The Rest of the Weekend

While Thanksgiving was wonderful, the rest of the weekend was amazing.  Friday we spent a large portion of the day cooking, cleaning, and decorating for my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party.  Of course, we had to have at least one lunch at Biscuit and Blues - a tasty restaurant owned by a cousin of Drew's. Good thing there's an upstairs room otherwise we would have totally taken over the place there was so many of us. After that tasty food I got to shop a little in the downtown stores with one of my sister-in-laws and two nieces. Fun times.

Then it was back to getting ready for the party.

And oh, what a party it was! I was able to catch up with some friends and even more family members, but the best part was I think my mother-in-law had the time of her life! The theme was "Queen of Hearts". My sister-in-law, Margret, did an outstanding job with all the decorations - red &  black with a few zebra stripes thrown in.  I will try to post pictures soon.

A very entertaining moment was when my sister-in-law,Kathleen, gave Mary Estelle a book of letter and cards - all wishing her a very happy birthday from many in the family and lots of friends. One brother-in-law ever wrote a poem about her and read it out loud - what great humor this family has!  Then all the granddaughters preformed a little skit- while the grandsons hid on the stairs trying to be "cool".  Several of the older granddaughter as they were growing up would put on skits for us whenever we got together.  This was a nod to that - and to pay homage to their beloved Nana.  They did a great job - it was "Farewell, Good-night" from the Sound of Music - with the words changed to honor Nana.

I think the best part of the night was towards the end. It was just the family with a few cousins thrown in and we did a "quiz" on how well you knew Nana.  It was so much fun - often hilarious  - going over the answers. Several thought they knew the right answer only to be surprised by the truth! Afterwards one of the cousins who was sitting next to me, said "I think I just witness a very special moment in life."

And she was right.  That's how I felt as well. As we were sitting and laughing, I kept looking at my kids and praying that this night will stay in their memories forever. How incredibly lucky they are to have such a family...grandparents alive and well at 80 and 84 (mine are also alive and well - but  few years younger)....to have so many aunts and uncles and cousins....all who love them and will always be around for them.

We are so blessed.

Saturday morning we woke up early to participate in a 5K Turkey Trot....and we needed to trot off some turkey...and dip....and cake....and cookies....  Drew ended up winning third in his age group, William third in his age group and Melissa was first in her age group. I ended up winning lots of calories off my butt....but had I known prized (okay, just medals!) were in store maybe  I would have walked faster!!  Of course, I was in the walking part and they were in the running part.....

After eating some delicious party left-overs along with some fresh donuts and fudge cousins brought in, we headed to spend one night at my mom's house. We watched Ole Miss' last game of the year. Sadly, they did not play well....actually it looked like they didn't care anymore. And with a losing record, who can blame them.   I ended going to bed way before the game was over. Sleep was way more important!

And with that another Thanksgiving was over and done...our first back in the States...and what a great one it was.