Comfy, Cozy Crazy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is the holiday where I am thankful for so much yet hopeful for the season to come. It just feels so comfy cozy with family. The smell of turkey, the taste of pumpkin pie, the games played, the stories told, the laughter.....the memories made. Our Christmas wish lists are shared and plans are made for the holidays. It seems so weird that this holiday has become overshadowed by black Friday but that also brings excitement to the day.

This year was a first thanksgiving for two in our family. Boden enjoyed the day with his cousin Emma! We went over the river and through the woods (ok, not really the woods) to grandma and grandpa's house. We were lucky that grandpa was still feeling good as he had his second round of chemo on Wednesday and his last chemo left him pretty sick the days following. My sister and her husband and their daughter Emma came from Illinois to stay. Watching two babies is one of the funniest things to do! Everything is just so darn cute! Boden started sitting up! This might be because his elder cousin by 2 months has already mastered this task as well as crawling and getting into EVERYTHING! The food was so good. My favorite is croissants, Hali's is green olives! Leiton loves the turkey and Boden's favorite is sweet potatoes. We all played a game of Apples to Apples which was fun. Games are so much fun with lots of people. The fireplace had a fire going and we all had full tummies. My sister and I had a great time reminiscing of our younger years as always. That makes me feel old. And even the drive home was a blast as I played the Christmas song station and the kids sang the whole way home to all their "favorite" songs. I hope y'all had a wonderful day as well!

Boden

Boden is now 7 months old....I cannot believe it! It seemed like I waited forever for him to arrive and did not know at all what to expect with his arrival as to how it would affect everyone's lives. He has been a blessing to us all. He is so delightful to be around. He has been an extremely content baby from the start. In the hospital I thought something might be wrong with him since he never cried and seemed to sleep so well. That good behavior continued and I am still in awe of how easy it has been. He is now just starting to sit up a bit. He really enjoys standing up. He has stood up by himself while holding onto the couch and will imitate walking as I carry him across the room. He babbles, belly laughs and drools. He is getting his two bottom teeth in at the same time right now. He has been awaking more at night lately (about every hour or so). I blame that on my extreme irritability and lack of patience with my other children, but all is good right? Boden wants to be a big kid like his brother and sissy. He looks up to them with awe and gives them huge smiles which only makes them smile which sometimes is a huge feat! Boden has been a wonderful addition to our family. I am so thankful to get to spend his first Thanksgiving with him this week. A kind of neat note...I found this website while googling his name. It is http://www.miniboden.com/. They have the cutest clothes for kids! Too cool. I also saw on Meritcare's website that there are some other Boden babies being born. I had never heard of that name before I found it in a baby book. :)

Halloween...just to get it out there.

I know it isn't even interesting to see pictures of Halloween costumes anymore but I need to do things in order now! We all had fevers but we managed to put our costumes on and treck out for a good 2 blocks. Note, I said 2 blocks however do you see how full their buckets are of candy?? I am glad the candy is gone...I had a bad habit of eating their candy while they were at school. Oi!