Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving celebration began the Sunday before Thanksgiving when we celebrated with Erik's immediate family at his parent's house.  After church we headed over to Craig & Deb's for a yummy lunch of turkey, corn, jello, potatoes, and rolls.  It was a short lunch, as we had to get home for naps, but a great start to the Thanksgiving week.

On Thursday we headed to my mom's side of the family's Thanksgiving celebration at my aunt's house in Denver.  We enjoyed the Macy's parade at home in the morning, as well as looking through the Black Friday ads, and then headed up to Denver around noon.  We enjoyed another wonderful meal of turkey, potatoes, green beans, bread, salad, and pies.  The kids napped in the afternoon and the adults watched football and checked out the Black Friday ads.  We had a small dinner, and then headed home in the evening.  Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving Day! (I forgot my camera, so these are courtesy of my aunt!) :)

The "kids" table :)

Norah and Cousins Andrew and Ryan

Friday brought a little Black Friday shopping!  My dad offered to watch Kyler and Norah with my brother so my mom and I could go shopping kid-free, and we definitely took them up on that offer!  We were also glad we did because it made everything so much easier without two kids in tow. :)  Friday night we braved the cold and headed down to the Holiday Hoopla in downtown Cedar Falls.  We watched Santa come in on his sleigh, and then headed down Main Street for the fireworks display.  The kids always love the fireworks because we are always at the lake over the 4th of July, and by the time it gets dark enough up there for fireworks, it's about 10:30 at night. :)  We all hurried home after the fireworks because both kids were freezing and ready to head home.  

On Saturday we had our final Thanksgiving celebration in with Erik's Mom's side of the family at his grandparent's house.  We enjoyed another wonderful meal and then hung out with family for the afternoon.

Sunday was our annual Christmas Tree hunt!!  We always go to the Volga Valley Conservation Tree Farm up by Sumner to find our Christmas tree.  We have been going to get our tree there since I was little.  It has been so fun to carry on this tradition with Kyler and Norah.  My parents and brother go along too so they can pick out their tree.  We left as soon as Erik got home from church to head to the tree farm.  It didn't take us too long until we had found our beauty. :)  We loaded it up in the truck, and then headed back home.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas Tree hunt:

Out to look for the perfect one!

Norah and Grandma

Kyler and Daddy

My parent's HUGE tree :)

Cutting it down

Our tree!

Cutting it down

Ready to haul away!

Headed to the truck

Miss Norah!

All loaded up!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with family, great food, and fun traditions.  We have so much to be thankful for this year!  We hope your family had a great Thanksgiving too!