Thanksgiving

I'm behind on posting but wanted to make sure the wonderful Thanksgiving we experienced this year was recorded. My "Aunt" Becky (my Mom's cousin... the daughter of my grandma's brother) invited us to spend the holiday on their farm. It is a very nostalgic place for me as my Uncle Duke and Aunt Ruth lived here in a home attached to Becky and her husband, Duane's. I spent many hours here during my college years; holidays, weekend dinners with Aunt Ruth's cooking, and even spent a good deal of time working on my hermeneutics paper one summer. Uncle Duke and Aunt Ruth have both passed away so it is bittersweet but also so special to see old faces and watch my girls enjoy this wonderful property.

This is Allyson running all over the property in a game of chase with Duane and Becky's giant dog.

Duane and Becky's son and daughter-in-law, Brent and Melissa have twin girls, Allie and Reese. They are SO adorable!

While we were there, Nicole lost another tooth! 

That night I decided, for the first time in my life, to go Black Friday shopping. Kohls opened at midnight and, since I'm a night owl, I thought it "might" be fun. Wrong. I have only confirmed in my mind that there is just nothing I need that bad. The line itself was more than two hours long and wrapped around the store twice. This guy stood there just so people knew where to get in line. (It was nowhere near the registers.)

The next day, Nicole lost yet ANOTHER tooth! 

She's pretty proud of her holey smile.