Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday began the Thanksgiving festivities as the kids and I (more me than the kids) decided that we needed to go purchase something fun for the days ahead... and what better purchase than a couple of Nerf guns! I had in mind that I would buy one for each of the kids to keep them expending energy while the adults prepared for the feasting festivities. While explaining this to the kids, they both exclaimed with a look that made me feel as though they were probably thinking I couldn't have come up with as good an idea were I given the chance and offered the idea that not only should we buy a little gun for each of them but we needed to buy a BIG gun for Uncle Erik so that he could annihilate things too... so we did. Uncle Erik's comes complete with a laser shooter intended for increasing accuracy... late into the evening Uncle Erik, Kyle and Grandpa Schei sipped scotch and shot darts across the dining room. No joke. It was nothing short of wonderful... and Thanksgiving Day hadn't even arrived yet!

The day arrived and my wonderful husband let me sleep in... aaahhhh... heavenly.

Heaven.

I awoke to a living room full of folks in pajamas sipping coffee and shooting Nerf guns... watching the television as the country prepped for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, football games and local news highlights on the charities happening all around the Seattle area. Grandma and the kids took a walk to the park to gather leaves of all shapes and sizes -- they came home and began creating individual place mats for each family member. Following nap time, the three kids and I braved the brisk weather and went to the park while the others took their turn at napping.

It wasn't long before the table was filled with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, yams, sauteed green beans with bleu cheese, bread and corn. We sipped wine and laughed together...

The dinner was a delight as the kids began to ask everyone around the table what they were thankful for. We were thankful for things like family and friends... for the wonderful life that we get to be a part of... for NOT being a turkey - and the such. We were thankful for Benjamin as this was his first Thanksgiving with our family and for the absolute joy that he is -- in fact, he was squealing most of the mealtime! Of course, that was probably because I wasn't giving him food fast enough and he was LOVING everything that came his way -- he devoured the dressing and yams; the corn and mashed potatoes... and by the looks of the plates following dinner, we all did.

Now the kids are asleep and I'm letting my dinner and dessert settle -- I may raid the refrigerator at 2am. Please don't tell anyone.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! God bless you.