One of my favorite pictures from Easter Sunday.

I’m not sure where I found the idea, but we made a garland of paper leaves with some things we are thankful for written on them. Unfortunately, I should have turned the leaves upside down to write on them, but the more important part is that we did it. We sat around the table sharing what we are thankful for. Mostly, I am thankful that I was able to sit at the table and be thankful today. (I will post pics later).

Not everyone is so lucky to be with their family or people they love today, please remember them today and always. It’s been a pretty rough year for a lot of people. Please keep praying for Anissa.

Matt is thankful for:

• family
• friends
• mommy & daddy
• love
• elly
• food
• kitties & doggy
• doctors
• Preston
• video games

Preston is thankful for:

• turkey
• daddy
• bear
• medicine
• mommy
• love
• cake
• Matt

Mike and I are thankful for each other, for our boys, for having jobs and a roof over our heads, but mostly, we are thankful for the smart and talented doctors who saved my life.

I am extraordinarily grateful and thankful for the people who have supported me when I needed it the most; friends and family near and far.

Happy Thanksgiving.

{obligatory}

First, the trip to the pumpkin patch…the boys wanted to buy a hundred pumpkins. In their defense, there were a LOT of really good ones this year! We settled on one for each of us, plus some little ones.

Then, of course, we carved them!  Matt actually carved most of his own this year – he was so proud of himself! {me too}

Sometimes doing something you really didn’t want to do turns out to be a hell of a good time.

Sometimes having family around is really nice.

Sometimes, being super full with yummy food is the best medicine for what ails you. Well, that and a bunch of laughter.

We went to the Cheap Trick-Poison-Def Leppard concert on Friday night at Pine Knob DTE Energy Music Theatre and had a really good time.  There was much himming and hawing about it prior, mostly because Matt had a T-Ball game and then we had a family reunion to attend then next day.  The original party bus plan fell through for us because of the timing + Mike’s work schedule, but the second party LIMO plan worked out!  We ended up taking this:

party limo!

to the concert.  There were 12 of us total and it was really a perfect fit once we threw in the coolers and blankets!

The ride was nice, full of talking and laughing and a fair amount of sudsy goodness. Being in the limo allowed us to pass by ALL the traffic and put us into a parking lot just for limos and buses.  It was AWESOME.  (That was what Mike and I were dreading was driving to and from the concert)

We hung out in the parking lot for a few minutes before heading in…Mike and Dom had some good laughs

Mike & Dom

Unfortunately we missed Cheap Trick because we got there a little late, but we saw Poison and Def Leppard and it was really good. The funny part was how old we all felt! It didn’t stop Mike from rocking out though!

rock on!

We were up on the hill, therefore a bit far away from the action, but the sound was perfect and we sang our throats dry (luckily we had gigantic beer to soothe)!!

far away!

———————

Saturday brought much scrambling around since I (a) didn’t get groceries for what I needed to make for our potluck reunion and (b) I totally screwed up the time of Matt’s tball game.  The game was good (sorry you missed it, guys!) – Matt smacked the ball pretty good all three times up to bat.

Mr. T-Ball

After the game we went to a local restaurant and had lunch with my cousins, Nicole and Chris, and Scott, Tracy and Dylan.  We ended up at the reunion a bit late since we all had to shower and get food ready, but it worked out well with the kids.

Our family reunions are getting smaller, but it was very nice to see everyone that’s still around (minus my Hynesies!).  Matt and Preston borrowed my camera and took quite a few pictures…they got some good shots! Speaking of Matt & Preston – they were AWESOME.  I am SO proud of how well they behave (you know, around other people!!).  And my cousin’s little girl is about the least effective form of birth control I’ve come across in a long time….huge grins and totally edible!

(You can see those pictures here under Neinas Reunion)

After it was over, our little crew came over to our house. We had originally planned on playing Wii, but everyone was tired – it was later than we thought! So we had some drinks and talked and laughed.  Video to come of Chris and Scott and Dylan on the trampoline!! hehe

———————-

Today, we “kids” got together (minus my wonderful husband and kids who wanted to be bum-like today) and went to Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor.  It was a lovely, sunny day and we 5 sat out at a blue picnic table that matched the sky. We ate until we literally could eat no more; I laughed until my eyes blurred. Originally my uncle and his wife (Nicole’s dad) and my dad and his wife were going to come with us, but it turned out to be me, Nicole, Chris, Scott and Tracy and it was just about perfect (perfect would have been the addition of Michelle, PJ, Kirk, Todd, Rebecca and Mike).  Chris had us laughing hysterically about, of all subjects, peeing, and the couple behind us was pretty happy when we left!

Still full hours later, I said goodbye to my glowing, adorably pregnant cousin and came home to boys – happy to see me, but whining. Hi, real life, I’m home!!

It was a GOOD weekend.