Thanksgiving Day - Weekend

Our 4 Day Thanksgiving Weekend
Thanksgiving weekend really starts on Wednesday as soon as you are done with work!  You just cannot beat a 4-day weekend.  I decided to really take the entire 4 days off and not do any work.  I have to say not sneaking in 30 minutes here and there to get a few things done has been refreshing.  I think it also helped that I didn't receive emails from people over the 4 days either!
Wednesday
Wednesday after work had a full schedule for me.  I darted off to the bank to deposit a few checks for Dan and to grab some cash for myself for Black Friday shopping.  I drove home quick because I was also taking Junior to get his pictures taken at the mall.  I rushed into the house and grabbed my little man and changed his clothes, grabbed him a snack that would not be smeared all over his face and some water for the ride.  We pulled into Sears at 6pm on the dot, our appointment time.  Junior was a ham taking his photos this year and our photographer was great with him.  He sat and posed where she wanted to him and then would look up and say "cheese!"  After pictures we headed to Pretzelmaker for a pretzel dog to share and wait for our pictures.  Once we picked out the prints we wanted it was off to the grocery store to grab our last minute items for our Thanksgiving Day Feast.  Dan had given me a short list of what he still needed from the store.  I was in charge of appetizers and pumpkin pie which I had not started and had bought nothing.  Junior and I raced through the grocery store and then the checkout.  We were on our way heading back home and sitting at the turn single I realized I had forgotten the one thing Dan had asked for and I forgot Cool Whip for our pie - darn it.  There is nowhere to turn around and get back to the store I was at so we headed off in a different direction to Walmart.  I am already racing against the clock at this point thinking, Junior needs to get to bed here eventually and I still need to bake a pie and I was thinking a glass of wine would be nice before bed too.  As we are pulling into Walmart all of the sudden there is a fire truck and an ambulance pulling in behind me.  What is going! on and Really!, are going through my head. I had to stop at this store?!  Something had happened I guess, but we were on a mission at this point and didn't see what the commotion was all about.  We ran through Walmart and found what Dan had needed and headed over to get the Cool Whip section.  I am in the pie and dessert fridge isle and I'm standing there and cannot see anything.  I all of the sudden realize that there is a HUGE empty location and I get up close and read the tags.  Yep, it was the Cool Whip section - Gone!  I couldn't even help it I just blurted out loud - You've got to be shittin me, they're out of cool whip?!  There was some guy standing next to me and he just looked at me strangely and I shrugged my shoulders and kept on moving.  I did end up finding some store brand cool whip on an end section and there were only about 10 of them left.  We paid and darted out of the store and to the car to get home.  We finally were home by about 8:45pm and I still needed to get Junior to bed and bake my pie.  Dan already had Katelynn in bed when we got home and Junior wanted to play with Dan for a little bit.  I let them play and cleaned up a little and started my pie and then took him to bed.  Once I had my pie in the oven I opened a bottle of Shiraz and enjoyed a glass of wine and chatted over text and Facebook with one of my girlfriends and my brother.  I finally went to bed around 11:30pm that night.  Dan of course already had the Turkey stuffed and everything that he needed all completed or laid out for the next morning.

Thanksgiving Day!
Dan woke up around 5am and put the Turkey in the oven and came back to bed.  The kids were up and running around about 7am and I stayed in bed for a little while!  I finally crawled out and had a cup of coffee and went straight for the newspaper and the Black Friday ads.  I did clean the house up a bit since I hadn't done much the night before.  We watched the Macy's Day Parade and kind of just bummed around for the morning.  Around 11:00 I started getting out the appetizers and snacks to start munching on and we cracked open the first bottle of wine.  My cousin Rory was joining us for Thanksgiving dinner which we were having around 1pm.  We had a great feast as usual with Dan making most everything.  After we ate Dan went and laid down and took a nap and the rest of us went and played Wii.  I think that we Wii for about 5 hours straight from Wii sports to Wii fit to Wii Dance Moves.  I was completely wore out and I think the kids were too.  We ate again and hung out some more and then Dan and I put the kids to bed.  I had been out shopping earlier in the week and had come across The Elf on The Shelf at Target.  I had read a few things and heard about The Elf on the Shelf the last couple of years and thought that it would be fun for the kids to do this year.  I took out the book and Dan and I and the kids all piled into Katelynn's bed and read the book.  We told them that the Elf would probably show up at our house that night and they could look for him in the morning. After the kids were in bed Rory and I decided to finish off the wine.  I had full intentions of going to bed right after the kids did since I wanted to get up and go shopping for Black Friday deals around 3:30am.  I wasn't up for the Midnight change and since I wasn't going after any electronic deals I figured there would still be items left in the store for what I wanted.  Rory and I ended up having a few beers after the wine and did some really deep talking and I didn't go to bed until 12:30.  I knew I was in trouble because 3:30am comes really quick then and I was tired from staying up late the night before.

