Thanksgiving 2010 at Nana's Farm

My family is incredible. John and Jill opened their camp house to all of us. Sancy and Johnny provided the meal for Wednesday night. We had shrimp gumbo and it was awesome. On Thanksgiving Sancy cooked 99.9% of the Thanksgiving meal. Mother and Jack had a deep freeze full of food and snacks for everyone. Shane was on leave from Afghanistan and he and Jess drove from Kentucky to Arkansas. Brent and Jessica and the grandkids came from Oklahoma.

Wednesday afternoon we packed the two mules (one is a Ranger and one is a Polaris) and headed to the pond to feed the fish. Gary rang the bell and you could see the fish swimming toward shore.

Anna Claire feeding the fish. 

Bennett was more fascinated with the two ducks. He would whisper to me "Shush Ma, be quiet." 

Gary took the grandkids all over the farm.

Jessica and Anna Claire swinging at the pond.

 Ma and Anna Claire enjoying the view at the pond.

 Anna Claire loves this alligator. I would act like I was scared of it and she would say "It's okay Ma. Look, I'm petting it, It's not real, Ma." I don't care....I'm still not touching it.

 Jessica, Bennett, Anna Claire and Brent left to go exploring. There were plenty of trails to drive on.

 Nana on the mule. We had plenty of toys to play with. Three four wheelers, a mule Kawaski, a Ranger.

 Anna Claire made me a birthday cake. Can you see the face of a little girl on the cake? I can. She decorated it. It's beautiful and priceless. Thank you dear Anna Claire.

This was Bennett's favorite. He calls the lawn mower a tractor and all he wanted to do was ride the tractor. He is still in his pajamas in this picture. Later Gary was taking him riding on the tractor (lawn mower) and he said "Granddad, I like riding the tractor the best."

Ma got Bennett some frog rainboots and Anna Claire some pink and white Peace rainboots from Periwinkle Place. They both wore their boots the entire three days they were at Nana's farm. One morning Anna Claire, in her soft sweet voice said "Ma, my boots got wet and dirty." I told her that was fine because they are rainboots. She responded, "But, Ma, I don't want my boots wet and dirty. Can you clean them?"

Uncle Bobby and Louise, Uncle Pat and Anna, cousins Julie and Shawn, and John and his family and Sancy and Johnny, Chris, Mandy and Presley, Nana and Papa Jack were all with us.

 Chris, Mandy and Presley Courson.

Right after Presley arrived Bennett wanted to show her the tractor (a.k.a. lawn mower) in the barn. Then, the skies let loose. Here comes Bennett running in the rain.

Shane was home on leave from Afghanistan. He and Jess were able to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were so blessed to have both of them.

Anna Claire loves Presley. She took care of her the entire time. Anna Claire has a Princess puzzle. She doesn't want Bennett near it because he will mess it up. She told me "Ma, Presley can mess up my puzzle. That's okay."

 Anna Claire pulling Presley in the little red wagon.

 Anna Claire loves the farm...so does Bennett. I guess so. There are more toys there for young and old.

Does Nana have a new friend or is she just competing with Miss Shirley for Gabe's love?

We tried very hard to have a family picture made for my Christmas cards this year. I'll have to do some serious photo editing with the light to make it work. As usual, the kids didn't want to have pictures taken.

Anna Claire and I had "girls night out" every night at Aunt Sancy's house. Sancy was really enjoying pampering Anna Claire. The first night Anna Claire said "Ma, this is a very special night. Can I watch a movie?" Sancy put on "All Dogs go to Heaven" and fixed the pillows in the bed for Anna Claire. She brought her some of Presley's stuff animals and goldfish crackers. Anna Claire was lovin' it! After that movie Anna Claire said "Ma, this is a very, very special night. First your birthday and now Thanksgiving." Sorry, Anna Claire. One movie per night! We did have fun together. We snuggled in bed, I sang some songs, we read "The Tickle Monster", we watched Gabe standing at the foot of the bed watching us.

She told Sancy "Aunt Sancy, next time I come can you have me some chocolate milk since this is so special." We did have a good time.

Bennett followed Patrick around and Anna Claire smothered Presley with love. Bennett found a plastic cricket and he would wave it in front of everyone's face and say "cricket, cricket." Presley found a plastic piece of fruit and she tried to do the same thing but without talking. She would wave the fruit in front of my face just like Patrick was doing.

Again, I want to thank my family, children, grandchildren. It could not have been more perfect. I don't have everyone with me at the same time very often. I hated to see everyone leave.

Traditions did continue, though. Every Thanksgiving somebody gets sick. Bennett was throwing up all night on Friday night. He's fine, now. I asked him what was wrong with him. He said "I ate bad food."

Friday morning Jill, Jessica and Sancy went to Paul Michael's. Then, Friday afternoon Brent and his family left and on Saturday morning Shane and Jess left.

SLIDESHOW OF THANKSGIVING 2010