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.

A Journey Home....

So there we were riding sweetly together in the car, just the children and me, singing songs and holding hands, but not.

This has been a busy day for everyone. It has been a great day for everyone, by all accounts, but that wears off during the middle of the afternoon and definitely on a long ride home. With another 20 minutes left to go and just ahead of our car I encountered a Highway Department truck ... full of asphalt... going slow. With no way around it and time on my hands I thought about many things but survival was at the top of the list.

Then, there was silence. It may have taken a moment or two for that to register because I was daydreaming watching the back of the truck and then I looked in the rearview mirror to see our children craning their necks to see the truck in front of us. There it was, a shovel ... hanging from a hook at the top center of the tailgate of the truck swinging back and forth much like a pendulum of a clock. Big shovel pendulum. That is when I realized it was a TRANCE ... a magical trance.

Mercifully, the truck stayed in front of us practically to our door and I was thrilled about it. Happily, we all skipped inside smiling. kind of. I have a new appreciation for the Highway Department trucks ... at least today!

P.S. A post from me with no pictures to show you ..... I know, SHOCKING!

Bad Words

Yesterday we went to the library, had lunch and went to the grocery. While there, we strolled sweetly .... ahem... down several aisles in the race car-style grocery cart that seats two and has two steering wheels. With the siblings, naturally it was all love.... but not really.

As we passed this sweet grandmotherly lady who smiled at all of them and nodded at me as if she completely understood my shopping experience, my W said loudly "Mommy, MK said bad words!". The lady that passed us stopped and I braced myself for the next sentence. W announced, "She said DOUBLE DRATS!"

I turned and smiled at lady who had a little laugh. She said, Oh, that could have been worse. From my precious little sweet cheeks...no, there will not be worse. I asked MK not to say bad words and she said OK. That is settled. That should do it. Only good words from my little family...

A Cousin Get-Together

Last weekend, we were able to met up with some visiting cousins at our Aunt B's house. There were eight young cousins in and out, eating and watching a movie together. This was the only moment I was able to get all eight (nearly all) in the same frame. We had a great time and wish we all lived closer!