Happy Thanksgiving-2009!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope everyone else did, too. We had Alex visiting, he had planned to go to New York with friends, but realized that he had so much homework and studying to do, so he decided to come here instead. We were so excited to have him! He is always pleasant and helpful to have around. He fits into our family like he lived here all his life and we are always happy to see him. The poor guy has been sick almost the whole time he has been at school, and looked terrible when he got here. Courtney immediately gave him a sisterly lecture on getting rest and taking care of himself-and he did. By the time he left he was all better and all of his homework done, with just a little more to do in the library this morning. He is still settling into a routine and balancing his studies, and we all just need to trust that he is good kid, extremely smart, and will do the right thing. He is in no way perfect, and we all need to step back and remember what we were like at that age. He has our unconditional love and support, and I hope I speak for everyone reading this.
We also had Casey and her boyfriend Nick for Thanksgiving. Casey has been dating Nick since the summer and dated him in high school, also. She was a bit nervous about bringing him here, and he was nervous, too-who wouldn't be nervous? But it was all good. Nick was perfectly polite and pleasant and we had a great time. I made him a cheesecake-his favorite, and I think that may be one of the reasons they committed to coming for Christmas! It was great to see them and we had a great time.
After dinner and Casey and Nick had left, we all went over to Steve and Caren's house for Pictionary. We played guys against the girls- it was fun. Caren's son Josh and his girlfriend showed up and they played for a while, then they left just as our friends Jodie and Alex showed up! Jodie and Alex were here having dinner with her sister, who lives here near us. So we got to see everyone! We had a glass of wine and chatted for a bit. It was such a nice ending to a great day.
I am putting up some pictures of Carli raking leaves today. The weather was nice today, but should be getting much colder this week, so she was outside enjoying the warm sun!
Make sure you watch for Courtney next Saturday morning on the Today Show-her class is going to New York for the weekend and will be outside the Today show trying to get a little face time. Her teacher says they always get on! We will be setting our DVR and hopefully will catch them!
Courtney finished out the cross country year by lettering in varsity cross country, not easy to do as a freshman and we are very proud of her. Her report card was excellent, too. She has already started indoor track and has practice everyday after school. It seems like we hardly ever see her anymore!
Have a great week....