11/28/13 Giving Thanks to God on this Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today I am thanking God for the amazing and wonderful family God has given me.  Also giving thanks for the many great friends God has put in our lives and for my church and church family.  Thanking Him for the benefits He has told me are mine that I'm not to forget in Psalm 103:1-5.  He is always so faithful and so loving!  Thanking Him today for all the blessings in my life and His hand upon Bill and I and our family!

We went for a walk outside and went through the museum at the Shack.  It is very interesting....old cars, tractors, snowmobiles, antiques that brought back many memories of things my grandma and grandpa had when I was little.  The grounds are beautiful to walk, but we didn't go far because there was about 5" of snow.  We didn't bring our boots as there was only a dusting back home.  We played some games, then we had our delicious Thanksgiving meal....turkey, ham, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry relish, and salad bar.  I had a pumpkin bar for dessert!  We were so full when we were done!

Called the girls to tell them Happy Thanksgiving and was happy to hear their voices.  Still miss them on the day, even though we celebrate the Sat. before. 

We weren't very hungry but ate a light supper....goulash, chicken casserole, beans, roll, salad.... I didn't take much as I wanted to save room for my banana split.  We all managed to eat our banana splits at 8:30....dad even had an extra scoop.  Can you believe that!  I know you can.

It was a great day with great friends!  So much to be thankful for each and every day!  Above all so thankful for our Amazing, Awesome God and for who He is and what He has done.  He has forgiven me, given me eternal life and made me his child!  He has made a way for everyone's sins to be
forgiven and have eternal life by believing in Jesus and trusting Him as Savior and Lord!  Thank You Lord!

11/27/13 "The Shack" here we come!

We headed over to Chuck and Sue's and left our car in their garage and rode with them to White Cloud.  We stopped for breakfast at our favorite restaurant on the way.  Then stopped in Blanchard  and went through a couple of stores.  Our favorite, Loafers Glory, had closed.  We are hoping somebody buys it so it reopens.  We got to the Shack and checked in.  We were surprised to see that our room had a jaquizi in it. We played a game of Euchre with Chuck and Sue while we were waiting for Wes and Gayla to get there.  All of our rooms were in a row on the first floor.  Wes and Gayla got there about 4:30.  We played shuffleboard with them.  We went to the dining room for our dinner.  We had the same waitress as last year which was very nice since she was such a nice one.  We ate roast beef that fell apart and also chicken breasts, salad, potatoes, rolls, salad, desert.  So delicious!  At 8:30, the banana split bell rang.  Had a choice three scoops (10 flavors to choose from) of ice cream.  So yummy!  Played a game of 3-13 and then went to our room to enjoy the jaquizi.  Slept great in the comfortable bed!

 Dad's Banana Split!  Big and plain...just chocolate

11/26/13  Took Mocha over to Melissa's as they are watching her for us while we go to the Shack  Melissa put these pictures on facebook so I could see how happy she was.  The kids were each so good with her and so cute.  Abby and Mocha got along good too so she put this picture on for me to see.  So glad she liked staying at their house!

Got up and out of curiosity checked to see if there were any school closings.  Wow, every school in Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City was closed.  This was great for Jacob, Adam, and Kenzie since now they aren't going to miss any school on the Georgia trip.  Bill and I headed out to our Tuesday morning Breakfast and boy was it slick out.  Our road was a sheet of ice.  The main roads were salted already and were good. So glad Kimmy and her family left yesterday instead of today like they were going to.  Everybody showed up for breakfast except one couple.  Bill had a VA appt. so he went to that when we got home.  I got suitcases down from the attic to start packing for our trip to the Shack tomorrow.  So excited to go there again!  Wes and Gayla and Charlie and Sue are going too.  Packed up Mocha too as I am dropping her off to stay at Melissa's.  Bill and I moved the tv and some other furniture around so we could make room for our Christmas tree.  We will be putting it up when we get home.  Love my easy movers!

11/25/13  Jared dropped Truman and Norman off at 7:10 am.  He took them to the basement and brought their stuff in that was going with them to Vikki's.  The dogs were really good here and were good at going outside and then back to the basement.  They really liked it when I took their canvas cage down for them.  They were so funny!  They both got in at the same time.  When Kenzie got out of school, Vikki picked her up and brought her to our house so Jared could pick her up to take her with them to Georgia.  Peyton and Isaac came in and Vikki told them to leave their coats on because they weren't staying long.  Pey Pey came up to me and said, I want to take my coat off and off it went.  She sure talks plain!  Vikki helped me get rid of some leftovers from Thanksgiving as Bill and I were getting pretty tired of them.  Vikki packed up the kids and then put the dogs in her car.
She called to say the dogs were being really good at her house too.  Kimmy texted me before I went to bed to let me know they were 1 hour from their hotel in Kentucky.   I was so happy to hear from her. 

11/24/13  Went to church and were happy to see Billie Egsti there.  Asked her to move and sit by us so she did.  Then Kenzie and Maddie came and sat by us too.  Vikki and Rody took the babies to the nursery and then sat at the end of our row.  After church, Vikki, Kenzie, Maddie, Peyton, Isaac, and Misty came over for leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a nice visit with Misty and were so happy she came.  The kids had fun and it was so cute when Isaac took the empty toy bucket and turned it over to make a chair for him to sit at the little piano to play! 

The toy bucket works pretty good for a piano bench!

This is what the girls are up to....share a chair!

Aren't these two just so cute and precious!

Peyton and Isaac didn't cooperate for this picture but Beautiful Mykenzie did!
 

Kenzie sure loves her Mocha dog!

Isaac's getting his boots on while Pey Pey is just feeding her baby!
 

The boys having fun looking at toy magazines!
 

Cutie Eli!

Thanksgiving with all these wonderful grandkids!  Thank You Lord we are so Blessed!

11/23/13  Today we celebrated our Family Thanksgiving!  I got the turkey and stuffing in the oven by 8am.  Listened to the Christian Radio Station and was so blessed by how it encouraged my heart with all God has done for me and His Greatness.  Peeled potatoes and waited for everyone to get here.
Vikki and her family were the first to get here.  In a little while, Kimmy and her family got here.  We were going to eat at 2 because Bruce was on 3rd shift so then he could get more sleep.  Melissa and her family got here at 1:50.   Kimmy and Jared got at mashing the potatoes (there official job at family dinners) and Bill carved the turkey.  Everybody else helped set the other food on the table and then we gathered for prayer and thanked God for His goodness and blessings.  Enjoyed our meal together.  Vikki looked over and noticed there were no kids at the grandkids table.  Then we realized they were all under the table.  Leave it to the kiddos to think of that.  We quickly had them get out since there were drinks on the table.  They went to the basement after eating and all had fun playing together.  Melissa, Bruce, Hailey, Maddie, Kenzie, Jared and I all played Apples to Apples!  While we were doing this Kimmy and Vikki surprised us and rearranged the basement for us!  It looks great and was such a nice surprise!  They even hooked up the TV that was down there so the kids can watch videos!  A big thank you girls.