Thanksgiving

Everything between Brecken's birthday and now is pretty much a blur, but I am going to do my best to jot down the highlights!

For Thanksgiving, we went to Jim's grandparents' house for dinner/lunch. It was a smaller group than usual and Brecken wasn't feeling well. Teeth or a bug, still not sure. She was pretty much miserable and we didn't take a pack-n-play so she didn't get to nap and it was just pretty darn rough for her! Jim played an intense game or games of cribbage. And Cade played (with help from Grandma Berta) a cool game of Dominoes (it had a train with sound effects) that Aunt Margaret brought. We had a nice visit and always enjoy going to Grandpa Don and Grandma Eileen's. They are in their 80's, but you would never know it. We left there early evening and were planning to just head back to my mom's, but decided to go to my aunt's house to say hi to my family. My cousin Jami and her husband Daniele were back from Chicago and would be in Italy for Christmas, so it was nice to see them for a bit. Cade got to play with Ali, Corbin, and Conner and Jim got to play a game or two or three of pool.

Thanksgiving with my mom's family is traditionally at my aunt's house and *4* years ago it was where we announced that a new family member was on the way. Such a special memory. I suggested that we all say something that we were thankful for, which I know everyone loves to do! ; ) When it was my turn, through lots of tears, I explained how the past year had been difficult for us, but that we had something extra special to be thankful for...we were pregnant!!

{Just to clarify, that was 4 years ago, not this Thanksgiving!}

My mom and I did a little shopping on "Black Friday" but we didn't go out early with the crazies. Although I wanted to, just to say I have done it!! We had Brecken's party with Jim's family on that Saturday and then headed back home to get ready for Christmas!!!

Still Here

We're still here...planning to post some of our holiday happenings, but until then a few pictures. What have we been up to? A month of Christmases and three weekends of traveling...looking forward to doing nothing for awhile!

Cade and I had dentist appointments yesterday (his second). He did great, goes in there by himself while I'm getting my teeth cleaned. He was done before me and then came into my room, saw me lying there, and promptly gave me the sweetest little kiss on the cheek. He can be so sweet when he wants to. And no, he didn't have to get dentures...found these in the basement, Dad...had no idea you guys bought these during your trip to the candy store. I wouldn't recommend eating them!

Happy Birthday to Jim on the 2nd! We held our annual Surf-n-Turf with the Cases on New Year's Day and celebrated Jim's birthday by playing Blokus. Before they came over, Jim told me I should go out and buy the game (we had played it at Christmas and he became addicted to it.) Not knowing anything, I said, "oh Anne probably already bought it." Because she was more addicted to it than Jim I think! ; ) So Jim calls her and asks if she bought it and she says, "maybe." So we laughed about that...Jim just thought she was embarrassed that she had bought it already. Turns out she had bought it as a birthday gift for him! If you haven't played this game, you need to...so much fun! If you look closely, you may see a blood stain on Cade's shirt. About 10 minutes before the Cases arrived, he decided to yank on a stocking...and found out that stocking hangers are heavy and when one falls on your head it hurts bad and bleeds a lot! Thankfully it was just a little nick and no emergency care was needed. And he wouldn't change his shirt because, according to him, it didn't bleed.