THANKSGIVING AND BLACK FRIDAY… be afraid.

Oh Boy… so much to tell.

Thanksgiving:

We do a switch off every year of who we’re doing Thanksgiving with. Christian SWEARS that one year we did our own. I don’t remember. Either it was so painful that I blocked it out… or it never happened. Either way, this year was the Alo’s turn. Lucky Ducks. So we headed out early to the Simpson’s first so the girls could play with their cousins before it was time to leave. I got us all dressed super cute, thinking naively that we would get a family picture in. Well, apparently mist and rain were in the forecast (a little foreshadowing for later on) and it didn’t happen. The girls played for a little while and then 10 minutes before we have to head over to my parents house Mackenzie showed up. Mackenzie is the Mia’s FAVORITE… which quite honestly might be an understatement. I’m talking borderline obsession she loves her cousin so much. So, they play for 15 minutes and we have to GO. Mia is devastated and hysterical. Poor girl. So we head over to my Mom’s and the house smells so yummy. She brined the Turkey this year and was sooo moist. The sides were all excellent and we ate until we were stuffed. I’m talking mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls, sweet potato casserole that was KILLER… you get the point. I’m a weirdo during Thanksgiving and don’t like my food to touch. So I had like 2 separate plates and was a happy girl. (The highlight of dinner is when Mia wanted another roll. She asked for half of a roll, to be exact. Grandma answer, “Which half do you want?”. “Both”.)  Earlier last week our TV went caput. I like to call it the BEAST. So the BEAST decided to end it’s life and we’re TV-less. The only rational thing to do? Yes, Shop on BLACK FRIDAY. (You just shivered a little didn’t you. Scary… I know.) My mom was kind enough to let the kids have a sleep over which they were excited about. We leave their house and head on home….

Black Friday:

We got home around 7:30pm. I thought, “Hey, let’s take a little nap, wake up at 11pm.” No such luck. Christian was so antsy and crazy that we ended up watching TV on our busted TV. I could only keep him at bay til around 10:30pm. Then we headed out to the Target in Knightdale thinking it would be the most abandoned. The doors didn’t open until 4am. So leaving at 10:30pm sounds crazy right? WRONG!! There are crazier people then us. There were at least 30 people already lined up in their lazy chairs. Rednecks… I swear...grumble, grumble. So we’re a little surprised and are thinking to ourselves that we’re probably not going to get a TV if we’re #31 in line. I tell Christian I’m going to head over to the Target by Triangle Towne Center. It only takes about 10 minutes, and I’d come back for him. So I get there and there are less then 10 people in line! I call Christian and he tells me to STAY PUT!! I’m a little worried because he’s stranded in Knightdale and then to top it off tells me he’s going to get a ride to me. Uh… I just told him not to pick anyone crazy. He arrives safely. PHEW! So it’s about 11pm by now. 11pm – 3:59am… not much to tell. Except that it’s rainy, misty, and only about 56 degrees so not too cold. But BOOOORRRRIIINNNNGGGG!! We stood between a techy geek and his wife/girlfriend and 2 fancy teenagers who brought their fancy table and chair set with their North Face jackets on. Behind us were about 5 black guys… which is important to remember later on.

3:30 AM:

The manager and a few staff members plus the security guard (if you can even call him that) come out, lay down a few rules, pass out a few maps, and make a count. There were close to 400 people in line by now and you know that last person in line is thinking they’re there earlier enough to get a TV. WRONG! We’ve been here since 11pm, sucker. During this next 30 minutes Christian is pep talking me like crazy. Practically threatening me by saying I won’t have a TV at all if I don’t run for it. Then we start sizing people up. An old Asian Couple, 3 extremely over weight girls, and a few scattered middle aged people are in front of us. Sounds rude, right? WRONG!! We’re sizing up the competition, People!! This is LIVE OR DIE HERE! At one point I turn to Christian and say, “This may be the only time that you will look at our bank account and thank me for going to Target so much. Because I know this store in my SLEEP!”

4:00AM:

