Thanksgiving 2011

Well, I definitely planned to update sooner than today.

I love the holidays. I love Christmas, and even all the preparation. Putting up a tree, decorating, making cookies, buying gifts....I love it all! But it sure does make our family busy.

Here's some pictures from Thanksgiving. I use my blog mostly as a scrapbook of sorts (because I do NOT have the self discipline to scrapbook), so I wanted to make sure these pictures got on the blog.

For Thanksgiving, we went up to Brooks' parents house, then to my Aunt Becky's house, then to my mom's house, then back to my in-law's house. It was busy. Add into that some hunting, two deer killed and processed (sad, but I like to eat them), and a trip to Chicago....it was exhausting!

We started out our Thanksgiving time with a visit from Uncle Micah. Micah is Brooks' best friend. He's great...the girls adore Micah and were very sad when he left. They think every man in his 20's or 30's with a beard is Micah.

Then we headed up to Portage, ate a yummy turkey dinner, then headed to Valparaiso for another delicious Thanksgiving meal! I love turkey.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving...

This picture makes me laugh...I showed it to Maya and she said, "Kim's so funny!"

Naked Olivia (she spit up everywhere) with Aunt Becky

The next day, instead of shopping, Holly and I took the kids to Bellaboos. If you live in NW Indiana and haven't gone, WHY NOT?!? It's awesome. Anyways, here are some pictures of our entourage at Bellaboos.

The face painting room was a favorite. I was laughing so hard at Maya. She was concentrating so hard while putting her "make up" on...she looked like something out of a zombie movie. Yes, it's even in her teeth.

The next day we went to Chicago and saw the GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus...it was amazing!
I don't have many pictures from the actual circus itself (it was dark), but before the show started we were able to go down and watch performances up close!

Check this out...it's an elephant painting a picture!

After the circus, Poppa (Brooks' dad) took us to the Shedd Aquarium. The girls had never been to an aquarium and were so excited to see the 'fishies'. We had such a great time!

The girls go to touch some fish...

Slide like a penguin...

See fish up close (I love this picture...can you spot the seahorses?)...
It was dark when we left, but the city looked so pretty (even with all the rain).
This little stinker stayed with Grandma at the house! She's getting so big!
So that was our Thanksgiving weekend. It was great to be with family. We have so much to be thankful for...God is good!