{Thanksgiving Weekend}

After having Ryan gone for three months Thanksgiving was UhhMazing! We got him all to ourselves for six days! We also had a visitor. My brother Joe came! I feel pretty lucky to have had five out of six of my siblings come out to visit us in the three and half years that we have lived here. Who's family does that?! They really are the best :)

 Joe flew in right during he middle of turkey dinner making chaos, but he jumped right in and made himself useful. I'm not so sure I'm very good at this whole hosting Thanksgiving Dinner thing. At the end of it all I was left with one question? Phew . . . is it really worth all that work?! Maybe it just takes a little bit of practice. My mom made it look so easy! I have never appreciated her more in life! Technically this is my third time making Thanksgiving dinner and so far, I still turn in to a bear. That's right, a bear! Apparently I don't handle stress very well, but we all knew that didn't we?

We had a few other families join us for the feast and all of the food turned out sooo yummy! Except for my gravy, I need a little more practice with that one. That evening I left the men home and a few girlfriends and I braved the black Friday crowds until 3:00 a.m. Love me a good deal! I definitely underestimated our buying ability when I decided to leave my two car seats in our van. Ehh, we'll have plenty of room . . . wrong! We had to go home and unload and go back out again. haha!

Saturday afternoon the littles woke up to a surprise under the pillow. Tickets to ride the Polar Express along with some new jammies to wear on the train. The look on Addy's face when she saw the ticket made every last penny worth it. She was soo excited! I'm not sure if she was more excited about the ticket or her new robe. That girl LOVES new clothes. I wonder who she gets that from? Seriously, I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said, "I want a stick horse unicorn and a pretty shirt." What three year old says they want a pretty shirt?!

I can't wait for Christmas with this little. He was so excited to unwrap his present and just as excited as Addy was about his new jammes.

The overall entertainment on the polar express wasn't the greatest, the lady in charge of our car was kind of a dud, but the kids didn't seem to care. They were beyond happy to be riding on the train. Especially little Eli, he was bursting with excitement to ride a "choo choo."

We sang songs, sipped hot cocoa, read a story, and payed Santa a visit up at the North Pole. Santa gave each child  bell to remind them of the magic of Christmas.

I'm so glad Joe was able to come along for the ride with us! The kids have loved having Uncle Joe to play with and it gave Uncle Joe someone else to tease instead of his little sister ;) He is still a kid at heart and it took me right back to my childhood.

Sunday morning we finally got around to pulling some Christmas decorations out. We decorated the tree together, but I think Addy & Eli enjoyed playing in this bin more.

I love this time of year. There's no feeling in the world that can relate to the relaxing feeling I get cozying up on the couch, next to the glow of the Christmas tree, sipping some hot cocoa. Each night I can hardly wait to throw on my pj's and do just that.

Next up on the agenda, Zombie Burgers.

We've heard good things about this place and we finally had an excuse to go try it out. They had some interesting burger choices, from peanut butter and jelly on your burger to an entire grill cheese sandwich, sandwiched between the layers of your burger. We weren't too adventurous, but I did try an egg on my burger which was surprisingly really good.

I think my burger was called "The Walking Dead." Ryan did a pretty good job of describing it :) Eli didn't do too bad himself giving the zombie look, he was so tired.

See what I mean? I guess we wore him out over the weekend. Our final stop with Uncle Joe was Bass Pro Shop. It's an enormous outdoorsie store that we had never been to before. Lucky for us, we came at the right time of year.

Santa Claus was there and they were offering a free picture with him. Eli was super happy to see him. They also had a little station where the kids could write a letter to Santa and then mail it to him. Since Addy can't write I asked her what she wanted me to tell Santa. I didn't help her at all, that came straight from her mouth and out onto the paper. Love this girl.

There was an adorable carousel that they let the kids ride for free. They were in heaven. Eli rode it three times and was begging for more. I  can't believe it took us four years to discover this place!

It was the perfect Thanksgiving weekend spent with family and friends. I have loved taking the opportunity to reflect on all I am grateful over the past month. We are so very blessed to live where we live, surrounded by people we love.