Thanksgiving 2007

Okay..finally, here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast. First...we have the 'naked truth':



The bird ready to be roasted!!



The my lovely 'assistants' washing off the plates and cups we used.


The set tables!



Digging in! We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mixed veggie casserole, stuffing, brown AND white gravy (for my hubby who doesn't care for brown gravy), black olives, pistachio salad, 5-cup salad, corn, a spicy rice dish and sweet dessert balls made by a couple of the students from India, and rolls.







The 'after-effect'.



My mom dishing out the desserts: pumpkin pie, pumpkin-praline pie, apple crumb, and coconut cream.


Sydney with a new friend.



Sydney enjoying her dessert.


Two sleepy-heads.



Sydney just trying to keep from being bored.


Post-dinner dominoes game. You are supposed to play from 'double-twelve' all the way down to 'double-blank', however, they got all the way down to 'double-ones', and found it was gone!! Guess we've never made it that far so we had no idea it was missing from the game. Either that or it is somewhere in my house. It was fun nonetheless.

All in all we had 17 including Sydney. We had a new one this year from China; her name was Alice. (she is the one in the white jacket playing dominoes) Most of the rest came last year, and actually wanted to come back this year!! I wasn't feeling the best (I think I caught Sydney's cold while she was here with us), but luckily K-Mart was open so I was able to get some medicine. (by the way...Zi-Cam is really good and works, but kind of expensive) We all had a good time and ate some good food. Thanks to my Mom and sister for helping with the food and the clean-up! Good thing we only have Thanksgiving once a year!

Thanksgiving

I have just finished peeling 5lbs of potatoes in preparation for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner and I must say my fingernails are sure tired!! (just kidding...I did use a peeler!!) I remember helping my grandmother peel potatoes for Thanksgiving; some jobs are just not fun! This year we will have my family, Danny's father, and about 8 other International students from India, Jamaica and China. Here are a couple of pictures from last year's dinner:











It is neat to be able to share with the students our American traditions. The young man in the left picture with glasses is from Russia; he returned home this past Spring. I always worry about getting the turkey done right, and if we have enough food. But the Lord always provides enough every year!! I will be posting pictures of this year's feast in the next couple of days. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

A Day At the Store with Sydney

Okay...it's been a while since I've taken a 2yr-old to the grocery store. It's getting harder for me to pick her up and put her in a shopping cart. Once we got past that milestone, in the store we go.

I had a shopping list and I let her carry it. Halfway through the store, I ask for my list. It's nowhere to be found. So we back track and find it a few aisles back. I had put 2 barrettes in her hair before we went. Somewhere between the soup and the milk, they were gone. I found one still in the cart then we went back the way we came and found the other one. I found some better chicken nuggets than what I had found the first go-around, so went to put the other ones back. Right across from the frozen foods were the snack cakes. I put the nuggets back and turned around just in time to see her grab a box of "Swiss cake rolls" and throw them in the basket. (Even though they are my favorite, I put them back. )

She was a very good girl in spite of our lost list, barrettes and extra items. Unfortunately she has gotten an ear infection over the weekend so she is on antibiotics for 10 days. Hopefully she will be totally fever-free by Tuesday and can go home to mommy, daddy and baby Annabella.

More Pics of Annabella/Sydney

These were taken at the hospital:


















A sleepy little girl:

Annabella is here!

Annabella Mara Jade Waddell arrived at 2:01 p.m. on the 14th. She weighed 9lbs, 10 oz, 21" long. She has dark brown hair. She was asleep when I saw her last night, so not sure on the eye color yet! Here is a picture of her at about 1-hour old.She doesn't look too happy does she! She is adorable and I promise to have more pictures to come. For now, Mom is doing well and Dad is very proud! We are happy she has finally made it, and I know that Sydney will have lots of fun being the big sister.

Here are some pictures of me, my sister and Sydney helping to put up my Mom's Christmas tree this weekend:Trying to get the angel to stay ON the tree, and not fall off. I had already tried, so here my sister gives it a whirl. Needless to say, she succeeded:


Sydney helping to decorate.



She kept putting several ornaments together, but was very proud of herself when she got one to stay on a branch!

This is what it looked like in one section she helped decorate.



The finished product!!


After we got done, we ate some homemade chicken pot pie. Sydney didn't like it so...

She had a cheese sandwich instead.

