Our Thanksgiving

Frying the turkey

Ummm... Lookin' good!

We had such really relaxing day on Thanksgiving. We all managed to stay in our pajamas all day long until it was time to get ready to go over to my parent's house. We offered to deep fry a turkey this year to take it over to my parent's house for the big family get-together. My family has a large family get-together with many relatives on my mom's side of the family coming over to celebrate Thanksgiving. We usually eat around 6:00 so we had a lot of time to just relax at our house until frying the turkey and going over there. We were a little nervous about frying the turkey, but managed to not set the house or the yard on fire during the process although once we did set the papers underneath the fryer on fire. The wind blew the papers a little too hard once I think. The turkey turned out perfect! A fried turkey is absolutely the best tasting turkey you could eat in my opinion. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!

Here's Colby outside playing in his pajamas as we were working on the turkey.

Thanksgiving Program

I've been intending to post this earlier, but we've had some computer problems lately and haven't been able to. Last Thursday, Dalton's kindergarten class put on their Thanksgiving program and had their Thanksgiving feast afterward. The kids dressed up as various things such as pilgrims, indians, and turkeys. Dalton was a pilgrim. It was a really good program filled with lots of songs, scriptures they had memorized, and joke-telling turkeys. The children had memorized Psalm 100 and did a great job reciting it. After the program we all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch.

The joke-telling turkeys

Girls Weekend Off

Mary Paul's Morning Mist Cottage

All of us girls standing on the deck overlooking the creek

This past weekend the girls from my life group from church and I took a little trip up to Shane's family's cottage up in Ellijay, GA. We packed all 7 of us into an Expedition and made the road trip up there late Thursday night and came back Saturday night. We had a much needed time of relaxing, playing games by the fire, hanging out, shopping, eating, and just being away from home and kids. The leaves were still pretty although many had already fallen. It is so relaxing and peaceful up there that I just didn't want to come home. I'm already trying to plan a time that Shane and I can get back up there soon.

The view of the creek running beside the cottage

Black Friday

I'm gearing up for the day after Thanksgiving sales around here. I haven't bought a single thing yet for anyone, but I know the time has come to begin figuring out what to get everyone. One thing I like to do this time of year in preparing for the after Thanksgiving sales is to check on-line for websites which will list all the sales for the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as Black Friday. You can begin checking on the sales for almost all the major stores such as Target, Best Buy, Toys-R-Us, etc. Just do a google search for Black Friday ads and you can go to various different sites that list all the Black Friday ads as they become available. I love to be able to see what's available at each store to be able to compare everything and read reviews on everything way ahead of time. Happy Shopping!

More Leg Trouble

Well, Shane may have torn his Achilles tendon last week during football practice. It was the last week of practice, too. He had torn his plantaris tendon back in January so when Shane injured his leg this time, he thought he just re-injured this tendon again. He continued to be in pain and it just didn't seem to be getting any better so he went to see a doctor on Monday. His initial diagnosis was a torn Achilles tendon and sent him for an MRI that night. The Achilles tendon is the big tendon that strethes from your calf muscle to your heel. Shane goes back today for his follow up appointment and to find out the results. If it is torn, Shane will probably need surgery immediately. Apparently, this kind of injury should be repaired within two weeks before the tendon begins to lose some of its elasticity. I've read that this kind of injury takes a LONG time to heal so hopefully it will end up being something else or maybe will only be partially torn. Of course, this is such a busy time of year with so many upcoming activities that this is the last thing Shane wants to have to go through. For now, Shane is back to walking around in the big boot again. We have a big ski trip planned this winter and Shane is hoping that whatever is wrong will be healed in time for that. Anyway, we'll find out what's wrong today. Pray that all goes well.
Update: We found out that Shane did not tear his Achilles but rather ruptured his gastrocnemius muscle (calf muscle) and won't require surgery. Hooray!!! It'll only be about 6 weeks recovery time as opposed to over 6 months recovery if it had been the Achilles. He still has to wear the big boot for another couple of weeks though and go through some physical therapy.

Ocmulgee Indian Mounds

Walking up the hill

The boys from the kindergarten classes on the top of the biggest mound

Today has been such a crazy, busy day. Dalton had a field trip today to Ocmulgee Indian Mounds in Macon this morning. It was such a beautiful day for a field trip out there. I used to go here a lot when I was young, but haven't really been since then. The kids watched a video of the indian mounds and looked at some artifacts and replicas of old, Indian treasures and then we did some walking. We walked and walked and walked! We went walking around to many of the different mounds around the facilities. Then the kids made some clay pots and had their snacks before departing for home. It was a really a neat field trip.

Making clay pots

The entrance of the Earthen Lodge

After the field trip, Dalton and I headed up to Atlanta for an auditon he had. This was the first time he had been called for anything. It was an audition for something to do with Nickelodeon. We'll see if anything comes of it. I really don't expect to hear back from them, but it was a good experience. I'm exhausted from all this running around. I can't wait to go to sleep tonight!!