Thanksgiving Weekend 2022

 Another Thanksgiving weekend is in the books, and man, did it fly by. The kids had Wednesday-Friday off, so I also took Wednesday off. On Wednesday, the kids went out to the farm in the afternoon for a sleepover, and John and I had choir and then church. Afterwards, since we didn't have kids we decided to stop for a beer at TC's Referee. It was a nice way to kick off the holiday weekend. 

Thursday we went to Brookings all day (see previous post), and then Friday, we had a nice day catching up at home. John got some ice fishing things ready and put up the Christmas lights. I cleaned the house, packed up for going to Minnesota, went to the gym, and enjoyed some time at home with the kids. We also took a trip to the Bethel Gym to work on some basketball skills with Emma, and then to spend some time shooting nerf guns in the gym with Elliott and Emma. Everyone had a really good time, and we burned off some energy. 

After supper, we headed downtown to Byron's office to a little gathering before the Parade of Lights. Then, at 7:30pm we headed outside to watch the parade. The weather was gorgeous (46 degrees), so it was packed downtown. There were 50,000 people in attendance. It was crazy! The kids were lucky enough to sneak up to the front, and then John and I just stood way back behind the sidewalk. The parade was pretty cool, and it lasted for an hour and 20 minutes. There were beautiful floats, the kids got some candy and coupons, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. 

By the time we left we were a little chilly, and really sick of all the people. It took a while to get out of there, and by the time we got home, it was time for bed. 

On Saturday, we got up at 7:00am, ate breakfast, and then packed up and headed to Minnesota. We were on the road by 8:00am and made really good time to Minnesota. We enjoyed a lot of wine and beer, and some amazing Thanksgiving food. We had the regular Thanksgiving spread, plus Ham balls, and it was delicious. Then, we played some games and visited with everyone. We were blessed with another beautiful day (54 degrees) so we also spent some time outside playing basketball, catch with a football, and just goofing around outside. It was really nice to get some fresh air, and to wear the kids out a little bit. 

Elliott got to open gifts again. He got some Pokemon clothes, a Clue JR game, Nerf Guns, a drone, and Pokemon cards. He was one happy little boy, again! 

In the evening, we pretended to be hungry and ate a little supper. Then, John and I met up with Steve and Samantha to visit with them and to give Samantha her baby gift. We also got a chance to check out the new brewery in Gibbon. And then we ran into Julie, Todd, and Kyle there, so that was really nice to catch up with them. At around 10:00 pm we called it a night. 

Today was another good day. We went to church, and then decorated the church for Christmas like we have the past several years. It went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Then, we went back to mom and dad's for lunch, and then some more visiting and games, before we packed up to head back home. 

We made it back home around 5:30pm. We finally got unpacked, and laundry rolling, and now we put the kids to bed and are trying to relax a little before heading to bed to start another week of work. 

It was a great weekend, but I can't wait to get back to the gym and back to a routine again. I love the holidays, but it's hard to sit around all day, and I am not used to eating so much food!!

And now, I can listening to Christmas Music and wear all my Christmas shirts, and nobody can tell me it's too early!! :)

Uncle Time 

Birthday Boy Again 

Twinning 

Giant CandyLand 

Family Time 

Elliott's 8th Birthday

 Elliott's 8th Birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day this year. My little turkey baby. Emma and Elliott actually spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house on Wednesday night. They ended up getting some Christmas Pajamas, a Christmas pillow and blanket, and they went to a movie. They were not suffering. 

On Thanksgiving (also Elliott's birthday) we all went to Brookings to celebrate at Dennis and Jenny's house. We all had a great day playing games, visiting, and eating wonderful food. Elliott also got to celebrate his birthday of course. I bought him a little birthday cake, and we all sang Happy Birthday and then Elliott opened his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson and Samantha and Jeff. Elliott got an ice fishing rod, and some caps, a lego set, and Christmas charades. 

We spent all day doing all the festive things, and then we finally went home around 6:00pm (it felt like 10:00pm). Once we were home, we let Elliott open up his gifts from all of us. Emma got Elliott a Pokemon pack and a Jurassic World Dinosaur egg. Then, John and I got Elliott a Lego Advent Calendar, a Mega Blitz Nerf Gun, and some Roblox figures. That little boy was in heaven. He is totally into Nerf Guns and Mini Figs right now, so he was peak happiness. We watched the Vikings game, and then happily went to bed. 

I can hardly believe that Elliott is 8 years old. He's my baby, but he's becoming such a little man. He is starting to become more independent, and continues to impress me. 

Elliott's favorite things right now are:

-Legos, Mini-Figs, playing Roblox on his Ipad, Nerf Gun Wars, telling long stories, watching Jurassic Park movies, reading Dog Man or Magic TreeHouse, and playing games. Elliott really loves anything where someone will play with him and spend some time with him. He also is starting to enjoy sleepovers and more time with friends. 

