Last week the whole family came to Des Moines to celebrate Thanksgiving. Thursday was Thanksgiving day as usual filled with eating, snacking, football, lounging, and then some more eating. It was also the perfect day to showcase the Iowa Hawkeye's cheer that John had been teaching Ashlyn. After we were rested and some of our food had settled, the girls decided to partake in some Black Friday shopping. One of the local malls switched up tradition a bit and had the stores open at midnight, as opposed to the usual 4am. Now, I don't know how many of you have ever participated in this sort of spectacle (it was my first time), but it was quite chaotic! We got there about a half an hour early and opted to wait in a gated area inside the mall instead of outside, since weather.com reported that it was something like 10 degrees outside. Well, apparently the frost-bitten outside waiters were allowed to enter the mall a few minutes earlier than the room-temperature waiters, and this upset some anxious shoppers. So, they decided to shake their fist at the mall authorities, so to speak, and shook/pushed the gate until it broke and could be moved out of their way. I mean, really guys? All for some discounted sheets? Come on. Anyway, we shopped the night away at the mall and then decided to head over to Kohl's to get in on their 4am madness. Frankly, that was where the deals were at. The Kitchen Aid knives I got were quite the steal! So, after we waited it out in the horrendous Kohl's line, we hurried home to get to bed by 6am and sleep a little before the kids woke up. All in all, it was fun to be a part of the mayhem and shop amongst the Christmas atmosphere.

Friday was a lounge day since many of us were tuckered out from our all-nighter shopping trip, and Saturday was a free-for-all day. John and I took Mady and Kailyn to a Festival of Trees event downtown where companies decorated Christmas trees in various themes for people to purchase or donate to local hospitals and such. Since it was a festive holiday event I, of course, enjoyed myself, and the girls had a good time making gingerbread houses and ornaments for Grammy. Then we came home and played Trivial Pursuit - genius edition, where, surprisingly, neither team won.

It was hard to be away from my family for the holiday, but John's family was, as they always are, so warm and welcoming which made it a lot easier. All in all, I had a great Thanksgiving weekend. And to top it all off, we got our first big snow of the season!