Three weeks since my last post!? Oh what a terrible blogger I have been. I'll share what has been keeping me away for so long. First, just a few days after my last post, my cousin, her husband and their three children arrived at our house for a week long visit. We had ten people in our house - and no one killed anyone else LOL. I'm so thankful that our home is large enough to comfortably house so many people and everyone even had a bed! Unfortunately, we all passed around quite a bit of germs while they were here and I've been suffering from it ever since. Ugh - I wound up with strep throat and am on my third round of antibiotics! The strep seems to have cleared from my throat, but I have a terrible ear infection and can't hear very well out of my left ear (still). Enough of the bad news. On with all the good happenings around here.
Thanksgiving was amazing. We hosted 23 people for dinner at our house. 23! ...and we were able to seat everyone together in our dining room. We (mostly me) kept fretting about being able to comfortably seat everyone together - I didn't want certain people in the living room and parlor and others in the dining room...I didn't want to have a designated "kids" table...I wanted everyone to be able to sit together and mostly, I wanted to be able to look around the room at so many faces of the ones I love. We had my mom, dad and Nana, my cousin, her husband and their three kids, my aunt, uncle and other cousin, Mark, our five kids, our daughter's boyfriend and his parents, sister and her boyfriend and me and SO SO SO much food...and SO SO SO much dessert!
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| I'm amazed that we fit 23 people in our dining room for a sit down dinner. I love this house! |
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| My cousin, Tonia, serving up her Thanksgiving Dinner. Look at that spread ;-) |
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| Mark took a picture of me - not a fan of pictures of me...but loved this day. |
Unfortunately, we lost our poor sweet Runt kitty this past week. He was born this Spring, in Captain's first litter. He was one of the sweetest cats I've ever known. He would always come running from wherever he was, as soon as he would hear our voices. He would sit on my lap, on the porch out front - especially when I was having a not so good Spring and Summer and his purrs would make me feel better. I miss him so much. He died trying to pull road kill off the road for Captain's new kittens. A car killed him swiftly. We buried him under our black raspberry bushes, a favorite hang out of his. His brother, Lockhart, stood by our side the entire time, while we dug the hole, said good-bye, laid his wrapped body in the hole and filled it back in. Our children dig a good job saying good-bye...such a painful part of life.
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| Beautiful Runt, RIP |
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| I'm sure one day Gage will kill me for this photo - but look at my little man shaving for the first time ever! Mark was patiently showing him every step. It was so cute. And not a single cut! Makes a Mama proud. |
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| We started a new tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree this year. Here are Gage, Drake and Cora warming up in the stone house in the tree field. |
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| Ta-daaaaa we found The Roberts Family Christmas Tree! |
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| Mark and my little lumberjacks. |
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| Got the tree home and it ACTUALLY fits in the spot that we wanted it to! |
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| Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree! So pretty...we're using LED lights on the tree and mostly outside. |
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| A wreath that Mark and I made with our left over garland. |
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| ...and here is a cuteness intermission...this is Luna - Drake's new angora bunny. There is a chance that she is pregnant - Drake is hoping that this will be a new business for him...to sell the fiber and possibly sell the babies. Isn't she adorable!? |
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| Our beautiful Nutcracker collection - Mark and I got engaged at the Nutcracker...so so many years ago! Seventeen, in fact! |
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| This is our entry from the living room, into the parlor. |
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| Watch out for the mistletoe!!! |
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| Real pine garland smells so amazing. |
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| We bought a discounted tree to get some of the boughs off of to help create our wreath and make a table decoration - the rest of the tree we three into the pasture and let the animals go to town. |
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| Josie says "Oh, you're taking more pictures? Let me give you my best side" |
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| Um, Steve...you know that is your brother...and you are both males...right? I mean, who am I to judge and we love and accept you for who you are...and I guess whatever happens in the barnyard stays in the barnyard??? |
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| Num num num! Pine tree goodness :-) |
Ok, it's time to fill my body will mass amounts of pharmaceuticals and crash out on the couch! Hope everyone is doing well...
Thank Goodness, well done Shelby. It was like i was missing family. Can you imagine thanksgiving in the old apartment? No 23 people there. I on the other hand have room for 50 but could stretch to about 6 to invite. I so envy big family gatherings. Of course, at home (NSW) there would be about 30 for lunch and then smaller groups all over the place for dinner. The farm is looking goods as is the house with its decorations. I think I'll make the effort this weekend for me (boys dont care)though its back up to 102F on Sat then back down to 55F on Sunday. Crazy Crazy weather. Everyone is getting sick with colds. Tom started shaving about 3 mths ago and is using an electric. He doesnt like grooming so it a constant push. Keep blogging and sharing your joy.
ReplyDeleteWonder Woman feats, as usual! It's nice that Thanksgiving fits here and seems like a normal tradition (with a few tweaks and growing pains). Our decorations are looking awesome and are beginning to fit our house - the tree is amazing! I love you!
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