Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

For Thanksgiving on Thursday we (the bull side of the family) got to go to the Woods to celebrate and give thanks with them. It was a wonderful time, but sadly, we forgot to take pictures. Whoopsie dasies! I guess we were having to much fun ;) Anyways, if you feel like just reading about it, here it goes. :)

We got to the Woodrows around 11:30am, and found our place to sit. :) Finding a place to sit for Thanksgiving is fun. We did the same thing at Christmas too. Uncle Charles had drawn a picture on 14 cards and each place setting had a Bible reference on it. We had to look up the verses in the Bible until we found the one that matched our picture. It's a creative way to mix things up a bit and get seated :) Anywho, after that Uncle Charles told us the Thanksgiving story. It was really neat to hear. I hadn't heard all the history before–or maybe I had, but I had forgotten it :P After the story came the food! Mmm Mmm Good! We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy, stuffing, salad, olives, pickles, cranberry sauce, and rolls. I (Hannah) am still stuffed from all of the good food :P After we ate our fill we went around the table and read our verse that was on our place setting. Then we had 5 minutes to write out things we were thankful for. There is SO much!! Anywho, that was really fun. And funny to hear some of the things people put. Toilet paper was on a majority of the lists :P hehe. After hearing all the lists we prayed and gave thanks to God. It was really nice to have that special time just to thank God for everything He is and does. When we were done Mom and Dad went into one of the Wood's rooms to rest (they're still getting over some sickness) While they rested up the rest of us played "I've got a secret". There are three teams, one person picks something off their thankful list and that is their secret. Everyone else then tries to guess it but only with 21 questions. :P It was fun... although there were some long ones. (whoops... who knew the stamps in a passport could be so hard to guess :P Haha, but I really am thankful for them! :) ) After that game we played "Password" We stayed in three different teams. Damarise, Bethy and I were on a team together for all the games, so we made up a team name. At first it was "The 3 Einsteins" for the guessing games but when we played Pictionary we changed our name to "The 3 Einstein Da Vincis" :P Anyways, back to where I was. Oh yes, so we played "Password" A game where one person from each team gets together, decides on a word from anyone's thankful list and then can only use one word to describe it to the team. Aunt Julie, Sarah and Gracie beat us on that one. Then we played "Pictionary" Haha... that was a blast!! Aunt Julie, Sarah and Gracie won that one too! They were good! ... After all the games came dessert. Mmm, homemade ice cream, pumpkin pie and apple pie! Yum! It was delicious!!! After dessert when the parents sat around and talked we Woodbulls played around outside :) We had a fun time playing ball games, talking, singing, and we girls were trying to figure out what went on in a guy's mind. Hehe... it was fun! We made lots of great memories and I am so thankful to God for the gift of family and siblings! He blessed me with 2 amazing parents, 5 amazing blood siblings, 5 amazing adopted siblings and another amazing Aunt and Uncle!!! Thank you God!! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful day thanking God!!


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Southern Dinner

Saturday we Woodbulls put on a dinner for our parents. We've put on two other ones before. An Italian Valentine Dinner and a Hawaiian Parent Appreciation Dinner. This time we decided to go down to the Southern US of A and base it on the old cowboy and indian times :) We had a blast!

We slept over at the Woodrow's place Friday night. Gracie, Sarah Ellen and I decided to get up at 3am to play a prank on the guys. At 3am... or 2:30am can't remember when, our alarm went off and Gracie got up and made sure were awake. Then her and Sarah Ellen drank some frozen coffee :) Mmm... the coldness woke them up! :D Then we went and grabbed some mousse. (we've had it forever and it was starting to melt :P ) Anywho, Sarah Ellen and Gracie went in with the bottles (We only had two) and put it on the guys. They got a little on Kent, but then he woke up. He stayed quiet though! :) The Second woke up too, but didn't say anything. Sarah Ellen and Gracie got some on Ian and Lil' Andrew and Benaiah. Lil' Andrew woke up all dazed and confused. He ran into the bathroom, well, more like stumbled into the bathroom. I asked him what was wrong. He said,"Umm.. (in a nonchalant, tired voice) I got some shampoo stuff in my hair." Haha, we were cracking up! Next Ian woke up and came into the bathroom to wash up. He had a similar response only more alert. After Ian finished washing off his hair he spun around and grabbed the mousse bottle out of my hands! Woah! Fast thinking buddy! Fortunately, he's a sweet brother so he didn't spray us :) Benaiah never woke up right then. We girls headed back to bed, but around 6ish Ian and Benaiah were over our heads with the mousse bottles (we really shouldn't have left them out! haha) They only got Sarah Ellen though. Poor Sarah... Anyways, it was a long night, but definitely fun! We've been planning to do that to the guys for a while now, so we were happy it worked out... well, sorta worked out! :P