Black Friday Shopping!
3:30am definitely came quick after staying up way to late!  But I was ready for it.  I rolled out of bed and got ready and was out the door with my coffee, purse, and Black Friday ads.  One of my girlfriends was supposed to join me and I had sent her a few texts when I woke up and tried to call her, but she was snoozing away and missed out.  I was off and running, well, running at a snails pace!  My first destination was Walmart.  I pulled in a not so busy parking lot and a not so busy store.  I was kind of shocked.  I walked around the store and grabbed the items that I was wanting and the only items that I didn't get were the cheap Wii games and it could have been because I missed them.  I walked straight up to the checkout line and out the door in no time at all.  Next stop was Kohl's.  I walked in and same thing at this store. There were a few people shopping around still and I was able to grab my items and even took the time to look around at a few others and right through the check out line.  Off to Old Navy and Target next.  Same deal at both of these stores!  Got my stuff, no line to wait in at the check out and out the door.  My next destination was McDonald's.  I was starving and needed some more coffee and there was no way I was going to attempt to get in-line at a Starbucks, way too busy!  I grabbed a quick bite in the parking lot and then went to the Outlet malls and hit a few stores and got a few more gifts.  It was nearing 7:00am and I was heading over to the mall for my final stops.  There were a few stores there that had opened at Midnight, some opened at 6am and the rest were opening at 8:00am.  My girlfriend finally sent me a text at 7:30am that just said "I suck!" and I replied - Yes, you do and missed out on all the good shopping, I am almost done.  I hit the last few stores I needed to hit and was home by 9am.  Success!

Friday
Every year Dan and the kids get out the Christmas Tree while I am out doing my shopping.  This year was no different.  I got home and the kids still in their pj's and the tree was up.  They are not aloud to decorate or take anything else out without me, but they enjoy getting the tree out at least.  Katelynn could not wait to decorate this year.  I really just wanted to go back to bed!  I didn't though.  I started to take down any Thanksgiving decorations we had up and started to clean up so we could make room for Christmas.  We decorated throughout the day.  I did get a short nap in thank goodness.  Friday night I was exhausted and was in bed by 9pm.  We didn't forget to move Elf on the Shelf aka Chippy.

Saturday
Saturday we continued to decorate.  Dan went to a gun auction and the kids and I hung out decorated, cleaned, played Wii and watched a movie.  Dan was still gone in the later afternoon so we decided to head out to Kohl's to look at Christmas decorations.  The kids are wild in the stores.  Junior goes one way and Katelynn is daydreaming in her own section and I am trying to wrangle both of them up.  I found a couple of decorations to buy and the kids each picked out a decoration to hang on the tree.  Typical girl / boy picks - Katelynn picked a flower and Junior picked an airplane.  The kids were really over eating turkey and left overs so we went to Red Robin and ate there instead.  Surprisingly when I take the kids out to eat by myself they are angels.  We had a good time and Dan was home when we got home. We watched another movie and had some popcorn and it was off to bed.  We still didn't forget about Chippy and the kids were starting to warm up to him.























Sunday
Sunday morning we bummed around again and then Katelynn and I went to church.  We got home just at the start of the Vikings game.  It's getting less and less exciting to watch them, but I paid for the NFL ticket so I feel that in order to get my money's worth I do what I must and watch them lose week after week.  We did a lot of laundry and finished up the decorating.

The "Floss On" - A Little Sibling Challenge

Last week I finally had returned to the dentist to get a couple of cavities fixed.  I do not know why I dislike giving my money to the dentist sooo much, but it is like pulling teeth itself.  I will hold off and hold off until I get a cleaning and then feel guilty and make an appointment to get my teeth fixed. (My mother is probably having a fit at reading this after the money they spent to fix my teeth with braces and all the other fun orthodontics I had).  I went to the dentist first thing in the morning and then worked from home the remainder of the day.  There is no need for anyone to see me with my mouth drooping and me possibly drooling.
So here I was working away and my cell phone rings and its my brother.  Apparently his leg had dialed me and not him so after we got through our confusion it came up in our conversation that I had been at the dentist.  We both were griping to each other about the cost of fixing our teeth.  We then talked about what both our dentists had told us is we need to floss, every day (and mine added in a fluoride mouth rinse too).  Jeff decided that we should have a friendly competition.  I am calling it the "Floss On".  Both of us have to floss every day.  The first person to miss a day owes the other $10.00.  You can floss anytime after lunch, which would be after 2 meals and before midnight.
Its been a pretty fun competition so far.  We have been texting and harassing each other about it and neither of us is willing to give our money to the other.  So the Floss Is On!

Who do you think will outlast the other?

