Turkey Day....Minus the Turkey ;)

We stayed in the cities this year for Thanksgiving. Four days with no places we had to go or things that had to be done... it was nice! We did manage to find things to do and there are always the basics that need to be done, but it was a good change of routine none the less. Thanksgiving Day we stayed around the house in the morning, Wellyn and Brendan cleaned the garage and Aiden helped me do some cooking and cleaning. After lunch it was nap time, and we ALL took naps! We woke up just in time to get ready to leave for the movie Bolt. It was the first time Aiden has gone to the theater to see a movie. They had a ton of fun and the movie was very entertaining. Given the movie showed at 5pm, we had some yogurt and muffins before we left, topped off by popcorn and mini-donuts at the theater, with pie and ice cream when we got home! Not the most nutritious Thanksgiving meal, but the kids sure loved it!

Friday morning I went shopping for Black Friday for the first time. I didn't leave until 7am so I'm not a crazy shopper yet ;) The stores were still busy at that time though, but I was able to get some pretty awesome deals. The worst part of the whole thing was waiting for an hour and a half at Toys R Us - just to check out! And that was at 9am... In the afternoon, a lady from Aiden's ECFE class came over with her daughter, 3, and son, 5, for a playdate. The older boys really hit it off and had so much fun running around wild...Aiden and his little friend were not too far behind! Poor Brendan was so sad when it was time for them to go he was sobbing... A clear sign that a nap was in order!

Saturday we did some more cleaning with Wellyn organizing the office closet - I do believe we will be able to find things now! I don't think we did much else on Saturday, just kind of hung out around the house.

Sunday we were up and ready to go by 10am for a family photo shoot at the Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. There was a dusting of snow so it was perfect to make the pictures look a little more festive. Brendan was just a ham and smiling and posing for the camera at every turn - it was so funny! Aiden, on the other hand, was glued to me and just not feeling it. I've seen a preview of a few shots and she was able to get some cute ones of him despite his attitude ;) I'll add a few here - we get the CD with all of them later this week:





If you're at all interested in getting some family photos done, we highly recomend Kelly - this is the second time she's done our family and we've gotten some really cute photos and it is so much nicer than going to a 15min studio session. Her site is: http://www.kellymariephotos.blogspot.com/

We went home to watch the Packer game and wait for Wellyn's brother, Ashley, and his friend, Ryan, to come over. Ashley has been stationed in Alaska for the past several years in the Air Force and is now going to be doing some training in DC before heading to the US Embassy in Pakistan. It's a long drive from Alaska to the UP so his friend Ryan went along for the ride - and was she ever a hit with the boys! Brendan instantly liked her since she was willing to put together his Mars Mission Lego ship with him (he takes it apart and puts it back together a couple times a day). The boys played foosball with Wellyn and Ashley and then went nuts wrestling with Ashley. Aiden pulled out his karate-type moves along with a few punches (I know!) and Brendan got out his new wrestling gear to try to take Ashley down. It was very entertaining to watch!




Ashley getting a leg workout!


After the boys went to bed (Brendan chose Uncle Ashley right away to take him!), Ashley hooked up his PS3 with a Blu Ray player and dazzled us with Planet Earth - awesome pictures! (Wellyn ordered one today...) Brendan was up very early on Monday morning and waited patiently for Ryan and Ashley to wake up. He was super excited that they stuck around to go to watch him at his swimming lessons. He had the biggest kicks ever and was so proud to have them to show off for.


On the way home Ashley rode in the back between the two boys (giving Ryan a break)and had them cracking up the whole way home. Here is a picture of them while I was at a stop light:

Pretty cozy back there!


Back home it was more wrestlmania before they took off for the last part of their trip to the UP. The boys going for a "swing" in blankets:



Aiden about to attack!


Ashley getting even more of a workout!


We all had a wonderful time visiting with them and are looking forward to Christmas when we get to see even more of our families from both sides! The boys are crossing off the days until Christmas and are looking forward to Santa riding by the house on a firetruck tomorrow night!

This afternoon was a little more low-key as Brendan was still sad after Ashley and Ryan left. We did make some Christmas cards to send to injured soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital. Brendan did an awesome job and really got into it, making smiley faces and stars; Aiden had an equally wonderful time putting stickers on them, of course, he kept thinking they were all for Santa ;) Brendan even asked if we could send some to Heaven for the soldiers that had died... the sweet things they say...