We kicked off our Thanksgiving celebrations on Wednesday with my mom's side of the family. Our cousins were in town from New York, and it is always great to see them. It will be the last time seeing them when they are a family of 3! Theo wasn't feeling the greatest on Thanksgiving, so he did not stick around too long. We did, sort of, manage to get a picture of them in their matching train shirts!
My mom totally goes all out with the holiday decor--just the way I like it! :) Our current house isn't big enough to host a huge family gathering, but hopefully next home will allow us to host big, festive parties! As usual, our time with our cousins went way too quickly. Although the little guy in red would have loved to hang out all night, we didn't want him to get too off of his schedule. I'm so thankful for all of my cousins!
Although we had plans of kicking off Thursday with a turkey trot, we decided to pick warmth over fitness. Ben wasn't in to the Macy's Thanksgiving parade just yet, but he was definitely in to skipping his nap. He didn't want to miss any of the excitement. Can't blame him. Unfortunately it was too cold for him to wear his cute turkey outfit, and unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture of the entire ensemble, but it might be in the top 10 of cutest things I've ever seen him wear.
Although I was holding him for most of his nap, he was able to catch a few zzz before kickoff! Our first celebration of the day was with my dad's side of the family. We went over to our cousin's new house fairly early so as not to miss the (pathetic) Packer's game. Luckily I was able to capture Ben's "touchdown" when the Packers scored, because that was the only touchdown of the game. Although we had some upset fans, the delicious meal helped make everyone happy again. Benji's main dish is pictured in the lower right corner below, everyone else's meal is the top right corner. Sigh....
One of the many perks of hanging with our cousins is that there are girls who want to "babysit" Ben. He loves other kids, so he happily played with the big kids while we ate. It was great!
My picture-taking definitely dwindled by the end of the day. There was a big crowd, but unfortunately I did not get pictures of everyone. :( On a positive note, everyone did get lots of Benji kisses, which are even better than pictures. I cannot get enough of his little smooches and I will probably cry the day he stops doing that. Hopefully that day will never come.
After this celebration, we were off to Andy's parents' house. I took a few pictures there, but looking at them now, the are quite blurry. Maybe my vision was a little off after eating so much. Since his parents knew we might be turkey-ed out, we had lasagna for dinner. Somehow, we managed to find room in our stomachs for more food. It was delicious!
I am beyond thankful for all of the amazing people in my life. Three family parties, each with wonderful, loving, fun, kind, and happy people? We are so blessed.
In a past life, I would have gotten excited for some black Friday shopping, but this year I was completely content staying home. I actually found some fantastic online deals. We had a lazy day but we did finally leave the house to go to my mom's so Ben could play with his east coast cuz. In true Benji-form, they played with each and every toy they could find. It was adorable. :)
The highlight of Saturday, and one of the highlights of my entire year, was cutting down our Christmas tree! This will definitely be a post-Thanksgiving tradition. We went later in the day, so not only was the lighting amazing, there was also barely anyone there. It felt like we were way out there and that we had the whole place to ourselves. (Think Griswold "Christmas Vacation" style...) Although the weather was pretty nice, Ben got to break in his new snowsuit.
Of course, I had to take a million pictures. Look at that lighting (and the cute little blue snow bunny)--how could I resist?!
Ben LOVED watching his daddy cut down the tree. He even found a Benji-sized tree. As soon as I figure out how to get the videos off of my iphone, I will post them. They make me so happy.
We capped off our weekend with tree decorating, Christmas shopping, and more eating. Of note, Ben slept through THREE meals while we were out over the weekend. As much as I love his company, it was like Andy and I had 3 dates!
While going back to work was rough, my heart was so happy and full after 4 days with my family. I am so thankful this past weekend and every weekend. This whole year has been packed with blessings. At the top of my list is good health. Although I was hoping to be done with Ben's surgeries by now, and although his lack of eating stresses me out more than anything, I know I should focus my energy on how well he is doing. He is the smartest and happiest boy ever! I love him so much it hurts! I also have to mention my amazing husband. I am so thankful for him! He loves his little family so much and it melts my heart to watch Ben copy his daddy. He has kept me level-headed when I start to stress and is so patient, thoughtful, loving, and sweet. :) He even makes fireplace s'mores with me. My boys make me the happiest wife and momma!
And on that note, I should probably wrap this up, as Andy wants to go to bed! Goodnight!
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