TURKEYS, JOHNS, AND LIGHTS!

I'm sure you're probably saying to yourself,...."Self, what exactly does she mean by THAT???" Well, I'll tell you...On Thursday, we had a great Thanksgiving, Mom & Dad and Beth and her family were all here...the turkey and trimmings were deeeelish and after dinner (and the dishes)we all enjoyed playing a few table games together. But,unfortunately, I, being busy being the perfect hostess that I am (ha ha), totally forgot to take any pictures! DRAT!!! Oh well, we all enjoyed the day, the dinner and the company, so a good memory was made even without pictures.

On Friday John and I paid our respects at my good friend's sister's funeral. While it was very sad to say goodbye, it was a beautiful memorial service that reflected the love and laughter, as well as the legacy of a beautiful Christian example that she left for her family members. Friday evening we met Jack and Leona for dinner and went to the movies. We saw, "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington. It is the first time we have been to the movies in quite awhile, but I have to say, that we all thought it was a very good movie.

That brings us to Saturday, and the "Johns" part of our weekend. As all of you blog readers know, November 10 was John's birthday. OK...try and stay with me now...Well, December 4 is John, Jr.'s birthday and since we hadn't been able to celebrate John, Sr.'s birthday with John, Jr. and Jessica yet, we all went to dinner at Big Boy's where we all chowed down. Thank you, again to Jr. and Jessica for treating us to dinner. You guys are THE BEST! After dinner, we came back to our house where we had birthday cake and ice cream and presents and the big Euchre challenge. Yes, the men won 2 out of 3, but you can bet that there WILL be a rematch soon! lol

Sunday, as always, we went to church. It was a very good service and afterward we went out to lunch with our friend, Cathy. When we got home, we decided it was a perfect afternoon to paricipate in John's most favorite activity...PUTTING UP THE OUTSIDE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!! And that's just what we did! We had everything we needed....warm coat...CHECK! warm scarf...CHECK!...gloves....CHECK!...earmuff...CHECK!...tons of white Christmas lights...CHECK! And, then there is the all-important rake (for hooking those pesky lights up in the skinny, anemic tree in the front yard)...CHECK!!!! Amazingly, it only took about an hour and a half and there were no arguments or broken lights or brances in the tree! And we were only "half" frozen! Ah, SUCCESS!!!! Thus, you have it...."Turkeys, Johns, and Lights!"

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

HOLIDAY TIME!

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

As you can see, John and I were busy this weekend getting the house ready for the holidays. We now have the tree and a few other Christmas decorations up. Hopefully, we will finish the iniside decorating and begin putting lights up outside by this time next week. Then...the real fun begins....Christmas Shopping!!
As is the tradition in our famiy, I (we) will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house this week. My parents and Beth and her family will be here this year to have dinner with us. Greg and his family are taveling to Missouri to be with friends, so our group is a little smaller than usual. Guess that means that there will be more turkey (and rice pudding) leftovers to share! YUM! John and I wish you all a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving, and we are looking forward to getting together with all of you during the holidays.

PARTY DOWN!

The Jarvis' enjoyed a full weekend of birthday "partying"! Saturday, November 10th was John's birthday, so we began the celebration on Friday night with Sandy & Al and Jimmy and Shelley. We met for dinner at Da Francesco's Italian Restaurant and enjoyed a "delicioso" Italian dinner. After dinner, everyone came to our house for birthday cake, ice cream and presents!!!!! Woo Hoo!
On Saturday, the celebration continued. After John got home from school (yes, he's STILL going to school!), we drove up to Frankenmuth with our friend, Cathy, where we had their "famous chicken dinner" followed by some shopping at Bronner's. Sunday was more cake, ice cream and presents when we went to my daughter and son-in-law's house to celebrate all four grandchildren's birthdays. I think we truly reached our "cake quota" for the year! And by the way....in case anyone is curious...MY birthday is in July...(wink, wink).

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

AUTUMN BEAUTY

Fall was in it's glory this weekend, so I took a few pictures in my back yard and thought I'd share them with you. Hope you enjoy them. We had a pretty quiet weekend. Saturday afternoon was spent cleaning and straightening the house (because we all know how messy John is!lol). Saturday night we went to a party hosted by our good friends, Jack and Leona, at their son and daughter-in-law's house. It was great to see everyone we haven't seen in several years and the food was delicious! Sunday we went to church and just spent a quiet afternoon and evening at home. All in all...a very good weekend.

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard