Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

On Saturday we went to the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Festival of Trees. The Kennedy Krieger Institute works with children and adolescents who deal with learning disabilities/birth defects that hinder learning capabilities, ie. cerebral palsy, autism, down syndrome etc... Every year people decorate Christmas trees and donate them to the institute who in turn sells them at auction. The winner this year was a tree dedicated to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. It was a really fun tree and very different from most of the rest of the trees. However the greatest part for us was to see Ben's reaction to all of the lights and sounds. We watched an Irish dance troop perform and when they had their really sparkly costumes on he was mesmerized! Here are a couple of pictures of our trip and return home.

Ben playing before we left for the festival...

We decked him out in a Christmas sleeper... thought it was appropriate!

Family picture in front of the gingerbread train

Conrad and Ben in front of the gingerbread train

The Cheshire Cat tree that won the contest

Ben fell asleep in the car on the way home. He didn't look very comfortable, but it didn't seem to bother him AT ALL!!

Ben and I watching the Irish Dancers troop in the sparkly costumes. He lost interest when they changed clothes and lost the sparkle.



We also celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our new house and I actually cooked my first turkey which I might add came out delightfully well. We usually go up to Mt. Gretna to visit Grandma Buck but this year we are going up for her birthday next weekend instead. Thought we would stick around town and do our own thing. It was a wonderful day. Here are a couple of pictures...

Ben surveying his conquest!

Conrad and Ben cutting our first Turkey in the new house!!!


I know we haven't posted any pictures of the house yet, but they are coming as we get things slowly together and finished. So sorry for the delay! We did finally get our kitchen completed thanks to my parents for all of their help!