health while being surrounded by 

the people I love most in this world.

Best day ever!

Now where's the cake and ice cream?!?!?

Despite Everything, 2020 Was A Good Year!

For most people, 2020 was one huge dumpster fire!  

It was riddled with anxiety, seclusion, social upheaval, and for some, sickness.  And while I'm not trying to be dismissive of those things, for me, 2020 has been a pretty good year.

The first four months of the year were a bit scary.  I'm a nurse, and seeing the pandemic work it's way here was very unsettling.  But I work for the most awesome hospital system and they held our hand and were with us every step of the way.  I never felt abandoned or on my own - even when PPE was in short supply.  My employer took care of their staff and made sure we were safe every.single.day.

By May I was able to have the corrective surgery on my foot.  It was a struggle to get to my surgery date because of COVID, but it taught me to be humble and patient.  It was truly God's hand at work that I had the surgery when I did.  My recovery was long, but not painful. By October I was back at work full force and I have not slowed down yet!

The holidays were very special to me.  It was the first time in about 30 years that I've had my little family all to myself.  We had no commitments to travel anywhere else, and I relished having all my babies at home and making the seasons magical for them.

I'm also in the best health of my life!

I've never felt better and continue to improve my diet and now my fitness (thanks to my new foot!) daily.

2020 has also definitely taught me a few things like:

Finding happiness in simple things.

Difficult times reveal the truth about people.

Freedom should never be taken for granted.

I can do hard things.

Making self care a priority, not a priviledge.

And to be thankful for EVERYTHING!

Whatever 2021 brings, I'm going to hold on to the lessons I've learned and treasure each day for what it IS, 

not for what it should be.