Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, it's been a year since we started this blog, and life keeps on churning. We've had a very nice Thanksgiving week this year. On Thursday, we had planned to have dinner with our neighbors. We had already split the cooking duties a few days earlier when, on Wednesday morning, we learned that our neighbors' two little boys had croup and a fever. So, we ended up each cooking our dishes, filling our plates at each other's houses and eating in our separate quarters. It wasn't quite what we'd planned, but we made it work. After our kids went to bed, we put a baby monitor in their apartment and they came over to play Phase 10 with us, so we did manage to get to spend some time together at the end of the day.

On Friday, Laura and I had a much-needed "Mommy-daughter date." With her in preschool half of the day, I get plenty of time with just Nathan, but almost none with just her. We went to the Children's Museum and had a great time exploring, playing, and doing face paint. Cliff spent much of his day relaxing and enjoying lots of college football. He is excited to go to the Big XII championship next week in Dallas (in the Cowboys' new stadium, no less), and after that we will wait to see what happens with the bowl games. Today, it was back to studying for Cliff. The final push of the semester is here, and lots of projects loom in the next two weeks. He is definitely looking forward to more relaxation over Christmas.

Finally.....some things we are thankful for this year:

Cliff-his family and our willingness to pick up and move here so he could pursue his doctorate. He appreciates our ability to adapt to our new environment and make this transition smooth.

Gina-my beautiful kids, my great husband, and a part-time job that lets me stay in shape and have time to take care of my family.

Laura-her friends Dustin and James and her cousin Owen.

Nathan (he couldn't actually tell us, so here's my best guess at what he would say)-Mommy, Daddy, Laura, his ever-growing ability to tell us what he wants and his increasingly daring climbing prowess.

We hope you all have had a wonderful holiday weekend and that you are grateful everyday for the wonderful things in your life.

Gina