Thanksgiving

Somehow I managed to get through this Thanksgiving holiday without taking a single picture!  I guess I wasn't much in the picture-taking mood.
Ben's mom and dad came to visit, flying in during the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday.  I had a neurologist appointment Wednesday morning--just my usual yearly checkup for medication refills.  Everything's fine.  I'm trying a new spasticity medication which I hope will help.  My doctor also increased my Baclofen dosage-- I'm at the maximum dosage now, so I hope the added medication, Zanaflex, will help.  Spasticity is my biggest MS-related physical complaint right now.  I brought the boys with me so Ben's parents could sleep in, and we got smoothies in the hospital cafeteria, just like we did in the old days when I was coming in every other week for bloodwork after my transplant.  I do not miss hospitals.
Back home, I attempted to do a half-day of school lessons.  After hearing the news about my friend, though, my heart really was not in it.  I've kind of felt that way about this whole holiday.  The boys all played the piano for Grandma and Grandpa, and I got great delight in listening to Grandpa Kent teach Brigham some fun little piano duets.  Jackee and I started baking some things for Thanksgiving dinner while the men-folk watched Mythbusters.  We had breakfast for dinner (pancakes and bacon and eggs), and then tried to get everyone in bed early.
On Thursday I got up early and continued my baking projects.  I made sausage, cranberry, and apple stuffing, pecan-topped sweet potatoes, jello salad, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and blueberry cream pie.  The boys worked on giant block buildings, and I enjoyed listening to Mosey read "Dragon Rider" to Grandma Jackee.  We ate dinner with our friends, the Taylors, so I only had to worry about half the meal.  Kristen made the turkey, mashed potatoes, and rolls.  Ben isn't much of a turkey-eater, so I bought half a ham at HEB and we brought that, too, which ended up being a big hit.
A cold front blew in on Thursday, and it was downright cold by the time we drove out to Steiner Ranch.  The boys brought their scooters, thinking they might ride around in the street after eating, but it was too cold for that.  Instead they ran around with the Taylors' 3 little boys, playing guns and other boys games.  I'm glad we went to the Taylors'.  It got my mind off things, and I think everyone had fun.
Yesterday morning we drove down to San Antonio, stopping at the Temple to look around a bit and visit the distribution center there.  Then we went downtown and took a boat ride through the river-walk.  The boat tours start off at the mall, and it was absurdly crowded.  I despise shopping malls, and the day after Thanksgiving is the worst time to be at one.  Plus, that evening there was the annual San Antonio Riverwalk Christmas boat parade, so half of Texas was trying to get there at the same time.  The river boat was fun, though, and worth doing again when we have visitors.  The Riverwalk is the #1 tourist attraction in Texas-- above the Alamo which is #2!  We ate a late lunch/early dinner at Rio Rio, an extremely slow (although delicious) Mexican restaurant overlooking the river.  Then we hurried over to the Alamo, taking an unintentional detour completely around the shopping mall (oops), and making it to the Alamo a whole 5 minutes before closing...  We made it safely back to Austin in time for Ben to take Kent and Jackee to Half-Price Books.  Jackee loves that store (who doesn't?!), and filled a suitcase full of books to take home.
This morning Brigham and Mosey serenaded Grandma on their violins.  We took Kent and Jackee to eat at Rudy's to complete their Texas vacation, and then dropped them off at the airport.  We're going to leave in 15 minutes to go downtown and watch Harry Potter at the Imax theater. 
I've spent the holiday feeling extremely grateful, so that is good.  Too bad it sometimes takes tragedy to really hone my gratitude.