Merry Christmas from the McNeills!

After the Christmas Eve festivities at Aunt Connie and Uncle Mo's we headed home, only to wake up Christmas morning for MORE festivities!!! Rylee was the first to open...still doesn't quite get the hang of it, but sure enjoyed checking out every one's stuff!
Cody however, couldn't be more excited!
And Logan was ready for Cody to open his presents too! Logan had a surprise one that nobody knew about!!
A new video game!!!! Many, many, many years ago my friend Diane gave this Sega Dreamcast to Amy to give to Logan, her son had outgrown it and she passed it on. It blessed me to see Logan pass it on when he outgrew it as well. He told me "I have the old Xbox and Cody doesn't have any, so I thought he should have this one, he really likes the racing game!" So sweet. And boy was Cody excited!!! Logan wrapped the game, the 3 controllers, the 2 memory cards, and power cords all separate, so Cody had LOTS of gifts to unwrap!
Logan went to the Santa shop at his school, remember the one I worked at?? He bought this for Justin, it's a bat with "Dad" carved into it and underneath says "The best hit of all!" Another sweet moment for Logan! Rylee really, really, really wanted that bat!
Logan got his favorite beef jerky, it grosses me out, but he can eat a whole can in a sitting. Ick!
This picture got a little stretched, but check out Rylee's new boots! She wore them ALL day and was sooooo proud.
Justin got his range finders!
And Cody finally got an Ipod touch of his own!! Woohooo...and we never saw him again! No, just kidding...if we let him we wouldn't have, but luckily it had to "charge" most of the day!
And the very last gifts were for the boys from Justin. A sled and a pile of fabric stuffing...looked like snow. Turns out he's taking the boys skiing. Sledding, tubing, skiing, playing in the snow. They headed out yesterday afternoon for a week of Colorado!! Lucky dogs! If only Rylee wasn't getting over that cold. Oh well, they're gonna have a ball!
Rylee really liked the sled. She and Logan sat in it most of the day.
Justin got a magic card trick and he drove Logan crazy with it! (Probably not gonna give him magic again...he gets a little full of himself!)
Finally Cody's ipod was charged and BAM...dad stole it. Stinkin' bejewled game!
So Cody and I played some Chutes and Ladders. Toy Story Chutes and Ladders that is, he was Buzz and I was Jesse. He loved it and I am sick of it. :-) Don't know how many times we played it, but man we got our moneys worth out of it already!!
Rylee finally talked Justin into coming into the kitchen to play. She also talked him into eating the present from Pappy and Memaw...sausage and cheese! Yum! (and see her Weebles, didn't go anywhere without them!!)
We talked Cody into playing the Toy Story Kerplunk game. It's awesome. Sooooo much fun, never played it before, but we did most of the rest of the day. Everyone enjoyed it, even Rylee!!
It was aliens in a space ship...pretty cute huh??
Rylee had forgotten about her baby, but when she saw it, she instantly started taking care of it. She kept laying it down on the pillow and saying "night night." cute
A little competitive basketball game. Boys vs Dad...so not fair!
I caught Rylee getting comfy in the sled again! This time she took a blanket!
Things got a little ugly, but the boys ended up winning due to Justin being fouled out!!
Oh and Rylee's tent...oh boy does she enjoy it. She would just sit in there and talk on the phone and giggle. She thinks she's so big now!
We ended up having a Mexican Christmas dinner. Tacos, beans, rice, guacamole and salsa. Yum. Everyone went to bed pretty early because of the emotionally draining week. We had a wonderful Christmas at home. It's always fun to be away, but always nice to be back with family!

Hope you guys had a great Christmas day. Love and miss you all!

Christmas Eve!

So I probably couldn't think of a worse way to start Christmas Eve. Justin met us at my moms and we all headed over to the funeral for my Grandma. It was a cold and rainy day so instead of a graveside service we had it in the creepy, cold mausoleum. Did I mention that's where we used to play? Um, yeah...it's amazing I turned out as awesome as I did huh? ;-) Grandma and Grandpa lived just a walk away from the cemetery. I remember all the grand kids walking over there and playing there. Never failed Russell would find money, never failed...I walked right in front of him! We'd go climb trees, look at headstones, go walk through the baby part, and then into the mausoleum. I can remember my cousin Brannon running ahead, leaving me, the poor youngest grandchild alone, and then "WHAM" he'd jump out from behind a wall and grab me. Scared the bageebees out of me! It was always cold and scary, however, Christmas Eve 2010, it was cold and sad. The funeral was a loving tribute I thought to a loving woman. Funny and sad at the same time. It's fun to hear how she touched every one's heart and lives. Everyone likes to say they were her favorite...but I knew that I was! :-) hehehee (she would have loved that!)

After the funeral we went to Aunt Connie and Uncle Mo's for a luncheon and Christmas. We always get together with my Dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve. I was really nervous going into it, but it turned out great. It was so nice to have the whole family around and have a house so full of love.

