Thanksgiving (Better Late than Never)

So much has been going on that I've been saving my post, a very comprehensive post, about our Thanksgiving until I've had more than 5 uninterrupted minutes. And now that all three kids are in bed.....

Mom and Dad arrived on Wednesday evening after a 20 hour drive from IL. Don't ask me why they drove, it's just something they've always done. Plus, Mom had a trunk full of Christmas gifts, her fancy sewing machine, and luggage; flying just wouldn't have allowed her to bring everything they did. However, I think after they experienced just how faaaar south we live, they'll be considering flying next visit.

Thursday morning was spent cooking relleno and jello cups, two side dishes I agreed to bring to our Program Director's home for Thanksgiving dinner. Josiah helped Dad wash the car and clean out the garage, Mom worked on assembling a display shelf for Laney's side of the kid's room, and Randy kept Laney entertained. I also had a fun time experimenting with Mom and Dad's new fancy camera. That afternoon, we spent a lovely dinner at Dr. Liebert's home and enjoyed a yummy dinner with his family and a few of our friends. It was during this dinner that Laney experienced her first bites of food, straight from the table...mashed potatoes, turkey, and a roll. Now that she's tried "real" food, she has very little interest in her fruit and veggie purees. Oh well, who could blame her?

Friday morning Mom and I avoided the craziness of the mall/WalMart/Target, and started on our craft project, curtains for the kid's room. I intended starting the project 4 months ago, I even purchased the fabric. But as we got closer to Mom and Dad's visit, I decided just to wait so that I would have Mom's sewing expertise. And I'm so glad I did...they couldn't have turned out more perfect. If I had tackled the project alone, I know that we'd be re-doing them once Mom got to town. Here are a couple of pics of the newly decorated room for the kids. It's almost done. Now I just need to track down some natural wood frames to create a memory wall/collage in the last bit of open wall space.

Friday afternoon, we decided to take Mom and Dad to the Island. Yep, the beach in late November. Wanna come visit? It was a lovely day for the beach, a little breazy, but lovely. Josiah even got in the water....there's very little that would keep that kid from the pure joy of splashing around. And Laney just LOVED watching him get tackled by the incoming waves. For dinner, we sat outside on the restaurant patio, taking in all of the sights and smells of the beach. It was lovely.

Saturday morning Mom, Laney, and I were out the door by 9AM to drive 45 minute to McAllen to do a little bit of shopping, mainly in search of a couple of potential bridesmaid dresses for a wedding in May. Well, we were very unsuccessful in finding the particular dresses, but we did find Josiah some black dress pants for his Christmas outfit and Laney a cute little romper to open on Christmas day. We were home by 1PM to enjoy freshly grilled turkey burgers. The rest of the day was spent just enjoying each other, some football (Auburn where were ya?), and a nap here and there. For dinner, we took Mom and Dad to a locally owned restaurant known for their brisket and banana pudding....yummm, what a combination. It was a delicious meal, except that Dad still thinks that Randy's dad's brisket is the BEST. I'm with ya there....once you've had Rudy's brisket, you can never go back.

We took Mom and Dad to the Lutheran church service on Sunday morning. In the many places the Randy and I have lived thus far, we have not lived somewhere where there is a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod...until now. And what's interesting is that the Pastor of the church, here, in Harlingen, is an old Concordia classmate of the current Pastor of my parent's church. What a small world. After church, Mom and Dad stayed just long enough to take a few more pictures, change clothes and load up the car....and then they were on their way back to IL, another 20 hour drive.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for a wonderful visit. Randy and I so very much appreciate the long hours you spent in the car so that you could spend some much needed time with your precious grandchildren (and us, too). We enjoyed showing you where we live and introducing you to our new "family members". We only hope that it's not another 6 months before we get to spend time with you again. We love and miss you.