Thanksgiving [2014]

We had a nice, low key Thanksgiving this year.  We stayed here in Des Moines because we felt like it was too close to baby time to travel very far and had a great day... our last holiday as a family of 4!

The Macy's Parade on tv was a big hit with this guy.  Especially the Thomas the Train balloon and the marching bands!

We got the Christmas tree put up and decked the halls... minimally.  I didn't put a ton out this year as I was thinking ahead to how I might manage putting it away in a few weeks with 2 toddlers and a newborn!

I really wanted to take the kids to the Festival of Trees last year but it just didn't happen so this year, we made sure to go!  Let's just say it was a hit.  And we lucked out because it was not very busy on Thanksgiving Day.  Lainey loves all ,sparkly decorated things of any kind and Wyatt found quite a few trees that he enjoyed... one with IPTV characters and one with lots of cars and trucks.

She posed and asked for her picture in front of several trees.

Very proud of this super cute craft!

Wyatt was digging the farm themed tree.

Wyatt agreed to get close to Santa only because he was giving out candy canes.  Both of my kids have an extreme fear of the jolly old man.

They took a ride on the Christmas choo choo too!

We made a little mini Thanksgiving dinner to enjoy too.  I'll take any excuse to eat things like green bean casserole and mashed potatoes!

We started a new tradition and got the kids new Christmas jammies and wrapped them up and let them open them that night to enjoy all throughout the Christmas season!

So much love!  Glad we got to enjoy Thanksgiving Day together!

2 Trips

I realize this is back tracking a little bit, but I never blogged about Thanksgiving in Minnesota and our return trip two weeks later that is worth noting as well.

Jed had an abundance of PTO to use up by the end of this year so we were blessed to have our favorite guy around for the whole week of Thanksgiving.  We headed up to Minnesota on Tuesday to have an extra long holiday weekend with my family.

Packed in and ready to roll.  First we did some sleeping... 

Then some playing.  Pipe cleaners make great car activities!

When we're at my parent's house, Lainey spends a lot of time in this chair and most of the time she's got  at least one baby in tow.  Glad Mom held on to so many of Emily's babies!

We went to my Grandma Carey's one morning to visit and say hello.  Wyatt left no square inch uncovered of course and Lainey enjoyed some story time with Grandma!

My parents were in charge of desserts for Thanksgiving so I offered to make the apple pie!  It was excellent if I do say so myself!

Thanksgiving Day!  We had a great time at my Grandma's with some of my mom's family for dinner.

Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Lainey had a great time too.  You can see her eyeing my cousin's oldest girl Isabel (far right) ... she followed her around like a shadow all afternoon and called her "Belle" like the princess and has talked about her often since that day.  Obviously we need to make more trips up there for those two to spend more time together!

Grandma always gets the great grandkids Christmas ornaments on Thanksgiving Day.  I have a huge collection of ornaments myself... probably 24 or 25 (?) from when I was one of "the kids!"

A few of the cousins kids - the great grand crew!

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent playing and enjoying our time together.  Our kids did great with the alternative sleeping arrangements and loved their time with their Ma and Papa.

We headed back up north two weeks later because my Dad was given Vikings tickets from his work and offered to take Jed and I with for so we could enjoy our first NFL football game.  My mom offered graciously to give up the 4th ticket to stay at home and watch the kids.  Even though Jed is a huge Packer fan (read: anti Vikings) he agreed to go, especially after we heard the tickets were in the lower level in row 10!

We packed a lot of fun into the quick weekend.

Coloring!

Making Christmas goodies!

Sprinkling sprinkles every where... so many sprinkles.

Too sweet to not take a picture!

