Thanksgiving Is Every Day...

Our family celebrated Thanksgiving today. Last night my brother, Daniel, came from Jasper and spent the night to spend the holiday with us. Joseph woke up last night and was surprised to see Uncle Dan sitting at the computer Googling something about chess, molecular genetics, or quantum computing...you know...the usual...for Daniel! Joseph said what I believe was his version of 'Uncle Dan' when he was getting out of bed this morning.

Uncle Duane and Auntie Christine came this afternoon to share in a large feast that James prepared. We dined on turkey, ham (James made a brown sugar glaze!), yeast rolls, green bean casserole (I made this...teeh, heeh), potato salad, deviled eggs, and turkey stuffing. We had a great time chatting over delicious, warm traditional foods. Duane and Christine loved watching Joseph sign for 'more' yeast rolls! (He's like his Momma...loves the bread!)

After dinner, the guys caught up while Christine and I went through a few boxes of baby goodies for Little Simon- their soon-to-be-arrival! She is now 33 weeks, and is feelin' every week of it! She's all belly, and is cute as a button pregnant. Little Simon was gifted a lot of Joseph's clothes....I reminisced looking at the little gowns for night-night, his little shoes, and outfits that he outgrew. Even while he ran from room to room, laughing, showing off for his uncles and aunt, those little baby moments were being searched for in my memory.

This was Chloe's first Thanksgiving. She won't remember any of it, but I will, a lot of moments. She was lavished with affection by her uncles. She showed them her new sounds (ya ya ya, ba, ba, ba, da, da, da), her speedy commando crawl, and her pull-to-stand! Oh, and let me not forget impatience! Ha! She grunted and kicked her legs in between bites of food while I was shoveling it in as fast as possible!

Our camera slept through the whole day--shame on him! I was happy to be in the moment and enjoy others enjoying our Little Ones. A few still frames remain in my mind tonight as I write: Joseph's little hand on Christine's belly (we told him his baby cousin was in there); Daniel sharing rhyming words with Chloe (goggle, boggle, coddle, moddle); James cooking his heart out, then relaxing afterwards with Duane and Daniel; Duane loving up to Chloe and she was talking to him; Joseph running around in his yellow pajamas that Emma bought for him (he wore them tonight for the first time)...so cute and fuzzy! These are the days I live for...family days!


For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson