Thanksgiving

Warning: This post is rather long and has lots of pictures. Don't say I didn't warn you!!

We have so much to give thanks for...family, friends, house, job, technology, food, clothes, and of course our great God who provides everything for us. We were thankful to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with Gene's side of the family. We traveled to Milwaukee on Wed night and arrived around 9:30 PM their time. Gene and his Mom were out shopping on Thanksgiving morning already. They do love to find those post Thanksgiving specials and decided to start early this year. Around noon we headed over to Aunt Leenie's house for our yummy turkey dinner. Andrew had great fun playing with his cousins there, especially Jacob. Here is Joacob giving Andrew a piggy back ride.

Noah had fun giving smiles to all the relatives and even took time to sit on Great Grandma's lap for a little bit. He got to play with Daddy's cell phone, so that kept him still for at least a little while.Some decided to take the traditional Thanksgiving nap after the yummy dinner. At least Shannon and Dad Buerosse got a chance to snooze a little bit.

My boys also enjoyed the baseball game that Aunt Leenie has in the basement. Batter up!!

The Kernen family tradition is to go bowling after Thanksgiving dinner, so this year was no exception. This was the first time Andrew had ever gone bowling and he loved it. He actually got a spare on the first frame and I think got two more spares with Daddy's help. Unfortunately it got a little bit late for Noah, so we were only able to stay to play one game. I hadn't bowled in 2 years and actually got a 125.

Daddy giving Andrew congratulations for his spare.

Jacob and Jourdan had fun bowling too.

Andrew actually scored a 94 as you can see by the score next to the "A". Not bad for his first try. Daddy got a 145.

Friday morning Gene and his Mom got up at 3:30 AM to battle the Black Friday crowds at Kohls. They also went to Wal-Mart and Target too. I joined them at Target, but that wasn't until about 8:00 AM. I've never been a huge morning person and someone had to stay back with the boys anyway until Aunt Jamie woke up. Gene helped his Mom find some good deals and we got a few things too. On Friday evening we went to a gathering with the Buerosse side of the family at Todd's cousin's house. They have two kids, Wade and Avery ages 4 and 2, so there were plenty of toys for the boys to play with. Andrew also was excited that there was another Andrew Buerosse there to play with since another one of the cousins also has a son Andrew. The guys and Jamie went out in the elements and played football. The boys watched from the window since they didn't have snow gear. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this gathering, so you'll just have to take my word for it. After we got home Mom and Dad Buerosse watched the boys and put them to bed so Shannon, Jamie, Jamie's boyfriend Sam, Gene and I could go to a movie. We went to see Four Christmas's which was halarious!! I would guess that in time it will be one of those movies played over and over again at Christmas.

On Saturday evening Dad Buerosse, Aunt Shannon, Gene and I took the kids to see Country Christmas, the largest Christmas light display in the state of Wisconsin. The kids absolutely loved it. We let them actually get out of their car seats and ride on laps through the display so they could see better. After the display there was a building with a huge train display set up that of course the boys went crazy over, especially Andrew. They also had a building where they had a life sized nativity which was a replica of the one at the Vatican.

We left Sunday morning around 10:00 and the drive home took FOREVER, almost 7 hours. It usually takes 4 1/2 to 5 hours, so needless to say the boys were restless by the time we got home. The weather wasn't great and there were a lot of slow ups along the way, although there were no major accidents. We kept waiting to see one since traffic was so slow, but guess it was just because of congestion and bad weather. We are so glad we were able to get up to Wisconsin for the holiday. We all had a great time!!