Thanksgiving Weekend

How can Thanksgiving seem like a long time ago? What a busy time of year:) We drove down to my folks Thanksgiving morning. Because of a crazy night before, we did not get a great start to the two-hour road trip and ended up walking through the door as people were just starting to dish up there plates and sit down to eat. I was a little sad to miss the morning and helping in the kitchen, but I guess it was nice to be able to come in and dive right in to the good food! 

Family pic with (Great) Grandma!

Cheese!

We had a great time visiting and catching up. After our extended family left, we all pretty much crashed on the couches:) Dave had to be back in Mauston in case the hospital needed him, so he drove back early in the morning on Friday and spent most of the day at home, watching the Hawks (such a depressing ending to that game). He returned later that afternoon/evening and hit a little bad weather, but made it safely back around 6 p.m. The rest of us had a leisurely morning and then headed out to pick out some trees for for Mom and Dad and one for Andrew and Kylie. It was cold but it didn't take long to find some great trees. Kate was loving it and headed off with A&K while Collin and I "helped" Mom and Dad. Three trees later, we were heading home to decorate. With the added travel and activity my back has been "acting up" more and more lately and I had to take the evening "off" from helping and tried to rest and watched the others make Mom and Dad's house Christmas beautiful! 

Grandpa and his little shadow

Found one!

Kate helping:)

She was so excited to help decorate the tree

Collin helping...with empty boxes

Saturday was another lazy start. It was a warm day and Grandpa took the kiddos out to play in the snow. It was a perfect day to play outside! Mom and I stole away to Decorah for lunch and a little shopping. We had great luck, ran into a bunch of people and then came back north. We stopped out to Andy's place to see the improvements they've been making to the house and check out their tree (complete with wrapped gifts underneath!) and then headed over to see Geoff and Mary's new house! We then went back downtown and and ate at the new Good Times Grill (I think that is the name?) in the old Americana place. A very full and fun day!

The first of two snowmen

Rosy cheeks!

She was pretty serious and rolled until she couldn't push the heavy snow!

Working hard! They made a second snowman. "Grammy and Grampy" according to Kate:)

On Sunday, we hit the ground running early and had brunch in Decorah with The Peterson's. They kids did great and it was super fun to see them. We headed straight back to Wisconsin so we could get our own tree and decorate for Christmas! It was a beautiful, sunny but very cold day. We stopped at our beloved tree farm on the way home, thankfully we packed the kids' snowpants and warm gear. We jumped on the wagon ride out to the trees, were dropped by the 10-12 foot trees and thankfully we found one pretty quickly. We also got a wreath for the side of the garage and one for inside in the great room. 

Three of the four kiddos at The Family Table

Our tree!

Good times at Hilliker Tree Farm in Tomah!

Dave and I stayed up late decorating the house and getting the 10 foot tree up:) We watched The Muppet Christmas Carol, one of our absolute favorite movies. A long day, but we love having the house decorated for Christmas! 

Somehow, I didn't take a picture of our tree all set up, so that will come later. But here are some random pics from the past week!

The kids helping me send a package to Japan

Watching Frozen, someone had to get into character

Waiting for dance class to start (Christmas performances this week!)

Collin's favorite activity right now is brushing his teeth. Oh, and best bedhead ever. 

We took a break from packing (for Brown Christmas/Lefse Day) and did some yoga

The ever helpful Collin:) Kate used to do the same to me!

One of my favorites - tree pose!