Giving thanks

It's been a wonderful day of family and food, and now everyone is relaxing. Grandma B is reading the "Black Friday" newspaper (which is mostly advertisements), Sean, Bren and Brian are watching Transformers 2, and Erin and I just whipped up a batch of applesauce muffins from a recipe that she printed on www.nickjr.com. Earlier this afternoon while Grandma took her nap the five of us went into the back yard and had about an hour of fun with the soccer ball. We didn't play soccer, but instead played "keep away". We had a lot of laughs (mostly them laughing at me trying to get the ball), and it was fun to run around with them.

Bren and Erin decided to rake the leaves into a pile so that they could jump into it, but after they raked for a bit they decided that it was too itchy.

I have to say that this year, like every other, I am thankful for my family, friends, and my health, but I have so much more to be thankful for, too. I am especially thankful to have had the privilege of going to the Hogar this past summer, and for the lessons that I have learned, and will continue to learn, from the children and Dr. Tony. I'm thankful to be getting SO close to graduating from pre-med and moving on to the next chapter in my life. I'm thankful to have reconnected with several older friends, and especially Judy (who is really family to us). I'm thankful that I have children who want to help those in need around them, and recognize the need to do that (like Erin and Sean asking to buy a meal for the homeless woman at Walmart earlier this evening, which we did).

I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's time for me to get the applesauce muffins out of the oven with Erin, and spend some more time with Grandma B at the diningroom table!