Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the exception of eating too much food. Isn't that ridiculous.. too much food? We are truly blessed beyond measure and not often enough do I slow down and reflect on just how much God has blessed me with. I am so thankful.

Having all the children together was great fun and old time confusion. The best part of the day? Well I didn't have to clean up a thing after dinner! I just sat, looked through the ads and wondered why people would get up and be at Khol's at 3:00 a.m. (I know.. all toys are 50% off!)
Ed made us a cozy fire and we ALL just relaxed.



Happy and needing a haircut... or something! Girls.... You need to let me know when I am looking like this!The Caccia's came over for dessert and Margy brought her yummie famous pumpkin cheesecake! The kids had a great time catching up with each other.

Yep... we are truly blessed!

Engaged!!!

Betsy and Stephen arrived home last night to celebrate Thanksgiving and.......
THEIR ENGAGEMENT!!
We're SO EXCITED!! We love Stephen!

We were ready for a little celebration...including a little "engagement present".

Sunggies seemed like an appropriate gift! (Kind of a family joke!)

Bets asked her "little sister" to be her Maid of honor!

Happy Family!!... Holly and family were home kinda sick so we'll celebrate today with them :)

Lindsay and Ryan came over to congratulate Betsy and Stephen and begin looking at reception sites.

OK... so that's out BIG NEWS...gotta get back to the kitchen. I've got Thanksgiving here in 4 hours!!

"This Guy Needs a Helmet!"

Well forget the vintage Fisher Price "Little People". I think they kept Jack's interest for about a month until he discovered Uncle Ben's old "starting lineup" football guys. Now he can't get enough of them!
Several weeks ago as I was driving him home from the sitter's house he said, "Mimi, Dick Butkus needs a helmet." I said, "What?" He repeated, "Dick Butkus needs a helmet!" I heard this barely 2 year old correctly! How does he know he was holding Dick Butkus?? Since that day, he now identifies almost all of them.... Jim Harbaugh, John Elway, Emmitt Smith, Simeon Rice....
So last night, we gave Jack his own helmet. I get the feeling this is just the beginning.

BIG weekend!

Once again, it's been too long since I posted! I have been busy with school and my finger is getting much better after crushing it in a movable classroom wall. The injury definitely slowed me down for about a week and 1/2...luckily it is on my left hand and it is not broken, but I still lack feeling in it after 2 weeks. I am thankful- it could have been much worse, but it hasn't been fun! I was able to almost finish Jack's birthday gift- an "eye spy" quilt. It was my first time machine quilting (which has always been against my religion), but I quilted it in less than an hour. I could get used to that!

Jack's birthday this weekend was a big family event! His gm and ggm and great aunt came from IL! The day was just beautiful and Holly did an excellent job planning the details. He was just so precious. I never knew I would love him so much! What did we ever do without him?

The Party had a circus theme! This old clown had always been in my basement when I was a little girl. And Holly asked me to make his little circus tent appliqued shirt. He was so excited :)



The "big hit" gifts were a fish!!... from the Hussa family and a drum set from our neighbor, Karen!I just LOVED having all the girls together.. Uncle Ben, we missed you!

And some boyfriends came along!

On Sunday, Nathan ran and FINISHED the Marine Corps Marathon! We were all so very proud of him. It still seems unbelievable that he was able to run 26.2 miles! It would have been his dad's 57th birthday (I believe). It was was an emotional day for us all.

We finished the day with a chili dinner and trick or treating. Is he the cutest little monkey you've ever seen?