Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year we drove to Wausau for Thanksgiving.  We left right after we picked up Owen

from school on Tuesday.  I love being able to spend time with my family,

so the more time we can be there, the better.

Thanksgiving day was pretty low key.  The boys woke up bright and early so we went to Starbucks and met my dad for coffee.  The perfect start to the day.

Then, one of my all-time favorite parts of Thanksgiving is sitting down with the big, Black

Friday ad stuffed newspaper and seeing all the deals that are out.  Yes I realize all of the

stores have started publishing the deals days before the sales these days, but I prefer

sitting down with a pad of paper and all of the hard copies of the ads and making a list of

everything I need (or want - after all, who really needs a Mickey Mouse waffle maker).  This

year was no different.  Ryan got us stocked up with McDonald's fries and cheese curds

(another story in and of itself), a Big Buddy Mountain Dew from Kwik Trip, and we were on

our way!  It doesn't get much better than this.  When I think of Thanksgiving Day, this is

what it looks like to me.  Or at least a memorable part of it.

Once we had our Black Friday plan in place it was time for dinner.  The funny thing about

Thanksgiving dinner is I actually don't even eat the turkey.  It's not that I don't like it, but my

mom makes the most delicious sides that I would much rather eat as much as I can of them.

Layered jello salad, mandarin orange salad, taffy apple salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes,

green bean casserole...the list goes on.  And what's better is she always prepares enough

food to feed an army, so I can eat it all weekend!

And when we've stuffed ourselves silly we move on to our next

Thanksgiving tradition...Bowling!! 

It's a great way to move around after being so full and the kids love it!

They look forward to it every year.  

We have so much to be thankful for,

but the thing I am most thankful for is my family and special times like these!