Thanksgiving Day

I'm so glad we take a special day each year to thank the Lord for all he has done for us.  We don't do that often enough!  We always have plenty to be thankful for!  We had a great Thanksgiving celebration although we were disappointed that Nanamom, Heather, and George could not join us. We actually celebrated a day early so Rebekah could spend the whole day with us. She is working this evening, even though it is Thanksgiving today.

Andrew and Elisabeth came over with Lena and that made the holiday a lot of fun.  We had dinner about 4pm after Andrew got off work.  I put the turkey in at 7am which was an hour later than I usually do, and had just dropped off to sleep again when the phone rang. It was Matthew!  He put me on the speaker phone and I talked to him and Amanda. I also chatted a little bit with Colin. He's growing up so fast! It was good to visit with them via the phone.

Elisabeth brought the sweet potato casserole and Rebekah made the green bean casserole. The boys did a lot of the miscellaneous chores and dishwashing which made it a lot more of a holiday for me. Everyone enjoyed the dinner but no one enjoyed it quite as much as Lena when she got her first taste of stuffing. It was so funny! If she doesn't like something she's being fed, she doesn't make a sound. She just purses those lips tightly together and won't let the spoon in.  If she likes it, she opens her mouth as wide as is humanly possible!  She is just getting to eat bits of people food now and when she first tasted stuffing today, she actually made mmm-mmm! sounds!  She did it over and over again and we all just about died with laughter.  She could not get enough!

After dinner, we went for a long walk and Rebekah rode Tex.  That's not as 'leisurely' as it might sound--Riding Tex is hard on the leg muscles.  Plus, he always wants to go home after about five minutes.  Sometimes he balks at things in the road, and then she just pulls his head to one side and makes him ride in circles which is a form of discipline. She actually rode him bareback and without the bit, but he pretty obedient in spite of that.  He does spook a little along the trail, but this is probably the fifth time she's taken him down the rode and he's getting used to all the sights and sounds along the way.

Lena looked so cute in her little pink coat and loved the walk.  She kicked her little feet in the stroller all the way to the mailboxes and back.  That's about a mile by the way. The weather is cool but I was pretty warm by the time we got home.  We opened the windows to cool off and then had pie. We had pecan, apple crumble and mince.  Too bad nobody but me likes mince pie...I always have to eat it all by myself!  Of course, it takes me about a week to finish, but it sure tastes lovely! 

We watched the new remake of Godzilla afterwards.  At first I thought it was going to be some awful gory show, and in a way it was...but the cliff hangers came one after the other and finally I quit worrying about whether or not anyone was going to get hurt or not.  It was a very well done remake and actually made the story seem plausible...it had a 1920's 'flapper' feel to it that made me think of Sky Captain but it was also pretty funny in a way--it was pretty sci-fi.  There were a couple of really graphic violent scenes which the boys warned me about.  (Ok...what sense does that make...my kids screening movies for ME? Oh.. mom...you better skip that scene..it'll be too much for you! Right.)  I'm glad to know the boys are looking out for me. :o)

Lena was getting tired pretty early and since Andrew and Ebeth have been visiting quite a bit and still had several days of visiting to go, they decided to get her home before the movie was over. They are coming back on Sat. evening and then we will have a big bonfire...there's always a need to burn something around here!

Rebekah was nursing a cold and had to work the next day, so she went to bed early. Tim and the boys played another group adventure game on the computer...and I blogged a bit about the perfect Thanksgiving dinner on my homemaking blog.  Perfect means...easy, delicious, and not something you eat every day leaving time for visiting and playing with the grandchildren ( I have a blog with lots of homemaking how to's and good advice for new homemakers. 0

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving Day!

Double Date with Andrew and Ebeth (and Lena)

Elisabeth called and asked if we would like to go out on a 'date' with them.  We said, "Sure!"  Ahh the rewards of staying at home with your kids.  Some day, they grow up to be your companions on a double date!  

  Tim and I agreed we had the nicest time.We can't think of anyone we'd rather be on a double date with than one of our own kids and his spouse.  

 Of course Lena came along too! She socialized with all the neighboring babies.  We all had a great time. Now if only Matthew and Amanda were here...we could have a triple date!

Andrew and Elisabeth are married!

Since writing this, I have gotten some pictures developed. Shannon sent me the wedding pictures on the later posts. This picture of Rebekah, Elisabeth, Me, and Elisabeth's best friend Rachel was taken by a friend at a Bridal Luncheon that my friends Terri, and Tammy (and I ) put together for Ebeth. Rachel was a maid of honor at the wedding. We got to be really good friends when we all went shopping for bridesmaids dresses, along with Terah . (Rebekah was at a debate meeting.) We also had a fun evening making wedding candy favors , bags and white chocolate roses on lollipop sticks. Elisabeth played a German musical and translated it for me while we worked. It was beautiful. Peggy Woody helped put the roses together...Rebekah and I and Ebeth, and Kim Spendlove made more later and even poor Christian and Jacob got roped into working roses! Our friends, Peggy, Ruth, Sarah, Molly,Valerie, Stephanie, Lisa, Becca, and Kim all made bunches of candies in molds to give as favors. Carrie Ray gave me the idea and it really helped us do favors much less expensively and they were so pretty too!

Elisabeth's Dad and brother, Johannes came to visit and attend the wedding. We had a great Texas cookout with a bunch of steaks we grilled. Johannes really really likes steaks so he took lots of pictures of them and of me grilling them. But I don't have them yet. Here he and Klaus , Elisabeth's father, are waiting and visiting with Elisabeth and our family while the steaks were grilling. I think Andrew was taking pictures. Klaus liked my chickens, whom I called to come meet him. They waddled up to us as fast as they could go and he also like Percy, Rebekah's dog who is very friendly!I'm not sure why Christian isn't smiling... but it was a wonderful day for grilling..perfect spring weather and beautiful flowers and birds everywhere. We had a great visit with Ebeth's family. Tim's parents are coming to meet her in April since they couldn't come to the wedding due to Tim's grandmother passing away in March. Elisabeth's mother is also coming in April and we look forward to meeting her too. In the evening, Klaus and Johannes played the piano...they are incredible musicians and Klaus also sings in a choir. Johannes has published a CD and they are playing the whole wedding march for the wedding. Ebeth wanted me to play and sing 'Texas' songs on the guitar for her family, so I played the Streets of Laredo, Yellow Rose of Texas, and the Wabash Cannonball, plus Deep in the Heart of Texas. They thought our songs were really neat (and funny too I'm sure!) We look forward to seeing Klaus and Johannes again some day soon.


Love,
Donna