We survived Black Friday

Probably because we are not crazy enough to get up at 4am in search of the bargains. We start at about 9am when the "novelty" of the early bird specials has hopefully warn off and we have a chance of roaming the aisles without being injured. For the last couple years, we have started at Fred Meyer whose sale goes till 11am and then we head to Kohl's where the early bird specials don't end till 1pm. From there we mainly hit up the big stores and if possible, stay away from the malls. This year we had 3 girlfriends join us and we had a blast!!

This was just funny! Mom was testing out the bike with the huge basket in Wal Mart.

When we got home, we brought in all of our bags so we could distribute our goodies and see what it all looked like put together. We had a ton of bags as you can tell.

Lunch at Red Robin

 

Our total time shopping-12 hours!! 

A huge kudos and thanks to all the hubbys for taking the kids for the day! 

I love our Thanksgiving Traditions

The holidays are my favorite time of year! I love the fellowship, craziness and jammed packed calendars they bring. I also love all the small things or traditions we do each year for the holidays. Thanksgiving has come and gone and I wanted to share some of our traditions we have had for years and even a new one Celia and I decided to start with the kids. I will post pics and then write about each one so you can follow along...

 Black Friday Ads!!! The girls (big & little) LOVE to cruise through the Black Friday ads to see what is hot this year and what great bargain we couldn't possibly pass up the next day. Celia and I are lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving together every year. (Being sisters and sister in laws has its advantages) So each year, we grab our ads, sit on the floor and map out our route for the next day.

 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! As a kid, I can remember being so excited to watch the parade on Thanksgiving morning. This is one thing I have enjoyed also watching my children do. They love the floats, the balloons and the performances. They get super excited to see people and characters from shows that they recognize.

And our new tradition (as silly as it is!)...Best Buy & Starbucks drive by!

On our way out to Papa and Grandma's this year, we saw a bunch of tents outside of Best Buy and decided to do a drive by to see what it was all about and what bargain they were waiting for. Add a trip to Starbucks for hot coco and Izzies drinks and we have our new tradition : )

Our annual Christmas card photo! (So you all get a sneak peak)

I try to get at least one good family photo for our Christmas card. Most of the time, I have at least one uncooperative party. Can you guess which one that was this year?

and finally...the food!!

Each year, Grandma Linda prepares a smorgasbord of food for us to snack on before hand and then an amazing Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately, I didn't take that many pictures of the rest of Thanksgiving but we always enjoy spending the day with the family.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little man!!

(Ok, so this post is slightly almost a week delayed. I literally fell asleep on the laptop on his actual birthday. It was a long, busy, birthday party filled weekend.)

Wow!! Where do I start? I cannot believe my handsome little man is 2 today!

We celebrated today with daddy's family at Papa Mike and Grandma Linda's and Michael had a good time doing a pinata with his cousins, eating LOTS (afterall it was his birthday) of treats, and getting some fun Elmo gifts. Grandma Linda made a great spread of spaghetti, bread, salad and fruit. She also made Michael special red rice krispie treats since he unfortunately could not enjoy the ADORABLE Elmo cupcakes that Uncle Eric and Stephaie made.

At 2 years old, Michael continues to surprise and amaze me on a daily basis. His vocabulary is expanding daily and I am able to figure out most times what he is asking/saying. Some of his favorite words/sayings right now are:
No Poppi! Story behind it-His bestest buddy at school Elo (This is how Michael says Leo) is Hispanic and his mom addresses him as poppi. His teacher says No Poppi in class too so now Michael has started saying it. Too funny!!
Elo See story above : )
Otay which sounds just like the little kid on Little Rascals. So super cute!
Uppy meaning I want up on the couch, your lap etc.
Night, night and bye bye
Along with these words, he has picked up animal sounds and can do a lion, bear, cow and my personal favorite-a monkey. He even acts like one when he does it.

Each day after school, I pick up his daily sheet and his teacher writes a personal note about his day. He clears his own plate after lunch, signs parts of the alphabet, "reads" books and usually (and surprisingly) is the quietest one of the class.
At home, Michael keeps daddy and I busy running here and there and climbing on this and that. He loves to "writing, writing, writing" with his crayons and absolutely loves his big sister!

I love you Michael! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Hobby Lobby!!!!

I know, not a very clever title but that was all I could come up with in my excitement : ) Hobby Lobby in Lynnwood had it's grand opening on Halloween and I got a chance to go on Friday before heading to a scrapbook retreat in Monroe (Super good time, got lots done, whole other post!)
Hobby Lobby is in the old GI Joe's in Lynnwood and it is HUGE!!! We hit up the Christmas aisles first. So much Christmas goodness!!! Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday so I walked up and down each and every aisle and just soaked it all in. I ended up with just an airplane ornament for Michael and some straw for my nativity. Trust me, I could have got more but I was trying to resist. (Really, I just want to wait till at least after Thanksgiving) Then they have party decor and supplies, a scrapbook section, fabric, home decor, beads, kids crafts, framing and much, much more! So my favorite part of Hobby Lobby...and surprisingly it is not the scrapbook section, was the home decor. Seriously some of the neatest home decor I have ever seen. My least favorite and the most disappointing area for me was the scrapbooking section. (I know this may come as a shock to several of you who know me well) It might be that I went into it with expectations of what I had read on crafting sites and let's just say this Hobby Lobby was nowhere near what they describe. It sounds like stores in other areas/states have bigger, better scrapbooking sections. Must depend on the market for it in that area. They did have several papers and stickers I had not seen before so I did enjoy looking at new stuff but will probably not make them a scrapping only destination.

I did manage to snap a few pics on my phone just to give you an idea. If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out. Oh and they are opening one in Everett soon too!!

Tricks, treats, trunks, SWAT vehicles and the Supermall!

This is how we spent the Halloween weekend/weekday. Don't be too alarmed by the SWAT vehicle mention. We went to Trunk or Treat at the Pierce County South Hill precinct on Sunday. Several of Adam's fellow deputies decorate their patrol cars and give out candy. A couple of the SWAT guys go all out too!! This is the second year we have done this and both years so far, it has rained, been freezing cold and the kids both come home with a big enough haul to call off trick or treating on the actual night. (Yeah right, like I could do that to my kids) Michael had a blast and actually "got it" and Mykayla and her friend Carly ran the loop of cars at least 3 times that I saw.

Mykayla and Carly after round 2

This picture cracks me up but is probably one of my favorites.

And the freezing butterfly who refused to put on a coat

Adam's buddy Wes' patrol car.

My absolute favorite of all! Like father, like son!

One of the SWAT vehicles

Shout out to Malinda and her cute Where's Waldo? costume! 

Malinda is one of the awesome fellow Pierce County wives I have met.

 

 

On Halloween, we headed to the Auburn Supermall with our friends the Bustos' for some indoor, WARM trick or treating. We have not done this before and after our first time, I am sold! It was the best trick or treating ever and as soon as Michael figured out what to do, he was a pro! Plus he got the most ooohs and aaahs I have ever heard. (Admittedly, he was pretty cute!!) Mykayla was a great big sister and made sure he was not lost or left out.

 Police Michael, Butterfly Mykayla, Hippy Leo and Pirate Diana

Luckily I watched him like a hawk, he had no problems wandering off to the next store for more goodies.

 Diana and Mykayla stuck together and looked out for each other.

Michael's best buddy Elo (His name is Leo, Michael calls him Elo) 

They are in the same class at school and are inseparable.

 We ran into our old neighbors too! I can't believe how big Ms. Kyia has got. We miss them!!