Thankful for Thanksgiving!

This was, for the most part, a very easy and stress-free holiday. By the time Thanksgiving Day actually rolled around my house was decorated for Christmas, my shopping was done, the packages were wrapped and under the tree and my Thanksgiving Day pies were made and chillin' in the fridge! Awesome!!

As we do most years, we were to share Thanksgiving Day with Ronnie's family at the party house in Rosser. This year both of my kids and their families were able to share that experience with us...all except Trenton. This was his year to be with his dad for Thanksgiving. The rest of us, however, made our way to Rosser to stuff our faces, watch some football and laugh and talk the day away.

On THE DAY itself, all I had to do was make my frito salad and my mac'n cheese, throw everything in the car and go. We made arrangements to meet Ryan in Terrell because last year he got lost. Well, he missed the connection and, yes, he got lost again this year. Eventually, however, we were all together and enjoyed a delicious lunch and some great company.

After lunch and a bit of visiting, Ryan and Rich left to do some Doorbuster shopping. A bit later Kristin, Scott, Carter and Tanner left to go home after issuing us an invitation to come over and play board games later in the evening.

I need to point out here that this was Tanner's first Thanksgiving. He is such a happy baby. He smiled at everybody and never once got fussy. This was his first time to meet any of the family but he's going to be one those kids who never meets a stranger. Carter, too, had a great time. When he wasn't playing with my niece's grandkids he was playing games on my phone.

After the third quarter of the Cowboy game Ronnie and I headed home to get Beau and some games and finished the night at Kristin's playing Skip-Bo and Balderdash. All in all, it was a great day!

Random photos of the day in no particular order...

Teaching the kids to play poker

Hangin' out in the kitchen (the nieces)

Chief Cook (SIL)

The hubs

A little foosball

The FIL

Making friends with family

Son and grandson

The SIL

Stealing a forbidden drink

Fun with Nana's phone games

Counting Down 2013

It hardly seems possible that 2013 is drawing to a close. Seems like it was just last week when everyone was worried about Y2K! But as this year draws to a close there are significant events still happening.

On Halloween morning we were able to go to the youngest boys' school and watch the "Pumpkin Parade." All the children paraded around the gym in their costumes and then sang a couple of songs for the parents and grandparents standing around the perimeter of the gym snapping pictures like the paparazzi! It was too cute!! For some reason unknown to me, I actually left the house without my camera (probably because of the early hour we had to be up and out to get there on time) so all I got were some grainy pics on my phone. Bummer because Tanner was the cutest baby elephant EVER and Carter's costume was precious, too. He was Rigby the raccoon from Regular Show and Kristin handmade his costume! It was awesome!

The first weekend in November our Life Group (aka Adult Bible Fellowship...aka Sunday School Class) met at one member's house for a skeet shoot and pot luck chili dinner. It was the first time ever for me to fire a shotgun. Not only did I fire it...I actually hit the first skeet I shot at! I ended up winning "Best Female Shooter!" It was fun to shoot skeet, the food was delicious and the fellowship was AWESOME!! I'm not posting any of the 190 pictures that I took...maybe at a later time!

Yesterday was my birthday. I was overwhelmed with the number of birthday greetings sent by my Facebook friends and family. It made me feel special. Now, only 364 more days until I can feel that special again! Lol!

Last Sunday our pastor spoke on why we should be making an effort to make healthy choices. In a nutshell, we know God values the human body because He became flesh in the form of Jesus. Also, our body is the temple that the Holy Spirit indwells. Therefore, if we trash out our body we are desecrating the temple of the Holy Spirit. Oh. Okay. That message, coupled with my doctor telling me that I needed to start a walking program if I don't want to end up on insulin, got my attention. My blood sugar has creeped up just a tiny bit. Apparently your pancreas likes it when you walk and releases a chemical that makes everything work better. Who knew? So, on Monday I took Beau and headed out to a scenic little park in Rockwall to begin my walking program. It really is a pretty park with a pond, a fountain in the pond, and ducks gathered around the pond. Beau loves it and by now has sniffed every bush, tree rock and blade of grass on the property! I have walked 5 out of six days with Friday being the only exception. Friday was my birthday and Ronnie took me to a movie and lunch so we skipped the walk on Friday. I've also been making an effort to drink water and surprisingly, I have begun to crave water. I have limited myself to 2 Diet Cokes a day and most days I don't even drink that! Those that know me well just fainted at that last statement! My effort to make healthier choices, for the first time ever, is exactly that...an effort to get healthier! Before it has always been about weight loss. This time...no. If I lose a little weight, which I think will probably happen, good for me. If not, just knowing that I am making choices for the right reason is enough!

I had an issue with my car this week. I went to the park to walk one day while Ronnie was at the doctor having a nuclear stress test. I am happy to report that his test results indicated everything is fine, but on this particular day when I returned to my car...it wouldn't start! No warning. No indication of a problem. It just wouldn't start. To make a boring story short, it was the battery. Let me just state here that batteries are not cheap! Anyhoo, one battery later and everything is running as it should again...which is a good thing because Veteran's Hospital is too far to walk! My dad is in the hospital again...for a week already. The weather changed and he got pneumonia again. He also apparently had a mild heart attack on the 8th...probably a result of forgetting to take his medication. When he gets down like this he loses the ability to walk so now we are waiting for a bed in CLC (something about long-term care) so he can be moved there for therapy to get his legs back.

Next Tuesday we get to go to Trenton's school to have Thanksgiving Feast with him. Of course we are going! Trenton still thinks we are cool and likes to have us around so off we will go to spend time with our oldest grandson!

After Tuesday it seems that it is a race to the finish line! We will go one day next week and do ALL of our Christmas shopping in one day. Then it's home to wrap and decorate for Christmas. Then it's Thanksgiving. After that we have a cruise the second week of December and then Christmas and then a New Year's Eve trip in the RV and, voila (wah lah), it is 2014. So, if I don't get around to it before then...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

~cheers!