Black Friday Shopping Unhappiness

I always look forward to Black Friday.  My day to get up hours earlier than anyone else in my house, grab a cup of coffee and head out shopping around 4am until noon.  What could be better?!
Nothing, that is what. Nothing for me could beat that.  I loved it every year.  I am so irritated that the stores are changing their hours this year to open Midnight.  I really do need to get some sleep before heading out to shop til I drop.  I liked going to bed and catching some zzzz's and then getting up early.  Now they are basically saying, either catch an hour of sleep and get back up or just don't go to bed so you are so exhausted you have no idea how much you are spending.  Is that their purpose or what is?
I keep wondering if they realize that a majority of the people out shopping are Mothers!  We are going to shop, shop, shop and then we have to go home and pull ourselves together and watch our children.  There is no nap for us or going to bed or back to bed when we get home, so basically what, we need to start popping Nodoz or something to make it through the day now because we haven't slept at all?  I just don't get it and I'm not happy about.  I still have yet to decide what I am going to do.  I know that at least for me I need to get some sleep or my immune system will be crap and the following week I will probably catch some cold from the germs floating around.
I will admit that I am a bit selfish and I do shop for myself on Black Friday. There are great clothing sales.  This year I don't know.  How am I supposed to start at Midnight and shop for 6 to 8 hours while I wait for the clothing stores to open up.  I won't that is what.  So either I miss out on some of the hot deals or I don't get to shop for my clothes.
As I said, I am really not happy about the time changes this year.  I will post an update after Black Friday of what my decisions were and if I survived this year.

Mommy Talk - Side Story from the Halloween Party

As I had stated in my previous post about Katelynn's school Halloween party, I did not really feel like I was fitting in with the other moms that were there.  Here are the ins and outs of what happened.
First off, it was Halloween - right?  I didn't necessarily dress up for the party, but I did have on a cute Halloween shirt that said Happy Halloween on it.  There was one other mom that kind of dressed up too, she had a green t-shirt and had written Crayola down the front with a sharpie marker.

1 - Next we are at our "stations" and ours was decorating cookies.  I was talking to the other mom at my station and she said that she was exhausted.  She had been up making little treats for the kids which was her daughters idea, but her daughter had bailed on her and in the midst of creating the little gifts her husband came home from work at 10:30pm that night.  She had to stop making the treats and warm up her husbands supper and then she was up until midnight and back up in the morning at 5:30am.
So, as she is saying that her husband came home at 10:30pm and she had to warm up his supper plate for him I'm sure my eyes shot up and looked at her like "What?"  I said nothing, but normally my expressions give me away.  All I can think is - its 10:30pm - you are a grown man and you can warm up your own plate -No?  Well, that's how it would have went at my house - I probably would have been in bed already.  So, we talked a little bit more as we made cookies and she said that she was happy that her mother was able to watch the baby so she could come to the school for the party.  I told her if she was really exhausted maybe she would watch the baby a few extra hours and she could go home and take a nap.  Pretty sure she then looked at me wondering what I was talking about.

2 - The kids missed their field trip to the pumpkin patch because of a snow day, but their pumpkins were delivered during the party and we all made our way outside.  Each kiddo got to pick a pumpkin and then lined up to take a class picture in their costumes. I am standing outside and the kids were busy so I went and stood by a couple of the other moms as they were chatting.  This other mom is saying that she does not want to have anymore kids and I politely asked how many kids she had and she said she had two.  She said she is just always tired and she felt two was enough and that she has do pretty much everything.  I said that I had my husband get snipped.  She said her husband was too scared or chicken or something to do it.  I told her if she does everything then maybe she should leave for a couple of weeks and let him do it all and then when she returned he would probably be more than ready to go in.  I kind of thought it was funny, but she didn't.  She looked at me and said "My husband works 80 hours a week".  I had no response.  What am I supposed to say to that?  Sorry?  Whew - is what I thought, I am not touching that one.

3 - So here comes mom # 3 that I tried to have a conversation with a little bit earlier.  She walked up to me asked me if I lived here.   I said yes.  (Duh, my kids going to school here, more than likely we live in town or very close by).  She then proceeded to let me know that she opened a salon in town and I could come in and get my hair and nails and such done.  That was pretty much the only reason she had approached me.  Nice - so that is what I was good for.  Don't want to be your friend, but I would love to have some of your money.  I didn't realize that I was the spa looking sort of gal (okay if I am being honest, maybe a little, but still I could be a friend too).

