Happy Thanksgiving!
I’d say that happy pretty much sums up what our day has been
like too. Mom, Dad, and I ended up
skipping Tai Chi this morning when Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden started a chain
reaction that soon had Jaimie and Kaitlyn, and then all of the parents, up and
busy. Only Chris and Martin managed to
sleep through that action, and they didn’t come to life until breakfast was
nearly ready.
Dawn and I were put in charge of Jaimie and Kaitlyn while
the parents juggled getting ready for the day and taking care of the three
toddlers. Dad and Violet led the cooking
crew, though they had a little help here and there, and Dawn and I set the
dining room table with some help from our junior assistants. We did the full country breakfast because
Mom’s plan for food today included a light, get-it-when-you-want lunch instead
of three sit-down meals. After
breakfast, anyone not on the kitchen clean-up crew were set free, so Dawn and I
took Jaimie and Kaitlyn over to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house so we could
visit with everyone there; and then see if any of the girls wanted to come back
to our house and hang out in the lounge with us.
Only Kara and Nicole were interested in doing that, while
Eddie opted to stay and hang out with Jonathan; and the other teens were still
juggling bathroom time and hadn’t decided what they were going to do for the
rest of the morning.
Aunt Grace and Mark’s engagement was the top story there
too, but there was other news too. Aunt
Elaine is now heading into the last trimester of her pregnancy with her second
child. Mom and baby are both doing
great, and she and Uncle Kevin are both really excited; but Nicole advised us
that she’s not sure whether she wants to have a new baby in her family – especially
if it’s a boy. Since Eddie was happily
bugging her before we headed back to my house, and Kara, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn
were all offering their advice on the downside of baby brothers, that all
likely had a lot to do with Nicole’s baby worries. I assured her that I love having a baby
brother, but the other girls told her it’s different for me because I have a
matching baby sister too.
Kara and Kaitlyn are both five now, and get along great
together. At three, Nicole cant’ quite
keep up with the older girls, but she was happy to hang out in my room and play
with Ehlana. Jaimie was with Dawn and me
pretty much all day; though she played with all of the younger girls whenever
we did. We spent a lot of time in my
room and the lounge, and there was a steady stream of visitors stopping by to
check in on us, or join in for little cameo play moments. Ethan and Jayden were the only boys hanging
out regularly with us, though they were taken over to guy play central for a couple
of hours too when Dad, Uncle Blaine, and Uncle Rick all went there for a visit.
Violet and Dillon were splitting their time between our
house, Aunt Leanne’s, and his place; and they were going to try and juggle two
Thanksgiving dinners this year. Just as
an aside, since I’m thinking about too much food; could the entire clothing
industry have come up with a dumber time to have ‘Black Friday’ than hours
after one of the biggest food days of the year?
I’m sure that nothing says big sales more than having women attempting
to buy clothes when nothing in their normal size will fit them properly. No, that isn’t a problem for me with my
hyper-metabolism, but I have heard that lament often enough when shopping at
Palmer’s to know it’s true for a lot of girls.
Violet and Dillon weren’t the only people in town juggling
family time around town, but we didn’t really have much of that, other than the
usual holiday weekend drop in visits from cousins and friends; and a steady
intermingling between Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s and our place. While Aunt Grace and Mark were staying with
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, they were having Thanksgiving dinner with us so
they could share the meal with Aunt Grace’s parents, brother, and his
family. I wish Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne could have had dinner with us too, but that just doesn’t work out when
both families are home for the holidays.
Before I get to the main food report, I should finish the
play day recap. My bedroom was where the
younger kids played with their toys and games, and we had a steady stream of
cartoons and chick flicks playing in the lounge. The Moms, Aunts, and Grandmothers came
upstairs for regular visits, and sometimes stayed to watch a show with us. Dawn and I were able to have a few breaks
from our younger cousin supervising; including when the twins, Jayden, and
Nicole all had afternoon naps. Jaimie,
Kaitlyn, and Kara didn’t nap too, but they watched a movie with the Moms while
Dawn and I went to Aunt Leanne’s for another visit.