The doors open, we’re packed like sardines, and… we’re…. OFF! The 10 or more people in front of us go straight ahead and then turn left after the carts. I, on the other hand, took geometry and know that the shortest distance between point A and point B is a straight line. So instead of running the rat race with these fools I take a quick left and cut through the cash registers where the employees are looking at me like I’m CRAZY (which I am because I haven’t slept in FOREVER). We’re all bookin it by now and I’m not even sure where my husband went… all I know is I’m gettin a TV! So I cut through the registers, and almost get sideswiped by one of the 5 black guys which were behind me at one point. I run past girls clothes, past jewelry, past women's and take a sharp right before the cosmetics and see the TV’s!!! There are only 2 guys in front of me, the one who almost sideswiped me and his friend. We finally get to the TV’s and I’m the 3rd person there!! Ok.. ok… I know what you’re thinking. Congrats, you’re the 2nd loser. Um… HELLO?? Do you not know me at all? I am the slowest, most un-athletic person you will EVER meet in your short existence. I just beat out 10 people who were more out of shape then me. So being 3rd is a huge achievement. Christian shows up a few seconds later and grabs a 2nd TV. Yes, we’re hoarders like that. No, not really but we got 2 just in case one of his brothers wanted one. We’re so pumped full of adrenaline after that we can’t even remember what else we came for. All we know is some lady is screaming at people to quit running and we’re getting the stink eye from everyone else who see’s a sweet, in love, married couple with 2 TV’s. SUCKERS!! When we finally check out we get in the car and we’re not even tired anymore… which only lasts about an hour for me. By 5:30am I’m out cold and for some strange reason Christian goes back out shopping. So in short he gets about 2 hours of sleep and I got about 5. All for a 40” LCD TV that cost about $300. Mission accomplished.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN? WHAT HAVE I BEEN UP TO?

OHHH… you know… a little of this, a little of that. Mostly running around like crazy trying to keep up with my little (and not so little) ones. Here’s a few events to help catch you up.

Event 1:

Mia and Landen had a Joy School activity a little while back. We went to Shelley Lake and fed the ducks. It was a little chilly and breezy but still fun for the kids. Landen screamed and cried when it was time to go. I had to drag him to the car. But would you really expect anything less?

Just a few of the kids who showed up. (I had to take pictures of the group in shifts and apparently forgot to download the rest to my computer…. and now I’m just being lazy.)
  

Funny Story… So we’re walking up from the Lake to the park and we see a Police Officer riding a horse. Well you don’t see that everyday. So the kids are in awe and I take a picture with my sunglasses on. Then when I hear him talk it throws me off. Uh… turns out this particular officer is someone I went to High School with. Awkward?… yea, a little. We said hi and went on our separate ways.

EVENT 2:

We went Owl-a-Watchin. Mia had a little 3 day camp about Nocturnal Animals at the Blue Jay County Park this November. Along with it they were doing a little evening event with owl crafts, facts, a little walk on the trail in the dark lit by lanterns, and hot chocolate. Sounds fun, right? WRONG! Landen chooses this night to be AWFUL. I’m talking screams that filled the woods, trying to run away, tantrums out the wazoo. It was embarrassing and terrible. Too bad, the girls enjoyed it… i think. They made a craft. Drank Hot Chocolate that looked like poop water. And we did about 1/2 of the trail. They weren’t too upset when it was time to go… all things considered.

*drinking the poop water*

*Landen chose Apple Juice… the only time he wasn’t screaming.*
*Can you see the crazy in his eyes?*  

~It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year~

For those of you who don’t follow I’m No Martha… here’s a little snippet of our Christmas Decor.

We started (and mostly finished) our Christmas decorating yesterday. It was so much fun, the kids had a blast, and it puts me in the best mood. It’s funny how a little thing like decorations can change a person’s mood about their house. And just in time… I was feeling a little bored with how it looked. Here’s how it turned out…

My mom hand made all of our stockings. She is mucho talented.

  

*The Santa was made by my Grandma… the kids love to come downstairs and see this big  jolly guy.*

My DEAR SWEET Grandma sent me 4 houses this year for Christmas. Not only are they gorgeous, but their Thomas Kinkade… who I LOVE. These houses are so intricate and detailed. The kids love them, now if I could get a certain 2 year old to keep his hands off.

 

*They even have little tiny people.*

Can you tell we have little girls in our home that rule our house… and not to mention our tree?!

    

I made this… Do you love it? The website is HERE.

A HUGE THANK YOU to my parents for giving me this mirror. They were going to Craigslist it… but I begged and they caved. Christian hung it up… along with the wreath and our plaque. He had his work cut out for him today. He’s the best!

I LOVE the gold frame for Christmas cause it matches the other gold accents around the house right now. After Christmas?… We’ll see. 
I finally found a place for this bad boy. I feel like LOTS of people have similar things, but I love it and treasure it. I don’t think you can read it in this picture but it says “Families are Forever” under the Simpson name. If you’ve never made one, I highly recommend it. I made mine HERE.

HALLOWEEN

I don’t know about you, but October has FLOWN by. I blinked and it was gone. We have a bit of a dilemma this year with the kids. We have realized that they are old enough to understand the principle of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. And as we all know… Halloween is on SUNDAY! Kalea came up to us one day and said, “I really want to go trick or treating, but I really want to keep the Sabbath Day holy." Ahhhh!! What to do? Lucky the decision was somewhat easy.  ( This is important since we believe that Sunday is a day of rest from our daily activities. That includes shopping, playing at friends houses, etc. Halloween falls into that category at our house.) This year we are able to participate in “Trunk or Treat” at our church AND have a Halloween party on the same evening. So the kids still get to dress up, play games, and get candy. They ended up having a great time and really enjoyed handing out candy to the other kids. That counts as service, right?

