Happy Thanksgiving 2012

We had a bit of a different Thanksgiving Day than originally planned. We knew Brad's work schedule was not ideal for the SR Stahls to come visit, but had hoped he would start working from home "any day now" so held off on deciding until that week. We are excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come visit SOON. Appreciate lots of prayers for Brad to be working from home VERY SOON!!!

Lorelei helped with MY personal favorite part of Thanksgiving prep...rolls! :) She loves them like her Mom!!! And she is a pro at buttering. Officially her job now.


Lorelei did not like that I made food the day before Thanksgiving and did not let her eat it. So, naturally first thing Thanksgiving morning she asked for Jello for breakfast. :) Eh why not? It has fruit!

 

One of Brad and the kids' favorite new games. Building block towers and crashing them down different ways with cars.



We decided to forego going to Aunti Di's for Thanksgiving because they usually eat right when the kids are ready for nap (as does the rest of the world! ;) ) We didn't think it was worth it to have them skip nap and fight them the rest of the day. It wouldn't really make for a wonderful Thanksgiving for us, and we wanted to enjoy the time as a family while Brad had the day off.

We decided to head over to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve and take a walk first thing in the morning. We had planned to go the week that Brad got sick, as that was when the fall colors were in full swing, but we still saw some amazing colors this time! :) Maybe full fall foliage next year. :)

We stayed on the sidewalk for the first time, as we knew we had a deadline to make it home for lunch and nap, plus we get all turned around when going off the beaten path. As long as we stayed on the sidewalks, we could follow the map to the tower we had not yet been to.

Obligatory pic where Mom always makes them pose. Figure it will be fun to look back at all the different times we have gone and watch them grow! :)

Highlights of our walk include: Makin's love of "the map" :), dropping leaves down into the stream from one of the bridges, discovering chalk rocks, and finding leaves.

Makin was so tuckered out from all that walking (eh hem, and waking up soooo early all. the. time.) that he took a nap in the car on the way home. We made it back in perfect time and watched the parade while warming up the turkey breast (yes you know I won't really do a whole turkey! yuck!) and making the sides. We always love having the parade on, and thankful we could just record it to watch it after we returned! We were very excited that the Sesame Street float sang one of our favorite songs!!! :)

We enjoyed lunch and a lazy afternoon.

Wanted to share our Thankful Tree this year. Want to keep track of how the kid's leaves change as they get older. This year Makin would just scribble, but did tell me a few things he thought of that he was thankful for. Lorelei's pictures are getting so fun. They are loving this tradition. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!