We hosted two Thanksgiving meals at our house and had several overnight guests over a short period of time.
On Thanksgiving Day, we hosted my extended family. My Grandpa Felix and his wife Dorothy, two sets of Aunts and Uncles, my cousin, my parents and my brother. It was so wonderful to have a house full of family, I really did enjoy every moment of it.
Mom and Anthony arrived on Thanksgiving Eve before Bradley went to bed. He had been counting down the hours all day until their arrival and had called them multiple times to ask how much longer. They would stay with us through Sunday. Then Uncle Bill and Aunt Diane arrived Thanksgiving Day and they would stay with us that night.
Mom and I left after Thanksgiving supper to begin our Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza. Anthony went with us and we shopped all night long. Therefore, mom was able to give up the guest bed for Bill and Diane to use. Bradley was in our room on an air mattress, since Anthony had taken over his room. It was funny though, because Bradley was so excited to sleep in our room, he thought the air mattress was the coolest thing! Then Dad stayed the night too so he could take care of the boys while we were out shopping all night and Dan was working all night. So Dad slept on an air mattress in Jaxson's room, while Jax slept in the pack'n play in our room for a night. We seemed to have a full house and Dan and I weren't even home!
We all had a nice time sitting down to eat a huge meal together for supper with Turkey, Hawg Wings and the trimmings. Then the crazy shoppers (Mom, I and Anthony) arrived home as everyone was sitting down to eat breakfast.
Aunt Deb brought supplies for the adults to make Apple Pie in the Sky and supplies for Bradley to make turkeys with oreos and candy. It looked like lots of fun!
Bradley has a new obsession with Legos so pretty much from the time he woke up (hence the pajamas) until he went to bed, he and Anthony were "busy."
Then on Saturday, we hosted Dan's Family. Bradley, Jaxson, Reid and Graham had lots of fun playing together. Lorna and I had fun cleaning up the toy room afterwards and Dan and Jon must have been watching TV or something.
The boys also did their Christmas with Grama T and Uncle A on that Saturday.They are unable to come back for Christmas and their houses are still in the reconstruction process from Hurricane Isaac so there isn't really anywhere for us to stay in Louisiana if we were able to head south.
Bradley got his own Ipad and some remote control helicopters. (He just loves these helicopters, but they seem to have a short lifespan. Hopefully Santa will bring him more!) Jaxson opened some Mega Blocks and a remote control Thomas the train that makes steam!
We have a sleeper sofa on order to allow for one more bed in the upstairs landing area for next year. We have also been brainstorming ideas to finish the basement and include another bedroom/sewing and craftroom along with our home movie theater and a full bathroom. Thinking finishing the basement may not be finished before 2013 Thanksgiving, but eventually I would love to be able to accommodate everyone and have an actual bed for them instead of an air mattress.
We had a wonderful time at your house on Thanksgiving. Although relatively brief, it was great to be able to catch up with your mom and your dad, and we really enjoyed getting to watch Bradley and Jaxson play. I love keeping up wth them on FB, but the personal interaction is Irreplaceable. Interacting with Dozer was a neat experience too - pure, perfect puppy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your work and planning - your Grandma Arlene would have been so proud of you!
Thank you so much for the kind words, I cherish everything that I learned about family from Grandma Arlene in the short 5 and half years that I was able to spend with her.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to see you too, altough I feel like only half my brain was there due to lack of sleep. We need to all get together this summer so there is more time to enjoy everyones company.