Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and this year was certainly no different.  It's a busy time, but we love getting together with all of our family!  This year, Kevin, Susan, Alex, Ella (and dog Gracie) made the trek from Madison, WI to spend some time with us.  We enjoyed lots of turkey, "wibble wobble" (more later), green bean casserole, and all the trimmings! 

Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out much, with the exception of Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Although I am still a little sad about it, this year the Blossom and Busch families traded our annual 5K  on Thanksgiving morning for an evening of bowling and laser tag on "black Friday."  Considering the cold temps, this was probably a smart move this year.  We certainly had a lot of fun!  Kudos to Dan, who had to work on Friday during this VERY busy time of year for cow breeding...

 Three cousins - Clay, Alex and Ella.  I can't believe how grown up Alex and Ella are getting! 

 After letting me help him out with the ball and "slide" (no idea what those contraptions are called!), Papa Blossom stepped in to help his little buddy.  Too cute!

 Although I don't think I captured the moment, Clay would return each time quite excited about knocking the pins over.  He was very serious when it was time to roll the ball, but he got a good kick out of the accomplishment.

 Photo-bomb by Clay, but a fun shot of my brother and his kids!  Poor Ella must be getting terrorized by the boys!

 Grandparents with all the grandkids!  I hope there is room on the bench for Lena next year....

 Bowling buddies....

 Although we didn't have many pictures, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent in Columbia for the Mizzou-Texas A&M football game.  A lot of people claim this was the biggest game to be played at Faurot Field ever, or at least since 1960.  Although it was pretty cold, we just knew we couldn't miss it.  Before the game, we all took a cruise through campus.  Although Susan and the kids came for Homecoming, Kevin hadn't been to a Mizzou football game in nearly 20 years (since he was in school)!  For those of you who know the outcome, this was certainly one of the best in 20 years!

It was pretty cold and windy, so before the game we took the easy route of tailgating with Shakespeare's pizza, "wibble wobble" and yummy desserts.  Wibble wobble was Clay's request: at preschool, the teachers asked the kids to tell what would be on their Thanksgiving plates.  Clay decided he would have "Turkey, mased potatoes, corn, and wibble wobble."  The rule with the Blossom Thanksgiving is that everyone is responsible for something, so Clay was responsible for wibble wobble.  As it turns out, that became mini hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for the football game.  Yum!  I am pretty sure he had at least 7 or 8 that day!

Again, no pictures, but the Busch family celebrated Thanksgiving at the Brinker's house on Sunday.  It was a wonderful time, and as always, the 13 cousins had a blast playing together.  It is so much fun to see Clay playing and interacting with all his grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  He has so much love to give, and he certainly gets a lot in return!  This time, while the younger girls were doing crafts in the basement, Clay enjoyed rolling pool balls across the pool table for a LONG time.  He was probably worn out from keeping up with the boys and playing outside before dinner.  When it was time to go, he learned a valuable life lesson: never wake a sleeping dog who doesn't know you.  He tried getting close to Scruff the dog, and Scruff wasn't very fond of that gesture.  He is ordinarily a great dog, but after we knew Clay was fine, we were able to talk about the short lesson learned.

We hope our friends and family were able to enjoy Thanksgiving as much as we did this year.  We certainly have a lot to be thankful for!