Our Thanksgiving Week, Days One, Two, and Three

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon and the first chance I've had to start writing about our wonderful Thanksgiving week.  I will probably need to break it into several posts.  

Last Thursday when I was writing, we were having a snow day.  It really WAS a snow day.  Our area got about a foot of snow!  The schools, even Penn State, were closed both Thursday and Friday.   It was so beautiful, and by Friday afternoon our roads were nice and bare.  

The timing was perfect!  Lisa, George, and Sophie left Tampa on Friday and drove to Columbia, SC.  I told them when they left their hotel on Saturday morning that they should let me know when they first see snow.  Around 4 PM Sophie sent me a picture saying, "I got to touch snow for the first time ever!"  And Lisa posted pictures of Nilla Bean and Stella going to the bathroom in the snow for the first time!

Saturday, November 17

I had made sloppy joe meat and was making molasses ginger snaps at Anthony and Lori's place when they finally arrived around 7:30 PM.  What a noisy, exciting time!  We had a WONDERFUL evening catching up.   Hunter gradually made friends with the dogs, and Austin and Sophie connected on their iPads.  The new board games, I guess!

Sunday, November 18

On Sunday morning Dick and I went to GBRV first and then to Calvary.  We knew the rest were all coming too, but we didn't see them before we went into the service.  Dick and I crawled past two people sitting at the aisle to get to our seats, leaving an empty seat between them and Dick.  He put his coat on that seat.  After a while a guy crawled past those two people to take that empty seat, so Dick moved his coat.  After the service was over and we were walking out we suddenly noticed that George was walking in front of us.  Later we CRACKED UP when we found out the it was he that sat next to Dick and we never even looked at him, hahahaha!!!  He said he was thinking, "Wow, I guess they're really into this service!"   What friendly people we are.  Not!  Unbelievable!

Anthony, Lori, and Lisa had sat out in the lobby where you can watch the service on a screen.  We decided after the service that it was a great time and place to take pictures.  We will treasure these for sure!

There were lots of leftovers of things I'd made earlier in the week, so we had those for lunch.  Then it was time to try some sledding.  Not me, of course!!  I went out long enough to get some pics.  Sophie is quite a trooper.  She learned how to sled down a hill, decided she liked going down on her belly the best (!), she hiked in the snow and was out there for hours!!  Even the dogs had a lot of fun running in the snow!

Lisa and I went inside and "chilled" by the fireplace.  It was so perfectly relaxing.  Anthony was on the sofa at the other end of the room, and we had some good laughs.  I just love being with my children.

We had planned to go to our favorite BBQ, Doan's Bones, for dinner that evening, so we loaded up into two vehicles, went over the mountain, drove up, and discovered they had already closed!!  So we headed back over the mountain and via texting back and forth, decided to go to Plaza Mexicana Grill instead.  That was a perfect choice.  We had a great time and scrumptious food.

Monday, November 19

Dick took vacation from work Monday through Thursday, so on Monday we went over to Anthony and Lori's bright and early to load up Lisa's family, including the dogs, into our van for a day trip down home.   Our first destination was Richland Christian Home to visit Grandma Mary.  It was a short, very sweet visit, including lots of laughter as is always the case when visiting her.  We just couldn't believe how much taller Sophie is than her great grandma now!!

We visited in her room for a while, then she took us on a tour of the home.  It's such a lovely, comfortable place with a beautiful view of farmland.  

When we went out to the car we took some pictures in front of that country view. 

Our next destination was Grandpa Stauffer and Arlene's for lunch.  She had delicious home-made chicken corn soup.   We made sure to get a group picture afterward, as well as a four-generation picture.

Sophie was so intrigued by the antique pump organ.  She had never seen anything like it.  I took this video too soon, because she kept working at it and working at it and eventually got better than when I first videoed her.  

After we left their place we decided to go to the nearby city of Lebanon to track down our favorite mail carrier!  Thankfully he took time to check his phone and told us his location.  We put it in our googlemaps and we found him!  What a sweet, hilarious little sidewalk visit!  

We were hoping to see Jenn and the kids too, but they would not be getting home from school and work till much later, and Lisa's family was eager to get back to Anthony and Lori's.  They were really tired of being in a car, understandably so!  Two days in a car to get up here and two more days in a car later in the week to get back home.  

Since I of course had not cooked anything that day, we picked up salad and pizza before we got back to Anthony and Lori's.   Here's a cute picture of Hunter and the pups from that evening.  Looks like they're wanting some Doritos too!

So that was our first three days together.  Much more to come!

Birthday fun, wonderful grandma time, snow!

