Thanksgiving Part 2

So on the Friday before Thanksgiving we took off from Chicago and drove to Ann Arbor to meet up with Ryan and spend Thanksgiving week with the Stoianowski's. The next day was the Nebraska football game we were lucky enough to go to and have a wonderful tailgate time as always with Papa and friends, and Nana was wonderful to babysit for us. Unfortunately Daddy had to drive home Sunday to work Mon-Wed so me and the kiddos just crashed at Nana and Papa's and I did my best to keep the kiddos occupied and out of the way since both of them work from home. Wednesday did finally come and that brought Ryan back to join us along with Unkie and Amy from Baltimore! Of course the next day being Thanksgiving was filled with cooking, laughter, eating, resting and more eating (plus much playing for the kiddos). The morning began a little rough as I had to take Danny to the ER because he was so sick and coughing he could barely breath. Turned out he had Croup so he was given a good dose of steroids and we were back home to help in the festivities. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal at 1PM of course so the kiddos could nap through it and I could actually eat:-) Besides trying to take care of a very sickies baby, we had a wonderful day. Friday not only brought setting up Christmas decorations, but our own Christmas celebration! Since we will be in Chicago and wont be seeing any of them for Christmas we did our gift exchanges friday afternoon. It was so much fun setting everything up together and then we truly were spoiled with wonderful gifts for everyone. Saturday brought another MI football game to have a blast at. Unkie and Amy were kind enough to babysit for us so Nana came along and we were able to tailgate then watch a uber exciting game ending with a win over Ohio State, can't get much better than that! Unfortunately the fun did have to come to an end and we all parted ways on Sunday to go back to regular lives and enjoy the rest of the holiday season. I forgot my camera but I was able to take a few pics of the fun festivities of our Christmas Day:-)

After lots of fun in Chicago he was definitely tuckered out as we traveled to MI

On Tuesday Nana helped me and we took the kiddos to sit on Santa's lap. As you can see it was surprisingly a very decent experience!

Baron was helping Danny get the decorations out...actually Danny was trying to climb in the decorations...same difference for a 1 year old:-)

Look how the family is growing! More grandkids and things will get pretty squished up there!

Everyone helping with the tree...it was so fun to watch LJ this year. She finally "gets" the Christmas idea and couldn't get enough of decorations:-)

Amy helping her place some high ones...

Lorilyn definitely loves her some Amy!

Unkie helping her put the Angel on the top

Unkie was trying to help Danny put decorations on the tree but he wasn't quite as interested as Lorilyn:-) He seemed to prefer trying to destroy things.

Nana and Papa getting into the decorating

Brothers

The finished product...Look at all those presents!!

She doesn't look like she is having any fun at all:-)

Setting up the play grill that we got from Unkie and Amy:-) I think Dad was just as excited as the kiddos.

Danny says he's ready to learn all the grilling techniques from daddy:-)


Thank you Nana, Papa, Unkie and Amy for a wonderful Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas celebration. It was so wonderful as always!

Thanksgiving Part 1

So our Thanksgiving travels began the week before Thanksgiving with a wonderful trip to Chicago to visit my parents and Steve's family. Mom and Dad moved to the Chicago area in October of this year to be closer to family and it is already such a blessing to have close! I feel horrible because we didn't take ANY pictures. Guess we were just having too much fun playing and spending time together. It was wonderful to watch Lizzie and Lorilyn get along so well and enjoy each other so much. Being 10 years younger than my siblings I always worried that my kids wouldn't have cousins close enough to play with, but luckily that doesn't seem to be the case for Lorilyn. The 2 girls were so cute chasing around, playing and singing at the top of their lungs. I will have to admit I definitely took advantage of being with my mom and was able to rest more than I ever get to at home, especially since she is a wiz with toddlers and pre-school age children. One day we were able to go to the mall with Kori and Lizzie and we got to ride on the carousel, which LJ thought was the greatest thing ever. She would yell "Up and Down, Up and Down" the entire time:-) Kori was wonderful enough to snap a couple pictures for me of this...

The 2 little friends on their horses:-)


Danny wasn't as fond of the horse...

I love the pure joy on her face:-)

Thank you so much for letting us come visit! The second part of our trip was to MI for 2 football games, Thanksgiving dinner and even our own Christmas...that post to come soon!