the.best.life: Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for this year! As always, God has blessed us in so many ways throughout 2008 -- 2 incredible boys! a great home! great family and friends! Tim's dream job! He has provided in ways beyond what we could have ever asked or imagined!

So, as we reflected on Thanksgiving Day, the words grateful and thankful just hit the tip of the iceberg for us. More like: PINCH ME--IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING??!--HUH??!--HOW??!--WOW!--AND THEN DEAFENING SILENCE FROM THE AWE OF GOD'S TIMING AND FAITHFULNESS THROUGH IT ALL! SERIOUSLY!? THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And, we were able to share a wonderful Thanksgiving with Tim's mom and John and Aunts Britt & Lindsay -- Levi's first and Mason's third! Tim was off this Thanksgiving and the entire weekend afterward -- which is a first in a very.long.time!!! So we soaked it in!

Tim's mom and John came over along with Aunts Britt and Lindsay for a wonderful dinner --courtesy of Heinen's. That's right, we took the "low stress, more fun" approach and picked up a full dinner at our upscale grocery store on Wednesday. Heat and Serve--that's what I'm talking about! And it was delicious!! Of course, we made some appetizers (can't live without Grandma Bella's deviled eggs) and I threw in a dessert or two to top off Heinen's pumpkin and apple pies! We couldn't go wrong.

After gorging ourselves on the delicious food, we watched CARS and Grandma Bella brought over a new toy for Mason--POINGO--where you have a magic pen that reads the story to you and does sound effects. He loves it! And we couldn't get over how Levi understood how it worked!! He was pointing up a storm. And chewing on it in between.

I slacked in the picture department....missing Levi on his 1st turkey day--how did that happen?? I guess all of the heating and serving took over. I think Bella got some pics, though. I also missed a pic of Aunt Linds....sad, but true. Levi had a blast showing off his walking and talking and eating skills. He gobbled down some turkey and sweet potato casserole. Mason, on the other hand, wouldn't touch a thing (what kid does not like MASHED POTATOES??) and I ended up making him Dino Nuggets and frozen veggies...ridiculous!

I did a bit of early Black Friday shopping and then we went over to my mom's sister's house (Aunt Karen) to see all of the cousins and their children. Then, we high-tailed it over to Uncle Brandon's hockey game--Levi's first hockey game--and then relaxed the rest of the weekend!