Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday Draven

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday in Tekamah with Grammy Hansen and the rest of the family. It was fun to see everyone and Grammy's house always draws a crowd of people. I am always impressed that it seems like their must be this never ending supply of chocolate pie that she keeps hidden away.

 We then went to Norfolk on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to celebrate at Steph's house. It was a small get together but it was great to see everyone. We did a soup supper and sandwiches. Yum! Mom, Dad, Steph's family and our family were there. Mitch and Courtney had to be in Omaha because Courtney was working. Since Draven's birthday was right around the corner we also celebrated his 13th. 

Family Thanksgiving and Christmas Tree Decorating

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving the kids were out of school and we had talked about doing a family Thanksgiving that night. I needed to make all of Abby's food because this is our first Thanksgiving navigating it as gluten free. I thought that I had told Robb this plan but I may of not communicated it well. Bryce had made stuffing and did a wonderful job. He had looked up the recipe, wrote me a grocery list and prepared it all by himself. It was some of the best stuffing I have ever had. This is his dish to make every year. The girls and I had made chocolate pies, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. When Robb got home I wanted him to start the ham ASAP so we could eat. He was a bit shocked when he found out that I expected the ham to be done in an hour so we could eat supper. I guess he thought he was just making one that night so Abby could take it with us the next day. He improvised and got the ham cooked super fast. We had a wonderful pre Thanksgiving! I was then able to pack up a plate for Abby to take so that she could have everything she wanted from a Thanksgiving meal to Grammy's the next day. Celiac has been a challenge for sure but I hope as Abby looks back she doesn't feel like she missed out on anything because of her diagnosis. I am in a Facebook group with other parents that have Celiac children and I am shocked by how many of them opt out of the holidays with family because the food thing is too hard. I just hope that Abby is able to overcome that and can see that you might have to bring your own food but time with family and friends is so worth it. I also hope by teaching her to make all these things I am empowering her to be able to deal with this, read ingredients, and make safe food for herself someday.

This is how we roll into Thanksgiving. 2 pies because she couldn't chose chocolate or apple and a cooler full of food.

 We also put up the Christmas Tree and got it decorated between Wednesday and Friday. The girls were really the only ones very interested in helping with the decorating this year. We did the fake tree thing again which makes we a little sad but it is really nice not having a zillion needles to clean up after. 

Our tree turned out beautiful!

Goodbye Gallbladder

 I had been having pain in my side and upper back but I always thought it to something else. This went on for months and months and I would find myself standing with my hand high on my hip like a weirdo all the time just to put pressure on that spot. I finally decided to have it checked out. I asked Dr. Fitzke how far out he was booked for a lap chole. Since I worked with him I got moved to the front of the line. After a Hyda scan to see how the gall bladder was functioning I scheduled my surgery for the week before Thanksgiving. I was nervous but I knew that all my co-workers would take good care of me. They of course were awesome and I chose all my staff and anesthesia provider. It is always about a 50/50 chance that you will have pain and be really nauseated after a gall bladder removal. Mind over matter and not being scared about the actual surgery helped. I was in and out in a couple of hours. I took 1 pain pill but it made me feel like I was spinning in my chair when actually I was sitting still. After that I stuck to Ibuprofen and Tylenol. I had the week off and went back after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Caleb's Mentored Hunting Event

Caleb got chosen to go on the mentored pheasant hunting trip. It was quite the free thing that he got picked for. He had to submit his application and write a paragraph about why he wanted to do this. He did a great job. He had wrote that he was interested in hunting but his family didn't hunt so he wanted more information and experience. He was picked up at 5:30 AM on a bus and they took them to the Pheasants Forever headquarters. They got to go on a field hunt ( they didn't shoot a pheasant though), learned gun safety, watched demonstrations of hunting dogs etc. Caleb was paired up with an avid hunter for the day. He was an older guy and Caleb really liked him. Overall it was a great experience! Not to mention, Caleb won a drawing that gave him a lifetime hunting pass. We were all excited about that!

 

2 Peas in a Pod

 Bryce and a couple boys from his team played a 3 on 3 tournament in Norfolk so Robb and the boys went to Norfolk. Since it was just Robb at the tournament I don't have any pictures but they played really well and had fun. Caleb took the day in Norfolk to spend it with AJ. Even though they are a couple years apart they are 2 peas in a pod. They are little bit wild and crazy. They are little over the top and immature acting at time but no one has as much fun as these 2 together. Aaron agreed to supervise them for the day. He let them watch a friend of his run the combine, they messed around with a new/used firetruck that Aaron had bought and they had fun. Caleb had a great day with AJ and Aaron.