thirty days of thanksgiving // week three

THANKFUL that I got to spend a day with Jenn and her wonderful family.  We love and treasure our friends!  We had such a good visit at our home, good treats at Serendipity 3, and we even visited the Pawn Stars shop (a post on that later).  I can't wait to see them all again . . . . next week!  I feel like I need to be pinched!

THANKFUL for orthodontists and that we don't have to live with crooked teeth!  Conner got brackets placed so he can start wearing headgear.  14 hours a day (mostly while sleeping) is the plan for Phase I.  Our orthodontist seems pretty great and even called me later that evening to see how Conner was doing.

THANKFUL for good books.  I'm currently reading These is my Words and really enjoying it.  I was invited to join a book club that includes some ladies from church.  I'm really excited to go and venture out socially.  But . . . I'm not sure I'll have the book finished on time!  Carving out TIME to read has always been a challenge for me.  Looks like I'll be cramming this weekend.

THANKFUL for the Turkey Bowl tradition.  A few weeks ago we had our Home Teachers sitting in our living room, chatting, when Conner said, "One thing I'll really miss about Oregon is that they had a Turkey Bowl."  Their eyes lit up and said, "Well . . . I think you'll be okay.  We have a Turkey Bowl too."  The boys had a great time playing on Thursday morning and I like that they can still participate in this tradition.  There are a few differences though.  While they were used to playing in 47 degrees with rain & long-johns, now they're playing in 67 degrees with sunshine & shorts.

THANKFUL for Thanksgiving!  We had a great Thanksgiving day and meal.  The food was delicious and we loved eating at our big dining table (with enough room to put the food on the table - a first for us).  We celebrated the holiday with just our family of 5 and it was a nice quiet day.  The boys played football, I cooked, and we watched the parade, a dog show, and Punkin Chunkin on tv.

Here is the one photo I got of us on Thanksgiving (minus me, the photographer).

A few memories from the Thanksgiving table.

• I had to laugh when Payton said he was "so full" and yet he hadn't touched a single thing on his plate!  His Thanksgiving meal consisted of Martinelli's and egg nog.
• The kids discussed their ideas for a Thanksgiving-themed Wipeout course and got each other laughing so hard that each one had to take an emergency trip to the bathroom.
• Anna drew pictures for everyone and set them at each place setting.  She was sooo anxious to help me set the table (bugged me about it all morning long) because she wanted to set out her notes.
• This is the first year we let the kids use our nice glasses and tea cups and silverware.  In previous years they only got a china plate, a plastic cup, and the everyday silverware.
• The bacon-wrapped green bean bundles were a HUGE hit.