Sunday came (game day!) and my dad had been suffering from a cold all week.  He decided he just wasn't feeling well enough to go to the game so Jed and I went by ourselves.  We had two extra tickets and no one to take to the game with us.  We thought about selling the tickets but it just didn't seem right since they were free to us.  As we headed to the game, I said it would be so fun if we could find a dad and his son and give them our extra tickets since they were such great seats.  We stopped at Caribou on our way downtown and walked in and stood in line behind a dad and his probably 9 or 10 year old son... ALL decked out in Vikings gear.  I just knew they were probably heading to the game so we struck up a conversation.  They were indeed going to the Vikings game so we offered them our extra  row 10 tickets.  Both of their eyes got really big and they graciously accepted... they were so excited.  It was the little boy's first Vikings game and they were SO pumped.  It was awesome to bless them with those extra tickets.  They had a great time and that little dude watched every single minute of that game.

We had a great time ourselves.  It's fun to do anything just the two of us but especially to do something like this... Jed loves football, I like the Vikings, and you can't really go wrong with seats in row 10.  Plus, it was a big Vikings win so it was a fun game to watch and the Vikings are getting a new stadium so it was one of the last games in the Dome!

It was a busy few weeks packing in two trips to Minnesota amidst all of the holiday happenings.  Thankful our kids were great travelers, good sleepers and that we got to spend lots of time with family!

Thankful

I don't think it matters that this post is a day late because I am thankful for these ones every day...

for this boy.  Oh, this boy.  I love how he loves me and NEEDS his Momma (though it's not always convenient).  I love how he gets into everything (though it's exhausting) and is so fun and playful.  Thankful for his joyful personality.

for this little girl.  I am thankful that she is the one who teaches me how to be a mom.  I am thankful for her constant chatter and singing and that just now as I type this, she's coloring at the counter and just said, "Mommy, I love you just the way you are!"  (Not even joking)  She is pure sweetness.

for this man.  I am thankful for what a hard worker he is.  He works so hard so that I can stay home and love our kids.  He works hard all day, comes home and loves and plays with us, serves our community group and our church many nights a week and then gets up and does it again each day.  He is a great example to us.

I'm thankful for our parents and our families, our nieces and nephew, I'm thankful for my brother in law who serves our country.  I'm thankful for grace and a Savior who loves me where I'm at each day.  I, we, have so much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving might be my FAVORITE holiday. I try and make thankfulness a daily thing rather than just one day/season a year so that aspect, while really important, isn't necessarily the best part to me. I really, really love family gatherings. And I really, REALLY love enjoying the traditional holiday foods. Put those two things together and you've got a happy girl. This year, we were able to celebrate not one, but TWO Thanksgivings. On Thursday, we headed to Cedar Rapids to Jed's sister and brother-in-laws where his parents were also visiting.
Grandpa Paul scooped Miss Lainey up right away and when I turned my back, slipped this Packers jersey on her. Green and yellow... what terrible colors :)
The Packers scored... quite a few times.
Look at me! It's my first Thanksgiving (outside the womb)!
Cousins!
The feast!
Talk about beautiful weather!!
We were trying to get a good family picture - this one obviously wasn't the winner (blurry face Mom) but I just love Lainey's expression.
Jaylen and her Uncle Jed were taking silly pictures and videos.
Grandma Mary and all of her girls!

On Saturday, we headed to my Grandma's house in Knoxville. My sister and niece made the long drive from North Carolina last week and will be with us all the way through Christmas! YEAH! So they and my parents were down and most of the rest of the fam joined us as well. Grandma's cooking never disappoints, the meal was delicious and I can't remember exactly, but there were at least 4 desserts to choose from at the end of the night.

Lainey Charlotte and her Great Grandma Charlotte! Love when these two get to spend time together!
Claire was reading one of her read-aloud books from her Daddy!
Giving Lainey lots and lots and LOTS of love!
Phase 10 ... I stink at Phase 10. Sigh.
Little Miss very happy to be home!

I think Thanksgiving will always be my favorite holiday from now on because last Thanksgiving weekend, we found out we had a little beanie baby on the way! It was so hard to keep that exciting news secret for a little while but I think I will always remember back to Turkey Day 2010 with great joy!