I have an unexpected Thursday morning at home, so now I have time to update this blog.  Going right along with the rainy summer and fall that we have had here in PA, we are continuing with the frozen kind of precipitation.  We are having snow and are expected to get sleet and freezing rain, so my morning Bible study at Calvary was cancelled, schools are cancelled, and I already cancelled my choir practice for this evening.  It's nice to have a day at home and I'm so thankful I do not need to drive.  Ice is no joke!  So far it's beautiful out there.  

Last Thursday was my 67th birthday.  I had lots of birthday greetings on Facebook which made me feel really happy, but there was no time to celebrate that evening because of choir practice.  Did I ever write here on my blog about the crazy line-up of our family birthdays?  Back when my kids were young I used to have a Monday evening meeting that I attended.  One year I noticed that it seemed to often interfere with our family birthdays which I always made a big deal about - favorite food, favorite home made birthday cake, etc.  I looked at the calendar and was amazed to see that every one of our birthdays (Dick, me, Lisa, Anthony, Jeremy) had been on a Monday that year!  And so it is!  This was our year for Thursday birthdays, next year we'll have Friday birthdays, etc.  Isn't that crazy??  It gets off kilter on leap years, but then the next year it's back on track again!

Friday was Sam's birthday, and we have always tried to do something together on or around our birthdays. This year Sammy had off school on that day, and Sam had requested off work for Friday and Saturday. So on Friday morning I drove down to Lebanon.  It rained hard the entire 2.5 hour drive.  Ugh.  At least it wasn't snow, I kept telling myself.

As soon as I got there Sammy gave me the card he had made for me.  How precious is this??

And this picture.  That's me in the middle between Bianca and Sammy.  He didn't know how to spell Mahna, lol!  He made up that name for me before he knew how to spell!

And this activity.   Along the left side are items that I needed to find embedded in the picture.  How creative is he????

Bianca wanted to take pictures with my camera.  Here's a shot she took of the birthday people!

We decided that on this rainy day a movie was the best option.  I had some Fandango gift cards to use up, and we were able to get tickets for all four of us for a total of $2.30!  We went to see Dr. Suess's The Grinch.  We laughed a lot, ate a lot of popcorn, and had a great time.

That evening Ray, Ashley, and RJ came over and we had pizza, birthday cake, and ice cream.  And lots of fun, of course.

Of course, all the kids care about is getting a piece of cake with a whole lot of icing!

Later Sammy remembered that he and daddy were going to make cookies together.  So I kind of helped the process along (pre-made dough), but they formed the balls.  The house smelled good.  A great activity on a cold, rainy night!

On Saturday morning Sammy was in the mood for putting up Christmas decorations and lights in the basement. So I helped him with that.  I forgot to take any pictures!!  That night I asked Sam to take a picture and send it to me.  I love this so much!

Later we went to nearby Golden Corral and had their incredible lunch buffet.  We will definitely go there again.

Then we went to Lebanon Valley Mall.  First we had to dig out all our coins to throw into the fountain along with our wishes.

Then we went to the fantastic play area at the mall.  The kids had a blast and there were even sofas for the adults to relax on while the kids played.  Must have been designed by a tired mom, hahahaha!

I had been hoping to get back home before dark (which comes SO EARLY now), so after a while we had to say our goodbyes.  What a fun two days we had together!

Look how these kids have grown!  I posted this picture from several years ago to honor Jenn on Veteran's Day.  How precious!

On Sunday morning we went to our service at GBRV.  I wish you could have heard the congregation sing "Let There Be Peace on Earth."  It was so powerful and touching.

From there we went to Calvary's service and brought the boys home with us afterward.  We had pizza and chicken tenders for lunch, then Hunter went down for a nap and Grandpa and I napped in the living room while Austin played games on his iPad.  When he needed to recharge it he decided he was in the mood for a game of Chutes and Ladders.  A bit below his level, but we had fun with several rounds of it.  Such a crazy, unpredictable game where no amount of strategy works!  At one point when he landed on the same square as me he tried to get his person to balance on top of mine.

Hunter woke up happy and full of fun and enthusiasm.  I think Anthony is raising his own sax player for his future band, hahahaha!

Showing his dance moves, lol!

Later we went to Weis Markets to meet Lori and Anthony, since we both needed groceries.  It was already dark, but I just had to take this video as Hunter sang Old McDonald in the car.  MELT MY HEART!!  He tried to add more and more animals and their sounds even after I stopped the video.  

Tomorrow morning Lisa, George, and Sophie, along with their two dogs Nilla Bean and Stella, will be starting their road trip to State College!!  They plan to arrive sometime Saturday.  It's been two years since they were up here and I am just a little bit excited!!!!  They'll be staying until the day after Thanksgiving.  Woohoo!!!

