It's Thanksgiving!

 We have so much to be thankful for. And I know with the hustle and bustle of not only the holidays, but of the semester and of following two 1 year olds around, I often forget to ‘stop and smell the roses’ as the cliché goes. (Maybe that’s because I’m smelling too many dirty diapers…hmmm….). Anyway, last year I started what I will now term a ‘tradition’ of having a Thankful Tree as the centerpiece on our table at Thanksgiving. Last year we began our Thanksgiving meal by writing on a paper leaf what it was that we were thankful for. This year I decided to cut out more leaves and have other people who stopped by our house this month write on a leaf. I just read through all of the leaves…..and was amazed at all of things to be thankful for. Obviously friends and family won the majority vote, and I agree after this past week.

My week of thanksgiving started out with a night get-away at a spa in WI, where I met up with a friend from MN.  I did get to relax (and got an uninterrupted night’s sleep!), while I also finished grading all of my Food Science research papers! The boys survived the night with dad, or I should say dad survived the night with the boys! Sorry, this is not Thanksgiving dinner at my house!! This is a pic of the amazing food at the spa-- scallop salad, baked brie, hummus, and yes, creme brulee for dessert! 

Grandma Pam, Grandpa Al and Aunt Laurie all arrived Wednesday noon to spend the weekend playing with the boys! This is a picture of Jaden helping me bake a pecan pie. I was glad I had an extra set of measuring cups and spoons!

The boys love to read books. Evan is more patient than Jaden and will listen to a whole book.

Aunt Laurie had fun playing a game with Evan--Evan puts his arms in the air with his hands in fists and yells, screams actually. He doesn't quite grasp the concept of 'shhhh, we're in public be quiet! As you see here, Evan got to venture out shopping with us Thanksgiving afternoon. 

There's this (annoying) Thanksgiving song that we listened to one night and Jaden just had a blast 'dancing' around......marching really. Evan has his own little dance moves, too!

And the highlight for the boys this weekend was having Grandpa Al as a troubleshooter who figured out that if he tied a rope to the train, the boys could ride around and around and around and around the house! And that they did!

The boys even tried sharing the train and road together---but that often ended with one or both of them on the floor! I should also mention that after eating Thanksgiving dinner, the boys had to change into elastic waist pants as their 12-month jeans were a bit too tight!

Saturday night we attended a friend's wedding with Dan and Brooke.

 We were grateful to my family for watching the boys for much of the day and night Saturday. They all got to come swimming at a hotel Saturday and Sunday. This is Jaden looking at the hotel's decorations. Both of the boys love Christmas lights......they look but don't touch---for now!

 Sunday we took the boys swimming. Cold water, but they had fun splashing around!

It was sad to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Laurie leave this morning! The boys sat on their train tonight, wondering where the rope is and why no one was pulling them around! Thankfully, Christmastime with family will be here before we know it!