So much to be thankful for...

Making a Thanksgiving Turkey of our own....and Joshua's initiation with markers. Yikes!

Digging for treasure in Nana's cupboard...

If this isn't the most gorgeous girl you've ever seen, I don't know who is!

Fast asleep in the car (toolbox in hand....just in case)!

Decorating Nana and Pap's HUGE Christmas tree.

Decorating our not-near-as-huge Christmas tree!

That surely is a lot of pictures...but it's been a while since we posted, so I suppose that's fair.

My favorite thing about the Thanksgiving season is that we all finally slow down long enough to be thankful, and most of us make a point to share our gratitude with others. I'm generally good for a really super sappy post at Thanksgiving, and I'm not sure I'll deliver this year. But it doesn't mean I'm any less thankful this year. I think it was very clear to me, while surrounded with people who we love and who love us dearly at the Thanksgiving table, that we are so incredibly blessed. God has been so good to us...with a list of things for which I'm grateful that could take all the space I'm allowed here. And so, for my husband, my precious son, our parents, my sister and brother-in-law and amazing neice, our grandparents and extended families, I am so thankful and I love you all dearly. I'm also thankful for my wonderful friends--- you know, the ones who check in on us here, who pray for us, who think of us, who transcend miles and time and complications to be our friends. We are so thankful for you, too. And for my mom's sweet potatoes and filling balls that filled my tummy so warmly and so deliciously, I am also VERY thankful. If I could be half the cook my mom is, I'd be so happy! Something to aspire to, I suppose.

We got to Lewistown on Wednesday afternoon and settled in for a nice long stay. It was jam packed with visiting, most notably with Libby, Zig and Brooke. I hope you enjoy the picture of her that I included above. And I really hope Libby doesn't care that I stole her thunder to post it on their site, but I can't stop staring at it. Brooke is so sweet....and I just love her to bits. I can't wait to see her personality develop and to hear her giggle. She's working so hard at it.....it'll be soon, I can just tell. We got to visit with Pappy Ray and Pappy Fred and Freda too, which was quite fun.

Wednesday evening we got a phone call from Butch and Rhonda announcing that they'd just found out that Stacie and Noah are expecting this summer! Congratulations, you guys! I wanted to do jumping jacks, I was so excited for them. We're praying for a safe, healthy and happy pregnancy for them. They'll be amazing parents....I just know it. The thought of the Richard clan expanding is so much fun!

Thursday we all helped mom cook dinner the best we could and we ALL helped to eat it! Yummy doesn't even come close to describing it! Friday was an at-home day with the famous turkey and waffle dinner on Friday evening. It's always a highlight (especially for Libby!). We decorated mom and dad's tree in the evening and had a great time doing that. All too quickly, it was Saturday morning and we were packing up to come home. We tackled the inside Christmas decorations and Jason finished the outside last evening. Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we're full speed ahead into the Christmas season here. I just love the house at Christmas time...the lights, the tree, the anticipation of the memories we'll make with Joshua now that he's starting to grasp the concept of Christmas.

I missed my Gram a whole lot this Thanksgiving, and I think we were all feeling the same way. We talked about her quite a bit and remembered her very warmly. It was really strange, because Gram's dementia had her slowly slipping away from us for a good number of years and she hasn't really been a part of Thanksgiving for quite some time, but her absence was palpable this year to me. I just remember so many Thanksgivings that we spent together in her kitchen preparing the meal. And as I stirred the gravy and worked with the sweet potatoes to help Mom, the memories of Gram giving me a "job to do" were very clear. I miss her so much and wish she would have had the opportunity to know Joshua and enjoy him more. But everytime I hear his little giggle (the Ernie one), I can hear Gram laughing with us too. And as I watch my mom be the same kind of wonderful grandmother to Joshua and Brooke as Gram was to us, and I witness the connection that Judy has with Joshua as well, I am so grateful that he will have those same kinds of memories with his grandmas. What a lucky little boy he is.

So, enjoy the pictures and my rambling thoughts for today. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and that all the things that you have to be grateful for were front and center in your lives this holiday.