Klay Family: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! We celebrated Thanksgiving with Mommy's side this year. Grandma was home from Africa, so she was happy to host. We attempted our annual Thanksgiving photo towards the end of the evening, always a joy :)

Cooper made some adorable artwork at 4K...handprint turkey

A turkey (?) which he clearly forgot to include my name on the thankful line

Some tracing and his name. Definitely a keeper!

At Grandma's, she had the kids help with the cooking and decorating. We had a turkey cheese platter and this turkey fruit tray. Good thing Lexi is such a patient and wonderful cousin!

As enjoyable as the family picture is, so is the "cousins" photo each year. It is nearly impossible to get everyone to look and smile. Jimmy is not having it :) Next year, baby girl Lindell will be with us, yay!

We toasted with our kid's champagne :) Cheers!

The next morning, the girls hit the Mall of America, the boys hit Kid's Hair and Cabella's. Cooper and I asked for Grinch hair and were excited to sport this craziness all day. We had many nice compliments while out and about.

A favorite time of the day...morning cuddles in Mommy and Daddy's bed

We quickly switched gears and began preparing for Christmas! It's hard to believe that Christmas will be here in 24 days, yikes! It is our tradition to take Grammy to Pleasant Valley Tree Farm to cut down our trees. We love the wagon rides, the hunt for the "perfect" tree, Santa and Mrs. Claus, and popcorn and cider at the end. It was a beautiful day for our day at the tree farm!

I couldn't WAIT to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. I told Santa that I wanted a brown, kid's guitar with a guitar case and picks. He was a little impressed with this request. I told him I knew how to play, which is not entirely true. Grandma Jean (our neighbor down the road) lets me bang on her grand piano and play with her instruments. I love visiting Grandma Jean and our jam sessions.

Cooper told Santa that he wanted a Captain America suit and Ninja Turtles shell/suit. Cooper is really into dressing up and found these ideas in the Target holiday catalog. Overall, it was a successful visit complete with happy boys (no tears!), wishes shared, and candy cane treats!

Before we left, we asked Santa if he could return our elf, David, to us soon. We really miss David and were hoping he would be back with us for the holidays. Well... he returned alright....

We were bringing holiday decor from our storage room to our living room when the doorbell rang early Sunday morning. When we opened the door, there was David, coming right out of a wrapped box! He was addressed to us, so we think he was shipped overnight. Cooper just started squealing in delight, I grabbed David and proudly carried him around all day. Now, I know we can't touch David (he needs his magic to fly back to the North Pole at night), so I was careful to only touch the box. We are so excited to see what type of mischief David brings this holiday season!

In final news, Cooper had a fun field trip to the movie theater and his teacher sent a few pictures. He is also the King of the Week, meaning he is the "special" kid of the week and he will have some fun privileges all week. Oh goody, pump the kid's tires some more :)