4 - End of the day.  I am sort of standing by mom # 2 whose husband works a lot and her kiddo runs up and says something to her.  Mom is very appropriate and fixes her daughters costume and basically explains to her daughter to watch her costume and we can't be showing those (boobs).  I am thinking, okay, very nice.  Her daughter gives her a hug and runs off to play.  Mom # 2 looks up at me and says - My husband is part of a nudist colony.  "What the hell?"  I am pretty sure I dropped my jaw and then I kind of nodded my head like I understood, which I didn't.  Okay, note to self, get mom # 2's name and kids name and make sure to never have a sleep over at their house.  It didn't even phase this woman to say this to me, it was crazy.

What a day, what a day!  I left in shock, shaking my head and thinking, yep, definitely not fitting in with this group.

Happy Halloween - 2011

Halloween 2011 started out pretty great.  It was Katelynn's first school Halloween Party and I had signed up to help out at her party.  We had a nice breakfast at home and she got her costume on and got ready.  We dropped Junior off at daycare and I got to see how she starts out each day at school.  I helped out with snacks and a project and took a few pictures of her class all dressed up.  The kids were super nice in her class and loved to talk.  There were a few other moms their helping out and I attempted to hold some conversations with them, but it became apparent to me that I may not fit in with the Mommy crowd.  I think they all are stay at home moms and very traditional in their roles as wife and mother and do it all to take care of the family.  This is definitely not me, (everyone needs to pitch in around here!) but I did what I was there to do and had fun with Katelynn and her classmates.  I worked from home the rest of the day and picked the kids up early from daycare to get ready for the festivities of the night.  

I wanted to do something fun for supper on Halloween and we had found this idea in a book, Worms for Brains.  I thought the kids would think it was pretty cool and they are always up for helping me cook, but it was super nice outside and they decided to go outside and play instead.  Dan and I each carved out 2 of these peppers and made spaghetti.  I thought it was great.  Dan, Katelynn and I after sitting down to eat each dumped our spaghetti out on our plates, but Junior wanted to eat his right out of the pepper and through a fit when we tried to dump his.  At first he wasn't even sure what to do with it!  It was a fun way to start the night.  Here are our creations!

What?!  Worms for Brains.

Next it was time to get ready for trick or treating.  The kids were bouncing off the walls to go.  It was still to early and even Dan was in a rush to get moving.  We had already talked to the neighbors and our three families were going to go together with our kids.  It is always fun to run around town on Halloween night even as an adult when you're with friends!
The kids got ready and we got ready and took our pictures and headed out the door.  I set a bowl full of candy out on our front porch since both Dan and I wanted to go with the kids.  We went around a few blocks and then made our way back to our house to check the candy and re-fill it if it needed it.  The kids were definitely not done yet so we headed back out in a different direction.  Junior did start to get tired of walking and it was getting chilly out so him and Dan went back to the house to hand out candy.  Katelynn eventually got tired to and we headed home.  She loves handing out candy to other trick or treaters too and we still had a few come to the door after we got home.  The kids dumped out their candy and Dan went through it.  They filled themselves as full as we would let them and then before the sugar rush hit we shipped them off to bed.  They are still on candy overload a few weeks later as we ration it a piece out to them each night from their pumpkins.  We had a great Halloween and a ton of fun this year.

Here come's Mario!

Mario and Princess Peach from the Mario Brothers.

Yes, even I had to get ready to trick or treat!

Princess Peach

The Loot

Pumpkin Painting

One afternoon Dan had gone golfing and it was just me and the kids.  We were looking for something to do and since we hadn't carved our pumpkins yet I decided we could go ahead and grab a couple of them and paint them.  I wasn't about to do the carving so this was our option for an afternoon activity.

The kids thought it was great.  We got lots of paints and brushes out.  Junior pretty much made a mess of color on his around the entire pumpkin and my little artist carefully painted hers and even made sure it had eyelashes so it was a lady.

Katelynn finished product - check out the eyelashes.

Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

It was time to head to the pumpkin patch down the road and have a little family time.  Its always fun to go.  Its a small pumpkin patch, but we enjoy it.  Its free to get in and they are local farmers.  They really enjoy people coming and are super friendly.  The kids jumped into the first wagon they saw and then looked at Dan, c'mon start pulling!  First stop was to head to the maze.  We let the kids be the guides and see if they could find their way out, it was funny watching them run back and forth, nope dead end, nope dead end, nope already tried that.  Katelynn did eventually lead us the right way.  Next stop to the Pumpkins to pick out the best for carving.  Katelynn loves to look through them, but really only looks for about a minute before she feels that she found the perfect pumpkin.  Each kiddo made sure that they picked a little pumpkin they could keep in their room as well.  Dan took Junior through both the haunted houses that they had there and he seemed to do okay with it.  I was scared that he would freak out later that night at bedtime, but he didn't.  Katelynn tried to be brave and she would step one foot in with me and then back out quickly.  It was a no go for her.  We had a fun afternoon of running through the pumpkin patch and I got my pictures I wanted.  

Dan's new friend!

Pretending to scream!