My pictures are a little out of order because blogger is having trouble, but we'll try anyway!! We did presents with Pappy and MeMaw before they left, Logan got the big stocking he saw at Pappy's last week. SUPER excited!

Rylee got a purse, which at first she didn't much care for, but is really enjoying it now, perfect size!!
Our "Christmas" picture for the year. 4 out of 5 looking at the camera isn't too bad huh??
Cody got a new nerf gun and TONS of darts...think he's supposed to share the extra darts, but don't know if he will! :-)
Then we did our traditional nativity reading. All the kids get a figure, Logan picked the donkey...don't know what that means!! Cody got another animal, not sure I remember what it was. Anyway, we read the story of the birth of Jesus and the wise men coming to visit. Rylee missed out this year because she took an awesome nap, can't say I'm complaining either!!
Justin and I have maybe 3 pictures together that I like, including those from our wedding. Not sure I like what our hands are doing, but our faces aren't too bad. Are they?? :-)
My Logan, can't believe he's so big!!
After Pappy left we hung out and ate some more and played Tripoli. Nothing like a little poker to help with the mood!
We also played spoons and I'm proud to say I am the CHAMPION this year. Now we just have to have Amy find the trophy!!! Woohoo for me!!

Justin and Rylee played around awhile and the boys were off upstairs I think.
And then it was time to open presents!!! Rylee loves carrying around these Weebles, doesn't know how to play with them, but will carry them all day if I let her!!
I was trying to get a picture of Logan, but Rylee kept getting in the middle. Got one with the bow on her head this time!!
Logan got an awesome Nerf dart tag game, I see trouble in my future.
Cody got his new Lightning McQueen cars!!
Here's a shot of half of us enjoying Christmas.
And here's the other half!
Here's a shot of the grand kids, not the best but it will do. Grandma would have liked it, I can see it now on her refrigerator with the rest of them!
And here are the lucky 14 great grandchildren! (Pay no attention to the screaming girl in the middle)
We did our best to try to make everything as "normal" as possible and I think we did a pretty good job. There were quite times of reflection, but mostly happy times with family we love. I am so grateful to have each and every one of you in my life, can't imagine if you weren't there. I love and miss you all!

Before Christmas

So this past week has been a little crazy...don't know when these pictures are exactly from and honestly it doesn't matter.  What matters is I got them uploaded!! :-)  We spent the week at Grammy's and got to hang out, when we weren't at Aunt Connie's, with one of our favorite people, Russell!! 

 Rylee went MIA for a little bit and when we found her she was digging through Russell's suitcase.  She found ALL of his underwear and gave them a try.  She was super proud of herself and wouldn't stop posing for pictures!!

 Waiting for breakfast!!

 Been up so long, it's considered brunch I think!!

 I don't know where Logan was this whole time, hiding probably.  He was working on a special project for Grammy so he was in hiding a lot of the time.  Here's Russell and Cody trying to play Super Nintendo!!  (Now that's old school!)

 This week has been a really rough one.  I lost someone very near and dear to my heart.  It's funny doing this blog because there are several times I was uploading a picture and actually thought "Ohhh, Grandma will get a kick out of this."  *Sigh...But, I know she enjoyed reading it and seeing my kids, every one's in fact, grow up day to day.  I can honestly say, I don't know any other great grand kids (and there are 14) that had as strong of a relationship with their great grandmother as these did.  We were all lucky to have her. 

On a happier note, this is the plant that my wonderful PTA sent us.  Isn't it beautiful!!  So sweet and touching of them to think of my family at this time.  Yet another blatant reminder of why I love living where we do.  Lucky me!  Thank you guys so much, you have no idea how much it meant to me.

So this is all for now...lots more to come though.  I love and miss every single one of you.  Love, love, love you.

Happy Day

Don't remember what day this was taken, but I just found it and it made me smile. Thought it couldn't hurt to try to make you smile as well. Love and miss you all! (this is why I say she's trouble...so excited to get into something she shouldn't!)

A Celebration

As most of you know, today my Grandma Lila woke up in heaven. She was one month shy of being 89 years old. She was a "tell it as it is" woman and I loved that about her. She would always comment on my stubbornness which made me laugh...wonder where I got it from.

Today lots of the family were able to gather around, look at pictures, and tell stories. Funny ones and sad ones, but all of them with love. We were truly blessed to have her as a Grandma and I will miss her more than I can even imagine. I was fortunate enough to see her on Monday and give her one last hug. Here is some of the celebration of her life:It's amazing what she kept. I found 3 color pages I made for her that she had kept all these years. One was a thank you note, one was a happy birthday card and the other was a Christmas card. It touched me more than I could have imagined that she kept these.
Through tears and giggles we saw all of us grow up in pictures. Through bad hair, bad glasses, and bad clothes!
So very happy I was here today to celebrate with everyone her life. I love and miss you all. Especially you Grandma.