Ho Ho Ho, let's put up the tree

Following Thanksgiving, the weather was beautiful, so we decided we needed to go get a Christmas tree, and while we were at it, we decided it would be a good idea to visit Santa. Torin decided he would allow someone else deliver his list to Santa while he watched from the safety of daddy's arms.

Claire: a stuffed bunny

Jacob: Wii games

Kate: Elsa pajamas Elsa slippers

Liam: Minion pajamas (with a flashlight) and slippers

 

We had a beautiful sunny day to go looking for a tree. After looking for a few minutes, we found the right tree, which took forever to cut down! We love the tree farm we bought it from because they put the tree in a tree shaker and then wrap it up.

Jared got the lights up Saturday night, and Torin was really interested! He loved Christmas lights! 

 

 

With a little 18-month-old running in the house, and Liam, we decided to leave a number of our favorite ornaments off of the tree. We took a few moments with them before boxing them out again.

We love having a lit Christmas tree!

John and Vicki come for Thanksgiving

John and Vicki came to spend Thanksgiving with us. For whatever reason, we didn't end up with any pictures of the actual Thanksgiving dinner, but it was delicious! So, here's another picture of us with good food - we took them out to Carte Blanche - which was apparently our last visit!

Another highlight of their stay was going with the kids to a Blazers game. 

 

At halftime, we took a walk around the concourse and stopped and played pop-a-shot.

In the last quarter, Liam started chanting, super loudly, "DE-FENSE!!!" His voice was super loud and high.

After Thanksgiving, Vicki and Dani spent the overnight hours braving the crowds scouring the outlet malls for deals.

John and the kids (except Torin) spent the day after Thanksgiving visiting the new World of Speed car museum. John probably could have spent all day looking at the hot rods and antique cars. The kids trying out the drag race light tree simulator. Jacob was proud to get the lowest time of anyone!

I think the kids wore out their grandparents! John claimed the chair closest to the fireplace for the whole trip!

Vicki came with Legos, so she and the kids spent Sunday afternoon putting them together. It is especially fun to watch Liam go through the instructions one by one and assemble his creation. Kate is not as patient and always has someone else help her out. 

 

We always love having John and Vicki come visit!

A preschool Thanksgiving feast

Kate and Liam's preschool does a Thanksgiving feast that the kids prepare for by making paper turkeys, apple turkeys, feather necklaces, and hats. The feast itself consists of watching the kids eat deli turkey slices, cheese, apples, and pumpkin cookies.

 

Really, it's the faces that make it the most fun!

   

Dani's trip to Minneapolis

I was dying to meet new sweet baby Nolan, so I decided to take a solo trip to Minnesota to visit him and Taylor and Hayley and Camie's family.  

I flew in on a Thursday afternoon and hit up The Mall of  America with Hayley.  I was just in time for Matt's birthday so after the trip to the mall we headed to Matt and Camie's for Matt's birthday dinner!

Unfortunately all the plans for a girls day with Hayley and Camie fell through when I woke up with a nasty stomach bug on Friday morning and spent the whole day being sick and sleeping in quarantine instead.  Poor Taylor and Hayley were great hosts and I finally felt up to some pepto and gingerale with a movie on the couch that night.  Luckily I was much better on Saturday and went to see some of the highlights of downtown Minneapolis with Taylor, Hayley, and Nolan.  Saturday night all the adults and Nolan went out for dinner and we had a great time.  I was able to go to church with everyone the next day before heading to the airport for my late night flight home.  

It was so great to meet sweet Nolan, who seemed to really like me.  I was glad that I was able to enjoy some time with everyone despite the day I spent sick and I was glad I was able to give the new parents a little break at night a few times.