We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Saturday with some family and friends.

Maynard and Apolline (on the horse) and Ines. The girls love the Wonder Horse. Ines spent a good share of the day on this horse.





Our good friend, Beth was able to come celebrate with us. Little Apolline is being entertained.




Beth at table with my brother-in-law, Steve. They both grew up in the same area.




I just love this photo of Apolline




Maynard brought up the W.H. from the basement for the girls to ride.





Mom (aka Grandma) always enjoys the little ones. Beth was great with Ines and Apolline.









Remi and Ines at the dinner table




Let the fun begin!!! Cleaning the meat off the Thanksgiving turkey :oP Bethann, it just occurred to me....I believe you got stuck with this job one other time at my house. That's ok....we'll make Marti do it next year!




More cleanup duties....Sophie drying dishes; Marti washing.
Hey! I was busy documenting so that I may share the day with you!


Sweet rewards:

We had chocolate mousse cake, pecan pie, pumpkin pie....coffees. (Does anyone besides me have a headache today? Too much sugar!)




Saying goodbye...




Steve and Marti....always the serious ones in the family.




We'll be at their place for our family Christmas....can't wait.

A quiet Sunday morning...no traffic...a soft snow falling.




So, after church...


...we put up our tree....








...and our nativity. This is what Christmas is really about.








Yesterday, Kevin and I went out on a nature trail...it was sunny and the air was clear.

A stop on the foot bridge to listen to the water running along in the creek and just observe everything below


Finally....

This is my blogging "station". Yep, folks...this is from whence I send out all the photos that I want to share, along with a little narration. This is a creative outlet for me; plus it keeps me connected to my children and other family and friends that live far away. Well, I'd better get to it; there's more blogging to do....let's see....where was I?

This shadow caught my attention...I was drawn by the crispness of the lines, both on the wall and on the lampshade.



Now, down to business. It is our Saturday morning tradition to take turns serving each other breakfast in bed. This is breakfast 1 wk ago.


Here, Kevin is sporting a tray that hosts everything on the menu of the day...his French vanilla capuccino, orange juice, apple slices, Friendship bread muffin, Jimmy Dean hot-sausage patties, and fried potato slices in EVOO and seasoning.
This is a favored tradition of ours and we guard it diligently. It's our time to relax and to savor the fact that neither of us has to get up and rush off to work.






I got up to prepare our breakfast-in-bed and looked out the window to find this. Our first real dusting of snow.

Celebrating life!
Kevin took it upon himself to plan a birthday dinner for me at the Italian restaurant, Cafe Dodici....he invited Mom and Maynard to celebrate with us. What a sweetie he is!


So here we are in our private corner of the cafe, waiting for our dinner. Mom ordered spaghetti, Maynard and Kevin had the tortillini stuffed with meat (they loved it) and I enjoyed lemon chicken. The atmosphere was quiet and calming and the music was romantic. We had a lovely time enjoying our evening out on the town.



Then we headed back to their house for a couple games of Upwords.

Kevin takes his turn while Mom prepares for hers.....





As you can see, Mom is a pro at utilitzing the Scrabble dictionary. Check out the oil stains from its continuous use....that's years and years of use there, folks.




Stumped.





Back to grazing...or spell checking





Another spell checker





more grazing





Maynard waiting patiently for his turn. He must already have a word in mind to play as he looks pretty calm here.
We had a wonderful evening with Mom and Maynard. Thanks, Kevin for planning the whole thing for me. A wonderful gift!

Our new friends come for an aperitif (there should be accent marks, but my computer does not have them)....


As soon as the family entered our house, little 2 1/2 yr-old, Ines walked right over to the Wonder Horse as soon as she spotted it. She's rather a shy little girl, but Wonder Horse drew her out.





See what I mean? She was wild and loving this ride....that is, until she flipped forward off it. She cried a while and sat on the couch with her papa. Then she slid off the couch, went up to the horse and lightly slapped it on the face. (She was letting him know she was none too happy with him for bucking her off). Then she felt one of the springs, then the saddle, then she got back on and rode off.




Still riding, but little Apolline was more interested in the plate of food her papa had.




Ok...I have to share with you what Kevin said early this morning. He's been complaining for some time now that he needs to find another pillow. He brought it up again this morning and said, "This pillow is giving my ears a headache." Deb, is this possible? Guess we'd better find Kevin another pillow...and soon! Sometimes he just cracks me up!

EIGHT DAYS OF HOPE....
comes to town to help rebuild homes with flood damage.


Above is the founder of 8 DOH. Volunteers from all around the country, Canada, and our city came to help with 8DOH. Homeowners whose houses sustained major damage had to sign up ahead of time for this volunteer help. Many, many people are still not in their houses and many are feeling hopeless. 8DOH brought hope...all in Jesus' name.




Kevin worked in this house, helping to hang drywall along with Tom (left) from our church and Brian (right), this homeowner's brother.




Coming back in after taking out some drywall scrap to the pile along the street




L-R, Brian and Teresa (homeowner), Tammy and Ed (from our church)




lots of measuring to be done




Kevin did a lot of this




New-found friends at church, Tammy and Tom





When a job was completed, its paper was hung on the wall. Several jobs composed a cross, and there were several crosses on the walls in the room




Returning to church in the evening after putting in a full day. Where does the paperwork go?




Quite the organization!!!




Let's see...it's gotta be here somewhere




Finally. Now to get in the line for supper





At the end of the gathering after supper was done




Walking to the car after the end of the day. A homeowner (on the left) who received welcome help from 8DOH and her brother and sister. They were much encouraged. It has been a very long 5 months...and continues for many others yet.