Catching Up On Events...

It's three weeks after Thanksgiving, the family has long since left and I am sitting in my office thinking about all that has happened since I last blogged. Let's see, that was a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. Has it really been that long, where has the time gone?

Color Guard

It all started with Veteran's Day.  Norman held it's first Veteran's Day parade since 1941. One of the attendees was 90 years young and one of many of honored guests.  There were lots of on-lookers, flag waving and thank-yous as our Veteran's passed by.

Our 90 year old Grand Marshall

The Patriot Guard Riders, can't thank them enough for what they do

A few days later I was having some trouble with my right knee so I went to the Dr. and Phil the PA said nothing to worry about, just a build- up of scar tissue and to keep massaging the scar around the knee to break up the scar tissue inside.  It's feeling better already.  He also gave me an Rx of Arthrotec, an anti inflammatory.  It's great stuff, I'm sure glad that insurance picks up most of the cost on it, otherwise it would be $199.00 out of my pocket for 60 tabs. It keeps the tendons and ligaments around the knee from hurting.  The joint is great, no problems there.  I can do things now that I have not done in years.

Dave and I cleaned house during the week before Thanksgiving as the kids were due to arrive early Wednesday morning...they pulled in around 3:30 a.m.  With three dogs  you can imagine the hair.  Even though we vacuum every day the dog hair is astounding.  So it was vacuum and dust everything time once again.  Hopefully when we hit the road we will have one small dog.  Taking big boy and little girl along with tiny would be a rather interesting feat.


With the
house clean and ready to accept a 17 month old toddler plus 2 adults and another dog, we felt we were ready for the next  five days.  Wednesday at noon the kids, hubby and baby came up to my office so the staff could meet my daughter, son and baby Noah.  Noah went around to everyone and gave them a hug.  He's such a sociable little guy.  Everyone enjoyed him as he absconded with Miss Janet's magic wand.

After the visit I was off for the remainder of the day, so off we went to the Greek House to get Gyros .  While we waited for out meal, Heather decided that it was too warm for Noah to be wearing his sweatshirt inside the Greek House so she took it off and laid it in front of me. 

Yep...she is expecting in July. We are so excited for the both of them.  Hmmmm, me thinks she did this exact same thing 2 years ago for her daddy's birthday weekend.  Sorry Bobbie, no trip to Colorado this next summer to see you and Jim. :(

After all the excitement at lunch we returned home to reacquaint the dogs with the little tyke.  As you can see from the picture above, big boy and Noah got along great, little girl runs from him and is very wary of him being around. However at times we would catch her herding Noah. We have to be careful about that as she likes to nip at his heels.  We had to keep a pinch collar and short lead on big boy as he gets too excited sometimes, especially on the first day and wants to mow the boy down.  By the second day he was a pretty calm dog but being over 100 lbs. he can still be somewhat overwhelming for Noah.  Sometimes big boy would get a drink of water and then want to go give Noah a "kiss" to which Noah would wave his arms and say no, no, no because he knew he would get "slimed" if he let big boy "kiss" him. It was so funny to watch.  

The kids were wanting to take their family Christmas picture but during the course of the evening Noah fell against my chair and hit his head on one of the brass tacks.  Needless to say no family pictures until later when the bruise goes away. 

Thursday being Thanksgiving, everyone had a hand in making dinner.  It turned out wonderful as usual.  I fixed a turkey without the dark meat, a ham, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, dressing, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, a special cheese spread for the stuffed celery and a pumpkin pie. I did real well in eating as I measured everything I ate and was able to keep my blood sugar down and did not leave the table feeling stuff. 

Friday was the crazy day where everyone seem to loose perspective of what Christmas is all about and act like idiots to run through stores and buy bargains.  I have not and will not ever shop with the idiots on Black Friday at ungodly hours.  We did go out later that day and do some shopping but no way am I getting up at some ridiculous hour and do battle with the other idiots for some item that might save me a few dollars.  It just isn't worth it.  I did most of my shopping online this year anyway and saved myself the hassle and wear and tear on my nerves not to mention gas.

Saturday we pretty much vegged around the TV watching football.  The big bedlam game between OU and OSU wasn't even a heart breaker.  OSU soundly whipped the boys in Crimson and Cream, so OU will be Arizona bound to play Iowa.  I don't think it will be that exciting of a game, but you never know...

After the game Heather and I made up cookie dough for the sugar cookies we would be making with Noah on Sunday morning.  Noah was a big helper in the kitchen. He helped me cut out the cookies and was a great cookie decorator until he found out the decorations were sweet. We had so much fun.

Noah patting the dough

Decorating cookies is fun!



"Me on a sugar high?...NEVER!!!!"


Soon it was time for the kids to pack up to go back home.  Noah and J kept making faces at each other, it was a riot to watch their antics. 

They were soon loaded, we said our good-byes and off they went.  Low and behold only a sock left behind this time. 

I do wish the kids were closer but one of these days we will have our RV and can go visit them.

My Brother and Sister-in-law came down today and brought us Noah's Christmas gift since they were not going to be able to make it down for the holidays.  We had a great visit and went to Pei Wei for dinner.  I love it when we can all get together. 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends.

8 days till Christmas!

Happy trails...