Thanksgiving Travels

Our Thanksgiving trip to N'West Iowa started with a little hiccup...freezing drizzle and ice was the forecast for Wednesday so we had to leave Des Moines earlier than anticipated.

Luckily we left town just in time and we had safe travels with only slightly iced roads.

Our first stop was Spencer where we spent Wednesday and Thursday night with the Mueting Family. We played games, cooked a fabulous Thanksgiving meal, slid down the stairs with Grandpa(see video below), decorated for Christmas, read books, and even opened a few Christmas presents from Liz & Andrew!



Marie thrived on all the attention from her family.
She loved being chased and tickled by her aunts and uncle.
She also found time to sneak in extra hugs with Grandpa & Grandma.

Next we went to Sheldon to stay with Grandma Nel. It was a relaxing weekend there

as the Van Beek side celebrated Thanksgiving a week earlier.
We helped decorate the house for Christmas, ate breakfast at the bakery,
looked at books in the book store, went to church, and had dinner with the Statema clan.
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Marie loved helping Grandma make homemade hot cocoa mix and playing the piano, too.
We know Marie loves dogs, but she also spent a lot of time chasing Grandma's cats this weekend.
Apparently all that chasing wore her out.
One minute she was petting Sadie, the next she had fallen sound asleep.
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It was fun to see Marie recognize her family and act differently with all of them.
She enjoys sitting still with some and jumping & running with others.

We are so thankful for our family and how they show their love for Marie.
She is a very lucky and loved little girl.