Thanksgiving

What a great time we had in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving! The Lory's came up from Texas - as a surprise 21st birthday gift for Kaitie & Shellie! Kevin and Lisa took over cooking duties this year. It was nice to see Mom actually listening to the dr and staying off the broken leg. I love it when the kitchen is busy with everyone helping!

Here is a rare bird - a picture of David where he is actually SMILING!!!

My dad made sure he had my favorite holiday wine flowing. Thanks, Pop! We even got everybody playing games together - another rare occurence!

The "bigs" all back together again!

All seven granddaughters!

And the final surprise - - Shellie's boyfriend, Armando, flew up to Cinci to meet the rest of the family. Brave or stupid - - - you decide!! :)

Hope Lisa, Kaitie and Shellie all had great birthdays over the holiday!!

Gabi update - she started chemo on Monday. She's feeling really good today! She'll be doing chemo once a week (two weeks on then one week of rest) for about 18 weeks. Thanks for all the love and prayers everyone has been sending!

Yeah!

It was 65 degrees and not raining today - - - so of course that makes you think of outdoor Christmas lights, right?? I took advantage of the warm day to get all the lights put up outside.
I don't think I've ever gotten them up THIS early in my life. I've spent many a snowy/freezing day putting up lights before. I refuse to turn them on until Thanksgiving night - but they are one more thing off my list! This weekend we'll get the tree up inside so we can take pictures of Kate & Meg next weekend all dressed up for Winter formal. Last weekend Megan & I went out and found a dress for her. We found it so quickly that we still had plenty of time in the day to find shoes, etc. So she is all set! It was a great day with her. We goofed around and picked stuff out for each other to try on just for laughs. Macy's was having such a great sale (and I had a 20% off coupon, too!) that we ended up getting her a dress she can wear for church, etc.



Gabi has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to talk about what the next step(s) would be in her treatment. She has decided to try chemo. Please keep her in your prayers.

Emily has Pioneer Day at school tomorrow. She is really excited - but wasn't feeling too well this afternoon - so keep your fingers crossed for her that she makes it to school. The class has to dress up in appropriate attire (like Little House on the Prairie). They have to bring lunch - no plastic bags, juice boxes, etc. She is taking hers in a basket and all the contents will be wrapped with a cloth napkin. They actually go to an old one-room school house for the day.

Thanks to all of you that sent me recipes! I will have to get things prepared and out of the way before David gets home from work tomorrow as he will be taking over the kitchen to make his wonderful pumpkin pies. YUM!!!

We are Cincinnati bound for Thanksgiving - so if I don't post before then - everyone have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Suggestions?

I'm in charge of bringing appetizers for Thanksgiving this year. Anybody have suggestions on what to make? They have to be something I make ahead since the oven/stove will be occupied on Thanksgiving day. They need to be able to be transported in the car for two hours. I'm looking for something different - but not too complicated. Yes, I want it all and I want it now....easy, tasty, not too ordinary.

Gabi is doing well at home. Not much news. She goes back to the doctor just before Thanksgiving to discuss chemo.

David, once again, is in California for a few days on business. Kate starts her new job at Polo/Ralph Lauren this week. More money and less hours! Yeah! Everybody else is doing well - thankfully it is a relatively quiet week for us!

Home Again

Gabi was released from the hospital and I'm sure she's thrilled to be home. Friends and family have been very thoughtful in bringing soup, etc. and making their visits brief so as not to tired them out. Gabi's youngest son, David has been a huge help. He has been living with them during the transition time of his divorce. Luckily for all of us he won't be taking possession of his new home until after Thanksgiving.


On a lighter note - the scholarship hunts have begun! Anyone with ANY knowledge on how to go about this please let me know! You always hear about scholarships that go unused because no one applied for them. There are just soooooo many sites that come up when you Google that it is overwhelming. Any help you guys could give me - sites that helped or didn't, good places to try, etc. would be greatly appreciated!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Prayers, Please

I know it has been a bit since I have updated everybody. But sometimes things are just too hard to write. We found out Oct. 28th that Gabi, David's step-mom, has ovarian cancer. On Halloween she had surgery to remove the masses. Recovery from that has been slow for her. She was having trouble breathing this last Saturday. They removed over a pint of liquid from her lungs. Testing on that shows it is just below the line for containing cancerous cells. The doctors are terming this as Stage 3C cancer. She is hoping to be out of the hospital this week. We are hoping to get her strength back up so she can do chemo in a few weeks. I will update things when I can. Any and all prayers would be appreciated.