It was a Happy Thanksgiving...

Our week started out a little rough - Ivy was a little under the weather. We started out our Monday as usual - with a walk. We walked at the mall because of the rain. We were going to do a little shopping after our walk but when we got in the car, Ivy seemed so tired and her eyes were so dark underneath. So we decided to head home. She fell asleep in the car at 10:15 which is very unusual. We got home and Ivy woke up, wanting to watch t.v. I laid her in my bed and she watched Sesame Street until she fell asleep right around 1:00. Sometime in there I took her temperature and it was 103!! So a call to the pediatrician was warranted. After the nurse called me back, they asked me to bring her in. The doctor seemed to think it was some sort of virus that would cause her to have a fever for another couple of days or so. We had orders to let her eat and drink whatever she wanted. We got home, had some nice warm soup for dinner. She had a little Motrin before bed, woke up the next morning fever free, and hasn't had a fever since. So I guess her little 2-3 day virus was only a 24 hour thing....

We all went to Richard's parent's house for Thanksgiving. We had so many people this year that we had place cards! Ivy had her own place card and got to eat with the fancy silver.

Ivy getting a little piano "lesson" before lunch...

My mom fixing some broccoli salad...

Richard and Craig having a little snack while waiting for lunch...

Uh oh!!! Richard must have tried to steal Craig's smoked salmon!!!

(Just kidding - this picture was totally posed - although I must say that I snapped it at JUST the right time!!)

Richard's Mom, Pat, fixed a 23 pound turkey! Here is Pat, Craig, and Richard trying to figure out how to get that heavy bird out of the roasting pan...

Aunt Judy, Craig, Ivy, and Aunt Sandy

After lunch at the "kids table"...

This time of year we get these really cool ducks at our pond. They are called a Hooded Merganser. The black and white one on the left is the male, and the brown one on the right is the female. They seem to come a couple at a time (could be the same two, I guess) but we've seen up to 12 or 13 at one time.

Here are some other interesting facts about Hooded Mergansers...

• The Hooded Merganser finds its prey underwater by sight, the nictating membrane (third eyelid) is clear and acts to protect the eye during swimming, just like a pair of goggles.
• It is the smallest of the three species of mergansers found in North America.
• They are extremely agile swimmers and divers but awkward on land because their legs are set far back on the body.

Last night, we went to a Mexican restaurant. Ivy kept saying "amals" "amals" because she wanted to play with the claw game where a claw drops and it grabs a toy. This one was full of animals. We kept telling her we'd look at it on the way out. She didn't let us forget and Richard played it with her. He didn't get anything the first time, but the second time he tried, he got TWO animals! I've never seen anyone win at that game, much less get two things!! Of course Richard gave them to Ivy. She thought it was so cool. She won a frog and a dolphin jumping through an American flag heart.