thanksgiving was lovely, as I knew it would be. we went to Brian's brother's for "dinner" and everything was great. there was a ton of food, all of it was delicious, and we brought home tons of leftovers. his family is so nice, I really like them all. after dinner, my family met at my sister's house for dessert and coffee. my parents didn't make it, because it was too cold out for them, but we still had fun.

Friday we didn't go shopping, which was very cool. Brian cleaned the whole garage all by himself. it looks so good now! we pretty much stayed home until it was time to pick up Stephen at the airport. I am so happy to have him back. we're just not a whole family without him. I don't know what it is, but he has this effortless way of bringing us all closer together, especially the girls. without him around, they don't really spend any time together unless we're all doing something. but the three of them were doing something pretty much all weekend. video games, cards, board games, DVDs. it's wonderful. I hope things continue to go well, I hope he can live with us and follow our rules. I know he's going to try, which means a lot.

Saturday night, Brian and I went to see my brother-in-law's band playing in Lancaster, which is about an hour away. we rode up with him and my sister and didn't get home until 4:30 am on Sunday. bleh. it was crazy, but we had a great time at the show and met some really funny people. I took some awesome pictures, including this one that I posted to my photo blog for photo friday. it was almost worth the lack of sleep :)

Sunday afternoon I took the kids minus Hannah (she had band practice) to the mall for a little x-mas shopping. it actually wasn't crowded at all. at least no more than it usually is. still, I think we'll try to avoid any more trips there. it's so much easier to shop online. as a matter of fact, I've already spent $120 online just this afternoon. I think maybe it's a little too easy :)