Thanksgiving 2012

The turkey and ham were roasted, dressing done and lots of side dishes, such as baked beans (made by Mother and Daddy), pink salad, 7-cup salad, good ole sweet potatoe casserole, green bean casserole, cheesey potatoes and mashed potatoes, yummy rolls with butter, and of course cranberry sauce.  And of course, lots of pumpkin and pecan pies, pumpkin bread and chocolate cake.  Whew.....what a feast!!  And I'm sure I've forgotten something. 

There were 20 of us, representing 6 different families.  And it all started with Mother and Daddy. We were missing Vicki and family, and Sheri and Chris and kids. 

We have had a lot to be thankful for this year.  We still have Mother and Daddy with us, and even closer than before.  Phoenix became officially adopted in January of this year.  We are especially thankful that the last MRI done just a week ago showed that Landry's brain tumor had shrunk.  There have been many challenges also this year,  but I believe we have all learned how to "dance in the rain" and be happy that God has blessed us with such a great family.  Well.....there are a few in the family we're not sure about......butttttttt..... (just kidding!!!)

It's time now to get ready for Christmas.  Wow, how did it get here so quick?? 

Update on the Dallas house:  Linda and Dave brought another pickup load to Mother and Daddy on Wednesday.  And Nic drove to Dallas yesterday, Saturday.  He plans to stay for 2 weeks and work on getting more packing done.  Said he will mainly work on the garage.  That is the biggest job of all the entire house.  Wish him luck and safety while he's there.

Here's a few pictures af Thankgiving Day.  The basket of cell phones was Shannon's idea ---no electronics during dinner! 

 

Happy Birthday to Nana!!!

On November 17th, 1927 a baby girl was born to Claude and Opal Nailon.  She was born at home and they named her Delores Claudine.  She would be their only child...and a spoiled rotten little girl she was and still is!

Despite her pleas that she didn't want to do anything for her birthday, we planned a small family surprise brunch in honor of her 85th birthday.  We decorated the table in red and white and served Ham and Egg strata, bacon cups, cinnamon muffins, fresh fruit with a creamy dip, Cranberry apple juice, and coffee.  And Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing.  Guest were Mother and Daddy, Stacey, Lexi, Amber and myself. 

It was a relaxed time of eating and visiting.  We then handed Mother a basket full of cards, mostly handmade from her great grandkids, grandkids, and us girls.  She couldn't believe all the cards she got!  For gifts, she received a framed marker board from Amber, a lighted makeup mirror from me, and a Kohl's gift card from Linda. 

From Vicki, she received a beautiful necklace with colored stones and money for a day at the hairdressers and nail salon.  She thoroughly enjoyed her beauty day on Friday.  Pictures are below. 

She said it was her best birthday ever!!

Settling in

We all traveled to Dallas last Friday for another work weekend.  November 9th was Kayl's 11th Birthday so we all went to Medieval Times to celebrate.  Wow, what a great show.  The costumes, lighting and correography was just fantastic.  And the food was very good too.  We cheered for the Red knight but the Black and white knight won the tournament.  It was an expensive outing, but worth seeing. 

We were up-and-at-em early Saturday morning and all met at the "old" house.  We each got busy in our own little area and got quite a bit of packing done.  Amber and the boys had fun finding old clothes to model -- especially polyester pant suits and Daddy's old leisure suits.  Photos are below.  They kept us laughing.  Nic decided to tackle the garage and despite hours and hours,  only made a small dent. 

At one point, someone noted that there may be stuff in the attic.  But no one wanted to stick their head up there to look.  So Bob decided he would do it and ended up falling off the ladder onto the concrete garage floor.  We spent the next 4 and 1/2 hours at the ER at Doctor's Hospital.  He had a huge knot on the back of his head and had a CT which was normal -- no brain bleed.  His worst injury was to the right forearm where he tore off a big piece of skin.  It's still oozing today.  Rhonda (our "other sister") showed up at the ER to keep us company and kept us laughing.  We all realize that this incident could have been very very much worse.  We are thankful he is Ok.

Sunday morning we rented a 6'x12' Uhaul covered trailer and packed it in the cold rain.  We managed to bring their bed, washer & dryer, computer, some furniture and lots of boxes.  We pulled into Lubbock about 9:30 P.M. and we were all exhausted!  Our friend, Jan, brought Dusty home and he was glad to see us. 

Mother and Daddy have spent the week looking in the boxes and unpacking.  I think they feel better having a small portion of their belongings.  Mother said sleeping in her own bed was "Heaven"!! 

Mother is unhappy about her hair situation.  She cannot find a hairdresser to do her hair like Pat did in Dallas.  We are trying a new one in the morning so we will see.

We have a busy week ahead with Mother's Birthday and Thanksgiving.

Here are the crazy pictures .....Payton in green and Amber in blue!!

November.....already??

I can't believe it is only 2 weeks till Thanksgiving!!  We had some family discussion, but it looks like we will still meet at the "new" house for the big feast and family celebration.  I am really looking forward to making memories.  It has been several years since we have all been together in one place.  We will miss our sister, Vicki and son Chris. 

We spent 4 days in Dallas last week packing Mother and Daddy's house.  Bob, Nic and I and Dusty, the dog, actually stayed at the house.  Linda and David came over to help also.  Whew, it is an enormous job and we only made a dent!!  We mainly worked on the den, kitchen and formal living/dining rooms.  Just when we were feeling pretty good about making progress, we went into the bedrooms or bathrooms and felt very overwhelmed.  There is just so much stuff to deal with.  The second day we were there, I woke up and cried.  Then I was angry.  How can anyone let their house get so bad??  On the other hand, I would think, OMG, they really didn't know how to even begin to get the house clean.  Having watched the reality show "Hoarders" I agree that there is some type of mental disorder that keeps people from throwing out and cleaning up stuff.  Their stuff becomes more important than anything else, including their family.

This proved to be true, when we got back to Lubbock and went over to see Mother and Daddy.  Mother was livid that we had been in her house!!  She kept Daddy up until 4AM one morning ranting and raving about it.  We brought back a few items for them, and we also brought back a dog covered with fleas!!!!   Yuk.

We will be traveling back to Dallas on Friday (without the dog)  to work some more on the house.  Amber, Jason and the boys are coming also, and the plan is to pull a trailer back with some of their furniture.  We'll just have to see how that will work. 

I had worked hard to find a new doctor for both Mother and Daddy and had appointments for them both on Thursday, Nov. 8th.  I called AARP Medicare Advantage to make a change of address.  Well, their plan is limited to providers in the DFW metroplex area only, and will not pay for ANY doctors outside of that area.  They cannot cancel the plan until Nov.  30th and then will have to get a new plan for Lubbock.  This is ridiculous, as they both need to be under the care of a doctor for diabetes, stroke, hypertension, myasthenia gravis, etc.  Government bureaucracy stinks!!  (And with Obamacare ---it's only going to get much worse,  in my opinion)

Are we having FUN yet???????????????????

**Disclaimer - the views expressed are my views only and may or may not reflect the views of the rest of the family  :) :) :) ***