Elliott's Dislikes:

-Elliott can be very sensitive at times. Like, sometimes his default is to cry when things don't go his way. And, when other kids are picking on him, he gets really worked up. He hasn't quite learned how to ignore other kids or let things not bother him. Emma really knows how to push his buttons, and she does it quite often, because it's so easy. He also can be bossy, and want things to go exactly his way, or else he doesn't want to play with you. I am working on all these things with him, but it's a struggle sometime. 

Overall, things are going great with Elliott. We are trying to work on him with his attitude and how he reacts to things. He is doing great in school. Things seem to come pretty easy to Elliott in school, and as ling as he is not rushing and he puts in some effort, he does really well. 

We love our little boy! I keep asking him to stop growing and getting older, but he never takes me up on it. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for him!!

New Christmas Jammies 

Movie Time 

Birthday Boy

Halloween into November

 Another Halloween has come and gone. We had another good one. This year, Emma decided she wanted to Trick-or-treat with her friend, Lily. It was kind of sad to be kicked to the curb for a friend, but Emma had so much friend going around with some friends, and I'm really happy for her. She went home with Lily after school, and then John drove over at around 7:00pm to pick her up and bring her back home. She made quite a haul with candy, and she had a blast. 

Elliott was a little sad to have to stay home and trick or treat with mom and dad, but he had a good time. We were blessed with beautiful weather. It was in the 60s when we started trick or treating, which is totally unheard of. Jim and Barb came to our house around 5:00 pm, and they brought some taco soup and chips and salsa. Then, they watched the house while John, Elliott, and I went around the neighborhood. 

Elliott had a lot of good luck trick or treating, and we got more than enough candy. Elliott dressed up like a ninja this year, and then Emma dressed up as a witch. Eventually, when Emma made it back home again, we went around the neighborhood with her as well. We had a good time, and the weather was great. 

Katie also stopped by for some taco soup and to enjoy some Halloween festivities. Eventually, the kids were done trick or treating, and then they had fun handing out candy for a while. 

The rest of the week passed by with homework, basketball practice, and the usual. This past weekend was crazy busy. On Friday evening, we went to Fall Fest at church. It was fun. We had the chili cook off, ate some cupcakes, and then bid on some baskets for the silent auction. We donated a basket, made some cupcakes and brought a chili for the event. Jim and Barb and Katie all came as well, and we all enjoyed ourselves. The kids especially liked running around with their friends and playing with their friends. 

On Saturday, we brought the kids to a BB gun safety class. Elliott really enjoyed it. We learned some basic gun safety, and then the kids even got to shoot at the end. Elliott did pretty well, and soaked it all up. Emma didn't really care for it, but I was glad she learned some basic gun safety. 

After that long morning, we enjoyed just chilling at home and relaxing. In the evening, Emma and I went to a concert at the Denny. We saw Anne Wilson, Cain, and Casting Crowns. We had a really good time and we loved it. Emma even got Anne Wilson's autograph, which she thought was amazing. We danced, we sang, and we enjoyed the concert until 10:30pm. Emma was super tired by the end of it, and I put a very tired, very happy girl to bed that night. (John and Elliott enjoyed a Walmart trip and a movie night, so they were okay). 

On Sunday, we had church, and then a new member potluck. After all that, we hustled to Parker for a 4-H awards program. Our club served drinks and helped set up for it. It was a pretty boring program, but we survived. After that, we went to Jim and Barb's house to re-upholster our kitchen chairs (which turned our pretty nice actually). We ate some supper at Pizza Ranch, and then we finally went home. Whew, what a weekend. 

This week has been fairly busy. Emma had her first basketball game with her YMCA team on Tuesday evening. She did amazing. She scored 6 points, hustled her little butt off, and had a lot of fun. It's really fun to watch her continue to improve. Now, we just have to get her to stop asking her coach to take her out when she gets tired. Emma's team ended up winning 38-10. They had a lot of fun. 

Yesterday, we had choir after work, and then we had a mini basketball practice with Emma and Elliott. It was fun to work on some fundamentals and play together. 

Today, I got called to come pick Emma up from school because she wasn't feeling very well. So, I brought her home around 11:30 am and she slept for a while. After some Tylenol and rest, she's doing better. She's watched some TV, ate some toast, and I even made her do a tiny bit of homework, so hopefully we are headed in the right direction. 

This weekend is actually pretty quiet for once. We have plans to put up with Christmas Tree (yay!!) and watch some movies with popcorn. We also have some Elliott birthday party planning to do, which he is super excited about. Basically, we are taking it easy (and hopefully getting the kids over their sicknesses). I have spent the day taking care of Emma and cleaning the house. It's been a nice catch up day, even though I feel a little bad about having to leave work early. 

Emma's haul of candy with her friends 

Ninja Elliott and me 

Casting Crowns 

Emma's basketball game