Happy Black Friday! Er, I mean Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had kind of a low-key day. Kevin had had epidural shots in his back the day before so the poor thing wasn't doing so well on Thanksgiving day. Luckily, we didn't have too much to do for dinner that day. In true Texan fashion, we had a friend from church smoke our turkey for us. It's been 3 years now since we've had a traditional roasted turkey and I'll tell ya, I doubt we'll go back any time soon. Smoking and frying are so much quicker and tastier than the old school way of doing things. Today was a special day for Matty. He got to sit in his high chair for the first time. Today was also his first taste of a veggie. We kept with sweet potatoes to stay in the Thanksgiving theme. After an early dinner(like 2 pm) we had a quiet night at home in preparation for the early morning ahead of us.

The "kid's table"

Mmmm...Sweet potatoes!

A member of the "clean plate club"

The grub:

Mommy's lil' turkey:


Black Friday...2:53am: the alarm was still 7 minutes away from going off, but it's like Matt was a born Black Friday shopper! He was up wanting to eat. PERFECT! I was able to nurse the baby and still get up and out the door with my Mom by 3:25am. The 3 of us met up with Shelly and Austin at Kohls 15 minutes before the doors opened. I had this day planned out for weeks. So even the added bit of rain couldn't dampen my shopping plans. Kevin just doesn't get it. He has no clue why I love this day as much as I do. It's so exhilarating! A little bit of fun and a break from the kids before the official holiday season(except Matt of course since Hails dumped my pumped milk from the night before). Besides, I have been doing this since I was a little kid. It's just in my blood. Okay, back to Kohls. My mom stayed with the boy till the doors opened so that they were not int he cold. Shelly and I got the things we needed and Austin and my Mom hopped in line so that there was no wait. We were out by 4:15. Off to Wal-Mart. This was my BIG stop. Not only did I have a list of things to get from their add, but I also had a few things that I was price matching there as well. $30 family games marked down to $9.99, princess movies for $5.99, 8 GB flash drives for $12.99, the list goes on and on. The big ticket item was an 8" portable DVD player for $49 though. And no, that Christmas gift has not made it to Christmas morning. Heck, it didn't even make it the weekend. We already had a 3+ hour road trip and I have to tell you, it is the best $49 ever spent! 5:08(8 minutes after the early bird deals opened) we were back in our cars. And since we had some time between stores, we stopped at Starbucks so mom, Shell and Austin could get something to drink while I nursed Matty.While driving to Starbucks, we made a last minute stop at Old Navy so I could get Kevin a sweater and my mom a shirt that she has liked for a few weeks now. 5:45am we found ourselves in line at Office Depot. Matt was fast asleep with a full tummy all bundled up in his carrier, mom and I felt recharged with some Starbucks caffeine with just a few more things to get. Remember how I posted that crappy picture of a picture of the kids and Santa, well we have needed a printer for ages now. My mom got us one for Christmas...okay, obviously another gift that didn't make it till 12/25. I am in LOVE with my printer/scanner/copier!!! It is awesome. And while we were there, I picked up the same one for Kevin's work. He was told by his boss to get a nice copier and since Kevin is cheap, he had me just get one on Black Friday instead of paying full price like his boss suggested. For some reason, Office Depot was totally unprepared for the rush with only 3 registers open. This was the longest we spent in any store that day. We were out the door by 6:45 which wasn't too bad, but did put us a few minutes behind. 7:00am we were the first ones in the door to get my mom a $9.99 hair dryer at CVS and turned the corner to Ulta where she stocked up on Shaper Plus hairspray at a bargain price of $5.99 each(usually $12.99/ea.). I had to get something for Kevin. Especially since he was a trooper with his back hurting so badly. So next stop was Lowes. I felt horrible cause the one thing I really wanted, the Rubbermade cabinet for $39, was sold out. I did however make it there in time for the $29 14 gallon wet/dry vac which Kevin really did want. We were back at the house y 8:30 and the kids had just gotten up a few minutes before. They didn't even really know we were gone. Ahhhhh...another year of great Black Friday deals behind us and another year where I picked up more than stuff for Christmas. I tend to get more practical stuff that we've needed all year, but have been too cheap to get otherwise. Now all I have left to do is start my planning for Black Friday 09'!