Thanksgiving with a little before and after

In typical Shackelford fashion, we started off the week of Thanksgiving with Andrew having a stomach virus. I think I did 7 loads of laundry, used a can of Lysol and washed my hands in lots of bleach...okay not really on the bleach, but honestly, I felt like it.  Andrew and I skipped church that morning and school on Monday.  He was back to normal by Tuesday and thankfully, no one else got it. 

I found him on the couch with Dash Sunday morning.  He said leaning on Dash made him feel better. Bless him.

This was my view on Monday...my computer, a little boy covered up on the couch, and a dog with attachment issues sitting in my lap.  It was a good day.

Fred's brother came in town for Thanksgiving for the first time in several years, so it was nice having all 57 of us together.  Just kidding.  There are only 19 (sometimes 20) of us when we are all together.

Tuesday night we got to ride on a hayride through Starry Nights.  All the kids loved it.  It was so nice.

We had dinner Wednesday night and managed to get a picture.  Considering the sheer number of us, this was no small feat.  But we did it.  Hooray!

Thursday morning these two turkeys got up to run a four mile turkey trot.  Jack did get his other sock and a shoe on before the race.  Thankfully.

They met up with these turkeys and had a great time. 

I told Dash that it was Thanksgiving and he stood guard at the door to ensure that nothing suspicious was going down in the neighborhood like falling leaves or birds or squirrels in our yard.  I'm pleased to report that everyone in the house was safe, thanks to Dash.

My crew came in for Thanksgiving.  Everyone brought a little and then we had a huge feast.  We ate and talked and ate and played games and I made a video of my grandmother making boiled custard.  It was an epic Thanksgiving.

Remember the boiled custard?!?  Yep, these boys enjoyed it as always.

Friday, Memphis had their final home football game.  Since we've been in Memphis, my grandmother gives us season tickets to the Memphis football games for Christmas.  We just love going to the games together.  Some of us really love the concession stand, but the game is fun too!  This game was no exception.  Memphis came back to win the game in the last 1:30 of the game. It was exciting!

Because we are season ticket holders we are members of the 901 club.  Since we are 901 club members we get to go down on the field after the game.  We typically don't take advantage of this, but on Friday we did.  Andrew even got his picture with Tom the Tiger.  He's come a long way with team mascots.  When he was younger he would hide in the bathroom to avoid seeing the Grizz at the Grizzlies games.

As if the game and concession stand wasn't enough, one of the players threw his glove to Jack.  He was one happy boy.

Saturday morning we had one objective...find our Christmas tree.  We walked all around the Christmas tree farm until we found just the right tree.  It was a long search, but we were successful.  I tried to convince the boys to go to Costco to get a pre-cut tree, but they would have none of it.  It all turned out great in the end.  We got everything decorated and cleaned out and ready to go for December.  Buckle up is what I keep telling myself.  The season is upon us.