Thanksgiving

So much to catch up with. I think I'll go out of order and start with Thanksgiving since it was my favorite of recent memories.

I was blessed to be able to have my little brother fly out to Connecticut for the holiday. If I were able to articulate my emotions in the precise way I wanted, you would know, truly, how amazing of a gift this was for me. But after typing, erasing, retyping, erasing, re-retyping, and erasing yet again, I am throwing in the towel. I cannot find the words. But know that there is no other gift that would mean more to me this holiday season. My heart was full this Thanksgiving as I spent time with my family, my brother, and some amazing friends.

Brian flew in Monday and spent time playing with the kids and helping me shop and get ready for my very first, home cooked, Thanksgiving meal.

 

 Wednesday, Paxon had his class Thanksgiving party that I was able to help out with. I really enjoyed going inside the classroom and seeing Paxon in his school environment. Below is Paxon and his friend Zane, who lives on our street.

At noon, Paxon and I left his school and met up with the rest of the family to head down to New York City so Brian could visit Times Square for the first time. We strolled through Central Park and did some shopping at Times Square.

 

Brian took Paxon and Ryan into Toys R Us and let them pick out an early Christmas gift. Paxon chose a "red" Batman, and Ryan found a Hello Kitty stuffed animal. Thanks Uncle Brian!

 

After stopping in a few more stores, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We mostly chose it for the cliche. But the food was excellent, if over priced, and all the music paraphernalia was really awesome. If you really know me, you know I love Linkin Park. That Hard Rock Cafe had Brad Delson's guitar with the band's signatures. And in honor of my mother, I had to grab a photo of Ryan in front of the Elvis' display which featured one of his guitars and a suit he wore during a NYC performance.

 

 

 

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the boys and Ryan drew pictures of the things they were grateful for and played baseball in the yard while I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner. And not to toot my own horn, but it was a pretty dang good meal ;) The turkey finished almost an hour early, but I was able to pull everything together in time without anyone noticing.

 Devon's: Wakeboarding/the Lake, Temples, Anesthesia, TV, and America.

 Brian's: Pumpkin Pie and Turkey, His Health, Angry Birds, Paxon and Ryan, Golf, Family, and Magic-the cat not hobby ;)

(Scribbles courtesy of Ryan)

 Ryan: "It's a dinosaur smashing a *she then makes a loud noise and explosion sound while slamming her fist into her other palm* Then the dinosaur falls down and gets an ow-ey. Here is his ow-ey." You can see her finger pointing to the orange scribble, which is the ow-ey.

 Paxon's: The Sky, the Moon, the Sun, the waves (which don't show up), the Dirt, Mommy, Daddy, Ryan, Uncle Brian, Charlie, Himself, Angry Birds, Space Angry Birds, and the grass.

 

 

 

 

 

I think this post breaks the record of my longest post EVER, but if you braved it out to the end, I am sure you see why. There are so many blessings to be grateful for; but this 2012 Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my little brother. Brian, I love you so much and always will no matter what!