Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that one year ago I was in the midst of my second trimester of pregnancy and that this year we have such a beautiful, healthy, eight-month-old little boy to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We are so happy to have been blessed with such a happy little baby who brings our families so much joy!

For Ben's first Thanksgiving, we had Nana and Pop and our good friends the Kriebels to dinner. Believe it or not (to those of you who know me and know that I love to cook) this was my first time ever cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I guess now that I'm a mom myself my days of freeloading off my parents and in-laws for all holidays are over. :) :) Everything went very smoothly and I suppose if the loosened belts on everyone's pants are any indication, the meal was a success!

Nana and Pop arrived late Wednesday night and as part of our family tradition, "Tom the Turkey" (aka Pop) always brings something small for all of the children in the family on Thanksgiving morning. Usually it's chocolate, and although I'm sure our little gormand would have been glad to indulge, "Tom" luckily had better judgement and instead sent Ben a new puppet. Here's Ben being nosey trying to see what's inside his gift bag:

Ben also received his very own My First Anywhere chair in the mail yesterday as a (very!) early Christmas gift from Nana and Pop so here he is in his adorable little chair that is just his right size.

Pop, Ben and Barney pose for the camera on Thanksgiving morning.

Later on our friends Steve and Amy Kriebel joined us for dinner with their two children, Tyler (two years old this weekend) and Samantha (3 months old). Ben and Tyler are buddies, especially now that Benjamin seems to be developing an interest in toy trucks and cars (aka "beep beeps" in Tyler-speak), especially brightly colored ones with big smiley faces on the hoods. The boys had a fun time playing with all of Ben's little vehicles together.

Here are Tyler and Ben enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner. Tyler liked the cranberry sauce the best (although I didn't get a photo of him eating it) and Ben was obsessed with anything pumpkin!

Here the two boys pose for a photo after dinner. We've been working on being "gentle" around Barney and other animals that we encounter so I guess Ben figured out that this rule applies to friends too!

After Tyler was released from his piggy highchair (covered in cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes by the end of the meal!) he walked over to Ben, tuged on Amy's shirt and while pointing at the (very large!) pile of crumbs and food surrounding Ben's highchair on the floor, said "Mommy! Mess!"

After dinner, Tyler lucks out that he is the biggest kid and with that role is entitled to licking the beaters as my mom makes whipped cream for the pies. Yum!

Finally, here are two family photos of both Andrew and me with my mom and dad (Ben had already gone to sleep when we thought about doing this) and the Kriebels. Hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!