Thankful for Thanksgiving

I have not been posting things I am Thankful for on Facebook this month but for the last week, we have been writing things we are thankful for on a dry erase board in the kitchen.  I thought the boys might think I was crazy or sappy but they really got into it.  The very first day a friend of theirs came over afterschool and when he saw the board he added his initial and said he was thankful for “the Griffin’s”!  At one time or another this week we have all written that we were thankful for family. 

On Thanksgiving day we were surrounded by family.  We had 23 people for dinner:  Dennis’ mom and dad, my mom and dad, Dennis’s brother Kenny, his wife Nicki and my nieces (Lauren and Autumn) and nephews (Corbin and Caleb), his brother Brent, his girlfriend Crystal and her son Hunter, Dennis’s Uncle William and Aunt Mary, his Aunt Tommie and my Uncle Pleas and Aunt Diane!  We also “Skyped” with my brother and Janet in CA.  Later Dennis’s Aunt Jean, cousin Leslie and her family came to visit as well as his cousins Phyllis, Justin, Rachel and Brandon!   We had a house (and yard) full and it was wonderful.

We baked a 19.7 lb turkey (I had to get up at 4:40am to get it in by 5 am!) and we fried a 14 lb turkey.  We also had ham, two kinds of stuffing and all kinds of side dishes and desserts.

The boys got the yard ready for Turkey Bowl 2012.  They raked, “sweeped” and painted a field.  After we stuffed our tummies, we watched the “boys” (and Aselyn) play football.

Raking

sweeping

Painting

Playing

Resting (Dennis called “over 40 yr old” time outs)

Watching (even Frankie and Janet on laptop)

Dennis dad (right) with brother William and sister Jean

Later that evening, several friends went Black Friday shopping.  My friends Kelly and Michelle and I had shirts made for our shopping expedition.  They are lime green (so we can find each other) and say “Babes with Buck$” in silver “crystals”.

Here is Michelle with all our loot at the end of our trip.  We had the entire back full and one seat in the middle down! 

We had a great time, found lots of bargains and had a great Cracker Barrel breakfast by the big fireplace!  If only they had people set up to give foot and back massages!

Pumpkin Carving

We had a wonderful Saturday last weekend.  My nephews spent the night and then Preston had a few friends over to play ball so I had about 10 boys in the yard most of the day.  Later that evening my sister in law came with my nieces and Dennis’ parents came over as well.  We ate a nice meal that Dennis mainly cooked: deer cube steaks with gravy, mashed potatoes and field peas. I made “s’more bites” for dessert.  We watched Auburn play so badly that we stopped watching at halftime to start carving pumpkins.  We had 2 extra carvers and luckily I had 2 extra pumpkins for school so every one that wanted to carve one, got to. 

(taken from the stairs)  This was not Autumn’s “thing”

Grant wanted a white pumpkin to see if it was different in the inside…it did smell a little like cantaloupe

Everybody working hard

Ryan

Caleb Jones’s pumpkin

Lauren’s masterpiece

John Nathan’s jack o lantern

Caleb’s Nike swoosh

Grant looking like his ghost pumpkin

Corbin’s happy pumpkin

Autumn wanted a SCARY pumpkin!

Ryan searched the internet for the most original idea again this year…a pumpkin eating a leg!

 

Everybody (minus John Nathan) with their pumpkins…Preston and Jordin stayed upstairs playing video games (party poopers). 

While they carved, Nicki and I cleaned and roasted pumpkin seeds.  They were yummy hot out of the oven and my kiddos at school ate them up too!

Later after everyone had gone and everything was clean, Ryan came over and said, “Is this why you built this house? for days like today with Preston’s friends over and family over to eat, watch football and carve pumpkins?”  I said, “yes Ryan it is, that is what your dad and I were just talking about”…how sweet

Preston had to bring a pumpkin to school for art class this week.  He said “you know, not many people carve pumpkins, I thought everybody carved pumpkins”….only those with the best moms Preston! I hope you carve pumpkins with your own kids for many years!

Fall Fun

Grant’s Birthday Breakfast…15 …passed his test and has his permit

and is DRIVING!!!!

Ryan killed his first squirrel.  Dennis is teaching him how to clean it while Sport watches

 

Homecoming @ NBHS:

Community Pep Rally on Main Street

(Preston 8 and Grant 11)

School Pep rally Friday am…boys sat with football team on field

Lauren’s cheerleading group did a cheer and dance

Parade through downtown:  Varsity and JV football players walk first

Grant #11

Preston #8

Ryan riding with his rec league team

Game Time….boys came out through a tunnel with smoke and spirit line

Both Boys had a great game.  We won 50-6.  Preston had an interception for a TD and Grant had an interception late in the game.

Blurry…But this is Grant’s interception!!

The next day, I Made the boys go to the pumpkin patch and go through the corn maze

They would not pose so I had to take one myself to prove I was there

It is finally cooling off here…pumpkin carving next!

