First Thanksgiving

If she could speak, I think Bailey would say that she had a pretty good first Thanksgiving. She and I went with my parents to Wisconsin to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. Andy was in Phoenix for a baseball tournament. We definitely missed him and we were all jealous of the 80 degree weather he was in! Thanksgiving morning we drove to WI. Bailey was a trooper again in the car. She slept the whole way there!!! We checked into the hotel and had a couple of hours to relax before heading to our Thanksgiving feast. My sister and her family also stayed in the hotel with us. We had adjoining rooms and it was great! Jake really liked being able to go between his room and grandma and grandpa's room.
Once again, my Aunt Jan put together quiet the feast! We actually had our dinner at their church. Now that our family is expanding, this allowed for a little more room - especially for the kids. They were able to run, play with their big John Deere tractors and not have to worry about running into anything breakable (except for a baby or two!). We had such a great time. We only get to see the Krause side of our family about 3 times a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and camping at Firefly Lake in the summers. Since our visits are few, the time we do get to share together is very special.
Black Friday isn't quite the same as it used to be. We used to be those crazy people getting up in the wee hours of the morning and getting to our first store around 5am. Now that there are babies and children who need naps, we no longer worry about getting to those door buster deals. Julie, Tom, and I took the girls (Bailey & Abby) to the outlet mall around 8am. We were shocked at how few people were there. A saleswoman told us that they had opened at midnight, so they were busy from midnight - 4am and then everyone left to hit up places like Kohls and Walmart. Lucky for us, we were able to get our shopping done without elbows being thrown at us and having to wait in long lines. We were done and out of there by noon! That evening we went to my cousin Dave and his wife Alyssa's house for our traditional Marty's pizza. It was a fun night filled with little boys running around, making lots of noise and babies sleeping and crying. We headed back to MN on Saturday. Bailey was great in the car and we returned home safely. We stayed at my parent's house that night since Andy wasn't home yet. Thank goodness we came back on Saturday so we had Sunday to recoup. It was a busy holiday, yet made me realize how much I have to be thankful for: a loving husband, a beautiful home, amazing parents, an awesome sister, amazing nieces and nephews, and the best gift of all this year....BAILEY!!!