We had a lot of fun and Sydney did a good job helping this year. Now we wait for the new granddaughter to be born on Wednesday (hopefully!) and all the Holidays coming up. I will start posting reasons soon why I like the Christmas season so much. I found some pictures, but have more than need to be scanned. I also have some of our Thanksgiving dinner from last year, but I'll post that closer to Thanksgiving.

Well, our daughter found out today that her doctor wants to induce labor on the 14th, so looks like our new granddaughter will be here possibly a week from today!

She actually went to the hospital last night, I think "hoping" they would keep her. But alas, it was a false alarm. But we went and picked up Sydney and brought her home with us just in case.

Since our daughter has been married and moved out of the house, Sydney has only spent the night with us 2 or 3 times. And we have a twin bed for her to use, but it's not at our house yet. So she gets to sleep with me on our waterbed in the mean time.

This time was actually better than last; it only took her about 45 minutes to get to sleep compared to about 1 1/2 hrs last time. (but I had to stay in the bed with her so she wouldn't be scared or try to leave the room) And she rolls around quite a bit once she is asleep; at one time she had me pinned to the edge of the bed so I had to move her closer to the middle so I wouldn't roll over on her. And she doesn't like too many covers on; she would kick them off anytime I would put them on her. She only woke up a couple of times, and one time she was saying something about her "toe", either that or she was talking to her Uncle "toe" in her dream. (that is what she calls Christopher most of the time..."toe")

I guess the neatest thing was in the morning when she woke up. I had been hitting the snooze on my alarm clock, and next thing I know I opened my eyes and she is about 3" away from my face staring at me. I think it took her a minute to realize she wasn't in her own bed or bedroom.
We all got up, Billy took me to work and then on the way back to her place, treated her to a McDonald's breakfast.

We are planning on watching her when Ashley does go in to have Annabella, but we should have the twin bed by then which is much like her own bed. I know that each time she spends the night with us it will get a little easier for her.

This Saturday is the International Banquet and Show at MSU; it is put on by the Association of International Students and features dishes from all around the world, and a cultural show put on by various groups. Billy usually helps with serving, (although last year he was in a fashion show put on by the students from India) so he will be doing that again this year. Tickets sell out fast, and as of this writing they are already sold out. I usually try to go, but it also falls on the same night as the High School District Honor Band concert. Christopher has made it the last 3 years, but this year it was not to be.

So instead I will be helping my mom put up her Christmas tree and decorations. Yep, she starts early because her job gets really busy right after Thanksgiving and she never has the time. (she works in a perfume shop) So me and my sister go over and 'help' her with her tree. We have a good time and usually end up laughing a lot. Sydney even tried to help last year, but I think she will be a better helper this year. I usually get mine up after Thanksgiving eventually.

Next to the 4th of July, Christmas is my favorite holiday. I will be telling you why in posts for the next few weeks. I might even have some pictures. So beware!!

On The Road Again.....

Today we took one last road trip to watch our son Chris play in the marching band; today we traveled to Warrensburg, MO for the University of Central Missouri Festival of Champions.


Here are the buses on the way. It turned out to be a beautiful day!!
Here is the football field; the artificial turf is made out of old tires!

Getting ready to enter the stadium.

At the beginning of our show.







This was a band from Odessa MO (bet you didn't know there was an Odessa, MO!!). Their show featured these big screens depicting pictures from different eras in America and was titled "American Expressions". I especially liked them because their songs were based on hymns. I thought they did very well, but only placed 3rd in their division.

This is the band from Willard, MO. They have always been known for their great performances, and have been the 'band to beat' for a few years now. They have around 250 members. This young lady in the middle of the picture goes to our church; she always has a smile and a sweet disposition.




This was the exhibition show put on by the University's band; the "Marching Mules". They even had a twirler.


At the end of their performance, the trombone section did a little routine; check out the guy in the back row...yes, that's his HAIR standing up!!!

Our band did not place, so we didn't make it to finals. But it's been a good year, and I think Chris has enjoyed his last year in marching band. Now they focus on District/State Honor band tryouts, and then just good old concert band at the school. No more football games, band competitions , sitting on hard bleachers, getting sun/wind burned, or trying to stay warm and dry while watching them play. Yeah, I'm going to miss it.

Here is a picture of Sydney in her costume; she was "Supergirl" and Danny was....Luke Skywalker, of course!! I thought she looked really cute!