A Great Gathering to Chase & Eat Turkey

It was amazing what a little turkey can encourage people to do, lucky for us we had a big turkey because not only did we have Kristy's parents, her sister, and a niece and two nephews drive in from Ohio, Tony called from Oklahoma to surprise us that he too was headed our way with his family. So in total we had Gary, Tove, Sherry, Emily, Braden, Garret, Tony, Carmen, Chad, Zoe, Dillon, Kristy, Molly, Neleha, and myself all in a very spacey 2 bedroom student housing apartment. Sounds like it would be cramped, but mostly it was just hot. So we all gathered the night before Thanksgiving for a turkey and to give thanks for all we have, especially each other.

With 15 people we certainly had to manage sleeping places for everyone, which actually worked out pretty well.

Thanksgiving morning was full of enjoying the babies, cooking the sides, and enjoying each other.






The kids were getting a little ansey so we took them out to the playground to get all their wiggles out. I think this was the most kids that had ever used our playground at one time. They sure got a lot of use out it.



Molly's interest in photography sure comes in handy such as being able to get a photo with my brothers. I think it is clearly official now that our assumptions all these years that I am the oldest has been proven incorrect. It is very obvious that I am the youngest.

Kristy and Sherry got to catch up on each others life during the countdown to turkey.

Molly decided to take some more photos which provide a much different perspective.



All morning I was telling the kids about these four wild turkeys that live in the woods near our apartment. We kept watch out for them and finally Tony caught a glimpse of them down in a gully so we all went out to watch some living turkeys just before we ate some dead turkey, ironic if you think about it.


After we watched them for a short time we let the kids chase after the feathered attractions, which resulted in the turkeys flying quickly away, almost as if they knew what today was.


The time had finally arrived to enjoy the festive meal.

Good food, lots of family, on a beautiful day... we certainly had much to be thankful for.


We took a walk down to the nearby Nathaniel Greene Park to off set the great feast we enjoyed.

Then we were able to simply relax and let the food settle. Of course there was much snaking on all the left overs from our big lunch.



Kristy got her Mom to cut Her and Neleha's hair, they looked so happy while getting their hair cut by their Grandma/Mom.

After all the kids were in bed it was time to plan our day after Thanksgiving sales that we would hit in the dark hours of the coming morning. Tony and I actually started out at 2:00am with scoping out Walmart which proved to be very interesting. There were some strange locals at Walmart during these wee hours of the morning. There was some lady with a white t-shirt which she had used a marker to write on it that she had a playstation 3 for sale. There was another lady that shared with Tony and I her conspiracy theory regarding how Walmart was going to sell their DVD's during the big sale. We decided to hit the nearby IHOP until the sales started rather than hang with these most interesting people.

We eventually hit the sales and caught up with Kristy and Sherry at Target. We made out pretty well, got some good deals, but more importantly, we had some real fun.

Thanksgiving Feast at Forest

This afternoon our Student Council hosted a Thanksgiving Feast for students and staff. Since Neleha hangs out with me on Tuesday mornings while Kristy is in class, she also attended. But to be honest it only seems appropriate for her to attend a student function since she normally refers to Forest Institute as "our" school.

The spread of food was wide and delicious. The Student Council paid for catering of the turkey, potatoes, and gravy and the rest was left up to what ever the students and staff carried in. Let me tell ya, they brought more than we could eat. The food was awesome and so plentiful that I didn't hesitate in having Kristy come over after her class so she too could enjoy the spread of Thanksgiving joy. A good start to the Thanksgiving Holiday celebrations.

Molly Volunteers for Intelligence Testing

This morning my school was hosting a day of children intelligence testing for one of my current courses. In this course we are learning and qualifying on giving intelligence tests to adults, children, and toddlers. One of the requirements to qualify is of course being able to test appropriate aged individuals for so many practice trials. For me it wasn't hard to find kids to test. However, some of the students do have a hard time due to not being from the area and not knowing anyone in the area. So that is why they host this day to bring kids to volunteer to be tested. They lure the kids into testing through many ways, they tell them they are helping people become doctors, they are going to have fun, and they are going to feed them pizza. Molly was simply sold on the idea of being able to take a test at Daddy's school.

My friend and classmate was assigned to Molly so I was comfortable sneaking up to the doorway and discreetly snapping some photos during her test. She worked very hard and had a great time.

The unfortunate side to this is that because we are not licensed Psychologists yet we are unable to actually formulate any complete results of the test. So that means we won't find out exactly how Molly did, but I am sure she did great!