We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was very nice. It was a relaxing day with family. We over-ate and just enjoyed being together.. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. They are pretty goofy because that's how we are. :)

We spent most of the day after Thanksgiving just hanging out. We did do some early morning shopping with our Aunt Sherry and cousins Ashley and Danny. We didn't buy much, but it was a fun experience. I left the house at 3:30am, and Bren and Danny met up with us around 8ish. We were done around 11ish. The rest of the day was cat naps and getting some Christmas stuff out until our meeting with Make-A-Wish at 6:30. Frank and Connie Ayotte had some information for Brendon so they came over.. They gave him a Patriots jersey and hat, then they told him that he got to have a "party" at Flagship for him and 5 of his friends. They call it an enhancement to his wish. He was surprised and excited! So on 12/15 Bren will get to go to Flagship Cinemas in Lewiston with 5 of his friends and watch a movie, then have ice cream cake! Now he's having a hard time trying to figure out which 5 friends to invite. Here's a picture of Bren with his new jersey and hat....
Saturday Bren and I went to a parade in South Paris/Oxford with our family. It was a lot of fun. It was COLD, but it was pretty neat. We had never been to a Christmas parade so we didn't really know what to expect. Here are some pictures from the parade.. Notice the blankets, hats and coffee/hot chocolate cups...

Brendon's favorites were the dirt-bike float and the four wheelers. Imagine that, huh? He said that he'd give up everything he was going to get for Christmas if he could get a dirt bike. I would love to get him one, but it's just not feasible right now. He was SO excited to see them, though. He talked about the dirt bikes for a few hours after the parade was done. He wants to get a dirt bike and ride in the parade next year.. We'll see. After the parade we went out for Chinese with my mother-in-law. It was nice to spend the afternoon with just the 3 of us. We did a little Christmas shopping (Dollar Tree, gotta love that store!!) and then we went home. Here are some pictures we took with a giant stuffed moose that was outside of a store in Oxford..

Yesterday was spent raking the leaves and getting the house ready for a Christmas tree! We are so excited for Christmas! Every year we talk about others that may be less fortunate and try to make sure not to focus on the gift giving part of this holiday. This is the first year that we do not feel stress or anxiety because we may not have money for presents for everyone. I guess you could say the true meaning of Christmas is even more clear to us this year. Brendon will be turning 10 and I'm trying to think of something that we can do for a very large party that won't kill us financially.. He pointed out that this is a big year because he'll be double digits for the rest of his life (until he hits 100, he says).. Wow, talk about making us feel old! :) Any ideas?? I'm thinking mid-January for the date.. We'll be sure to let everyone know when it is. All will be invited!

This morning Brendon woke up excited to go to school. His teacher had a baby before school started so he's had a sub all this time. She's been in a few times to visit and Brendon says she seems very nice. He was so excited to meet her and visit with his friends. He really loves school!

25 days to Legoland! It's coming up so fast.. It's a little scary to think about all that needs to be done before then. It's well worth it, though.

That's about it for now. Brendon has an appointment at the clinic in Scarborough Wednesday afternoon. He is having his labs drawn tomorrow afternoon and hopefully his counts are on their way up. Having low white cell counts hasn't stopped him from doing normal activities. I'll update after the clinic visit.

Take care.. ~Amber