Our annual tradition of going to MN for Thanksgiving continued this year. We got all packed up to go and headed out of town on Tuesday night. The trailer needed to come with us because Mike took his future dental chairs to store at his ma’s house. Lucy and her kennel started out on the trailer as well, but it became clear once it got dark that it was going to be too cold for Lucy out there. So she came into the Suburban and sat at Violet’s and my feet. Matt Larson came along to see his folks and sat up front with Mike.

Everything was going fine until we stopped for gas about 2 hours into our trip. Something was missing, but we just couldn’t place our fingers on it. What could it be, what could it be. Aha, the kennel is missing. What a relief to know. Wait a second! The kennel is missing!! The kennel is a very large, plastic box and flew off our trailer while driving at speeds of 55-65 mph!!! Our stomachs sank to think what havoc that event must have caused. Mike and I just pray that it didn’t result in any accidents or injuries. If it did, then we are truly sorry and would feel just horrible.

We arrived late Tuesday night. Wednesday was a busy day. Mike drove to SD to meet with the builder of his future office in Watertown, and he took Annie and Lucy with him. On the way out there another tragedy happened. A deer family decided to make their way across the highway at the same time Mike was passing by. One of the deer was unlucky and got hit by Mike. Mike, Annie and Lucy suffered no damage and returned home safely but the same cannot be said for our Suburban. The whole front end will pretty much need to be replaced:(

While Mike and Annie were off in SD I got to spend the day crafting with Sara and my oldest niece Katie. Mimi and Violet spent the day with Grandma. Sara, Katie, and I had a fantastic time listening to music, eating lots of sweets, and chatting and giggling all day long. This year we decided to make Christmas crafts. Sara and I both planned weeks in advance to have the cutest crafts to make. See for yourself. Sara’s craft was the ruffly Christmas trees, and mine was the fabric-wrapped wreath. They both turned out awesome, and I can’t wait to find a place to display them for the next month (or several months depending on when we get around to de-decorating for Christmas).

We had another huge group for the Thanksgiving feast. All of Mike’s siblings (except Jenni, sniff sniff) and their families were there. I think we had a total of 27 people. Sara was gracious enough to share her pictures with me because I was too lazy to take out my camera the entire visit.

Apparently, Mimi grew a third leg on Thanksgiving and was quite shocked.

The girls couldn’t keep from being themselves and wrestling most of the day. However, once all the cousins were there they kept busy running around.

Violet acted shy when folks started to arrive, but she warmed up right away to Uncle Jim. He must be the baby whisperer.

Lucy got a special treat of Turkey skin. I was convinced she would turn her nose up at it. Guess I was wrong.

As you can see it was a full house, but it was so nice to spend the day with family.

Since we most likely won’t be visiting Minnesota for the rest of the year, Jake and Steph decided to have Maya’s birthday party while we were visiting. The one big request from Maya for her birthday was to have all her cousins there, so we couldn’t disappoint. The theme for the party was ladybugs, tigers, and unicorns. The ladybugs came in the form of the treat boxes, the tiger was on the cake, and the unicorn was the pinata. The pinata was actually burro with a cone taped to his head, but the kids didn’t seem to notice.

Here’s the birthday girl enjoying a carrot. She was so thrilled to have all her cousins and Uncle Mike attend (for some reason she just adores Uncle Mike).

One of the birthday girl’s presents was a dress up box. Both Owen and Violet got in on the fun. Initially Owen wanted to try on one of the dresses, but he soon realized that that probably wasn’t a good idea for various reasons.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing and seeing a few friends. Annie missed her piano lesson on Monday due to parent/teacher conferences, so we decided it would be fun to have Grandma give her a lesson. Annie was so thrilled and practiced the songs and skills constantly. As a treat to end the week, Grandma let and Annie and Mimi each get a turn on the big organ.

Of course, the visit would not be complete without a horsey ride.