New Year's Eve, Fitz and Ninny!

I was just thinking about how I haven't updated on something major that happened in our family, along with New Year's and my mom visiting! So I better get writing! 

Let's take things one step at a time..... First let me tell you about the biggest event in our lives that happened 3 weeks ago. 

I had a fun “welcome home” surprise for the kids when they got home from Louisiana. Normally I am NOT one to take in stray animals, but while Shawn and the babes were gone that week I came across this little guy. He was rescued from a bad situation. He was locked in a crate outside in the sub-freezing temperatures. His crate was full of frozen water, so he was laying on sheets of ice. He is only 9lbs and has hair, not fur (which doesn’t keep dogs as warm as fur does) and if he wouldn’t have been rescued when he was, he would have died😢    Normally I would just let someone else give him a good home but there was something about this baby that I couldn’t get out of my head. I was up ALL night thinking about him after I read about his situation- I loved him and I hadn’t even met him yet! I just knew he had to come be part of our family🐶.     So, we welcomed Fitz into our home!!! And he is SO loved! {P.S. I’m his favorite 💁🏼‍♀️} 

Him and Maisy are the best of friends, despite their size difference, and we found out from the vet when he got fixed last week that he is 7-9 months old, so the vet's computer generated a birthday for him of April 3rd :) He is SUCH a good dog. He doesn't have any of the characteristics of an abused dog and I just love him so much! Like, SO much. He is so special to me, and that's saying a lot because I am NOT a "dog" person. But he's my baby.....

You guys. I put him in a baby bjorn.... I know. It's ridiculous how much I love him!

He's my little co-pilot! I take him with me everywhere!

Next- New Year's Eve! The kids got home that afternoon and since I had had time to get everything ready for their arrival, I made sure we would have some fun stuff for the night. Lucy (as usual) requested that we dress up "fancy" so we did and we had food, confetti poppers, sunglasses, hats, etc. Us Gilleys know how to party! 🍾🎉🎊2018 began at 7pm Central Time and after we put the biggest partier to bed (Sully was knocking them back, pinky up!) we started watching a bunch of old countdowns (starting with 1975 up until last year) with the girls (thanks YouTube) and they let out squeals and laughs and threw confetti for every single ball drop! Happy New Year Everyone!

My Forever Boyfriend and my eternal NYE kiss!

Finally- Ninny came! Yaaaaay! Last year during this week we had the most beautiful weather for January. Sunshine and warm days more often than cold days. That's a typical Oklahoma winter! But THIS year, we had record cold temps and of COURSE it was the week Ninny visited.... When I say cold, I'm talkin' New Hampshire cold.  Negative temps, bone-biting winds, gray skies, and the kind of coldness that seeps into your body and you just can't shake it. FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK! It was miserable. We didn't leave the house unless we had to and we were stuck inside the whole time. Not ONCE was it warm. She left yesterday and guess what? Tomorrow is going to be in the high 50's and this weekend calls for 65 on Saturday and 67 on Sunday. And sunshine. UGH. I felt SO bad because she wanted to visit us so badly during our winter to get a break from Boise's winter and it totally back-fired! I don't even get it :(  Poor Ninny! The girls didn't care though. They had so much fun with her. She makes them feel so special.  Lucy is a tough kid so when I felt like my patience was wearing too thin, I handed the reins over to Ninny and it was SO nice to get a break from being nothing but the "bad guy" to Lucy.  She's one tough cookie....  Piper has her tough times as well, but somehow Ninny was great with consoling her when needed and loving her through it all! Even though the girls can both be such a handful, Ninny handled it all like a champ! And that's saying a lot considering Sullivan didn't make it an easy week either! Haha, that little boy is such a ham and we all just love him way too much but he's busy and drains you! Luckily those kids have a great Grandma who loves them unconditionally because my kids have never been described as "easy."  So, thank you Ninny, for putting up with my 3 energetic rascals!

The girls' fought over who got to sleep with her while she was here, so Ninny was a good sport and played Musical Beds by taking turns sleeping with each girl in their beds every night.  I'm not sure she slept the entire week!

One of the best parts about having Ninny here is that she always offers to babysit when she comes. She told Shawn and I to go to a hotel one night and relax and we didn't even hesitate! We had one of the best date nights I think we've EVER had! I think it's because we haven't been on a date since July, and also with the holidays and school and his traveling it just seems like we haven't really been able to connect much these days.  You know how life gets.... Anyway, we put our phones away (except when I checked in on the kids a few times) and went to downtown Tulsa and had the most perfect night.  We went to a really cool sushi restaurant first, then a painting class, then went back to the hotel and stayed up until after 2am talking, swimming, laughing and just having the best time! And the best part is, we slept in until 10:30!!! That has NEVER happened! It was fabulous from start to finish. I SO needed that- we both did! Now our paintings are hanging in his office and every time I see them I smile. We laughed SO hard during that class... I still chuckle thinking about it, haha.  It was the best!  THANK YOU NINNY! 

We were all so sad to see her go.... Piper and Lucy both wailed for a good 20 minutes after she left, and Pi continued to cry off and on the rest of the night. We miss her so much already.

In other news, none of the kids have cavities (praise the Lord!) and Piper is healthy as a horse and much to her delight- NO shots at her well-child appointment :) 

Good night every one!