I miss out on a lot of the ‘grown-up’ action, and may have
to wait until Sunday night to get a lot of those details, but Dawn and I still
manage to pick up a few nuggets of news here and there. Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark may not have had
time to set a date for the wedding, or do any other plans yet; but they’d asked
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne to be their Best Man and Matron of Honor. Uncle Blaine and Aunt Alison will be in their
wedding party too, along with Mark’s brother, sister, and their spouses; though
I think Mark’s going to do those last four invitations after he gets home. Mark has also reported that his father and
brother in particular think he’s nuts, so it’s probably going to be a lot of
fun for him when he gets back home again.
We didn’t get to spend much time with the teen contingent of
Uncle Adam’s family, but everything is going great for the college and high
school students. Most of the guys were
watching football while we were there – just as they were in the living room at
our house. Chris, Martin, and Jonathan
were doing that in the game room while playing video games too, and they had
some drop in competition from Rob, Kyle, and the occasion Dad; but the main
action was in the living room and kitchen.
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had a lot more help getting dinner ready than
they did that first Christmas after Uncle Adam moved home again, and the
kitchen was where most of the girl chat was happening. That’s where Dawn and I picked up most of the
news from around Uncle Adam’s family, including too much information about
newlyweds Rob and Trish; co-habitating collegians Tory and Kyle; and Michelle’s
most recent – and past-tense – ‘Mr. Right Now’.
I knew we’d stayed to long when I was asked about whether
there were any boys in my life, but by then it was too late; and Aunt Leanne
was quickly on a roll that everyone except me thought was very
entertaining. As if Aunt Leanne’s
matchmaking wasn’t already bad enough, now Aunt Grace has promised to help her
out once she and Mark move here next summer.
Maybe Rowen and I should see about getting sent off to camp for the
summer!
We eventually escaped, went home again, and had some more
play time with our cousins until dinnertime.
There was some more last-minute dinner guest juggling between the
houses, with Chris and Martin staying at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s with
Jonathan; and Kara staying with Kaitlyn while Nicole opted to be with her
parents. All of the food was as amazing
as always, but it was getting to spend that couple of hours with most of the people
I love the most that was so wonderful.
The conversation ranged through everything from weddings and Christmas
to travel, school, and sports.
Talking about our future plans with everyone isn’t an
option, but I loved it when Aunt Grace suggested that Violet could come work
for her at the new lab too after Dillon told
her about his plan to take bio-engineering in college; and his interest in
working with Uncle Adam after he graduated.
Sometimes we don’t need to do anything at all to help our future plan
come together. When we have days like
this, I can’t help but get even more fired up that usual about everything
that’s going to be happening over the next few years; and there are going to be
a lot of awesome days ahead for all of us!
While we’d managed to miss out on most of the work today,
that didn’t happen when it came time for the dinner clean-up; and Dawn and I
were among the draftees for that hour-and-a-half long adventure. The rain that had been falling off and on all
day seemed to have passed by then, so Mom, Dad, and some of the other exempted
members of our family went for a walk and a visit to Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s; taking the younger kids with them.
The guys on the crew needed to take frequent detours to the
living room to check on the evening football game, but that didn’t slow us down
too much; and by the time we were finished in the kitchen; we had time for some
movie and cuddle action in my lounge before Mom and Aunt Alison decided that
Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Jayden, and the twins were all wound down enough to go to bed. Dawn and I helped out with that, and then
moved downstairs to hang out with everyone in the living room. The younger kids weren’t the only members of
our family that were ready to get some sleep by then, so it wasn’t really that
much longer before the grandparents headed out, and a few visitor exchanges
between our place and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s reversed. Chris and Martin weren’t among the returnees
to our house then, so Dawn and I were able to watch another movie in the lounge
before deciding to get ready for bed.
She and Mandy are both sleeping now, so I’ve been doing my
usual nightly computing since then. With
one of my very favorite shopping days of the year just hours away, I need to
wrap this up and get some sleep too.
We’re supposed to have a bright sunny day for that, except the warm
weather moved out with the rain; and it’s going to be cold and sunny. That’ll just give us more incentive to stay
inside the stores and shop, so I can work with that; but it could put a damper
on the usual football games for the guys tomorrow afternoon. Whether they’re playing pick-up games,
watching college football on television, or having video football competitions;
I’m sure that most of the guys will be immersed in the game; and all of the
girls will be glad to be out shopping or watching chick flicks instead.
That makes for another weird end for today’s journal entry,
but that’s all I have to report; and there is a big shopping day to rest up
for, so...
...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