Sophie has seen snow only once in her almost 14 years, so Lisa wondered if we could keep this snow till they get here.  I have a feeling that will not be a problem.  I don't think there are any milder temperatures in the forecast until after they go back home.  They will get a taste of winter for sure.  

Some good family times and some good weather too

A whole week has gone by since I last posted.  That evening we had lots of knocks on our door as parents took their children around for trick or treat.  I think it's fun.  But the most fun of all was when these two came to my door!

This was Hunter's first year for trick or treating, so he had no idea that when they came to Grandma's house he was just going to get some candy and then go knock on other doors.  As soon as we opened the door he went running right back to the toy corner.  No amount of explaining or bribing was going to get him to walk out of our house right away, hahahaha!  So Anthony and Lori took just Austin around our neighborhood, but they said Austin was so very disappointed that Hunter wasn't with them.

On Friday when I went over to their house I could not believe my eyes as I drove up their private road.  WHERE did those bright red trees come from??  They were not like that at all just two days prior!  The yellows were not as bright as other years, but still beautiful.

After Dick got off work we made the trip to Sam's for the weekend.  We had a really fun evening with the kids as always.  Sammy was showing us some of his papers from school, which was so interesting.  I just love how he can read and write now.  Bianca was happy painting with Sam.  Grandpa made friends with Cookie, one of the cats.  She even slept with him that night!  And he didn't mind!!  Will wonders never cease??

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day.

We made the usual bacon and pancake breakfast.  Sam had to go deliver mail and we hung out in the basement with the kids.  Sammy loves to create environments.  He even likes to use that word!

This is a beautiful green carpet, in case you did not realize it!

We found out that Jess and Bjorn were camping with her family at Woodcrest Retreat near Ephrata.  We had camped there with Grace Community Fellowship for at least twenty years or more, so we were glad to go there to see them.  It was getting windy and a bit colder as we sat around the fire.  It felt really good.

SO MUCH FUN to be with Jess and Bjorn again!  They are really busy, both of them working and going to college and getting ready for their February wedding.  I love them so much!

Hammock ride!

We were amazed to see how much bigger the retreat center was compared to the last time we were there, which was probably in 2010.

Then we left from there to go to Reading.  We were hoping to see Frank and Lauren and the girls, but they were heading out, so it didn't work for us to stop in.  We did pick up Destiny and went to the top of the mountain where the majestic Pagoda is.  We were too late to get inside and climb to the top of it, but we still had fun walking all around outside and seeing the amazing view on every side.

It was SO windy up there!

My lovely windblown hair!

We took Destiny back home then and went back to Sam's.  On the drive back I took this precious video of Bianca sending a message to her mamma.  Melt my heart!  Jenn is away for a month of school for her job.

I had made pulled pork in the slow cooker and it was all ready to be eaten with cole slow and rolls when we got back.  Sam got home from work about the same time we got there, and Ray and Ashley and her son RJ got there shortly thereafter.  It was a fun evening of eating, talking, and playing.  We also made ice cream sundaes.

Of course Sammy insisted on an energetic dance party in the basement to finish off the night, haha!

On Sunday morning we got ready to go to church.  Sam had to go to work to do Amazon deliveries.  Sammy woke up with a croupy sounding cough.  Yikes!  I gave him hot lemon tea with honey.  The coughing subsided and he really wanted to go to church, so we did.  We went to our home church, Grace Community Fellowship.  Wow, twice in one Fall season!  That's a record since I'm no longer worship leader there. 

By the time we got home from church Sammy was obviously not feeling well.  He ate a little bit of lunch and went to the couch where he napped for a couple of hours.  That is RARE for him.  And when he woke up he had a fever.  I gave him children's Advil, he drank more hot tea and decided to take a cool bath.  He was feeling better after that.  Unfortunately I heard that he did have to miss at least two days of school this week

Bianca painted and painted one big page after the next.  When Sam got home she was determined that he should not see them because they were a surprise.  Kind of hard to hide things that are so big and still wet, haha!!

So I started this post earlier today, but had to do other things, so now I want to quickly finish it up.  Here's a collage of pictures from the Vote and Go Cafe at Houserville House of Hope on Tuesday.  I was not able to stay and help much, but I did make peanut butter rice krispie treats which sold out before I left about an hour later.  By end of day they had sold out of everything.  So many people say they look forward to voting because of the good food!

We've had some beautiful weather this week.  I'm soaking it all in while it lasts!

And one last thing.  Dick has been hanging out at Anthony and Lori's before and after work as often as he could for the last several weeks - archery season!  And finally this evening right before dusk his patience paid off!  First time he ever got a deer with a bow and arrow!  He's a happy hunter tonight! 

Have a good rest of the week!