Let the holidays begin!

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas--they are perfect remedies to the end of fall and the passing of my birthday and October. So this week, I got excited to have dinner with friends and family, anticipate snow, bake gingerbread cookies and listen to Charlie Brown Christmas music.

On Tuesday, I made a big pot of chili and some cornbread and ate waaay too much! I know this because the full feeling never went away, but turned into an awful stomach ache that carried over into Wednesday. I was so sick to my stomach that Nathan had to come home at lunch time and take care of Amos. I had done my best to feed him and make sure he didn't hurt himself, but by that time, I needed to be in bed, asleep! It had been a long while since I had been so out of commission. Not since Amos was born did I need to be in bed so much!

I slept all afternoon and had soup for dinner. I felt better and hoped that by Thursday morning, I would be on the mend. I took it easy on myself: I ate scrambled eggs and milk for breakfast, watched (didn't play in) that football game put together by friends and hoped that I could eat our yummy dinner. After I loaded up my plate, I only ate half of what I took. Amos was given the rest of it! Today I am still quite achey--I hope to return to full appetite and no stomach aches soon. For now, my best hope is to lose a few pounds from this ickyness!

So without further ado, pictures from the last few days, including Thanksgiving at the Berends'!

Amos and Dada--workin' and writin' while Mama's sick in bed!

Amos once again proves that toys are useless--the real toy is the box it came in! And look at all of the uses he found: a hat and something to fix with his tools!

The boys played football. Amos joined Dada on the field for awhile but was quickly returned to Mama after he just wanted to be held!

Later on, we headed to the Berends' house for Thanksgiving dinner. I brought Sweet Potato Pie and Spoon Corn bread. We put it all in the oven and waited. Outside, the deep frying began! Mike and Nathan are starting things off right with a glass of yummy Dr. Mike wine!

The deep frying ensued. Yes, there were four fry cooks in the "kitchen!"

Our two yummy turkeys!

Julie warms the plates and is thankful that everyone pitched in to cook!

Much to be thankful for!

Amos took a late nap, which was nice because we got to eat most of our meal. But it took him awhile to wake up. Too bad--picture taking rests for no one!

After we watched the Titans beat the Lions, the boys settled in for Wall-E.

Later, we played Scrabble and Julie got excited about her big score!

And the boys played Legos. It was so sad to tear Amos away and to pick up the mess--they were playing so well together. Oh well, another day! And that concludes our turkey day!

Meanwhile, in the hills of western Williamson County, TN...

Kenny deep fries his own turkey,

and they do some shootin' while they wait for it to cook.

Hope you all had a great day too!