I hope everyone survived black friday shopping, oh and Thanksgiving too. Everyone in my house hold survived the big turkey day, no one ate themselves into a food coma which is always a good thing!
My Mother in law and my Sister in law came for Thanksgiving, so I got to watch my niece celebrate her very first Thanksgiving, which was so cute (though she pretty much slept through the whole darn thing LOL) She did however get to taste her first bite of mashed taters which she didn't seem to mind at all. She turned 4 months old on Thanksgiving day, and is just getting too gosh darn adorable! She's my little buddy, everytime she see's me she just SMILES! But she saves her BIGGEST smiles for Grandma and her Uncle. My husband just loves his niece! It makes him ALMOST miss having a baby in the house, hahaha he used to want just ONE more baby buuuuut he got smart REAL quick on that one the first time we baby sat the niece for a few hours. He said "If this is a test on whether we should have another baby I FAIL! I'm SO GLAD we're done with the baby stage!" I laughed at the time, and said I was glad he was changing his mind about wanting more kids. Some weird little tiny part of me does still want four kids but I'm not dumb, we're done having kids. My three beautiful babies are enough for me, I'm good. I will just set about spoiling my niece rotten while she's a baby. She's 5 years younger than my daughter so I am glad I can spoil another little girl, that I get to send back home with mom at the end of the day, muhahaha.
Why? Because I was trying to get her to put on PINK FOOTIE PAJAMAS. Now she loves pink, that wasn't the issue, BUT the fact they were footie pajamas (BABY clothes) was a huge issue. She was wanting to wear a SUMMER night gown to bed. SUMMER. Our house has been getting pretty chilly in the evening so I've been dressing the kids warm at night to make sure they are nice and warm. Whew, she threw a fit so bad I almost wanted to call an exorcist! I eventually just gave up and said fine whatever wear your summer dress, if you wake up cold in the night I don't want to hear you cry about it. Lucky for her she was sleeping in my bed that night because Grandma was sleeping in her bed while they were here for the week. So she stole all my covers and all of my body heat. Sometimes you just have to choose your battles. *sigh* Usually the girl doesn't give me too many issues.
Then before Faith left my husband was snuggling his niece and playing with her and Kams just could NOT tolerate that at all. She kept doing all she could to get her Daddy's attention and just wasn't working. She finally sat on the couch and just said "Fine Daddy, play with Faith and not me" She's always been a Daddy's girl so sharing her Daddy with her cousin for even a few days is upsetting for her.
The kids and I did some Thanksgiving crafts on Thanksgiving. We made little Indian hats, and then I had made mini turkey's and hung them around the house the night before Thanksgiving, then the next day while we were all cooking I kept the kids busy by telling them to go find all of the turkey's hidden around the house. Worked like a charm!
 |
| Keegan (the boy is obsessed with spiderman) |
 |
| My sweet little boy Marshall |
 |
| Marshall and Keegan |
 |
| A very booored little Indian named Kamilah |
 |
| Kams, Marshall, Faith and Keegan sweet little Indians 4! |
Normally my family does NOT do black friday shopping, I don't really believe in it but this year I DID go. On Thanksgiving day after we ate I went to a store that was having a pre thanksgiving sale. They had a good deal on toys so I went there to get the items on the kids wish lists (from Santa).
From Santa my kids asked for:
Kams wanted: A doll in a PINK dress (unlike last year when she forgot to mention a PINK dress and Santa brought her a doll in a yellow dress, she loved the doll and was happy but she told me that she was a little sad the dress wasn't pink but she loved her doll and would just make sure to tell Santa the dress needed to be pink next year). She also wanted some finger nail polish (which my Mother got her some), and she wanted some play make up as well so that's another item from Santa.
Marshall wanted: Some heroes (so I found a package of smaller super heroes that I know he'll love it's got all of his favorites). He also wanted a toy gun (the boy is either going to be in the military when he grows up or a hunter!) So we found a really nice camo gun that comes with all kinds of little extras I know he'll love it.
Keegan wanted: His big list item was a SPIDERMAN (he's in LOVE with Spiderman) so I found a 12in super action hero of Spiderman that I had to snag for Keegan. He will be thrilled. He also got a toy light saber/laser gun package as well.
Their toys FROM my husband and I are some cool lego sets for the boys, and an Innotab for my daughter. I know we'll pick up other items as December goes on, but I just had to make sure I got their items they had asked Santa for.
We don't do a lot of toy shopping and needless purchases throughout the year so when holidays like Christmas or their birthday's roll around we try to get them a few extra items because we don't usually buy things during the year. We've never liked the idea of just buying your kids anything and everything any time they want it.
IF they do get extra little purchases it's with their "point" system that they've cashed in for some money at the end of the month (they have to save half of that money and then they can spend the other half and it usually isn't more than $5 per kid) so they usually just go to the Dollar Tree and get craft project stuff or bubbles or something.
So I survived my Thanksgiving shopping, even went to WAL MART for their "Pre" black friday shopping. I had a friend call and ask me if I would come with her, she's pregnant and only has 21 days left and her husband got called out to work so she didn't want to go alone so I got brought along. Glad I went actually! I snagged a great deal on some tupper ware that we actually needed really badly! So yay me! Everything else they had their on sale we already had (well I COULD have done with a new set of pots and pans but I let it go). Already have a griddle, the mini processor, the steam shark, etc. So those were purchases I didn't need to make.
I must say that the whole pre black friday shopping at Wal Mart wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be. I thought everyone would be viscious and mean and ruthless, but they really weren't bad at all. Everyone seemed really kind and even amid the chaos I noticed most were pretty kind, or atleast not completely rude, so it was nice. Most people chatted, or helped each other out. Made me have a little bit of hope for humanity (atleast in our area anyway!). It only took us an hour and a half to get in and out of the store, not bad.
My husband already bought my Christmas presents, even though we had agreed we weren't going to buy anything for each other. He got me two of my favorite candles, and a cute salt and pepper shaker set (I needed a new one to match the kitchen and they were cheap and on sale and I liked them!) our tupper ware is a present for both of us. All he wants is some Microsoft points for his Xbox, but I'm thinking he's going to get new pants instead, or a new winter coat.
We got our niece's Christmas present, and our nephews presents (though I will be adding more stuff to all of their presents!) I love shopping but try to do so affordably. I've been saving every little dollar and dime I can since last Christmas. It adds up thankfully! I love hitting up the bargain sales and sales aisles throughout the year getting Christmas items. It saves a bunch of money! Buy a little here and there all year long.
