Thanksgiving Fun

Our Thanksgiving Feast was held at Grandma Whipple's (DoJo's mom) house this year. There were 20 of us all together, but it feels like 50 in Grandma's house. Plus, Whipples are not known for their petite physiques. However, the more the merrier!



This is my brother-in-law Ace. He volunteered to carve the turkey. See how much happier he looks once we told him he could use a knife!
Check out Ace now after eating his handiwork. Good job, Ace! From the left, around the table, my sister-in-law, Ileen, The Turkey Carver, Grandma Whipple, brother-in-law Shirland (other half to Ileen and DoJo's brother), my niece Becky, and Tonya (Ace's other half and DoJo's sister.) After dinner, Ileen taught us a fun dice game called Yoink. Lots of fun, but when playing with teenagers you need body armor!

This is my niece Kyra. She's Shirland and Ileen's oldest. Kyra is 15 or 16 (You know how us old folks are with numbers!) and complained about being bored, so she exchanged phone numbers with Uncle DoJo and they spent some time texting. Poor kid! Even I don't exchange texts with the big guy! At one point in the day I handed her my camera. The following is a glimpse of a Whipple Thanksgiving from Kyra's point-of-view.

The teenage boy is Justin, Shirland and Ileen's second child. My granddaughters were enamored with him. He reminded me a lot of a young and pesky Shirland. The fake mouse in the foreground was Justin's prank of the day. Everyone had to deal with the mouse at some point. To Justin's right is Heather (Ace and Tonya's daughter), and next to her is my beloved Kourtney.

Don't ask me why, but teenagers like to take pictures that are "askew". I've even noticed some highschool senior portraits taken from this angle. If you are younger than 25, you probaby get it, but if you are an adult, just tilt your head to the left to "get it". From the left, around the table: Heather Pooh-Cakes Bailey, My Beloved Kourtney, My Sweet Alexis, and Darling Nicole Whipple (Shirland and Ileen's youngest). You can see the top of Trenton's head. Trenton belongs to Ace and Tonya.

Here is a shot of Trenton. He is currently sporting quite a shiner, obtained, he claims, in a game of touch football. Sheesh! Kids in Arizona must be tough! What kind of touch are we talking about here?
And what would Thanksgiving be without DoJo planning his Black Friday spree? Here he shares shopping secrets with Sweet Pea Olivia.

And last, but not least, Becky (formerly Whipple) and Noah Coleman. Becky and Noah are newly weds, married last May one week before KK and Reed. This was Noah's expression when we explained to him the sleeping arrangements at Grandma's. Since he was the newest member of the family present, his choice was between the mattress leaning against the wall behind the kids' table or sleep at my house. He chose my house. Good choice, Noah! These two kiddos are a treat to be around. They are best friends besides being in love. I love that about them. Good choice, Becky! These are just a few of my favorite things, and just a smidgen of all that I have to be thankful for this year.

Empty nest? Bah!

Don't give up on me. I'm still here, but I've been otherwise occupied with family matters for the past month. I thought that once we became "empty nesters", I would have oodles of time to blog and sew and read and..., BUT NO! Actually, DoJo had surgery on October 19th and his recovery has been steady but slow. Maybe he's playing me, but everytime I mention going out to the garden to work in some of that homemade compost I whipped up, he grabs his stomach and says his scars are aching. Is that real? He went for a follow up visit to the surgeon on November 11, and the doc said all was well. So me, thinking the doctor wouldn't lie about a thing like that, started making plans for the big DoJo. Finally, we're going to work in the garden again! It's Saturday, it's damp outside, and the rototiller is achin' to be started up again. DoJo just lays around in his pajamas all day telling me how he aches all over. He even played up the hot & cold chills thing just like he had the flu. However, I knew he wasn't THAT sick because at the end of a long miserable day, he was talking about going to church the next day. ARE YOU KIDDING? I think of ways to get out of Sunday School if I have a really bad hangnail! So I'm thinking he faked it all day to get out of working in the garden. Sunday morning rolls around and he's up and dressed in suit and tie, sweating like a pig (DO pigs really sweat?), and pale as all get out. What's this? He's really sick and he insists on going to church. Like anybody's gonna want to shake his hand looking like that! Before he hobbles out the door, I get a glimpse of his lower leg. Just above his ankle is a band of hot, swollen, flesh! "Good grief!" I say. "I've seen this before. You have cellulitus and you need to go to the doctor right now!" I insist. Nope, he went to church and then had me drive him to Urgent Card afterwards. Yep! Dr. Whipple nailed it again. I felt much better about the whole situation when I got to watch the nurse give him a big shot in the rump! He was supposed to return the next day for a check up, but he decided it wasn't necessary. When I got home from work and saw that the hot, swollen, flesh was creeping up his shin, I loaded him up and took him back to Urgent Care. Sure enough, it was getting worse. The doc gave him an additional antibiotic and instructed him to go straight to the ER if it got any worse. And he should have another check up in a couple of days. So, DoJo took a day off of work and a couple of nights off of church duty (And believe it or not, the church is still standing! It's a miracle!), and was supposed to check in with the doc on Wednesday. When I got home from work on Wednesday and asked him what the doc said, DoJo says, "I didn't go. I think I'm getting better." That's a man for you! That was 3 days ago. When I asked him last night what his plans for today were, he said "Sit in the recliner and keep my leg up because I need to be healthy enough to go to my church meetings on Sunday." It's okay. I'll do the garden all by myself. Like it wasn't that way all along. So, if you see the big guy at church or something, do me a favor and don't ask about his leg. If it gets worse, I'm first in line with a chainsaw. Good thing I love him so much. And this "empty nester" thing isn't all it's cracked up to be either. I've still got DoJo and my mom to keep me occupied.