Thanksgiving

This year  I’ve been way more relaxed and on top of things when it comes to the holidays.  I had my grocery shopping done early and even remembered to start thawing the turkey earlier than 10 minutes before I wanted to stuff it. I was even chill enough to stop and look at the fish before resuming our quest for green bean casserole ingredients. 

The last few hours of the last school day seemed like eternity.  We were all ready for a break.  I was counting every. single. second.

    

I was outta there right at 4, and off to pick up Sof! 

I went home and started dinner prep…but not before pouring a glass of wine:)

Before you knew it I was done with that!  My dad was in town early so he could go with Mark the next morning to see Adrienne in the parade.  We started talking dinner, and before you knew it we ended up meeting Mark, Adrienne, and 2 dance friends at the local Mexican restaurant.  It was a fabulous stress free night! 

Adrienne and her friends came back and organized their things and went to bed.  Ready time for the parade was 6am, so it was going to be an EARLY morning!

  

The parade has been such an awesome experience for Adrienne!  She loves the excitement downtown, and of course the TV coverage!

It was fun to watch her on TV, and my dad and Mark had a great time watching her in person!  Everyone was home before 1:00!  Unfortunately, my grandma was sick.  My mom made the decision to stay home with her and make sure she was okay.  So, it was an oddly quiet dinner!  Adrienne didn’t even join us, as she had fallen asleep right before(getting up at 4am will do that to you!). 

The middle girls wanted to do a thankful activity, so they had everyone write what they are thankful for.  Livy collected them in a little box she made at school last year and kept.  So sweet. 

We all mentioned family, friends, and health, while Mark once again proclaimed his thankfulness for Crown Royal. 

We have 3 November b-days and one early December that we always celebrate on Thanksgiving.  We were sad that grandma wasn’t there to blow out her candle this year, but so thankful that we had celebrated the weekend before.

  

We did a little Black Friday shopping, and I even bought some Christmas presents!

By this time my mom was in town and took the middle kids to a movie.  A little bit of fun for everyone:)  Although grandma was doing better, she wasn’t up to traveling.  We understood, and know there are going to be more times like this, when she just can’t handle the drive and staying overnight.  One of her beloved traditions is taking all 6 great grandkids to Hallmark to pick out an ornament.  We tried like crazy to reschedule it for another weekend when we could do it with her.  It just wasn’t happening with everyone’s crazy lives.  So, she insisted we go anyway so the kids would have their ornaments to enjoy.  The beauty of it is the kids know full well who’s buying those ornaments and what they mean.  Grandma was definitely there in spirit! 

Natalie was done in about 30 seconds.  She took one look at the Mickey Mouse Ornaments and that was it.  She never changed her mind the entire time she waited for the others! 

Everyone left happy, and we called Grandma to tell her what everyone had chosen. 

Grandma Jackie Turns 90

“The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity.  The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquility of the evening.  Old age has its pleasures, though different, they are not less than the pleasures of youth.” ~W. Somerset Maugham

  

We had decided long ago that there would be an open house style party for her, with an extensive guest list.  When it started getting closer, and we started talking about a party, she was not in favor of the idea.  Eventually it came out that she didn’t think anyone would come.  I would say there were close to 100 people there.  Guess that was silly concern on her part:)

It was simple, just cake, a few munchies, and lots of seats for people to fill.  It was a sweet mix of family, old friends, church friends, neighborhood friends, and new friends from her independent living facility. 

 

Grandma never stopped greeting, hugging, and talking!  It was 3 straight hours of people!  Luckily we had a few minutes before it started to bring her in and show her the set up.

The girls painted a lighthouse for her as a gift.  It had plenty of sides, so each girl did one.

Emily put together a 15 minute slideshow to music.  We let it play the whole time, but Grandma got to watch it up close before the party started.  The kids gathered around while she told them about the early pictures, and they found themselves in the later.

Imagine watching your whole 90 years flash before you! What an incredible amount of joy, sadness, accomplishment, regret, and change can happen over 90 years. 

Grandma Jackie is truly loved by everyone she meets.  She is not like other “old” people.  Yes, she has aches and pains and complaints, but who wouldn’t:)  She is a pleasure to talk to.  I know many older(and not so old) people who are just self absorbed.  All they can talk about is themselves, their needs, and their problems.  Grandma is the opposite.  She can talk intelligently on current events, and always listens as much as she speaks.  She is a true role model for our family, and I am so thankful my girls will have such strong memories of her.

When the party was over we tossed around some ideas of stopping for dinner on our way home(it’s a 2 hour drive).  Mark came up with the idea of getting pizza and eating in Grandma’s apartment.  It was the perfect way to end the day!

November Stuff

Random post alert, but lets face it, I’m not so good at keeping up these days so it’s necessary.

We had the privilege of celebrating Brian’s girlfriend Ami’s 40th birthday.  She has been a wonderful addition to our group.  She is intelligent, kind, and warm.  We’re so happy to have her in our lives.

We took the big girls to see “Mama Mia” and out to dinner.  I forgot how much I enjoy that musical!  You can’t help but sing along!

I’m usually a stickler about not getting into Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but we had some cold snowy days in November.  On this night Sof and I couldn’t resist at least looking at the Home Depot options:) 

While we were shopping Sof also saw a disco ball, and decided she wanted it.  I told her add it to her Santa list.  She promptly did…

Some sister sillies…

Adrienne currently has a mug obsession.

Keeping with the live entertainment theme, we also saw “Shrek” at our local high school.  It’s nothing like a HS performance though, they are amazing!

My little turkey. 

We had a visit to Aunt Steph’s store, which is a favorite for Sof!

Finally, Mark, Adrienne, and I went out to dinner one night.  “Palate” is one of our current favorites!  The food, drinks, and atmosphere are great, and it doesn’t hurt that Adrienne’s former dance teacher and husband own it:)

One less post I’m behind…check.

Fifteen On the Fifteenth

Adrienne turned 15 on November 15th.  She seems to always get the shaft when it comes to birthday parties.  She often has a dance commitment, and it’s so close to the holidays we seem to have trouble scheduling things.  This year the planets aligned and it fell on a Friday she was free! 

She had some friends over to join our regular Friday night group.  She of course wanted a homemade meal.  She eats on the run all week, so give her the choice and she’ll always choose meat and potatoes over pizza.

She was happy to share her song and candle spotlight with Emmy, who’s b-day is the day before.

  

She opened a few gifts with a balcony audience:)

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!