This year for Thanksgiving we headed south to Mississippi. My parents recently returned home from their mission and several of us siblings were going to surprise them with a visit at Thanksgiving. One of my sisters recently had her first baby (YAY!!), but had to have it early so my parents went to help her. Some of us still got together anyway. Three sisters and one brother...not bad. 4/10ths of the kids together! And what is funny is that there were 30 of us. Eight adults and twenty-two kids. We wouldn't have it any other way!
Lee got off work at 5:00 Wednesday night and we left about 6:00pm. I LOVE leaving on time for trips. (I should be better about day to day things!) If we leave about 5 minutes late, I'm okay. Over 5 minutes I get irritated. Which of course is my own fault. We were a whole HOUR late this time around. Oh well. I am sure it didn't help that I took the kids shopping in Harrisonburg that afternoon so they could buy presents. We also went to the library and a couple other places. It actually was probably better that we left later. We drove all night to Lena's and arrived a little before 7:30am on Thanksgiving Day. No point in arriving before 7am right?!
Some of the cute nieces!
One of my FAVORITE things to do is look at the ads on Thanksgiving. Yes, I had already looked at a lot of them online, but it's so fun holding and looking at the actual ad.
Right before the big feast Deb gave the kids gum balls, which I think was a great idea. They had something to chew while they waited the last few minutes before lunch. Ethan and Cal had some other ideas with their gum...
Big bubble Rebecca! Oh and see that oh so delicious pan of twice-baked potatoes? I think that is one of my favorite things to eat at Thanksgiving. And super delicious for breakfast the next morning! YUM! Thanks Deb!
My adorable Alyssa.
Right before eating time!
Lee with Lena's darling baby Lillie. She is SO CUTE! I loved holding her and giving her LOTS of kisses. She has such great smiles and is so pretty. I am sort of (not really) getting a taste of what it will be like to have grandkids someday. I get to hold them, snuggle with them, kiss them, and give them back to their parents.
I love the plates Deb brought for the feast. They were super cute.
Every year popcorn kernels are placed on the plates and we go around and tell what we are thankful for.
Yo Darrell.
After Thanksgiving Dinner was the "race". Every year we have a running race. Whoever wins gets a whole pie to themselves. We went to the Military Park that is near Lena's house. It was a great place for the kids to around. We all went on at least a two mile walk/run!
Lena has a dog, and Deb brought their dog. Shanna, Haley and Elden loved taking them outside and going on walks with them. Glad they can help out with pets sometimes. Most of you may know that I am not a pet person. I did have a hamster growing up, and we had a family dog for several years. I think being in homes on my mission where the animal "smell" and hair were overwhelming turned me off to owing a pet. Lee is in agreement with me so it's all good. Give me a cute little dog that doesn't bark, doesn't eat, doesn't go to the bathroom, and doesn't need to see a vet and I will take it! (Lee said we do have those...stuffed animals, ha ha.)
Shanna with Sally, Haley with Boomer.
Thomas--the boy in the red shirt--won the race. He picked out a pumpkin pie and ATE THE WHOLE THING IN ONE SITTING!!!
Elden is perfecting quite the poses!
At the military park is a type of herb garden. Some cotton plants are growing there too.
Deb brought these cute flower clips for the girls to wear. They loved them.
I didn't go shopping that night, but I wanted to! Lee and I were going to go with Paul after the kids were asleep. About 9pm, I was so wiped out that we decided to go to sleep. It was probably from driving all night. Deb, Stacie, Paul and I went shopping the next morning. We stopped at two stores. I was looking at buying a pea coat, but they didn't have petite sizes. Even though they were a "good" deal, the coats were still expensive. I did buy some drinking glasses, ha ha. I have never bought them before! I did some online shopping too. I got some fabric for Christmas pj pants and some new dishes--plates/bowls. I am excited to have some "grown-up" dishes in my house! I am not sure if she still does it, but a year or so ago my friend Sarah had all her Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. I love that idea and did have a lot of it done before that, but not all. Now I think all of it's done...there are just a lot of projects to finish before Christmas! And Lee is going to build Shanna and Haley a play table and chairs. He used Mike and Lena's kreg jig at Thanksgiving to get him started on the table. When Lee is done building them I will paint them. We better get crackin.
After morning shopping we went out to eat, just the adults. It's nice having enough babysitting-age nieces and nephews that we could have a fun date together! Little Lillie was the lucky one to join us. We ate at Rowdy's--a local restaurant that serves Southern food. It was yummy.
After a piano recital that afternoon we headed downtown to Catfish Park. I guess this is the catfish. Funny enough I've been to this park a couple of times but never noticed the catfish until looking at these pictures today!
We then stopped at a local Coca-Cola museum for some yummy ice cream. The first bottle of Coca-Cola was bottled in Vicksburg.
A few of us also checked out a local art shop which was fun. For other events for the weekend we did some shopping with the nieces which was fun, went to church with the Ereksons and just hung out. Saturday we visited my friend Marisol and her family. I've been to Lena's so many times that I've actually made friends there in Mississippi! It was great visiting with Marisol, seeing her home and eating her yummy cinnamon rolls. Thanks Marisol! I should have taken a picture..... We arrived home 4:30 Monday morning and were off and running at about 7:30. Thanks Mike and Lena for hosting us. It was great trip!
We decorated before Thanksgiving so that when we got home, everything would be decorated. I'm realizing that I want to change out some of my decorations so that they go better with my house. But we've been spending money on doing different things to the house that I'm going to wait another year to figure out some super cute decorations. Well, I'll save more house stuff for another post.....we have a few projects in the works with a deadline to be done before the 20th!
