Over the hill and down the driveway....

To Mimi's house we went!

The girls made place tags for the table...



We had a lot of fun and used LOTS of glue...we had pilgrim hats, pumpkins and leaves. And of course, we had to make them SPARKLY!! So I broke out the glitter glue. Which isn't something I typically do, since it's messy. And I don't really like messes.

But, it was Thanksgiving - what's a mom to do? And they turned out great.



Then the girls got baths, and got dressed up and wanted fancy hair. Liv looks so grown up....

So we sat around and waited for Dinner and talked to everyone. Dinner was late, which is a running joke in our family- so much so that when Sydney asked mom what time we were eating and mom said "About 5:30", Sydney said "Oh Man! We aren't gonna eat until 6:00!" It was actually 6:30. Which was great for me because that's the time I had picked, so I won the raffle.

In the meantime, the kids snapped some pictures.

Here's Brian, discussing the problems of the world with my relatives.



Here's Poppy - a little out of focus, but a cute picture all the same.



Our Thanksgiving table.

Mom loves pigs. So Sydney felt obliged to take a picture.

The bottom half of my great Aunt Mildred....




...and here's the top.

Dinner was so good. It was such a wonderful evening.

I hear from Angelique that Brandon cooked an amazing Thanksgiving dinner for her. How lucky is she that my brother loves to cook - and is very good at it???

Here's B with his hand up the turkey's butt....

Making the gravy.

The table looked so nice.

Brandon carving the turkey.

You know you're a man when you get to carve the turkey.

The WISHBONE!!!!

Bali agrees with him - he looks very happy....

I am thankful for...

My two gorgeous girls. They constantly amaze me, make me laugh and make my heart swell with pride...

My loving husband. He cooks, he cleans, he make makes my heart go "pitter-patter", and he does a lot of other stuff that can't be written here - heh heh. He's phenomenal...

My parents. What can I say? Sometimes it can be challenge to live so close to your parents. But it's been great and I love them so...

My brother. Because really, when else would you see pictures of exotic places on my blog unless they were from him? Jeesh! And he let's me experience his experiences, even if it's through long distance instant messaging - he's an AWESOME brother....

My extended family. You know who you are. Your love, support and words of encouragement to me mean more than I can ever express. I love you!

My friends. My friends ROCK. I am proud to say that my best friends now are friends I have had for more then 10 years. They KNOW me. They GET me. And they knock me upside the head when I need it. Thank you girls. I couldn't make it through the day without you.

There's so much more but unless you want to read a 10 page post, I'll stop there. Please take a second and really think about what you are thankful for - I think you'll be surprised at how wonderful your life is, even with all the problems and obstacles you face.

We are off to mom and dad's tomorrow. Good food, good conversation, good wine - it's going to be a wonderful day.

To you and yours, from me and mine-

Happy Thanksgiving!

You know the holidays are here when....

...one of the Henry girls gets sick.




This holiday it's Sydney - who threw up on the way to school.


All over herself.


Um, and the bus (sorry Mr. Bus Driver!).




She hasn't stopped getting sick since then. Poor baby....

And now for a commercial break...

So, I realized I have put nothing on here about what's happening in the Henry Household since I have been posting about B's adventures in Bali. So here's the run down:

I have a cold I can't kick and it's making me cranky.

Yesterday Brian took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese as a reward for their EXCELLENT report cards - Liv got straights A's! Whoop!!! Party time! And Sydney got lots of slashes and x's, which, after I deciphered the code, made for a really good report card for her too! I begged off to go to the grocery store, go to a friends house to pick up some things and to look for boots. Which I didn't find. DAMN! I am having the hardest time finding high black boots - not because they aren't out there, but because they are all so big around my calves that they look goofy on my legs. It sucks.

Today I baked. 16 loaves of pumpkin bread. The house smelled wonderful and the girls enjoyed "helping". They love to cook and bake. Then my friend Beth and her kids came over and we made hard candy - Butter Rum and Orange Cream. Yum! Except my spatula melted a bit in the butter rum batch, but whatever. No one will notice. I hope....

Then Beth's husband came over and brought fresh Rock Fish and crab cakes and made us all dinner (4 adults and 5 children). It was yummy. And I didn't have to cook. That made it even tastier.

Not nearly as exciting as Bali.

And so, I will continue to live vicariously through my brother until he gets back.

