I am thankful...

This past Thanksgiving weekend sure kept us busy! But, it reminds me that I have a lot to be thankful for.


Kevin came home Tuesday afternoon and announced that the family turkey we made last weekend won BEST OF SHOW out of the entire 3rd grade. We sure were proud of that Elvis turkey! (Blake's class winner wasn't announced before the break.) The night before Thanksgiving, I ventured out with three of my sisters and my only cousin on my mom's side of the family. We had tickets to a concert and stopped off at Hooters for dinner on the way. My sister Ashley thinks Hooters should be our annual Thanksgiving Eve tradition! (We LOVE fried pickles and buffalo shrimp!)

Then it was on to Headliner's for The Whigs concert. !!! It was a really small venue (standing room only) and we were right up by the stage all night. The two opening acts, Bad Blood and Midnight Sons, were entertaining, but The Whigs were the best. We even got to meet all three members of the band. The drummer, Julian Dorio, was at the table selling shirts so we talked to him before the show. Then we met lead singer Parker Gispert and bass player Timothy Deaux after the show. They were all really nice guys.

On Thanksgiving morning, we delivered meals for our church. It had been a couple years since we had, but plan to make it an annual tradition. It was really good for the boys. We spent Thanksgiving day with my family. All six of us girls were there. (That's Kaitlin in the rabbit fur hat she bought in Utah earlier in the month! Oh, and we are sitting in age order left-right back row, then front.)The boys enjoyed their dinner. My mom is the best cook! They sat at the "kids table" in the sunroom with my nephews.And you can't forget Reese!

I put our tree up when we got home Thursday night.

Friday, I went out shopping for a few hours with my mom. We didn't leave until almost 8:00, but hit a few stores and got what we set out to find.

Saturday we went for Thanksgiving with the Wheelers at Tom's mom's. The highlight of my day was when Tom asked our nephew Jax to pose with me. Jax threw his arm around me and leaned in for the photo. Jax has autism, so a hug from him isn't always guaranteed. This photo is REALLY special to me. Today I dressed the boys up for church and posed them in front of the tree. I love our tree. This year I sat it up by the fireplace instead of by the front window. I also moved around several other decorations and didn't put a lot of them out. I simplified. The things that mean the most to me are out. The rest stayed boxed up.

Since I'll be away on my birthday this year (Saturday), the boys went ahead and gave me my presents today. (We have something every night this week until we leave, so this was the stress-free route.) I loved everything they gave me.

But my two guys are my greatest gift!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.