Thanksgiving lunch with my girlies.

As you well know if you have been reading my blog for any length of time, my girls have a great network of grands!  And when something is going on in their lives, we have a bevy of supporters at the ready to come and "celebrate"!  This is Thanksgiving lunch at their school!  First up... Gabbi Girl.  

Gabbi's lunch was on a Wednesday this year which really helped as it was one day earlier and further away from a busy weekend!  In the photo below, we have from back left to Gabs... My dad, Pops, his wife, Nana, Gabbi's dad, Todd the Bod, the girls' surrogate grandmother, Kimie, My mom, JinJin, me, and the star of the show, Gabbi Lou. 

 Can you tell this child was a weeeeee bit proud to have all of us there?  Look at that smile!

 She, quite possibly, had the biggest gathering in that school cafeteria that day! And rightfully so.  She is a gem of a kid!

 Fast forward to Thursday.  Poor ol' Ellie!!  Pops forgot I think.  Nana had to work out of town, and Kimie was getting married the next day, so she was back at home doing preparation work. Sooooo... that left mom, dad and JinJin.  Grandad and DeeDee had to work both days this year, so they couldn't make either.  But... nevertheless, look at Miss Prissy's smile.  She was happy to have support.

I'll admit, it kills my soul to see some kids with none there to sit with them.  I'd say 90% or so of the kids have a parent or grandparent there.  So, those who don't sort of stick out like a sore thumb.  The "includer" in my wants every one of them to come and sit with us!  I did ask a few, but they'd already buddied up with another kid and family member, so all was right with the world.

 I am LOVING that TimeHop app.  Anybody else?  Here I whipped up a little assemblage of my girls from now through about 5 years ago.  All of these were taken on the same day in sequential years.  Look how my babies have grown!

 This is where the fun had to come to an end.  Gabbi was headed back to class.  A year ago, we would've just stayed and waited for Ellie to show up.  But now, we have an "upper grader" and a "lower grader", so that means TWO days of Thanksgiving school lunches for the Groves clan!

 She was so grateful for those who were able to make it.  Look at that cane in my mama's hand.  She is still struggling to get around a bit since her 2 month stint in ICU, but she parked and made the journey into the school for this right here...

 Here we are.  Turkey and dressing and all the trimmings.

 And here is my happy girl with her good buddies.

I am thankful for my girls and our family who celebrates the "little things"... which we all know are really the BIG things!

MO