Thanksgiving...

2009...Take a look at the spread Kimmy would put on our table each year!!  Turkey, ciabatta stuffing, pumpkin roll, cranberry bread, yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy...and something green (no, I did not have anything green this year!).

This one is from last year, 2010.  Kimmy was distressed that she would not be able to cook this year.  She joked "I may blow myself up!", due to her oxygen.  Our neighbors, Betsey and Brian and Amy and Tom put together a wonderful feast at Betsey and Brian's, with Betsey's mom and dad and Kim's mom and step dad...It started out so well.  They even had battery operated candles, so Kim would not explode.  But, we had a scary end as it took three of us to walk Kim home and get her safely back in her red chair, turning her oxygen way up...and wondering why her legs were getting so darned big 'my logs' she'd call them instead of legs.  Initially, I couldn't write after finding this and thinking back to last Thanksgiving...going through the weekend numb...

                                           I found some more photos from happier Thanksgivings;

                                           Here's our little Indian princess in kindergarten (2005).  Ami and Mary have done a neat play every year about the pilgrims and the Indians.  It is so cute!  Autumn had Mary that year for a teacher.

Here's a shot from our very first Thanksgiving here in Tucson - November 1994, in our new home!  Kimba with Cajun.  And even though it was just the two of us, she made all of the same dishes that I mentioned above!  The only difference?  Wine.  And, now I know that I am horribly bias, but, doesn't Kim look absolutely stunning??

Here's a picture of Thanksgiving 1997.  Cody would have been 7 months old.  Kim wanted to make Cody something special...so, she cooked him his own Cornish hen.

He sure liked chewing on that leg!

This is Cody in Kindergarten (2002).  He got to be a pilgrim in the play that year.  Ami was his teacher.

That's all that I could find...We had spent several at our old neighbor's, Courtney and Shawn, which we especially looked forward to because Shawn is a gourmet chef and Courtney works in catering - so the food was always fantastic! And a couple with old neighbor's, Shannon and David. One year, 2008, I believe, we went to Sedona with Brian and Betsey to her mom and dad's, Ursula and Sam - that was a fun time!

This year, we teamed up to make Mama's ciabatta/pancetta stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin roll, potatoes and a turkey.  The bambini wanted vanilla Italian sodas in fancy glasses.  So we did that too.  They worked so hard, helping to prep and cook, as if they needed wanted to impress their Mama.

                                                                Tonio's a leg man...

Autumn's a leg woman...

Cody has taken the whole bowl of ciabatta bread stuffing for himself!

                                             Bella joined us at the table too...

We started the festivities Wednesday night, when Rose and Vito cooked a turkey dinner for us and the bambini, and Lexy and Breanna...Mario and I pretty much ate the kids left overs.  Cody had mozzarella sticks and fried zucchini and eggplant.  Andrea got to have vegetable ravioli's.

Over the weekend, we took the kids to see Happy Feet 2.  I think Cody, Autumn, Bryson and Kason had as much fun with Alvin and the Chipmunks as they did seeing the movie.  Janene and Angie enjoyed the show!

We rounded out the weekend by going to church with Angie (Brendon spent the night, we let him and Cody sleep in, but picked them up after church) and then going to Viro's with Angie, Kim, Roshan, David, Brendon, Mariah, Micah, Maleah, Cody, Autumn and Antonio (I warned the cook, Dave, as we entered this morning to make more wedding soup!).

We are thankful for all of the friends and family who continue to reach out to us and provide us with awesome support. When we went outside tonight, to light our candles, the bambini gave thanks for their Mama and everything she did for them.

 Thank you,

Love,

Dave

PS On to Christmas...today, Brendon and Cody put our tree up (under the star Andrea hung from the ceiling for us last year!) and they hung the lights from the eaves too!!