Thanksgiving Week with Jennifer and Anna

My girls have grown up so fast.

Anna (19) and Jennifer (21) - Thanksgiving at Mom's

Anna arrived on Saturday and we spent the day just laying around at my mother's house. Anna had a busy week at school and has a lot of homework and studying to do over the break. On Sunday evening her and I drove to Union Missouri to pick up Jennifer. Jennifer had lifeguarding class on Satuday and Sunday. My Mom fixed two different types of soup. Perfect for a cold and rainy Sunday evening.

On Monday, everyone got up early and Mom fixed pancakes with bacon and sausages. I have pictures but I would get into trouble if I post them since no one had makeup on. Mom took Jennifer and Anna for pedicures that afternoon. Monday night was "card game night" and make fun of Dad on Twitter night. Mom, Jenni, Anna and I played UNO until 11:00. It was a painful game that just would not end. But when it did end, I was the winner! Tuesday was a day of studying for the girls. Jenni and Anna are going to dinner with their cousin Chelsea this evening so Mom is fixing her and me steaks with baked potato and salad.

Trip to Kimmswick 

Our House in Kimmswick with Grandma Hodge until 2001, Now Everything Nice

On Wednesday we took a trip to Kimmswick to check out the shops, stop and walk though our old house and dropped into see Hoppie and Fern. We also stopped and checked in on the old Grimshaw house where my Dad's parents lived. Going through the our house in Kimmswick always brings back memories. When you live in a house as long as we did it is easy to see all the little things even though the house has been converted to a store. Here are some pictures of the our house in Kimmswick which now a store called "Everything Nice" .

I took some pictures of our backyard in Kimmswick, here is a picture of the barn, the front part of the barn was the Fish Market. This is where Grandma Hodge made here living until she was 80 years old. The only reason she stopped working was because this was the year of the 1993 flood. The water never got to the house, but the Corps gave the evacuation notice as the levy was starting to fail. The coolers and freezers were removed and she decided not to start back up after the flood. Luckily for Kimmswick the levy held partly because a levy failed in Illinois easing the pressure on the Kimmswick levy. The barn did not have the porch on it as that was added by the store owners. The barn also contained our outhouse that we used until I was a sophomore in high school.

Back of Our House in Kimmswick

This is a view of the back of our house in Kimmswick. The back porch had our washer and dryer and contained a wash room. I once complained to Grandma Hodge about having an outhouse and she told me that I should feel lucky that it wasn't that many years ago the tub was in the barn also. Mom said that the tub was always in the house when they moved there in 1952. My room was the upstair's bedroom on the right. Grandma used to clean my room for me and when asked why she didn't clean my brothers she would say that it was because she could see and hear the fish house bell from my room. After we left the house we stopped at the old candy store in Kimmswick where as a kid I remember collecting soda bottles along the streets and taking the bottles to the candy store to get my three cents and buy some penny candy. We had a great lunch at the Dough Depot. The sandwiches came on pretzel Bread.

Jennifer and Anna at Dough Depot in Kimmswick - Highly Recommend

After lunch we walked to the Grimshaw house. It had been a while since I had been in the place. I was there a number of years ago when the house was on tour. New owners bought it in early November this year and had opened a store. The front dining room and living have been turned into a store. The stairs to the upstairs were moved to come up from the kitchen instead of the dining room. It is hard to believe that 9 girls, 3 boys, great aunt, great grandma, grandma and grandpa all lived in this house. That is 16 people.  I remember a lot of Sunday's at Grandma Grimshaw's with my cousins. I have a picture of me on the front steps as a child that I have included and a picture of me now on the front porch. The third picture is of the kids in front of the house.

On the steps to my Grandparents House (Grimshaw) with my cousins (I am on the bottom left)

Me on Porch of Grimshaw House at Thanksgiving

Grimshaw House - November 2011

Thanksgiving Day

Mom, Anna and Jennifer preparing Thanksgiving Dinner

My Mom fixed a eight pound turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes casarole, cauliflower, cranberry sauce (that somehow did not make it to the table), salad, crescent rolls, and gravy, and for desert we had apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies. Mom's friend Ann joined us and we had a great time. After dinner Julie and her mother Joan joined us for coffee. It was nice that we were all together at Thanksgiving time. That evening the kids went to their cousin's house to meet their boyfriends. Mom and I just sat around and watched TV. 

Jennifer and Anna working on crescent rolls

Grandma Joan Cassmeyer and Jennifer and Anna

Trip to Kevin's for Thanksgiving the day after

From the right: Mary, Taylor, Emma, Darlene, Don, Anna, Jennifer, Mom, Kevin, Steven and Lorren

We arrived at Kevin's about 1:45 only to find out that I had the time wrong, dinner wasn't until 5:00. But things worked out well we got to spend a lot of time with each other. 

Darlene, Ann and Mom and Kevin's

Almost everyone was there: Kevin, Mary, Loren, David and Taylor; Don, Darlene and Emma; Anna, Jennifer, Mom and me. Kevin and Mary fixed baked turkey and deep fried a chicken breast along with mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, cranberries, black olives, and green olives with jalapenoes. Darlene brought a salad and a green bean casserole and my Mom brought her sweat potato casserole. 

Lots of Food

Dinner at Kevin's the day after Thanksgiving

The End of a Great Trip

On Saturday the kids went back to Jefferson City, they will need to get ready to head back to school on Sunday. I am sure they will get some partying with their friends in before they go back to school. This was a good trip the kids stayed home with me the whole week and we got to spend a lot of time together. This also had to be one of the longest trips where I stayed at Mom's the whole time. It was nice not to have to do all that driving and saved the cost of getting a rental car.

On Saturday Mom and I loaded up on leftovers and then satcaround reading our books until bedtime. I head back on Sunday, my flight leaves at 6:15 am from St. Louis, with a plane change in Las Vegas and then on to Sacramento. It's back to work on Monday. 

The kids will be coming to Sacramento on January 3, so I will get to see them soon and they will get to see my house.