It was a beautiful day.

Yesterday was a wonderful day.

As planned, my sister, her husband, and their three boys met up with us for Thanksgiving dinner. I knew they were coming, but had been sworn to secrecy. My dad was so excited to have them join us for Thanksgiving and was excited to surprise the rest of our family with their presence. My dad's mom got very emotional to see them all.

My family does a large gathering every year. This year the numbers were low, we only had about 30 people. My sister hadn't been able to come up since her oldest son, now 9, was a year old. So it was great for them to be here. We had a great meal with everyone then all travelled back to my parents' house last night. When we got here the boys were very exicted. We had to make sure we did the traditional measuring of the boys on a wall my parents have in their kitchen. We saw the mark made when my oldest nephew was here 8 years ago, what a difference. They are all growing up so fast.

Last night I made some ornaments with the boys and they decided which ones to take home with them and then hung the rest on Gramee and Grampee's tree. Today we painted a different kind of ornament and they will get hung on the tree later. Mom loves the Christams tree and having decorations from the boys means a lot. I will try to remember to bring some of the decorations to her in the hosiptal after surgery...

I know my last blog was depressing and while I am not sorry for its content I do hope it didn't dapen the spirits of other people's holiday. It's a tough time... but we are seeing the beauty in it too... ironic.

Today my dad, brother in law, and I did a huge project... the ceiling in my parent's bedroom began leaking the other night... and most likely will leak some during the winter. The leaks were right over their bed... so... mom was worrying about how that would play out as winter progressed and she said that sleeping with a towel over her for one night to catch the drips was one thing, but the whole winter was something else... so we moved their bed into a different space. Doesn't sound too hard, right? Well... my parents' bed is not a typical bed... it is a king size bed that is on a frame that was designed for a waterbed...that dad has "improved" upon using his yankee ingenuity. So... this thing was a massive project.. it involved lots of disassembling and reassembling as well as moving heavy pieces... then rearranging lots of other things as well... but it is done and I think it will make mom and dad feel more at ease about the winter... I am tired though...

I am taking some great pictures and will share them when I get home. For the moment... my freak out is under control.

Rico, thanks for your note...