First off we went over to Kelly’s house. She’s one of my good friends that I used to work with and, sadly enough, NEVER get to see any more. Her and Alana (equally as fun and hilarious) put together a great Halloween party for the kids. One thing about these girls, the food they prepared was sooooo good. I guess when you’ve worked around food as long as we have (had) you learn to serve food for the grown ups, not just the kids.

*This is Hazel with Mia. She is such a cutie and she was drawn to Mia (naturally, I mean they’re both in frilly pink Tutu’s). Then Hazel eyed Mia’s little pumpkin and obviously wanted it. Mia was so funny. She was feeling particularly shy this night and wouldn’t even look Hazel in the eye like she was a vicious pit-bull or something. Hazel finally got her own pumpkin and I think Mia was relieved. But I’m pretty sure she was still plotting how to get her wand out of Hazel’s little grasp.*

 

(Kate, Kristy, Lauren, Kelly, Kelli, Alana. I used to work with these amazing women. I miss them but SO glad they still keep in touch)

The kids and I… Landen with a mouth full of somethin, Mia won’t even look at the camera b/c Hazel is ATTACKING… ahhhhh!!!.. and Kalea being her superstar self.

We could only stay for an hour and then we had to book it from Raleigh to Knightdale for Trunk-or-Treat. Our ward had just split and we wanted to go and say “see ya later” (never goodbye) to those who would be in different wards. It was such a BIG turn out. Christian sadly was battling a gross sickness and so he couldn’t go. Somehow I was able to pawn off our candy to another car and still take the kids trick or treating. Afterwards we all went inside and had a dinner of Chili and a potluck with an array of goodies. It was fun to hang out and get warm. Landen decided he would take off and run out of my sight every 8.5 seconds. Luckily the Allens and the Salgado’s really helped me out with that little Monkey (yea, i said it.)

*I love this picture of the girls. They look so OLD and like such DIVA’s!! I love it.*

  *Lillie, Mia, and Kaitlyn. – Her little buddies*                                *My 3 Angels*

Once we got home it was time to unload and see what kind of treats I got… uh… I mean, the kids got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROJECTS

The past weeks have been as busy as ever. I think we’re pushing ourselves too hard. Christian has been fighting a cold for 2 weeks but there’s been little rest to help him. I’ve been burning both ends with 3 kids, a husband in night classes and who works full time, and then sleeping children who like to cry in the middle of the night.

Let me tell you about Kalea last night. She woke up crying. So the first thing that entered my mind was a. a nightmare or b. she wet the bed. So I went in there and she is FREAKING out. Not just crying, but seriously upset. She keeps repeating “Peach, I got a 2.” and then she says, “I got a 1”. Makes no sense, right? Well before you think she’s crazy… we play a lot of Mario Party. I mean A LOT of Mario Party and Peach is the Princess. And you roll dice and thus the 1 and 2. So she’s inconsolable. It takes me a few minutes to realize she’s not really awake. She’s still in a dead sleep.  Like sleep walking minus the walking. So what do I do like any good mother? I put her in a cold shower. Don’t judge me. She was acting CRAZY. And they say never to wake a sleep walker, but she’s screaming and crying so much that she woke up the whole house and I couldn’t calm her down. After she’d been in the shower for a few minutes she finally comes to. And then she asks me what happened. I tell her and she finds it hilarious. I’m glad someone does… because Mia’s freaked, Landen is crying, and Christian is exhausted. I get Kalea back to bed, but then Landen is up with me for another hour before he’s calm enough to go back to sleep. There’s no rest for the weary.

In the free time that I have… which isn’t much. I’ve taken crocheting back up. About 2 years ago I tried and failed miserably. I was pregnant with Landen and tried to make a baby blanket. I had this vision of him cuddling up to it as a newborn and feeling so fulfilled by my project and my new son. Didn’t happen. The thing looked like garbage and I threw it away because I was so mad at it. Christian found the whole ordeal hilarious of course. He thinks I don’t have a “homemaking” stitch in my body. Well, let me tell you something…. I proved him WRONG!! I made HATS!! Cute yarn filled, flower doting, winter beanies for the girls and they are sooo cute! Observe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I’m feeling crafty and confident in my abilities! Granted the project is a pretty easy one. I’ve moved on to trying to crochet a scarf/cowl. It has buttons to make it have a more wrapped around look. My sis-in-law found the pattern and we’re both making one. She’s in Utah, so it doesn’t matter if we wear it at the same time (lame joke, i know). Here’s where you can find the pattern Cowl Pattern.


