Thanksgiving, a birthday and Black Friday

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I know I did. It was a little weird because the kids and I were gone while Kevin stayed home. He and his Dad are attempting to build a bedroom for Chloe in our basement and I didn't really want to be home for that. Unfortunately, they met a few challenges along the way and not a whole lot of progress was made as far as the actual building process. But the kids and I certainly had a good time with my parents.


Thanksgiving itself was pretty low key: just me and the kids with my parents. My brother joined us on Friday night. And on Saturday, the kids and I drove to my grandparents' house which is midway between Mom and Dad's and our house. (Midway being nearly 3 hours to either one) We had Thanksgiving Dinner their with my Mom's extended family before heading home for Kevin's 30th birthday. Yes, you heard that right, Kevin turned 30 yesterday. I think he's handling it pretty well. He played around 18 hours of Xbox with his brothers that day, so I suppose he's trying to hold onto his youth or something.


For the past several years, my Dad and I have gone shopping on Black Friday. Previously, we've gone into the city, about an hour, but this year we decided to stay a little closer. The town they live in is less than 4000 people but still has a SuperWalMart, so we thought we'd check that out first thing. We got there at 5am and had to park on the grass, but the store was really not too bad. Everyone seemed to be pretty patient with each other and we were back home by 5:30. We didn't even wait in line to check out.

After a quick trip home for breakfast and to get Jadon, we headed into a slightly larger town nearby to do some more shopping. JJ lasted a couple of hours until we stood in line at the cutting table at JoAnn Fabrics forever. After the first half hour, my Dad decided to hold my place while I took Jadon home to Grandma for a nap. He was waiting in line to check out when I got back a half hour later. We hit several more stores and then made it home for lunch. Wanna see all my loot?




You didn't really think I'd show you all my Christmas presents did you? Not only did I get most of my shopping done(only a neice and a couple things for Micah left), I even got it all wrapped! Sorry for showing off, but I'm so excited to have that done so early this year. Hopefully I can get the rest finished next weekend so I can spend the rest of the time baking yummy goodies. That's one of my favorite things about this time of year. Oh yeah, my parents brought home a cat for my Dad's mother to visit (she just went into the nursing home near them) so this is the introduction she got to her new home. (sorry for the blurry photo, but I could not get this kid to be still!)

Rodie Christmas

Okay everybody. This post is actually my second for today, so be sure to scroll down to get to the interesting stuff. I use the word "interesting" very loosely here. Kelly was looking for the Christmas list for the kids earlier today and once we found it, I thought I'd put it up here just so there would be a central spot anyone could find it. It's pretty generic, you decide which kids to actually pair up individually. I never remember by Christmas anyway.

Todd's kids have Teegan, Ilese, and Eliana
Mark's have Claire and Lydia
Jody's have Andy, JJ, Mallie and Micah
Mine have Luke, Abby and Katy
BJ's have Caleb and Chloe

Now you know. Grown ups are doing that crazy white elephant game. I'll be out of town the rest of the week while Kevin and Joe destroy our basement so Happy Thanksgiving everybody. And try not to kill yourselves on Black Friday!

101

Last month Kevin's Grandmother had her 101st birthday. I had several people ask me, "HOW old is she?" as we were preparing for the day. Yes, she is actually 101. And don't call her Grandma or Granny, she is Grandmother. She's not too fond of nicknames in general. BJ is "Bryan" and Andy is "Andrew." She loves all the kids. She has 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, so it's a good thing. But the babies are her favorites. She lives with Kevin's Mom and Dad just around the corner from us. This morning I wandered over there to say hi and drop off some dishes to Grandma Ellen. This is what Grandmother had been doing all morning. Her current project for the great-grandkids. You gotta keep busy. Don't think even being 101 years old will keep you out of working.

A preview

In the interest of making this holiday week just as crazy as possible, I had 2 photoshoots today. Kevin was off in a deer stand somewhere blowing out his eardrum, so I got a babysitter and went to work. The kids and I are leaving for my parents' house on Monday for the week so that leaves me with a whole bunch of work to do either tonight and tomorrow, or to procrastinate and wait until after the holiday. Hopefully, I can get a good start and not feel too guilty for leaving the rest until next week.

But, I digress. The whole point of this post was for the preview. This little guy is sooooo adorable. His mama and I have been friends since high school. While she was feeding him in the middle of the shoot, we were reminiscing about her first date with her husband, or rather, how she asked him to our Junior Prom. His response was something noncommittal "sure" or "I guess," something along those lines. But 10 years later, this is what comes from "I guess"

I think that was the best answer he could have ever given. Just look at that face!

What an Awesome God we serve

Last weekend I had the great privilege to photograph the wedding of a friend of mine. They actually got married about 5 years ago, with a justice of the peace. They have since had two beautiful girls, but a very difficult marriage. Our pastor offered to do a rededication ceremony for them some time ago and they decided that they really liked the idea. When Elisabeth first approached me about being her photographer, I really wanted to do this for her, but I was unsure. I am by no means a wedding photographer, but I told her yes anyway.
I am so thankful I said yes. The ceremony was short and simple, but beautiful. Joy permeated the room. There were only about 30 or 40 people present, but every one of them was there to celebrate the awesome power of God evident in the lives and marriage of these two people. I feel completely inept trying to describe this in words. I'm much better with images.