Thanksgiving 2013

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week spent in Minnesota. Sadly, my husband's grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer this summer. She made a request for the entire family to come to Minnesota for Thanksgiving this year, and everyone made it! Even though I don't know this side of the family very well, it was nice to be a part of a big family get-together. With all of my grandparents being deceased, none of my family ever gets together anymore. It's kind of sad. My mother-in-law Wendy wanted to get a big family picture done, and it turned out amazing! Not a single person blinked or made a funny face! 

I'm so lucky to be part of this family!

We also had a visit from Wendy's parents. Noah read Great Grandma Nancy "I Was So Mad" and she couldn't stop talking about how smart he was the rest of the night.

The big family dinner actually took place on Sunday, so we had a couple of days to relax before we had two more Thanksgiving meals with my parents. We did a quick dinner with my dad Wednesday night. He made a delicious duck and homemade cheesecake. Yum!

On the actual holiday, we spent the day at my parents' new cabin. My brother flew out from Denver and my sister and brother-in-law drove from Wisconsin. I think it's the first time the whole family has been together since Christmas 2010, so it was really nice having everyone together. 

We played Chutes and Ladders at the cabin. Noah was excited to be winning!

We frosted cookies while we waited for the turkey.

The boys chowing down on snacks.

The fam

The ice was thick enough to "skate" on, even though I was a nervous wreck the whole time!

We watched The Lorax about a million times at the cabin which has renewed Noah's love for his stuffed lorax.

Noah was so good on our flights. We had a miserable 3.5 hour delay on our way to Minneapolis due to mechanical issues, but Noah quickly made friends at our gate. They made friendship bracelets and played football with a stuffed animal. On our flight home, a cute 3 year old girl was sitting in the seat in front of him, and they chattered and passed treats back and forth the whole flight. We have such a sweet boy!

When we got home we decorated the house and prepared for the next holiday, Christmas! I love this time of year!