The Bali I'd like to see ...

Not that I don't want to see everything, but this is what I can't wait to see in person.....just as soon as we get four passports and can afford four plane tickets, a place to stay and have two weeks vacation.

So, like, a long time from now.

Um, I don't know who these people are but they look like they're having a good time!

Look- they're sitting ON TOP of the table - super cool.

(But don't tell my kids or I'll find them eating their oatmeal on the kitchen table tomorrow morning.)

My poor brother - he's such a white boy. Can you tell he was in the sun? He probably had on SPF 275 and he's still as red as the walls. Hope they have aloe over there.....

SO SERIOUS!!!

(I wonder what he's thinking? Probably something like "Holy S@!#, it's hot! Did I put on sunscreen?")

Hot sun, playing in the water and drinking this all day.....

.....makes for a very happy brother.

Now that's the Brandon I know.

And Angelique partaking of some beverage as well...

She got all dressed up...I hope he took her out for a nice meal and was a gentleman. Or, you know, I'll have to sit on him and tickle him until he can no longer breathe. Seriously. I can do it.

No words necessary...

I can't wait to experience this myself.

Introducing....

My brother's hosts in Bali and, quite frankly, the reason he's there....

Angelique & Noah!!!

B, Angelique and Noah went to dinner last night. Noah took alot of pictures. Apparently he likes Brandon's digital camera!

The lovely Angelique...

She probably rolls out of bed in the morning looking this good. (jealous sigh)....

Angelique's son, the infamous Noah

What a cutie!! He's got that little "sparkle" in his eye. He's probably got Brandon wrapped around his little finger. He's the same age as my Sydney and they're going to be great friends - I don't know why, but I can just tell by looking at this next picture.

Random Noah Picture...or maybe Brandon took this one?

Noah, like most 5 year old boys, loves Spiderman!

And Brandon loves to read...anything. So I'm quite certain they get along just fine! My girls really miss their Bunkabee - I think Liv e-mails him daily - but I'm glad he's there to hang out with Noah. I'm pretty sure Noah likes to have someone to rough house with too....

Look at how beautiful she is.....they make a gorgeous couple.

These pictures were taken by Noah. I'm thinking he has a future in photography!

And now, a word from Brandon. The following is an excerpt of his first impressions of Bali (edited for language....and other stuff). Very interesting stuff told in a way that only my brother - a man with a gift for words - could say....

This place is crazy... the habits and customs of the people are totally different from anything I have ever seen. There are no traffic laws, few public services, few rules whatsoever. It's a free-for-all, but breathtakingly lovely at the same time. Pardon the Western romanticism, but you definitely feel like life is lived a little closer to the bone here. It's all hand-to-mouth--from the warung selling dirt-cheap food to the dusky old dudes hawking bottles of motorbike petrol on the roadside. Everywhere the taximen shout "Transport" and haggle with you in hopes of scoring a client. Nothing has a set price, and it's all a scam. But everyone is open and friendly and helpful. On the edges of town are these little oases of luxury. Then at night, you walk down a little jungle lane to your place, and it is just absolutely peaceful. Just you and the geckos and weird-ass bugs and sometimes the chatter of the neighbors (in French or German or Indonesian)... The food is fantastic--sweet and spicy and largely very fresh. The water is undrinkable. Everything is totally open--some of the buildings don't even have walls. It's completely different from the image I had in my head... It’s touristy, but in such a completely different way from what one sees in Europe. There are bule (white people, literally "albinos") everywhere, but they, too, don't seem to be doing the same things they would be at home. (And yet, you can still go to Carrefour and get all you need.) I could go on and on... But in short it is shocking and fantastic at the same time...I've also been speaking French about 70% of the time, which is nice. I already have a Thanksgiving dinner set up, as well. (I told some Australians Angelique knows that I wanted to do a dinner, and they said they were planning to do the same and they needed someone who knows how to cook a turkey. So I am in charge of the bird and the gravy and the mashed potatoes.) We're going out of town to the country this weekend, as well, and in a couple weeks we'll trip out to Ubud to see some Bali dancing and ceremonies and temples, etc. In the meantime, I am working from cafes and in my room...

So it's all good.That's about all I've got so far. It's definitely affected my world-view.

Which is perhaps the best thing one can ask of traveling...

And with that, I'll say Good night.