The Blue Room

We have lived in many houses and all the walls have been white.  When we were building our dream house I initially wanted each room to be a different color.  Then I learned that “the more paint colors, the higher the price”, neutral colors are easier to match and it is darn HARD to pick  out the right paint color.  (Some of you may remember my stress when trying to find the right color TAN for the main parts of the house).  After looking at many homes and pictures I decided I wanted a Navy blue room.  EVERYONE was skeptical until it was done.  Then EVERYONE liked it…even the painter said it was his favorite room.  Since then we have always called it “the blue room” as in “go watch that in the blue room” or “I am going to watch MY shows in the blue room”, “Mom, you can always go to the blue room if you don’t want to watch this”.  I still love the blue room but it has been a bit hard to decorate. 

View from the door.  The shrank we got when we were in Germany fits well in there.  I had the blue ticking curtains our master bedroom for years and saved them.  I bought the little table at an antique auction last summer.  The blue plaid couch has moved with us 6 times and has seen betters days but I still love it.

 

This is our salute to Texas where we lived for 5 years.

This burgundy chairs fits well in here.

Other side of room.  The walls are really darker…more navy.

I couldn’t decide whether to make it Americana, Auburn (orange and blue) or just a mix.  Right now it is just a mix.  The shrank (“shrunk”) has all my Santa's, eggs, crystal and a few things from all our travels.  I am going to frame some pictures above the couch from our travels with maps of the places as backgrounds (pinterest!) BUT on Tuesday we are moving this blue couch upstairs and getting a pale yellow couch.  I will post more pictures after we get the new couch and office furniture.

I hope you enjoyed our “blue room”.  If it’s good enough for the President’s house, it’s good enough for mine.

Here are a few bonus pictures from the foyer corner right outside the blue room.

I have 2 small corners in the foyer.  This one has a Cross wall over a case that holds the Griffin Family Bible.  It is very old and was just given to Dennis (as the oldest son) from his Uncle William.

We are very proud to have it and I think it looks great here.  I have a friend who has a cross wall and will add to it when family gets baptized, married etc.  Ryan made one of the crosses in Club 56 at church so I will write the date of his baptism on the back of it.

The other side of the foyer had a nice big house plant but it did not get enough sun so I had to move it.  Still looking for a replacement.

Happy Birthday Grant

Grant turned 15 on the 12th.  FIFTEEN!! WOW!  This will be a big year for him as he begins DRIVING!  Hopefully he has learned from listening to us teach Preston. 

Grant has grown into a wonderful young man.  He is helpful, responsible, smart and compassionate.  It’s not every day you can say that about a young teenager.  He is now taller than  me and almost as tall as Preston.  He still plays 3 sports a year and is a great student.

The varsity football team eats breakfast together on Friday mornings so Grant opted to have his birthday breakfast (sausage and egg casserole) on Saturday.  We did sing to him as he was trying to get ready for school on his birthday.

We will have a quick get together with family on Sunday afternoon to have pie and open presents.  Grant is not a big sweets person but he does love Buttermilk Pie.  So I will make 2 Buttermilk Pies tomorrow to go with the 2 Chocolate Pies I made today.  This time of year is so busy for us that poor Grant usually gets a quick family gathering. 

Then: age 3 and now:  Playing JV football

 

 

Grant has never been a fan of pictures.  I have been looking all the way back through summer and cannot find a picture of his face!  I have sports pictures and pictures of him sleeping but none of him just looking at me. That will be my mission for the week.  You are NEVER too old for your momma to want a picture of you!

Here is one from the first day of school…I cropped out Preston and Ryan!

Happy Birthday Grant.  We love you and are very proud of you!

Home Tour : Dining Room

I meant to do this MONTHS ago but I keep waiting for the house to be perfectly clean (ha!) and decorated (ha!).  So I decided that before I put the boys scrapbook stuff back on the dining room table, I would start the online tour of our dream home with the dining room.

We will eventually have a 10 ft long handmade pine table with 10 chairs.  Dennis has the plans but has not had time to start it yet and we would love to use old wood.

Looking toward the arch to the kitchen.  The hutch is one that Dennis and I refinished several years ago.  It belonged to his great aunt and uncle and was in their house when it burned.  The varnish was melted on it and it was black!  The pie safe (left) was left in the first house we lived in when we got married.  It belonged to Dennis’s paternal grandparents.  It was in pieces but just needed to be put back together.  The pub table is one of the first antiques Dennis and I bought after we married.  We found it at an antique store and had been looking for years.  Our favorite restaurant had tables like these and we loved them.

From the arch looking to the foyer

Old cotton basket beside the Hoosier Cabinet Dennis’s mother bought us when we went antiquing last year

The walls are a pale tan color with white trim.  It is not showing up to well.

View from living room into dining room with bookcase divider

I have been saving a picture torn from a magazine since 2009 with a view just like this.  The bookcase in the picture had columns. We did not originally want the staircase there but now it really looks like the picture.  This is looking from right side of foyer to dining room.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our dining room.  If you would like to see a closer shot of something just let me know. 

Next stop: The Blue Room