The house is now quiet, except for the sound of the washer and dryer. What a difference from what it has been like the last couple of days! Things were chaotic and noisy and wonderful with all the family here. I had all day Thursday to cook and get the house ready, since we did our dinner in the evening this year. Stephen and Mandy's family went to John and Brenda's for the Gaddy's Thanksgiving dinner and then headed our way. Sheila and Matt did their Thanksgiving with the Joiner bunch et al at noon and then arrived about 5:30 for dinner with us. Dennis went to get Daddy and Bobbie, and everyone arrived pretty close to the same time. I was worried that since most of them had already had a full Thanksgiving meal, no one would really be hungry. But everyone ate pretty well...just had to put off dessert for awhile! After cleaning up the dishes, the littles played in the living room, Dennis took the folks home, and the rest of us played Apples to Apples...which provided an excellent opportunity for us to get to know Matt better! Ha-ha! He fit right in with the rest of us!
Friday morning, after breakfast, we loaded up and headed over to Sheila's for Nam's birthday party. All of the other guests had arrived, so I had to put the finishing touches on the birthday cake in front of an audience. Nam opened his presents and the kids played, while the adults visited. Gracie was able to get down and crawl around and thought she was as big as the rest of the kids! Sheila ordered pizza for lunch, and then we sang happy birthday and had cake. The kids all had a blast together! The rest of us did, too.
Sheila and Nam came over that afternoon and spent the night, which gave the boys more play time together and MY kiddos time to do more visiting. Mandy went to bed with Gracie and the boys, while Stephen, Sheila, Ricky and I sat up and talked a good long while. I love those times the best! After the guys went to bed, Sheila and I sat up even longer. We knew the littles would be waking up bright and early this morning wanting pancakes, so we finally crashed around midnight.
After breakfast, the morning was pretty well taken up with everyone gathering up their things and loading up to go home. The boys did get some play-time in with Grandad in the big mulberry tree in the front yard. Poor Dennis had been sick pretty much all week and missed out on most of the eating and visiting...and even the birthday party. I was glad that he finally felt up to spending some time with the littles. I'm slowly getting the house put back in order, but I'm not pushing too hard! As much as I LOVE our time together, I'm exhausted!
Before Sheila and Nam headed off this morning, we decided to weigh and measure Nam. In the year that he has been here, he has grown 4" and gained 3 pounds. He and Jesse are about the same height now, but Jesse outweighs him by quite a bit. Shepherd is bigger in every way than the other two! He is our gentle giant. With the two older boys both being "alpha males", it is nice to have such a sweet peace maker in the mix. Of course, Gracie has everyone wrapped around her little finger. She is such a happy, loving little girl (until it is time for bed!). She sure wants to keep up with the boys! Just wait until next year!
All in all, it was another wonderful Thanksgiving! There was much laughter, a few tears (and screaming), one black eye, a lot of bickering and making up, too much eating, and a lot of sharing memories and plans for the future. I love how our family is growing and changing and learning to interact and support one another in new ways. That's what family is all about!
I hope you all enjoyed your special times with friends/family! Now it is time to use up leftovers!
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