Family pics

I finally did a dreaded job yesterday morning. I finally submitted all the estimates for the basement flood. Two contractor estimates, our vanity and faucet, and our damaged goods. It took several hours and wasn’t fun. It was one of those anxiety inducing things that I put off for a long time, and I’m so glad it’s done. Here’s our sweet family picture canvas that was destroyed. It was on the ground in Bubba’s room with everything else from the walls of the upstairs. 

Have I posted a picture of our new basement  bathroom? I love the tile (and it was on clearance!) and toilet and the vanity is ok. It’s pretty, but super lightweight and flimsy. 

I’d like to say it’s almost done, but I made a list of all the things it still needs and it was a long list. 😂 

Matt’s been working Navy stuff on his CWS’s, but he was released super early yesterday, so Lu and I were able to have a girls day. We did some shopping and saw J Lo’s new movie. It was so funny and cute, and seeing J Lo reminds me of being in my early 20’s when she was first popular. 

It was fun to hang out with Lex one on one. She’s good stuff. 

And so is this little weirdo. 

I bought stuff to organize under the kitchen sink and I think I really like it. I heart organizing. 

When I got home Addie and Matt were removing carpet and staples from the stairs. 

Working together. 

This morning we were finally able to get our family pictures taken. I reached out to a new photographer since Jodie moved, and then realized we had one day we could do them and only a few hour window to do it. Thankfully all the stars (just barely) aligned and we all met up at Dorsey park this morning. 

We did a 30 minute mini session and we had a long talk with the girls beforehand where they agreed to be super helpful and cooperative and then we’d go to Sweet Frog as a reward. We rocked it! Everyone posed easily and quickly and we got in there and got it done!

It rained all day yesterday and it was super muddy, but thankfully no one fell! (though we had a few stumblings) I took a few pics while we waited. 

Frankie requested this shot after the session. I think it’s pretty cute! What a crew. 💕

After the pics it was time to say goodbye to Lexi. These two kids. Love them so. 
Turns out Sweet Frog doesn’t open till noon, so we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a bookcase for Frankie. She was stoked and loves her room! She and Laney also bought signs for their walls. I would way rather have them buy decorations than toys. We saw this display of Route 66 signs and Frankie wanted to send this to papa. So cute. 

Finally Sweer Frog opened and all were rewarded properly. 

And cookie dough balls are delicious. 

Haley sent me some sneak peeks and me likey. I love family pictures, I only wish Cade could have been here. Next year. 

We’ve worked around the house all day and prepared for Sunday. It’s been a good day. 

The in between

Seems there’s been a lot of essays and talk about the weird week between Christmas and New Years. Or maybe there’s always been lots of talk about it and i just never noticed it before.!It’s like we still want to celebrate, but one can’t really celebrate for a week straight. Especially after all the celebrating already done in December. It’s like part time celebrating for 4 weeks, then full time celebrating for 1 week. 

Delaney has been sick with tummy/head aches off and on 3 days in a row from eating junk (and irregularly at that) and sleeping weird hours. And she’s not the only one. It can be hard to be the baby of the family when momma feels like kids should be go getters enough to say “Hmm, I’m hungry and I’m going to make myself some lunch,” rather than just snack on junk and then feel sick.    

Anyways. Not really a complaint because I love time off and it’s still good, it’s just weird. We decided to go see a movie to curb the weirdness. 

Delaney’s gift from shopping with sissy was a giant makeup, nail polish, hair stuff, mirror kit. Since then she’s been obsessed with her mirror and has done her own hair several times. This is what she came up with today, complete with her new kicks. You can tell I’m older and more tired because this would have never flown with the bigs. 

We saw The Grinch and it was so delightful. I loved the animation and music and cute mini twist on the story. I love the movies and I’m easily pleased. 

💕

I sent this text to my sisters - “Delaney is like an eccentric old lady that did her own hair and decided this was the best costume for the day.” (“costume” is a Grey Garden reference, which incidentally I have never seen, but my sisters have and it sounds amazing)

Ma girls. 

We came home and D’s tummy hurt. I did a few visits (5 successes, 1 not) and made a delicious kale, ham, and potato soup. I had to tell the girls not to look at it because kale soup can look weird. I chopped and froze more kale and ham and I’m over being in the kitchen. 4 more days of 2018. 

