Grandkid Time

The day after Thanksgiving was spent with four grandkids.

What a treat!

All were well behaved 99% of the time and played well together.

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanksgiving

I hope y'all had a good thanksgiving.

         We drove in to Cedar Park where Arik & Jenny live with their kids, Sofia and Beket.  Adam and Leigha with their kids Tate & Emery have been visiting since earlier this week.  About eleven we went to Bonnie's (Jenny's mother).  Bonnie's brother, Kieth, was there already.  Heather and Mike soon arrived with Mike's sister.  Everybody had prepared different parts of the meal so that no one person had to provide it all.  Arik deep-fat fried the turkey which only took about an hour, including the prep time and the preheating the oil.  In the evening, after Heather, Mike and his sister had left, a fire was built in the firepit and marshmallows were roasted.
         I think it was around eight when Arik, Jenny, Sofia, Beket, Adam, Leigha, Tate, Emery, Ella and I returned to Cedar Park where we all spent the night.  After sleeping arrangements were figured out, the kids were put to bed and the adults got a chance to visit.  I shared some of the family history that I've discovered on Ancestry.com.
        There aren't any pictures to share because I left my smartphone in the truck during the whole day.
      Today (Friday) Arik and Jenny are at work.  Adam and Leigha went for a hike with Heather.  Ella and I are watching the four grandkids.  So far, the kids have tattooed themselves with washable markers and played different animal characters.  They currently have barricaded themselves behind a chair in the living room.  I don't know if it is a fort, shelter or prison.  The point is ... they are playing well together.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

            2012 November 18  Sunday:  Sunday school and church and then a day of rest.

            2012 November  19  Monday:   I slept late (7:30) and did not have coffee with the guys.  It has been a L-O-N-G time since I've slept that late.  I'm usually awake at 5.  Though I sometimes lay abed and read for a while before rising.

            We took a short drive to the nearest Dollar General to pick up supplies for a pumpkin pie.  Ella made my favorite pumpkin pie recipe.  Linnea usually makes this pie at Thanksgiving.  And for several years she would make a seperate pie for me alone.  I think that was so that there'd be enough of the second pie for the rest of them.

            I dumped our gray and black water holding tanks, as I normally do on Sundays.  When I opened the black water tank, the pull cable came loose from the valve.  That means that it doesn't fully close Which means that the liquids drain and the solids stay sitting in the bottom of the tank.  To get to the valve, I'll have to remove the 'belly pan' from the trailer.  That pan is held in place by at least 32 hex head screws and more than a little calking.  I'm holding off on starting it until after our checking account reloads.  I'm not sure what I'm going to run into when I start the project and don't want to leave it half done because of lack of funds for parts.

            Because we live full-time in our RV, we keep an Emergency Bag packed and ready to go at all times.  You never know when weather or other circumstances may require us to evacuate quickly.  Today we checked and updated what we keep in the bag.  We then put it in the truck so it was ready at all times.  

            This evening was also our Bible Study.

            2012 November 20  Tuesday:  We arived at Shady Oaks with what I thought was a nearly empty LP tank.  With the baking that we've been doing, and the occassional use of the furnace, I've expected to completly empty the tank.  Well, this morning I awoke to find the furnace fan running and no heat.  It had gotten down to 45 degrees over night and the tank was finally empty.  I manually changed the LP to the full tank.  Now I'll need to get that tank refilled.

           7:30 I had our normal morning coffee with the guys.  

            When I check checked our bank account online, I found a mystery $69.99 withdrawal transaction.  It took me a while to realize that it the automatic renewal of virus protection software.  They had sent a notification to an email account that I seldom use.  So I went online and update my information on their website.  

           I baked a couple loaves of bread to take to our Thanksgiving dinner.  One didn't turn out the way I'd like.  So we'll eat that one at home and I'll bake another tomorrow.

            2012 November 21  Wednesday:  Today is Ella’s birthday.

Time with the Kids and Grandkids

We had the opportunity to spend time with some of our kids and grandkids on Saturday.

I even had a couple of beauticians working to beautify my beard.

Some were more interested in trying out their cousins Wii game seletion.

Nice ... but still needs something more

Better ... but maybe some more hair clips in the beard

Now we're getting somewhere ... but there is still the matter of the bald head

Thanks, girls, I think you've captured the look that I was hoping for.

We did remember to take the sticky rolls with us.

Needing a little extra help to get the Wii to play

Kids ... what's wrong with their eyes?

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