Thanksgiving Weekend

I love long holiday weekends, especially when it gives us time together as a family. 

Matt got home from a basketball tournament in time to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Ames. We kept it simple (my favorite) and spent it with my parents, Blake and Alaina. My mom always outdoes herself and gets requests from all of us. Dinner was delicious and the food comas sank in immediately. Emma hardly ate, but we are blaming those dang eye teeth on her lack of eating. She also received her post-Thanksgiving present from Nana and Papa, something my parents did for us growing up, of pajamas and a Christmas book. 

We are looking forward to spending next Thanksgiving in warmer weather: Destin, Florida! Men's basketball has a tournament down there and we are planning on all going. Crossing my fingers my family decides to make the trip as well. 

While Matt went into the office for a few hours on Friday, Emma decided not to nap (rare for her) and instead help in getting our house ready for the tree. This is the third year we have gone to Strautman Tree Farm in nearby Cambridge and love this tradition. We know some day when the kiddos are older we will go on the hunt for the perfect tree to cut down ourselves. But for the meantime, we will settle on the dozens of options of pre-cut ones in the barn. My mom offered to then watch Emma for a few hours that afternoon so we could get the tree in the house and set up without the distraction of a 16 month old running around. Probably wouldn't have ended well otherwise :) Now our biggest challenge will be keeping those little hands off the tree, or at least to be gentle with it. She does great with Nana's tree, so hopefully that continues at our house (probably not though). Life with a toddler! 

Let the holiday celebrations commence….next up: Porth Christmas next weekend!