Date: 2012-11-04
From: Upstairs

To: laundry room
Miles today: 0.0

The weekend is almost over and was it ever fun...and exhausting! The Michigan 7 arrived about 5:30 and the other kids and grandkids a little later...including COURTNEY!! He surprised me...I thought he wasn't coming but he left from work (he is the manager of 2 ResCare homes in Terre Haute) and drove the long drive to Ft. Wayne to be here with the family for Thanksgiving. We finally got a family picture with everyone in it thanks to neighbor David who came over to be the picture taker! After the meal we all visited and then Courtney had to drive back to Terre Haute! WOW...how special was that! Having everyone here was a blessing. New to our menu this year was several gluten free dishes since one daughter in law can't have gluten and one son/daughter in law are eating no wheat. We had gluten free green bean casserole, pumpkin cheese cake and carrot cake...all these dishes were good! On Saturday, friend Anne called to remind me of the monthly farmer's market down at Parkview Field (home of our Tin Caps baseball team)...so Megan, Chloe, Hannah and I met her there and enjoyed the market! The boys were with Rog for the monthly Home Depot visit where they get to use their hammers to pound nails into a project...this month a napkin holder with a turkey. Megan and the girls and I then went shopping for a long ball gown for Megan to wear to the military ball in Dec...and then on to lunch and back home. Saturday evening all the family minus Courtney were back for the Going to School party for Chloe and Faith who both started kindergarten this year. This party for each grandchild, who starts down the long path of education, involves singing "Happy School Days to You" to the tune of Happy Birthday and a cake with a little yellow school bus on top. The bus has dividers on the roof and each child's name is written there when it is their turn for their party. They both received pencil cases filled with colored pencils. After this party, all parents left to go out to dinner and Opa and Oma had 13 grandkids!! We had a pajama party and then watched a movie together. Off to the 3rd floor to find sleeping space on the floor. See photos for pictures of this! By now 4 of the Michigan 5 were coughing and croupy sounding so Opa slept in one bed with one, two others slept with Mom (when she got home) and another slept with Oma who was upstairs with the other 9. They all decided to sleep together in one small space. At one point they all sang Silent Night together (and how I wished I had a recorder handy!). The talking,giggling,singing, telling jokes ceased at 11:33pm and then started up again Sunday morning at 5:30am!..so it was a short night. Granddaughter Megan and grandson Isaac were so good with the younger cousins and informed me when I got up to help that "We've got this Oma"...and so I let them. It was a short night but a wonderful one filled with all the sounds of little ones having a great time and making memories...isn't that what life is about? Sorting out all the piles in the morning is a riot! I just try and let the parents sort it all out because with this many I really don't know who belongs to which pair of socks!