Thanksgiving and family fun

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I've been mostly away from my house (and my computer) since my last post. James finally returned from his Missouri hunting trip last Saturday (a week ago). Since the guy he rode back with lives near my folks, we met him there Saturday night after attending two birthday parties in Cleveland that day. We like to party. James had a great trip, and came home with meat for the freezer. He was hoping to kill a big buck, and though he saw a lot of them, he was bow hunting and never got one within shooting range. So we have deer to eat, just not a deer head to look at.

Sunday we had early Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family at my Aunt Angela and Uncle John's house. We usually have it at my Granny and Pa Pa's (Dad's parents), but last year at New Years' Granny had a stroke and things haven't quite been the same. I think she was glad not to have it at their house this year, though it's sad for the rest of us to have to give up tradition and adapt to life's changes. She's doing pretty well considering what she's been through, though she definetely would like to be back to her old self. She asks us to keep praying for that to happen.

It was fun to get together with family. The MOST fun part was the family picture we took, with all 37 of us. It's always fun to get that many people to cooperate, especially when 8 of them are seven and under. I think we've added all 8 of those kids since the last time we did a big family photo. Guess that explains why it seemed so much harder this time! I hope at least one of them turns out good. I am always proud to be a part of the family God put me in. We had a prayer time where many were able to share their hearts and pray for fellow family members who are having issues with health or finances. That was cool.

James returned to Cleveland Sunday night, and I stayed at my folks' house in McDonough with the kids until Thanksgiving. Over the next few days we went to the Imagine It childrens' museum in Atlanta, visited my dad's office, hit a few consignment shops, saw family, and went to look at a horse that the media specialist at Strong Rock School wants to donate to camp.

A couple of goofballs at Imagine It.

Thursday we had Thanksgiving at my folks' house. James came back, bringing with him a few ducks from hunting that morning. He said he shot at the one duck that actually flew over him, but our friend Ryan gave him a few that others killed that morning. My Uncle Ned and Aunt Dawn also came, and they brought a friend from church and her 3 year old daughter who had a blast playing with my crew. My Nanny came as well. It was a feast, harkening back to the first Thanksgiving where they probably also ate duck and elk (which we had too, as my mom had thawed some from the freezer- makes pretty darned good kabobs!).

We headed home Thursday night and Friday morning James got Amelia up at 5 AM and took her hunting with him at the hunting club. She had been asking to go, so she got all camoed up and enjoyed herself in spite of the fact that they didn't see any deer until they were on the way out. Friday afternoon we went to Dahlonega to hang out with my brother and his wife and her family who were there from Florida. They spent the holiday at the house some of my family owns in Dahlonega. This morning James was going to give Shannon a turn hunting with him at the club, but it was raining at 5 AM so they skipped it. We went to yet ANOTHER Thanksgiving dinner today for lunch. My Granny's family has been getting together for nearly 40 years, four times a year. They are all originally from Cleveland so most of the reunions are held here, which makes it handy for us to attend. She is one of eleven, and I think it's really neat that they've always made a point to get together.

Tomorrow we're off to church, then Monday starts life as usual again until Christmas stuff kicks in. We'll probably drag out the Christmas decorations tomorrow too, especially since it looks like my riding lesson will get rained out. Bummer.

Here are Thanksgiving photos, for your enjoyment. Or ignorement. Of course, if you were going to ignore them you probably wouldn't be here reading this in the first place. Anyway...

These are from the Sunday before Thanksgiving Thanksgiving celebration.





My brother Jonathan, sister-in-law Lisa, and niece Jordan. Jordan will be a big sister in June. :)

My Aunt Angela, Dad's sister, whose house we were at on Sunday.

Here's the rest of her family, along with Granny and Pa Pa. My cousin Adam just got engaged this week, so that was happy news.

Granny playing with Elizabeth. Elizabeth kept doubling over to look at Granny's jacket from about three inches away like she just couldn't get enough of it.

My cousin Brooke and her husband Ben.

My cousin Ashley and her husband Michael. They will welcome their first baby in June.

Uncle Danny (my dad's brother) and Aunt Lynn's family with Granny and Pa Pa.

Uncle Doug (my dad's youngest brother) and my cousin Jesse.

Uncle Doug and Aunt Reda's family with Granny and Pa Pa.

Elizabeth with her second cousin Abi.

Amelia flashes her gang sign (?)

My mom and Avery.

A few from Thanksgiving day...

Uncle Ned (my mom's brother) and Aunt Dawn.

Shannon pretends Uncle Ned is his personal jungle gym/toy in true Shannon fashion.

Nanny (mom's mom) and Elizabeth. Nanny happily snatches up babies the second they make a peep so Elizabeth had some good attention on Thanksgiving.

And here are a few other random photos from the first part of the week at my folks' house...

Dad helps Avery play the piano. Amelia kept requesting for my dad to play so she could dance. I loved to hear my dad play while I was growing up. He had a grand piano that was just on the other side of my bedroom wall. Mom always wondered how I got to sleep while he was playing at night. So do I now, come to think of it!

She's not a real ballerina, she just plays one whenever possible.

I wish I had taken a picture of the audience she had lined up against the stair rail to watch her dance. There were a couple of dolls, a bunny, and an angel.

I took the doorway jumper with me because I figured Elizabeth was getting big enough to enjoy it. She loves it!

Whoa, look at this blue strap! Check it out, it's really a BLUE STRAP! Wow!

She went nuts bouncing when Dad played the piano. I think we have another music lover.

Well, now you know what I've been up to for the past week and a half. Let's see if there's anything else to note that I'll be interested in reading about in 20 years. Oh yeah-

While at my folks' house (this just made me laugh)- Shannon and Avery were shirtless, and Avery looks at Shannon and says, "Shannon has a little tummy." I said, "What about you?" He says, "I got a BIG tummy!" while rubbing it.

Today Amelia asked me, "What is an a-gay-sha?" Huh? "You know," she says, "Like a special a-gay-sha?" Occasion. It was occasion.

Elizabeth is about to cut a tooth. She has lumpy gums and was up, unhappy, several times last night. I hope things will be different tonight.

Earlier in the week Avery said he needed to go to the potty before bed. (Several weeks ago I was hoping he was starting to potty train. He's still just kidding around with me about it.) He said, "I want to ride the motorcycle potty. I want to ride it!" Shannon explained that Avery wanted to sit on the potty seat that goes on top of the regular seat that has handles on the sides for little kids to hold. Glad he could interpret, I wasn't aware of us having a motorcycle toilet in the house!

And those are the things I will care about in 20 years.

Goodnight!

PS- Oh yeah, here's another thing James and Elizabeth did today.