Happy Birthday Grandma!!

We celebrated Grandma's birthday at the Golden Corral again this year. On our way there, Grandma kept asking who was going to be there. Uncle George and Aunt Betty were there with Nathan and Melody's children. Nathan and Melody were out celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary! Congratulations! Aunt Peggy was there with Carlos and Tomas. Cousin PeeWee, his son, John, and his grandaughter were there. Uncle Bob, Aunt Judy, and Justin were there. Aunt Trish, Michelle, and our family were there. Aunt Betty Walker was there too! Grandma really enjoyed being with PeeWee and catching up on old times. We had to make sure she was doing some eating with all of that talking!

Here are a few pictures.

New Shoes for Grandma

We visited with Grandma and our mission this time was to get her a good pair of shoes for the winter. She enjoys the personal attention, so mom took her to Adams Shoes. The lady recommended a particular brand that was comfortable and Grandma picked out the velcro shoes in black. The kind worker measured Grandma's feet and then gently tried a couple of different sizes. Grandma took a test "run" in her shoes and then had to prove that she could put them on and take them off by herself! She was so happy to have a new pair of shoes. John Joseph thought it was pretty neat that he and his Great Grandma both have velcro shoes now!

Christmas Project for Grandma Thomas

Aunt Jackie has bought Grandma Thomas a digital picture frame for Christmas. I need your help so that when she opens the picture frame (and we plug it in) there are tons of pictures on there. You don't want to be the family that's not on there...
Here's the plan..........I would like to have 1 picture of EVERY great grandchild, preferably by themself. It can be a school picture, goofy picture, whatever. That's about 40 pictures right there. Then I would like to have a family picture with the grandchildren and thier children. For example all of Angela's family together. This does not have to be a professional picture...just with all of the family in there. Here's the catch....try to get it as recent as possible. I know if you are like me, you take lots of pictures of the kids.....but not a lot with the whole family. Go ahead...take one this week and get it done!!! I would also like a picture of each of Grandma's children and their husband/wife. Also, as current as possible. Finally, send me any pictures that you have of you with Grandma (old or new) or any other family pictures.

So, Thomas Family, the pressure is on! What a fun project. I can't wait to see the look on Grandma's face (and the tear in her eye) as she opens this wonderful gift.....okay, so we will have to plug it in and show her what it does......I promise to be there when she sees it and I will video it and send it to anyone who wants to see. Also, I will make a slideshow of all of the pictures you send me and send it to you by email or on a dvd if you would like. Isn't this exciting? We have so many family members that it will be like family movie night to watch the dvd. I have made some dvd's of Disny trips, our kids, and other things like that. If you are interested, I will make our pictures into a movie, with music and comments if you like.

Okay....so now it is time to get busy. Get you pictures together (or take some new ones) and send them to me no later than DECEMBER 1st. (This will give me time to put them all together and also gives you a deadline to shoot for!!) You cand send your pictures through email, send them to me on a cd, or send the actual picture. I prefer email or cd as the quality will be better.....so borrow a digital camera if you don't have one (or a decent one) and start snapping. Obviously, some of the older pictures you may want to send will be original pictures, so I will scan those and get the original back to you. I would be glad to help you in any way possible, so please email me or call me (804) 929-6918 if you need anything. I am also going to add the pictures I get to the blogsite, so start checking it out for updates. Please post comments and add your own things to that site (that is what it is there for). That reminds me, does anyone have family reunion pictures from this year? We need them!!

Weekend with Grandma

Grandma visited with Jackie and David at their Resort in Williamsburg this weekend. Aunt Betty Walker, Uncle George, and Aunt Trish also joined in the festivities with the highlight at the Chinese/Japanese/American buffet. On Sunday afternoon, Redskins fans-Jackie, George, Trish, and John gathered in the livingroom for the big game. Who would have thought the Redskins would pull a win out of the Eagles??? Grandma enjoyed going through lots of pictures while the rest of us enjoyed each others company. Most of the crew went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.

Busch Gardens with Aunt Jackie & Uncle George

Aunt Jackie and Uncle David are visiting from Utah. They are staying in a beautiful resort in Williamsburg. We were headed to Busch Gardens for Hallow-Scream when we got a call from Aunt Jackie who wanted to tag along! Yeah! On our way in the park we passed Nathan & Mel (with crew) who were leaving to head for football practice. Small world, huh? We were not in the park long before we got a phone call from Uncle George who had just arrived and found out we were there. Wow! News sure does travel fast! We all met up and we had a blast together. We rode Dark Castle, went through a spooky house, saw a corny show, got scared some more, drove the bumper cars, went through a ghoulish trail, went on the swings, and walked through the haunted woods. We had a great time together at Busch Gardens!

A visit with Grandma

Grandma is "moving on up" as she now resides in a luxurious suite at the Mayfair House. Well, it may not be luxurious, but it does have a lot more room for Grandma's .....STUFF!! We took Grandma to one of her favorite resturants for lunch: Red Lobster. She ordered shrimp and ate some of mom's crabcake. There were NO leftovers!! We went shopping and Grandma picked out a nice cutain rod and some fancy curtains. She picked the color, the style, everything. We also had her pick out a rod to display the Greatgrandchildren quilt on. Grandma was in heaven with her shopping cart, loading it up with 3 and 4 copies of the same "Enquirer" and "Star" tabloid magazines. When we checked out we had to make sure she wasn't buying any duplicates! She had a great time and we enjoyed bing with her. She sure is a hoot for a woman of 84! We also took Grandma by to see Grandpa's grave and she put some fall flowers down for him. We talked breifly about his service in different branches of the military and then wisked her off before a big storm came. When we returned to Mayfair house, Grandma put us to work. We put fresh sheets on her bed and disposed of at least 75 tissues she had hiding under her pillow. Yuck, Grandma! She said she put there in case she needed one in the middle of the night! We hung her Grandchildren's Quilt in her bedroom where she can see it. We also hung her new curtains. Joylyn and John Joseph put up fall decorations all over her room. We sorted through the tabloids, magazines, and Nora Roberts books. All the time keeping an eye on the Redskins game. Our Grandma Thomas is quit a woman and we enjoyed spending the day with her.

Welcome to the Blog!!

I have been contemplating this decision for several months and I finally decided to move the Thomas Connection to this blog. I am hoping that family members will post pictures and updates regularly and hopefully it is a little easier here on the blog. As always let me know if you have any problems or need help with anything!