Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was spent how we spend it best: with the Vermont Madsens. And the thought that it is our last Brothers Madsen Thanksgiving makes the tears start flowing freely. The festivities were dampened a little by one baby Lucy (why didn't anyone remind me that newborns were so much work?) but we did manage to have some fun. Two trips to Five Guys (of course), two mountain bike rides (for the big boys), one trip to Target, a visit to the Albany Museum, a Thomas the Train movie in the theater and, obviously, the making and eating of a dreamy homemade Thanksgiving dinner. None too shabby, I'd say.

Will loved having his cousins come and the excitement at their impending arrival was palpable. He helped me clean the whole house for his cousins with gusto and not one complaint--all I had to say was, "We got to clean this or that for our cousins" and he was all help (not his typical reaction when asked to clean). Plus, he called Amy at least a dozen times, asking when they were coming. And when he was waiting for them to arrive at the window and they finally got here, he dashed into my room and shouted with joy, "Our cousins are here! Our cousins are here!" And the next day, when Josh got home from work, he proclaimed, "Dada, our cousins are still here!" It was priceless. Whatever are we going to do without our Vermont Madsens?

Of course, this Thanksgiving I am grateful for my little family. How blessed are we to have Will and Lucy Lu in our lives? I could never fully verbalize how grateful I am for those two little rug-rats, even if they are the world's least photogenic children, as evidenced below:

Sam, Beth, Will and Lucy (barely) sitting, ready to eat a Thanksgiving feast (where is James? Who knows??)
And here is a better one of Sam and Beth but check out Will. I'll bet those of you who know him know what he is saying, "I am tired." A mantra he chats from 5:00 on.

And my two kids. Aren't they prizes?


Happy Thanksgiving!