Fort Worth Family Thanksgiving!

Nita and Mike hosts our Family Thanksgivings and they do such a great job!

While Lonnie spends most of Thanksgiving with his wife and her family, 

we were so happy he came over later to join his sisters!

Earlier in the week I moved a trunk out to the gazebo and found it full of old photo albums.

I loved seeing photos of us together....although this one must not have been taken at a good time for me. I can't figure out what year this is .....

....or what year this one was but I was obviously happierat the time.

Our custom is to get together and any and all of our children are invited as well, understanding that everyone can't always make it and there are a few that have standing traditions of their own.

It's all good.

We take a lot of pictures when we get together and I am real glad about that.

These will be treasured in years to come.

Just as I treasure the old photos above.

I will start with Nita and her daughter, Leah.

Nita's son lives in Arizona so he can't always be with us and this was one of those years.

It makes the years he can make it all that more special.

Mike is THE best host!

He's the one supporting all that goes into making this day a success.

I love a man who cleans up.

I remember years when Charlie and Mike single-handedly returned Nita's kitchen to normal.

Deanie had more family represented than anyone and that's the norm.

This is her son with Leah.

Deanie and James.

We all love it when they can come!

Two of Deanie's grandchildren......

This is her first born grandchild.

Charlie's son and daughter.

Deanie's daughter in love and daughter Trish.

I think Deanie has 8 grandchildren and they were ALL here this year!

Now for my family.....

I was happy to have two of my four children there.

There's been a few years when it was just Louis Dean and me.

Ben is my youngest and he always gets a LOT of attention from his aunts.

Summer didn't realize Ben was going to be there and when she saw him, 

 well, her expressions were priceless.

She has such a soft spot in her heart for her baby brother.

I was so happy they got to see each other!

Everyone was glad to see Sabrina and Rayne!

We were really grateful they went the extra mile to be with us because they had Sabrina's family Thanksgiving that evening. That was so nice. It made for a very long day for them and we appreciated them fitting everyone in. Especially since we don't see as much of Sabrina and Rayne now that they live in Puerto Rico.

Son Jesse and his family always spend Thanksgiving in the mountains of New Mexico and I understand how important this week is to them.

Amber and her family spent the holiday with Mike's parents.

Families have to share holidays. That's what we do.

Amber usually hosts a gathering later and is doing that again this year.

There was a lot of love and smiles going around.

Patrick is Leah's handsome husband and a favorite of the cousins.

Louis Dean and Deanie bonded back in 2012 after the quads were born.

Deanie had driven down to be there right after they arrived and stayed for a day or two and when she left, she took Louis Dean with her. He was still working on the camper getting it repaired and ready to bring down later so we could live in it and help Amber and Mike for awhile.

All I can say is - they talked and laughed and joked and BONDED big time.

Ever since then, they have been each other's biggest fan!

I think this was my favorite photo from the whole day.

Leah took it and I love it!

I love this one of Deanie and Lonnie, too!

It was so good to be together.

Now I have an announcement to make.

For the first time ever - Louis Dean made his own plate!

He was pretty proud of himself.

While I usually make it for him - my knee was really hurting.

I turned it wrong in the night and suffered with it all day.

I felt like a dud and didn't take as many pics as I usually do so Nita and Leah lent me theirs.

After the day was done, Louis Dean went to bed in Nita's guest room for a good long nap while I went to Walmart to pick up a few groceries for Lillian.

Her granddaughter picked her up Thanksgiving morning and she went to Weatherford for the day.

She called me when she got back.

When I was shopping I noticed a lot of extra security people, police officers and men in uniform.

Also people were milling around at the end of several isles.....finally I asked someone what was going on. The Walmart employee said, "Lady, you must live under a rock. This is Black Friday and in an hour there will be 10,000 people in here, It's gonna be a ZOO!"

I rushed to the check out without stopping for the pop tarts Lillian had asked for!!

I delivered the groceries, hung her Christmas wreath and visited for a few minutes.

I had brought her sweets and treats as well as pumpkin muffins for the staff.

When I got back to Nita's, I asked if Louis Dean was still asleep.

Mike said, "Well, we think so. We haven't heard a sound."

He was teasing but when I went in to check on him I saw his white sox and touched his foot.

It was ice cold and scared me so bad my heart was lurching.

Turns out, Nita had opened a window and his feet WERE cold.

I shook him awake and it was time to go home!

Today I have been working steady cleaning and decorating. I added the dining room, hall and bathroom to my list of clean rooms. The only ones left to do are the kitchen, bedroom, guest room, sewing room and gazebo - and the front porch.

I intend to get the kitchen and porch done tomorrow.

But before I started this morning - I had coffee and prayer time and then I exercised for 22 minutes to a program I record on PBS.

Thanks to Sandra, aka The Mad Snapper, for encouraging me to do this.

I did feel like a little old lady and exercise really does help.

I'm determined to do the 22 minute workouts every day until my surgery.

It's late and I have been used to going to bed earlier and waking up early.

Not sure that's happening tomorrow....