Thanksgiving

Brian decided this year he was going to put up our Christmas light display.  We have taken a few years off since it was difficult to put up with the kids being so small.  This year, Austin and Brian basically put up the lights.  Austin was Daddy’s helper and wanted to help whenever possible.  Austin even decided to put the lights on his swing set.  Brian bought new lights so the old ones were placed on the swing set by Austin.  This has kept Brian very busy.

I worked Thanksgiving.  After I got home, we went to my parents.  We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids even ate turkey.  Austin liked the sweet potatoes.  Sydney would not even try them.  They both really enjoyed the rolls and the pumpkin pie. 

I also had to work on Friday after Thanksgiving.  Brian was home with the kids.  He took them to the science center.  They all had a great time.  They went to a class and made a playdoh like substance.  Austin packed the lunch before they left.   Brian didn’t even know what was packed and I guess Austin remembered everything.  They were there all day long.  Everyone had a great time. 

On Saturday, we went to Home Depot for the kid’s project.  We haven’t been going as much as usual just because we have been so busy.  The kids really enjoyed doing the project.  Austin can use a hammer better than I can. If a nail needs to change directions or come out, Austin can do it. 

Then we went to a city light up event.  It was the first time we did that.  We watched them light up city hall.  Then the elf that lit up the city got back on his truck and the crowd followed him down to the square.  There were treat stations along the way too.  They wore their lights from Disney necklace which was neat.  Then we had some hot chocolate and ended the night watching fireworks.  It was a fun night. 

On Sunday, we went to pick out our Christmas tree.  Last year was our first year getting a real tree.  We loved the experience and wanted to do it again.  The weather has been fantastic (highs in the 50’s).  It was nice going and not being too cold.  We walked around the tree farm for at least an hour looking at trees and taking pictures and videos.  We finally found our perfect tree. 

Austin and Sydney loved watching them shake the trees and loading them on to the cars.  We did that for at least 15 minutes.  After our tree was loaded, we had some hot chocolate.  We drove home and Brian took a funny picture of the kids on the roof.  We put up our tree in our living room.  We have to take the kids little table downstairs to fit our Christmas tree in our living room.  This year tree is absolutely perfect.  It looks like an artificial tree but smells and feels like a real one. 

Austin was really excited to decorate the tree. He even dug out the Christmas decorations from downstairs.  We have white and colored lights on our tree this year.  We were considering using our Christmas tree for our Christmas card but decided not to.  When we first got married, we had a tree with glass icicles.  So we didn't have many kid friendly ornaments, so we have slowly accumulated them.  This ornaments mean more because there is a story behind them.  We have several hand made ornaments now too.  Sydney likes to get princess ornaments and this year Austin got a ninja turtle one.  That is the kind of birthday party he wants.  They also got a mickey and princess ornament with a picture from Disney.  We love our Disney trip each year.  Tutta got them a robot and dinosaur ornament to remember their Halloween costumes.  They are very cute!

Also Thanksgiving weekend, our Elf Kristoff came back.  Austin and Sydney loved Kristoff.  They were always so excited to see what Kristoff was up to in the morning.  This is the first year they really got into it  Kristoff did some crazy things this year like take a tire off Daddy's car to use it like a Christmas card because Austin had used all the Christmas cards.  He also played with the kids toys and had fun in the gingerbread house.