Feeling thankful...

I have many blessings in my life to be thankful for, especially family and friends.  We were all happy that my mother-in-law Fran and brother-in-law Nathan were able to drive out here for a few days and spend Thanksgiving with us!  We had a good time with them, as always. :)  Here we are at dinner on Thanksgiving Day, November 24th...

Ben, Fran, and Emm: 

Nathan and Nick:

George and me:

A sampling of our feast, which turned out yummy, if I do say so myself!

We had dinner AND a show.  Ben regaled us with a puppet/stuffed animal concert after we ate:

Ben and Nick and the wishbone:

Snap!

Ben gets to make a wish:

Later that day, we had our first Christmas celebration of the season!  Fran had brought along gifts for all of us.  Ben was the first to open one:

A guitar!  (A Cars guitar, even!)

 Cool!  Thanks, Grandma Fran!!

Emmalie's turn:

Nick opens one:

Train books for George:

Nathan's turn:

We all received wonderful gifts from Fran.  Among other things, she gave me two new penguin figurines for my collection ~ one an Isobel Bloom and the other made from blown glass! :)

We played lots of games when Fran and Nathan were here, including Apples to Apples and Five Crowns:

And we put together this K'Nex rollercoaster set that Fran gave to Benjamin.  (Okay, there's no "we" about it ~ I didn't help at all, just watched!)  George and the boys worked on it off and on all Friday, and finally finished it around 11pm.  It's fun to watch!

Yesterday after lunch, Fran and Nathan headed back home.  We miss them already, but hope to see them at Christmas!