Giving thanks

We were blessed to have a wonderful thanksgiving. We did spend the weekend with Joe and Kathy, and it was relaxing and fun to spend time with them.

Stella did appear to be sick, though. However, we didn't really discover it until we were at their house for several hours. She was very sleepy and feverish, but had no other symptoms. As it turned out, it made for a rather easy weekend for us. She pretty much just laid on Papa's & Grandma's big leather couch, watching DVDs and reading books. She also snuggled with them a lot. A.J. was the one who was full of it.

He was very excited to be at Papa's house ... he was always on the move ...


He pretty much followed his Papa around everywhere.


He was obsessed with, but terrified of, Kathy's cat "Fritz." But he loved spending time with his cousins Livi and Veda ... here he is with Veda at the piano. The cousins ran around like a pack of wild dogs, and were every bit as noisy.


Stella was quiet and calm and very relaxed. She enjoyed the collection of kids' books at Grandma's house:


And even sat next to Uncle Chris to look at a book, very briefly.

John took all these great pictures.

The food was great. I ate too much and on Thanksgiving Day, drank too many glasses of wine. It was a good Thanksgiving. And Stella felt better by Sunday, and returned to school on Monday. She's been taking a medication that has helped with her anxiety a lot. We're very proud of her because she's been having a lot of success on the potty, and her teacher has reported some improvements at school.

Meanwhile, winter arrived in Michigan with an attitude. It feels like it went from mid-Fall to mid-January. We've got a frozen world around us. John even built a snowman with Albert. Even though it's so cold, he needs to be outside sometimes. He's having difficulty with going stir-crazy in the house. Last Sunday, John said after it snowed, "This is the perfect snow for a snowman."