Thanksgiving 2013

First of all, I'd like to share some of the people I am thankful for this year.  2013 is a year we will never forget and will always look back on.

I am most thankful for my wonderful husband, Jimmy, and our son, Parker.  Jimmy puts up with all my crap and rarely complains.  I REALLY married up.  I am a demanding person and often have a short fuse.  I am working on becoming calmer, but it's tough work.  Parker is such a blessing to us.  I always knew I wanted to be a mom and he made that a reality.  We have put him through so much over the last 3 1/2 months and he has been such a trooper.  I can see his yearning to learn.  I am so proud to call him my baby.

I am also thankful for our amazing extended families.  We have had so much love and support from everyone.  They have listened to our woes and comforted us through everything.

We also have an amazing circle of friends that have surrounded us in prayer and love.  They have often been an outlet when I needed to vent or offered encouragement and hope.

I am so thankful for the amazing team of doctors and therapists we have met over the last several months. They are opening our eyes to things we never could have seen.  They are helping Parker communicate and cope and learn.  Many of them feel like a part of our family.

There are so many things to be thankful for this year, but I will leave it at that.  We had a fun day with both sides of our family yesterday.  And we ate WAY too much food.  We are on pie duty each year, but didn't have to do any of the real cooking.  We started with lunch at Jimmy's parents place.  I love getting together with his whole family and watching Parker play with his cousins.

So many fun toys to play with!  The helicopter is his favorite!

Turkey, ham and all the fixings!

It's always hard to get a good picture of more than one kid, but they are all cute.

Parker with 3 of his cousins

Parker was really intrigued by Izzy (on the right) this time.  I think it might have been her glasses, but I am not sure.  He just kept staring at her!

After stuffing our faces with stuffing....there was dessert, FOUR desserts.  Pecan, banana cream and chocolate pies plus pumpkin bread pudding.

I think we were all ready for a nap after that, especially Parker!  We headed over to my parents to put Parker down for his nap.  We had a delicious meal that I forgot to photograph, all the standard fare!  We have a pool tournament every year that I always look forward to, unfortunately the Herrmann's are not very good.  This was the 6th year and Jimmy had the first break.

 It was an all ladies final, my brother's girlfriend Lindsay versus my mom.

 Lindsay came from behind and won it all!

Parker also got some good snuggle time in with Uncle Sean and Grandpa.

Parker is not a snuggler so it melted my heart to see his sit with my dad for a while.

I hope you all had a great holiday and had the opportunity to spend it with those you are thankful for.