We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving. No chopping, no peeling, bo roasting, no baking. We got up late, straightened up the house, then my parents got here, and they went and picked up a catered Thanksgiving dinner! At our absolute favorite--Buca di Beppo. Dinner was yummy, and it took us maybe 10 minutes to clean the kitchen afterwards. :) It was awesome. Here are some pics from the day.
My mom: So, do you all want to go black friday shopping tonight? I thought we could go to toys r us. I'd like to finish up all my toy shopping.
Me: But ... do you even know what you need to get?
Mom: Pretty much.
Me: Does Toys R Us have specials on the stuff you want to get?
Mom: I don't know ... I've never been Black Friday shopping before. I thought it would be fun.
Me: Okay, you can't just go and browse, you know. You have to have a strategy and know what you're going for. And if they don't have what you want on sale, buy it some other time when its not so crazy.
Mom: Well, you make it sound not fun.
Sooo... we went to Toys R Us at nine. The news crew was there. There was a long line, of course, all the way to the end of the building. We waited until 9 and then got out of the car because we didn't care if we were the first ones in. We started walking to the end of the building and saw the line actually extended along the side of the building. We kept walking, and it appeared the line might also wrap around the back of the building. There were at least 1,000 there. Security at the door stopped the line at 200 to wait for people to go through. We left.
THEN my mom said, "Let's go to Walmart. Maybe it will be better." (Hahahaha!) So we went to a smaller, less popular walmart. I walked around that whole store looking for a couple things on my list and couldn't find them. Around 10 till 10, I started getting really nervous because people were getting antsy and not so nice. They had their hands on the $10 crock pots and would probably fight you for one, not to mention the laptops and TVs. We left.
2 hours later, we returned empty handed.
My mom: If I ever want to go shopping on Black Friday again, please remind me of this nightmare.
So Friday we got all the Christmas decorations out and put up the trees, and Saturday I finished decorating everything. Every year I kind of dread dragging out all the Christmas stuff because my house feels full and cluttered enough without three trees and a bunch of knick knacks everywhere. But then when I see how excited the kids are and get everything cozy looking, I love it.
I was really trying to make the most of my long Thanksgiving weekend because I know that December will be a crazy month at work. I did almost all of my Christmas shopping online, I put Georgia's toddler bed together (even though it's still hanging out in the living room because there hasn't been time to take her crib apart ... or the energy to deal with the first night in a toddler bed), and we even made Christmas cookies.
Look at Georgia with red frosting all over her face. She came at me with this face and asked for a big hug. And another hug. And I just laughed as she unknowingly rubbed red frosting all over my shirt. Totally worth the hugs!
I am a super awesome cookie decorator. (sarcasm)
What do you do whenn you still have a bunch of dough and are tired of cutting out cookies? Cookie cake! This was supposed to say Merry Christmas. Again, I am awesome.
A couple other cute stories--
Georgia has now named more of her babies. There is, of course, Walmart Baby. Now there's also Pink Baby and Sissy. And one that I think she is calling Donut but I can't be sure.
Nate, on Thanksgiving Eve: What are you thankful for, mama?
Me: Well, I'm thankful you're all better and Clive is gone.
Nate: Oh. I'm thankful for trains.
On Thanksgiving Day, I suggested we turn on some Thanksgiving music. I turned on one of our XM stations that plays music for whatever the current holiday is. A few minutes later ...
Nate: Hey, these are Christmas songs, not Thanksgiving songs!
Me: Oh, sometimes on Thanksgiving, they play Christmas music.
Nate: What do they play on Christmas, Valentine's Day songs?
3 comments:
So glad to see all the smiles... what a lot to be thankful for!!
I am LOL'ing at the Black Friday story! We don't have that up here, but they're starting to bring it. I cannot believe the stuff we hear about on the news! Insane! So glad to see everyone doing so well. Thankful for trains - hilarious!
Hi Colleen,
I stumbled upon your blog, and reading a few of the entries has given me a very meaningful inside perspective about having a child affected by spina bifida. I am inspired by your courage and touched by the pictures of your family that I had to reach out. My name is Courtney Beyer, and I am the new Study Coordinator at VitaPath Genetics. Earlier this year, we successfully completed the first phase of our landmark study looking at the genetic factors contributing to spina bifida. In conjunction with our academic collaborators at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCSF, we recruited over 1,000 women and their child affected by spina bifida to participate.
Our first phase produced promising results but, we believe that it is appropriate for us to replicate this study in a second, independent group of mothers. We are beginning our second study in early January and are reaching out to more mothers to participate. In order to reach as many women as possible, I would very much appreciate if you could include news about the study in your blog. I also have banners and buttons if you would like to post something on your site. In addition it would be great to connect with you via facebook (search SB Genetics) and twitter @sbgenetics.
I would like to get in contact with you to share more information and answer any questions that you may have. Please email me at CBeyer@vpgenetics.com and visit www.sbgenetics.org. This website gives an in depth explanation of the study as well as a link if you are interested in enrolling. Thank you for taking the time to read my note and I am greatly looking forward to being in contact.
Warmest regards and happy holidays,
Courtney
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