We have lots to be thankful for this year and started Thanksgiving Day/my birthday by attending mass as a family. After mass, Jake and the kids surprised me with birthday presents.
I’m thankful for my family and the opportunity to spend another year loving them ❤️
My aunt and uncle are in town to celebrate Thanksgiving with my cousin and his family. Part of their stay involves having the older two grandkids stay with them at a hotel so they can swim. My aunt invites us to bring the Shecklets down to meet their cousins and swim. The 6 kids had a great time spending close to 3 hours in the pool!
After having pizza for dinner, everyone sang HBD to me and we had cupcakes. Yum! Then my aunt gave me a small gift bag containing a Christmas pin of my Grandma Fran’s and the pearl ring she always wore. The pearls in the ring were given to my grandma by my Grandpa Bill – he got them in Japan during WWII. I am thrilled to have this piece of jewelry to remind me of my grandparents 💗
We took the kids to the zoo to see the animals and vote for the name of the new baby gorilla. It was a pretty nice day for November.
After the zoo, I was able to go shopping with Michelle. It was great to have several hours to catch up (kid-free) and wander through the stores at the mall. I usually don’t care much for shopping, but when you’re with a friend, it’s much more enjoyable. 🙂
The local mall has trampolines with harnesses set up for kids (and some adults) to jump and flip on. We took the Shecklets tonight to give it a try.
Three of the Shecklets spent the day win Nana out at Echo Hills with Rio and Kid. They had a picnic in the small, green pasture, rode horses, and then ended up back at Nana and Papa’s house for dinner. Shecklet #2 and I missed out on the fun due to not feeling 100%, so we laid low and enjoyed some movie time together. I finally got to see Rogue One 🙂
We took the kids out for dinner to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Some may wonder why, but we love spending time with them. Maybe we’ll do a round 2 of just us going out before my birthday rolls around next month.
Jake also surprised me with a crystal elephant since it’s our crystal anniversary.
Grandpa Dave went with us to the orchard where Grandma Patti works in the fall. It was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun, as usual!
After the orchard, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and the kids played outside and rode on the 4-wheeler.
Lately I’ve been paying attention to how things sound, where the sound is coming from, and the beauty of hearing in stereo. It hit me hard a few days ago that there will be a days/occasions/every day events prior to my surgery that will be full of “lasts.”
It’s hard to say how I’ll react, but I’m guessing there will be many tears shed as I grieve the loss of 1/2 of one my 5 senses.
My SIL organized a trip to the apple orchard today. So much fun with cousins and friends!
