My first post - yikes!

This is really just a practice post. I don't have any of my pics edited & ready to post yet. I'm waiting for my camera cable for my iPad to arrive. So excited! Get ready though. Lots to show.

Yes my iPad. That is a story in and of itself. Nolen walks in the house around midnight Fri with a large boulder-looking gift. It was large, round and covered in brown paper. The kids had gone in together for our gifts getting separate gifts for Brady and me this year. So when I start to open this gift the next day, Nolen gets his camera ready to record what he was certain would be an amazing reaction. I get the brown paper off only to be faced with what is surely an entire roll of bubble wrap. REALLY! Again I have NO CLUE what is inside this package. Nolen is very crafty, and I truly thought it would be a homemade creation of his. I finally get to the end of the mile-long bubble wrap and there is a white box. I look on the end of it and it says iPad on it. I know he got a "deer in the headlights" picture at the moment. At the same time I'm saying
"is this what it says it is!?!" And turning to Brady saying, "Did you know?" He assures me he did not.

So, yes it WAS as the box said, including an adapter & a smart cover, too. Of course, this mom could not hold back; my hands go up to my face as I gasp, and the tears begin to flow (I tried to be mindful we still had family photos to take, but it was no use: the waterworks did NOT have an emergency turn-off valve!); then my hands go over my heart as I keep saying over & over, "I just can't believe y'all did this". Nolen tells me "it's not brand new; it was mine, but I did wipe it clean for you." The tears flow even harder as I tell him, "that makes it even more special!" Then I look over at him and he's not recording my reaction any more as he, too, is wiping tears from his face. I look across the room at Troy - doing the same. Samantha & Chris on the couch with the same reaction with Sam saying, "awww". I look at Brady and even he has tears. This continued for quite some time. When I finally recovered, the kids were laughing and discussing what they THOUGHT my reaction was going to be: not what it was - that's for sure! That's okay - the gift was not what I expected either :)