Thanksgiving - Brian's Side

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Brian's family on Friday evening.  We drove to Indiana on Thursday and came back on Saturday.  Brian and I went to Walmart's Black Friday event on Thursday night at 8 pm.  We got some good deals on DVD's we had wanted to see.  You couldn't even rent them cheaper.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to find a couple of the deals we were going for...supposedly, one of them flew off the shelf as soon as the event began and the other we ended up looking for in the wrong section.  Oh well.  At least we didn't have to spend an hour in line checking out!

Brian's mom and I then went shopping Friday morning at Kohl's and Carson's.  I found quite a few things at both places, so it turned out to be a pretty successful shopping trip.  Shortly after we got home, Brian's brother and family arrived.  Hailey was so excited to see her cousins!  Then more cousins (second cousins) showed up around 1 pm as Brian's cousin, Rachel, and family came over to visit.  After that, Brian's aunt, uncle, and cousin came over as well.  It was a full house and exactly what is the best thing about Thanksgiving!  We had a great time visiting with everyone!

We all slept in on Saturday morning and then went over to Kmart to have a "grandkids" picture taken at Olan Mills.  We went out to eat afterwards at a Wings Etc.  We then went back to Brian's parents house for a little bit to relax and then headed for home around 3 pm.  We stopped by the local sewing store on our way out of town to see Brian's friend, Adam, who operates the store now since his brother (who previously operated it) and his wife and kids became missionaries and moved out of the country.  I needed to get a thimble and thick needle to try and sew Hailey's Girl Scout patches on her uniform as something to do to pass the time in the car.  I didn't think I would need either of those to get through the patches, so I didn't bring them along.  These are some really thick patches!  Surprisingly enough, I left the store with just those two things.  If we had more time, though, I can guarantee you that I would have purchased some material.  When I walk into sewing/quilt stores, I feel like a kid in a candy store!

This morning, my sister came over to take our annual "Christmas card" picture for us.  Then we spent some time over at my other sister's new house helping them assemble furniture and unpack a little.

Earlier this week, we had parent-teacher conferences on Monday night.  Hailey's teacher said she is doing very well, so we were happy to hear that!  Hailey also had a 4-H meeting that night and they made little turkeys out of material.  I felt bad for her when we dropped her off, because this is only their third meeting and she doesn't really know anyone (her cousin, Laura, couldn't go that night).  She got teary when I started to leave, so the leader gathered up the other Cloverbuds and had them sit by Hailey.  That seemed to lift her spirits some and provide me with a little relief!

Brian used a vacation day on Wednesday, so we got the Christmas lights put up outside.  I need to get the inside decorations started this week.  I'm looking forward to all the Christmas activities coming up!

 

Thursday's weather was in the upper 50's, so we spent some time outside.  The girls got Grandpa to take them for a little wagon ride.

 

Clara held on to Hailey when we tried to take her out of the cart.  She did not want to get out!  She loved it!

 

Attempting to take ornaments off of Grandma's tree.

 

A second cousin picture.  Top L to R: Grace, Emma, Clara, Hailey, Gabrielle.  Bottom L to R: Alex, Stephen, Gavin, Jack.

 

You know they couldn't wait for us to tell them to do a crazy picture!

 

Hailey and Emma helped Grandma do some dishes.

 

While taking our annual Thanksgiving photos, Clara fell backwards on the foot stool and right into Alex.  I wish we had a video camera rolling for that one!

 

Cousins!

 

The whole family!

 

Unpacking boxes, putting up blinds, painting bedrooms...the joys of moving!