A Thanksgiving to Remember

I had to post about Thanksgiving before Christmas but this is cutting it close!

We drove to south Louisiana to spend Thanksgiving with my sweet Mamaw. I have so many aunts, uncles and cousins, second cousins and third cousins on my mom's side of the family, I truly have lost count. My Mamaw had TWELVE children; six boys and six girls.

Here she is and she was thrilled to have family together for the holiday. I need to post about how special she is and what an amazing honor it is to be her granddaughter.

Below is a picture of W waiting for all the food to be arranged so he could EAT. The girls happily obliged my photo op.

Here are three boy cousins looking for some boy things to do.

Oh look, same boys having having no problem having fun in the girly princess castle bounce house. A bounce house at Thanksgiving, you ask? Oh my yes, that is how we roll.

W and I at the end of a great Thanksgiving Day!

Here is MK loving on her great-Mamaw!

Two cousins getting together after a whole YEAR!
Our children love to ride on the luggage cart and here they are ready to roll.

The hotel had a little putt-putt golf course and they had a chance to play before we left.

This was too sweet not to include.

On our way home, we stopped as we crossed into Mississippi and had lunch with family that was not far behind us.

Cousins getting ready to say good-bye!

We have some wonderful Thanksgiving holiday memories.

Optimistic

I am such an optimist... waking up every day of my nine-day illness proclaiming it to be the day I would be well. My little blog has suffered again. In the list of priorities I guess it knows where it lies but I am hopeful and definitely optimistic that I will post more often. I have decided to do a year in review before year's end and hopefully hallmark the big events of 2008 on the blog.

There were a couple of notes I wanted to make about one morning this past week that I wanted to chronicle before it seeped into the recesses of my mind to never be uncovered again like so many others have.

I was rushing around one morning getting things ready for a monthly meeting at church. I had baked some breakfast for the meeting, organized all my notes and supplies for the meeting, fed the children and everyone was in various stages of getting ready. I am so grateful that A has become so self-sufficient at getting ready to go somewhere and can help others occasionally. W is always first ... he is the easiest. While MK ate her breakfast, I ducked back into my closet to change clothes.

As I perused the options I settled on an outfit while debating in my mind things like... I think I wore those pants to the last meeting, but not these pants.... and it is really cold... what about something warmer like a sweater but did I wear this to the last meeting a MONTH ago when it was cold? I decided I had no more time to have the debate with myself and picked something.

Sweet W was in the hall when I was hurrying by and I thought I would see if my SIX-year-old BOY would remember what I wore to the last meeting a MONTH ago. So I went for it, "W, do you remember if this is the same thing that I wore to the last meeting? I know not the pants, but the top?" He looked at me and said, "You are just beautiful." There it was. I could have cared less if I wore it a month ago or every day since. He made me feel special, made my day and showed his love. I hugged him and told him he made me feel special. He said, "I know."

I headed to the kitchen and was rushing MK to finish her breakfast so she could get dressed and she announced she was done. YEA! I said let's go get you ready and rushed to the bathroom with her trailing behind me. I told her I had her things laid out and all she had to do was put them on before her hair and teeth and then she says "Mommy, you are my hero!" I stopped in my tracks again...

There you have it. Two special moments I do not want to forget. I have so many and I want to write them all down but if I do not I will have to hold fast to the fact that I was busy living the life and soaking it up even if it lands in the recesses of my mind. It is all good and I am blessed.

Last Week In Review!

I have wanted to post about some of our activities lately but they have kept us too busy and then I came down with a cold or something. I ended up taking sudafed to help me breathe and sleep the last two nights and that leaves me with medicine-head. The upside, I am completely rested even if it was medication induced. So today my head is still clearing and I am behind on all the posts I thought of writing and pictures that needed posting.

About last week, before the plague, we had a lot going on besides the usual. There was a library trip for more references for A's research paper, pajama shopping for Pajama Night for two, some Christmas shopping, hemming Star Wars pajamas that were too long, Christmas parties for two classes, cookie donations for the homeless and the grand finale was taking the children to see The Nutcracker Ballet and Symphony.

I was going to video them telling us their absolutely favorite parts of the Nutcracker but I have not completed training in getting the video from camera to computer (with VOICES heard) and then to the blog. Not to worry, I am not giving up... my tech person said he would work it into his schedule soon.

I still plan to have a Thanksgiving post complete with pictures of that festive holiday so there is something to look forward to!

Fall Leaves.... and memories

The week before Thanksgiving, the tree pictured above was calling to me for a couple of days. I tried to push aside my weakness for the beautiful leaves .... especially since it was not in our yard and belonged to someone else. Since the house is for sale and no one lives there now the timing really was perfect.

For more history, it was a house that I lived in when I was five years old and in the first grade. Just another tidbit, it is in the town where we live now and I see it all the time but it is the first time I have ventured close to it since I lived there last. Okay, back to the leaves!

There was a lot of jumping and reaching. Sweet MK tried even though it was too high! Her big sister brought her plenty to make up for it though.

I had to get a picture of them on the porch. I do have a picture of my sister and I on that very porch when I was W's age.

There happens to be a great magnolia tree there too! Later that day when we were at home, A tied her leaf stems together in a bunch and put them in water and gave it to me. She shares my love for this time of year.

W fascinated with the "baby" leaf, dubbed by A.

After I held a branch down low enough for her to reach, MK picked one for herself.

Here they are posing by a brick fence that I posed by when I was little. I do have pictures of me and those bricks back then but you will just have to imagine for now.

I remember playing in that yard well, catching lightening bugs in a jar and making sure there were holes in the top so they could breathe and watching them until I fell asleep, lying in bed thinking of a name for my soon-to-arrive baby sister with my Daddy, going to the post office to pick up mail, eating peanut butter with graham crackers, playing on the school playground, counting to 100 and reading, going to church, celebrating Christmas and Easter and experiencing the different seasons.

It was a beautiful place and I am grateful I went back... even if I may have been trespassing.

Just in case any other former resident is interested, did I mention the house is FOR SALE?