Thanksgiving 2025: Selfies with Grammy

First Post of the Day

This Thanksgiving,  I decided I would take a selfie with every family member who had come for the holiday. Here's who I have thus far:

Mila (Guess what movie she'd just gone to?)

Julie

Lukas

Susie

Ian

Cambria

Titan

Kate

Curt

Cole

Kyle

Vanessa

Jessica

Emily

Andrew

Lisa was not feeling well and not there; we are hoping she feels better soon! I will get her and Craig ASAP.

Stay 'tooned!

Thanksgiving 2025: Monday

Monday started with an issue for Pepper. While at the park, she somehow jammed a piece of wood into her claw, splitting the claw in half and embedding the wood into it.

She came home limping and it took Kyle and me some time to work the wood out of her claw. She was good, but it hurt. Poor girl! (Don't worry; while she was bleeding, that is not blood on the blanket.)

At noon, almost everyone went to Indy for some fun at Slick City, a place full of slides for kids and adults alike. 

The adults had a lot of fun, 

some more than others. LOL

Andrew is always game for fun, a challenge, or both!

Julie, Mila, Titan, and Kate ready for a slide.

Lukas doing his best hamster impression.

Cambria and Ian ready for their turn.

There were basketball courts, too, and these had springy floors. 

They weren't trampoline-esque, but you could still bounce a bit while you played! 

Kyle had to work (he works remotely) and so Craig and I stayed home to keep him company. 

While home, I set up the upstairs landing for some origami fun. Kate loves origami and was willing to teach all the cousins how to make a paper crane.

She had read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and is in the process of folding 1,000 cranes in Sadako's honor.

Never read the book? Don' t miss it. It's a quick read and the true story about a girl who was exposed to radiation in Hiroshima during World War II.  There is a Sadako memorial in Japan and millions of cranes are sent there every year from all over the world in Sadako's honor. I read the book and folded cranes with every class I taught. (We sent cranes, there, too.)

 Here is a link to the book on Amazon.

Anyway!

Lisa and Kyle were in charge of dinner that evening. They cooked the ever popular breakfast for dinner. (Pancakes, sausage, eggs, potatoes, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas.) Believe it or not, my kitchen still smells like maple syrup this morning.

And then we gathered and chatted, made cranes, or played games. 

Camria spied a few things in my china cabinet and asked if she could see this vase.

She fell in love with it, and now her name is on it so it will go to her when I am gone.

Playing Camel Up, a game where you are racing camels across the desert.

It was fun, but there is a bit of a learning curve to it.

Soon we were all crashing. It had been a long day, but a good one. 

More fun to come today, although we are starting to make plans for coordinating all the cooking we need to do for Thanksgiving. I'll be up early tomorrow to make cherry pies, so the  day's blog post most likely will be late.

Stay 'tooned!

Thanksgiving 2025: Sunday Activities

Second Post of the Day

Sunday we all went to church together and then headed home for naps. (Even the dogs needed those naps!) And then we headed over to Curt and Vanessa's home for dinner and games.

Curt is a master chef, and one of his specialties is carnitas, a Mexican dish. 

The dish takes a long time to prep, and when you are cooking for eighteen people, that's a lot of meat, veggies, and fruit to chop.

Folks always step up and volunteer to help, and then we gathered in the living room to be called to dinner as Curt put the finishing touches on our meal.

Jessica and Andrew.

Cole

Emily (who is looking at one of Vanessa's photography books.

Kyle, Tammo, and Ian.

Emily, Henry, Tammo, and Lisa.

Craig and me.

The kids were all having fun in the basement (more on that in a moment) so the adults went ahead and started eating.

Vanessa, Emily, and Andrew.

Kyle and me.

It just took one grand to come up from the basement to get something, and then the kids were storming up to fill their plates. Curt, Titan, Cole, Cambria, Mila, and Vanessa.

After dinner, Jessie did an activity with the grands - decorating turkey cookies for dessert.

 

She knows a woman who puts these kits together. Several turkey shaped sugar cookies, "mashed potatoes" (frosting), "gravy" (carmel sauce) and a pat of "butter" (a Starburst.) Fall M&Ms for decorations. 

The kids loved it. Kate, Lukas, Susie, Cambria, and Ian.

Ian, Vanessa, Mila, and Julie. (And in the mirror, Andrew, Jessica, Susie, and the backs of Ian's and Julie's heads! Hah!)

Titan, Kate, Lukas, and Jessie.

These cousins were making a lot of memories together!

After the cookie decorating, the kids hurried back downstairs to the basement - they were doing some sort of project that needed to be finished.

We had to wait to see what it was so we sat around and chatted and played a few games together.

Cambria working on something in clay. Hmmmm... What was going on?

Then, an announcement was made - all the grownups needed to gather in the basement where they would wait until they were called to go up to the second floor for a bracelet hunt. One at a time. And with the lights off. Hmmmm.

A little bird inadvertently spilled the beans - they'd turned the upstairs into a haunted house!

Waiting in the basement was hard - some people couldn't wait for their turns.... LOL

While the adults were milling around and waiting, Vanessa mentioned that she had some Halloween costumes in the basement closet. Hey, they'd made a haunted house; why not go in costume?

A hamburger and hot dog!

Bob Ross!

Mini Me (which was pretty creepy, in my opinion!)

Dracula.

Don't be worried kids. We're just looking for those bracelets you told us about.

A cherry and a fairy. (I think.) 

The bracelet hunt haunted house was actually a lot of fun. The grands worked really hard on it, and it was definitely a success. 

We all stayed a little longer and then went to our homes. Day one of Thanksgiving 2025 was in the books and it had been a good one!

But we all were tired and needed to recharge for more fun that was coming.

Stay 'tooned!