Lee got off work at 5:00 Wednesday night and we left about 6:00pm. I LOVE leaving on time for trips. (I should be better about day to day things!) If we leave about 5 minutes late, I'm okay. Over 5 minutes I get irritated. Which of course is my own fault. We were a whole HOUR late this time around. Oh well. I am sure it didn't help that I took the kids shopping in Harrisonburg that afternoon so they could buy presents. We also went to the library and a couple other places. It actually was probably better that we left later. We drove all night to Lena's and arrived a little before 7:30am on Thanksgiving Day. No point in arriving before 7am right?!
Some of the cute nieces!
One of my FAVORITE things to do is look at the ads on Thanksgiving. Yes, I had already looked at a lot of them online, but it's so fun holding and looking at the actual ad.
Right before the big feast Deb gave the kids gum balls, which I think was a great idea. They had something to chew while they waited the last few minutes before lunch. Ethan and Cal had some other ideas with their gum...
Big bubble Rebecca! Oh and see that oh so delicious pan of twice-baked potatoes? I think that is one of my favorite things to eat at Thanksgiving. And super delicious for breakfast the next morning! YUM! Thanks Deb!
My adorable Alyssa.
Right before eating time!
Lee with Lena's darling baby Lillie. She is SO CUTE! I loved holding her and giving her LOTS of kisses. She has such great smiles and is so pretty. I am sort of (not really) getting a taste of what it will be like to have grandkids someday. I get to hold them, snuggle with them, kiss them, and give them back to their parents.
I love the plates Deb brought for the feast. They were super cute.
Every year popcorn kernels are placed on the plates and we go around and tell what we are thankful for.
Yo Darrell.
After Thanksgiving Dinner was the "race". Every year we have a running race. Whoever wins gets a whole pie to themselves. We went to the Military Park that is near Lena's house. It was a great place for the kids to around. We all went on at least a two mile walk/run!
Lena has a dog, and Deb brought their dog. Shanna, Haley and Elden loved taking them outside and going on walks with them. Glad they can help out with pets sometimes. Most of you may know that I am not a pet person. I did have a hamster growing up, and we had a family dog for several years. I think being in homes on my mission where the animal "smell" and hair were overwhelming turned me off to owing a pet. Lee is in agreement with me so it's all good. Give me a cute little dog that doesn't bark, doesn't eat, doesn't go to the bathroom, and doesn't need to see a vet and I will take it! (Lee said we do have those...stuffed animals, ha ha.)
Shanna with Sally, Haley with Boomer.
Thomas--the boy in the red shirt--won the race. He picked out a pumpkin pie and ATE THE WHOLE THING IN ONE SITTING!!!
Elden is perfecting quite the poses!
At the military park is a type of herb garden. Some cotton plants are growing there too.
Deb brought these cute flower clips for the girls to wear. They loved them.
I didn't go shopping that night, but I wanted to! Lee and I were going to go with Paul after the kids were asleep. About 9pm, I was so wiped out that we decided to go to sleep. It was probably from driving all night. Deb, Stacie, Paul and I went shopping the next morning. We stopped at two stores. I was looking at buying a pea coat, but they didn't have petite sizes. Even though they were a "good" deal, the coats were still expensive. I did buy some drinking glasses, ha ha. I have never bought them before! I did some online shopping too. I got some fabric for Christmas pj pants and some new dishes--plates/bowls. I am excited to have some "grown-up" dishes in my house! I am not sure if she still does it, but a year or so ago my friend Sarah had all her Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. I love that idea and did have a lot of it done before that, but not all. Now I think all of it's done...there are just a lot of projects to finish before Christmas! And Lee is going to build Shanna and Haley a play table and chairs. He used Mike and Lena's kreg jig at Thanksgiving to get him started on the table. When Lee is done building them I will paint them. We better get crackin.
After morning shopping we went out to eat, just the adults. It's nice having enough babysitting-age nieces and nephews that we could have a fun date together! Little Lillie was the lucky one to join us. We ate at Rowdy's--a local restaurant that serves Southern food. It was yummy.
After a piano recital that afternoon we headed downtown to Catfish Park. I guess this is the catfish. Funny enough I've been to this park a couple of times but never noticed the catfish until looking at these pictures today!
We then stopped at a local Coca-Cola museum for some yummy ice cream. The first bottle of Coca-Cola was bottled in Vicksburg.
A few of us also checked out a local art shop which was fun. For other events for the weekend we did some shopping with the nieces which was fun, went to church with the Ereksons and just hung out. Saturday we visited my friend Marisol and her family. I've been to Lena's so many times that I've actually made friends there in Mississippi! It was great visiting with Marisol, seeing her home and eating her yummy cinnamon rolls. Thanks Marisol! I should have taken a picture..... We arrived home 4:30 Monday morning and were off and running at about 7:30. Thanks Mike and Lena for hosting us. It was great trip!
We decorated before Thanksgiving so that when we got home, everything would be decorated. I'm realizing that I want to change out some of my decorations so that they go better with my house. But we've been spending money on doing different things to the house that I'm going to wait another year to figure out some super cute decorations. Well, I'll save more house stuff for another post.....we have a few projects in the works with a deadline to be done before the 20th!
4 comments:
I am tired reading about all of that night time driving! But what a fun thanksgiving!!! Can't wait to hear more about the house projects!
maren
I realized that later in the afternoon we didn't get any pictures. Bummer. Next time!
Nice post Ruth! Thanks for making the effort to take the pictures off the camera, label them, upload them, and type up everything we've been doing. Love You!!
Now THAT is a house-full!!!!!! Looks so fun. Not sure how the kids are able to RUN after eating so much!!!!!
Post a Comment