Thanksmas

This year in Chicago was a blast as always. We had a pretty uneventful 6 hour drive to Marilyn and Tom's gorgeous house in Bull Valley, just north of Chicago. This is what we call Thanksmas. Our annual get together for the Thies family, a little after Thanksgiving and a little before Christmas, hence; Thanksmas! It's so nice to be able to come together in one place with our entire family. There are enough beds for everyone to sleep and stay in one place. This allows the children to romp and play and the adults to have fun all at the same time. We do a gift exchange for the kids and the adults do a really fun rob-your-neighbor style gift exchange. My girls wore their cute little dresses for the Saturday Celebration!This is Kayla after she opened her adorable matching Barbie and Me cheerleader outfit. She basically wore this for the rest of the weekend. Never mind the fact that is was about 20 degrees outside with SNOW on the ground.
This is what happens when Paige needs a nap (for some demented reason I just love this picture):

This is Paige playing in the snow for the first time ever. She was so cute. These boots were making her walk a little stiff and she bent over to touch the snow for the first time and did a nice face plant. We were all laughing so hard, she look sort of like a little turtle stuck with her arms flailing about. I know this is a little mean, but at least I did not take a picture. Plus, she didn't even cry. She loved every minute of the snow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So here is the view I get from my couch when I am watching TV. I love this. I am so excited about having our decorations up so early this year! Christmas is so special this year with the girls being older. Especially Kayla, she is so excited about the holiday. She thought Thanksgiving was going to be Christmas this year. She woke up really early and comes in our room Thursday morning.......(whispers)"Mom....can we wake up Paige? She will be so excited about today" I reply, "NO...DO NOT WAKE YOUR SISTER UP!!!!!". Kayla: "ok Mom". So she goes and lays in front of Paige's bedroom door and waits. I fall asleep until I hear her....."Kayla. Are you kicking the wall?"

She is so cute, I see her laying there and she thinks we are going to run out to get lots of presents. I had to take a moment to explain that this is only Thanksgiving where we see our family and eat lots of turkey. This is something we are thankful for. I think she was a little disappointed, but when I told her we would see her cousins she perked right up.

This weekend is our annual trip to Chicago for what we call Thanksmas..stay tuned for a blog:)

Happy Holiday's Everyone!