After the long night, Lil' Andrew was tired! And slept in the latest :P

Dot and Bethy answering questions that we ask the parents after the meal.

Gracie, Sarah Ellen, and I got to decapitate and skin chickens. It was... an adventure :)

Mmmm doesn't that look scrumptious!

Sarah Ellen and Gracie. Sarah Ellen named her chicken "Chicken Joe" (off of Surf's Up :P)

Kent used his muscles to smash the potatoes.

My apple pie :)

Pile O' Chicken

Ian and The Second decided to play Risk.

And Lil' Andrew and Benaiah played with Legos.

Bethy and me hanging out in the kitchen.

Sarah Ellen and Gracie were in charge of making rolls. First step, look for a recipe.

All the chicken guts. Ewww.

Sarah Ellen found Dot's cell phone and was "Oooing" with the ring tone.

The guys made some bows, arrows, and spears for the "indians"

Bucket Head Gracie :)

Making ice cream! Mmm it was good!

Haha The Second stuck ice down Lil' Andrew's shirt. I love Lil' Andrew's expression!

And where was Chiquita during all of this?

Gracie and Sarah Ellen found a recipe. Now for the baking.

The chicken waiting to be fried.

Bethy looking for a spoon.

Sarah Ellen melting ingredients for the rolls.

Awww! The wonderful cooks!

And what were they making?? Yep, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Hehe, I'm not sure what they were talking about, but I love their expressions.

The Second turned seventeen on the 9th! Wow!!! Happy Birthday!

Gracie kneading the bread dough.

The hay that decorated the porch.

We really do love each other!!!... Really :)

Dot and Kent stringing a line to hang the sheet from.

Our lights had a short.... haha it was fun watching Dot, Sarah Ellen and Kent try to fix it though.

The place tags.

Fall leaves!

Me... trying to look like a farmer :P

Making the "Gondolamor" sign. (Gondolamor is the name of our restaurant.)

The "Restaurant"

Ian and Benaiah

The sign. Kent wrote the word. I did the fence. Sarah Ellen did the grass. Gracie the foot and horse prints. And Damarise did the hills and the sun. It was a family effort. :)

Does it look countryish? :)

Planning out our skits.

And of course we made ice coffee :) We couldn't break our tradition :)

Hay is so cool!

Aw! My handsome little cowboy brother. Isn't he cute?

His silhouette is neat too!

Mmm Sarah Ellen and Gracie's finished rolls glazed with honey! Yum!

The Woodrow's quaint looking back door.

The Woodbull sisters :)

Getting ready for a family picture :)

Awwww :)

Guys looking serious and the girls blowing kisses :)

The brothers.

Aw! Sarah Ellen and Gracie. Cute!

Dot, Bethy and me :)

Aw! Dot and Sarah! Cute cute!

Woodbulls again :) (dontcha just love Lil' Andrew's beard!)

:D

Two wonderful waitresses.

Talkin' wit a strong southun drawl :)

Is he cute or is he cute?

Awwwww :)

Lil' Andrew and Kent acting out their skit. They did an amazing job!!!! :D
Kent: "Ye killed my dog."
Lil' Andrew: "He wuz in eye sore and he wuz on my property!"

Then the sheriff came in and stopped the fighting.

The sheriff.

Entertaining the parents with some singing. :)

Then it was game time.

The Second snappin' some pictures.

The Dads versus

The Moms. The Dads won. :)


And after all the fun, we cleaned up :)


It was a fun night with lots of laughs, good food, and many memories!