Being Thankful

My family and I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday. We have our health and our home and each other. How much more could we ask for? I asked each family member what they are grateful for this Thanksgiving, and here is what they said...

David: family, safe and successful hunting season.

Spencer: marshmallow cereal, Mickey, and Nina (the dog).

Ashton: he just mumbled some stuff that I took the liberty to translate into being thankful for family and yummy food.

Angie: I am so very thankful for my beautiful sons that keep me on my toes and amazing husband that provides for us. I am able to stay home and be apart of every little moment of my sons' lives (good or bad) and I am so grateful that my husband works to make that possible. I am also thankful for my extended family (parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, in-laws, etc) as they play a huge part in our day to day lives. Then, of course, are our small circle of friends that might as well be family. I am very grateful to have them as surrogate family members as well. Without family, there is nothing, so thank you to each and every single of you!

This year for Thanksgiving we made the long trek to St. Cloud to celebrate with David's sister, Katie, and her family. Our godson, Hunter, turned three on Thanksgiving, so we had a double celebration. We left our house Thursday morning to 60 degree weather (and spring jackets) and found ourselves in the middle of snow flurries. Big fat snowflakes fell from the sky, and Katie commented that it looked like someone shook a snow globe. We definitely had a picturesque holiday, which was great until it was time to shuffle on over to the hotel with armfuls of crap and two tired little boys.

Spencer called his friends and family to wish them a happy Thanksgiving on the way to Aunt Katie's house.

Playing with cousin Samantha.

Being tickled by Uncle Brian.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

Test driving Hunter's birthday digger.

Thanksgiving picnic.

Birthday cake time.

Typical Minnesota weather: one minute it's lovely, the next it's not.

Smiley Ashton.

Crabby  Spencer.

This boy is too curious for his own good.

And too much of a monkey.

Time to go swimming!

Homeward bound.

Tired little boys.

In preparation for the holiday, the boys and I did a few projects. Our first project was a keepsake hand print turkey. They painted a piece of cardboard as the background of the project. I made edible Kool-Aid paint for Ashton, so he mostly just snacked. Next Spencer spent about a half an hour painting and playing with the noodles. His imagination is without boundaries these days. He told me the noodles were barges and he was loading them with corn for the animals. 

Barges.

Stringing painted noodles onto pipe cleaners.

Binoculars.

Finished product (and other projects on our artwork board).

Our other project was tye dye turkey sun catchers. The boys colored coffee filters. Then Spencer sprayed the folded filters with water for the tye dye effect. Once they were dry, we glued on the bodies, and hung them in the window.

We were very blessed with some unexpected nice weather this week, which we took full advantage of and played outside. This we were also thankful for this holiday week. 

Spencer now draws on the wheels on the trains and connects the boxcars.

Lastly, here are some more random moments from our week of thanks.

I am thankful for these turkeys.

I made myself an infinity scarf.

Mommy's little laundry helper.

Keeping his little tootsies warm on a cold morning.

Making sure to lick out all of the yogurt.

An ice cream-less cone for dessert.

Playing on the slide we brought indoors for the winter.

A homemade Christmas gift for Spencer: traveling car garage.

Ashton learned how to help himself to a snack.

Spencer's tower moments before Ashton...

...knocked it down.

Making a birthday card for Hunter.