So Many Things to be Thankful For!

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. We had an extra person at the dining room table. Well, to be exact, we had 2 extra people, but only one of them was special! My mom came to visit. We haven't seen her in FIVE years! I was so excited to see her and for her to meet Austyn and Ryleigh. I thought Ryleigh would be a little apprehensive about meeting her and being around a new person, but I was wrong. Really wrong. Before we even left the airport she was insisting on holding hands with my mom while she walked. That was a sign of great things to come. She spoiled the kids rotten, just like any other Granny would do. Ryleigh was practically attached to her the entire time. I think its because she got anything and pretty much everything she wanted. lol. Taylor goofed around a bit with her, but he did keep to himself a lot. I guess he's just at that age where he is more nonchalant and a little less into what everyone else is into. And then there was Austyn. He kept telling my mom that she was going down to Chinese town. I told him to say, " You are going down! Down to China town!" One time, and he got the phrase stuck in his head, and of course he insisted on saying 'Shinese town" instead of China town. He's hilarious. Anyway, so back to our Thanksgiving. We had a really good dinner. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, 2 kinds of gravy, 2 kinds of green beans, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, 2 kinds of stuffing, pea salad, rolls and a cherry, pumpkin and pecan pie! It was quite the feast. The kids sat at the kid table and sipped their sparkling apple-cranberry cider. We finished the night with a game of Battle of the Sexes. It was 3 against 2, and WE (the women) still managed to pull it off! =D lol. We had a great Thanksgiving and we had so much to be thankful for. We had my mom visiting, friends over, Mark home and the kids. My mom stayed home with the kids the next day while Mark and I got some Christmas shopping done. It was great to be able to go out and not have to sneak things into carts, lol. We really appreciated that. Saturday morning I attempted to get the kids to make a gingerbread house with me. I was really grumpy and exhausted. I had taken allergy meds the night before and just didn't get enough sleep. So, the grouch ended up putting it all together alone. It sucked, but oh well. We watched lots of movies, and we also picked up a Christmas tree. She even worked in a shopping trip with Mark. Who knows what they bought, but she says I'll love it! I'll take her word for it, while I wait in an anxious anticipation. My mom's visit was short, but we fully enjoyed having her here. The kids and I, and Mark too, are all missing her, a lot! Hopefully it wasn't too crazy for her and she'll come back to visit again soon! =o)