Losing teeth

The day after I got back from our Route 66 trip Addie and Laney had pretty rough dental appointments. 
They both had to have teeth pulled and they were both pretty sad after. 

Before the storm. Can you tell she was nervous?

We had a quiet night that night watching Cars and seeing all the Route 66 references as the girls recouped. . 

Even though her mouth hurt, she still lost her first tooth and she was still excited. 

And also, her class won something and Mrs. Ramsey dressed like an aviator and came to their classroom to award them a prize. She’s the best. 

Route 66 souvies time was fun. After I got home we also picked up all the postcards I had mailed them from the trip, so that was a little anti-climactic. 

And D got a SOAR award first quarter. Actually, Mrs. Ramsey told me that during her first round of filming for Aviator news, all 3 Ray girls were recognized. Pretty sweet!

And that brings us to Route 66!

Mid-November randomness

I love Class Dojo. I love to see the girls throughout the day. D is #6 from the left just working away. She’s so studious and she loves school. 

And playing with her number 1. 

Frankie really wants a dog. She went with Matt to the McCombs one day and David sent me these shots. Sweet girl!

In my quest to get rid of stuff I’ve had some forced craft time. Addie’s gotten good at making these fun keychains. 

This crazy goose with her crazy hair. 

We picked up some kindness rocks on our Route 66 trip and Addie helped me hide them in Leonardtown. 

We each took one to rehide. 

The tooth fairy came to this sweet girl. It was after the dentist pulled her tooth and we came home and couldn’t find her tooth and a night with it missing and a note to the tooth fairy.  Ps - the tooth ended up being in my purse and I’d forgotten. I can’t remember everything. 

More school time with these first grade cuties. 

And our teeny tiny A days of which the Ray girls are half. They wrote things they were thankful for. 

Christmas Abel

Addie says the day after Christmas is Christmas Abel. She’s a card. 

I found this precious book my grandma and papa had made for me circa 1981. Me and my friend Robbie (who my mom most certainly does not remember) saved the day just in time for the The Great Pigeon Race. Oh the 80’s, you slay me. 

Laura and Mags stopped by with a cute game for the girls. We have such awesome friends. 

Lu and I planned family picture outfits. I love years that we can use what we have and don’t have to buy anything new. 

Chris and crew are snowboarding in PA. 

Looks like they had a fun day. 


Back in the 301 it was Sister Day. Lu did Frankie and Delaney’s hair and then they went shopping. She let them each pick a few things and they had a great time together. We had leftovers for dinner and I’ve been in my robe all day. 

And this here is true, true, true. 

The rest of Christmas 2018

Frankie and Matt worked for over an hour on Max’s gift to her - a crystal growing set. 🤦‍♀️ Amy’s lucky we don’t believe in revenge gifts. 

I was cutting French bread for stuffing and Addie asked for the leftover end of the loaf to munch as she read. 

Then we put on funny Vines and just laughed and laughed. 

I love these sweet family times! 💕

We went to an afternoon showing of Mary Poppins Returns and filled the Jolly Green (almost) full. 

Delaney came to me (very seriously) as I was getting ready and said that she just couldn’t change out of her jams because she’d pinky promised herself that she wouldn’t, and you never break a pinky promise, especially not one to yourself. How could I argue with that?

It was a cute movie but very long and we’d stayed up late Christmas Eve and so Matt, Bubba, Alexis, Laney, and I took turns snoozing for just a few minutes each. I have enjoyed this fun tradition we’ve done the last few years of going to the movies. 

We picked up our food and headed to the Mc’s for dinner. Aloseph together again!

Baby bug was still sleepy so she missed part of dinner.  

We ate yummy food and played some silly games and caught up. It was a fun dinner. 

One of my most endearing qualities (not) is that I’m crazy inconsistent with my cooking (and life?) and even though thanksgiving was probably the yummiest holiday meal I’ve ever made, Christmas was one of the worst. 🤷‍♀️ I’d made all the parts of the stuffing ahead of time (and in my new pot) so it went into the oven cold and I hadn’t accounted for that in the baking time, so it was not cooked through (and not delicious), my cheesecake was crazy lumpy and I’d put the topping on when it was too warm, and I think I put double the flour into my chocolate chip pie and it was a little hard. Some meals go that way I guess. what are you gonna do? Throw the stuffing back into the oven and deal with the pie situation is what. First world problems, fo sho. 

And that wraps up our wonderful little Christmas. 💕