I’m going to do a dark heather grey (the same from Kalea’s hat) but the buttons are going to be a shimmery metallic grey also instead of the red ones. Wish me luck!! Hopefully it works out. Oh, and I’m not going to wear it over my mouth like a bank robber.

I’m feeling super crafty right now. I’m not sure why because I’ve never felt like making this kind of stuff in my LIFE. Maybe my little bit of success is pushing me forward. Either way, it’s really fun and I’m enjoying it. Here are a few other things I have on my TO-DO LIST.

1. Slouchy Hat

This hat is so cute to me! I love the olive green color too. You can find it here.

2. Phannie Hat

I really like this hat too! It’s not so much that my head get’s cold in the winter. But I love hats because you can just throw them on and go. Their both pretty similar. But if I can’t do one pattern, it’s always good to have a back up. I’m also looking for a newsboy style beanie with a brim to work on. Their super cute to me, but I haven’t found a pattern I like yet. Here’s the pattern for this one.

 

3. Scrunchy Scarf

This is Brittney. She is wicked talented. WICKED TALENTED, PEOPLE. She made the scarf which I COVET… which is not good. She was so sweet to post how to make it and it looks so pretty (not to mention how gorgeous she looks already). Perfect for everyday, or to spice up a dress for church. You can check out her other crafts here. ( Don’t worry Brit, my blog is private so you won’t get any creepy weirdo’s stalking you… except for me of course.)

AUTUMN IS ANOTHER WORD FOR FALL

Yea, I’m smart like that. Basically the weather has been so up and down I don’t know if it’s fall or summer still. Some day’s it’s over 80 degrees and some days are in the low 60’s. We’ve enjoyed it either way… I beats 90-100 degree weather any day. We’ve had some exciting things happen around here lately.

Kalea and Mia both got bikes. Not new ones ( we weren’t trying to break the bank) but Craigslist is a great place to get used bikes for them to learn on. Mia’s has training wheels and Kalea’s does not. We are looking for training wheels that will fit. ( We found some at Wal-Mart that didn’t work). They’re pretty exciting and enjoy practicing on Mia’s for now.

Kalea has become quite the artist in the family. She was recently selected to have her art work displayed at our State Fair this year. 6 kids total were chosen and Kalea was one of those talented children. We were so excited for her! So, we attended the Fair as we do every year and made a bee line straight for the Kerr Scott building where her picture was on display. She even received a gold sticker as an honorable mention. They were the ones who showed the most promise artistically.

After basking in Kalea’s glory we headed out to do some rides and eat some food. Kalea was a champ as always. She’s a real dare devil at heart. She likes to try new things and feels excited when she gets on the rides. Mia on the other hand… she is scared of EVERYTHING. I’m serious. She went on the easiest slowest rides possible. Then after she’s say, “That was boring.” We kept trying to get her to try the other more exciting rides, but it didn’t work. Maybe next year. Landen was super excited about the rides also. He’d want to race right onto the ride and then would look a bit worried sitting next to me. By the end, he realized how fun the fair is. We only ate 2 fried foods this year (we’re on a budget, ya know.) So we had a funnel cake to share and a fried Snickers. Two was more then enough. This year they had a fried Krispy Kreme Burger. Sounds gross, if you as me. Some have said it was delicious though.

*LANDEN CHECKING EVERYTHING OUT. OVER STIMULATED. *
*ON THE HELICOPTER RIDE WITH THE KIDS. WE GOT STUCK. CHRISTIAN WAS ON THE GROUND LAUGHING. THEY SAID A HYDROLIC PUMP QUIT WORKING. EXTREMELY COMFORTING.*

*CHRISTIAN’S TURN TO HAVE HIS PRIDE STRIPPED FROM HIM. ON THE KIDDY RIDES.*

*AWAITING THE PIRATE PLAYGROUND. IT WAS REALLY HIGH UP. LOOK HOW NERVOUS MIA LOOKS. SHE NEEDED A LITTLE COAXING FROM KALEA, BUT CAME OUT OF IT ALIVE. (note the sarcasm) *

*LOVING EVERY BITE OF THE FUNNEL CAKE. HE EVEN FIGURED OUT DIPPING IT IN THE POWDERED SUGAR MADE IT EVEN MORE HEAVENLY.*

KALEA WENT ON A ROLLERCOASTER AND SHE LOVED IT!! NOTICE HOW HER FACE CHANGES EACH TIME. WHEN SHE GOT OFF THE RIDE SHE THE FIRST THING SHE SAID WAS, “I MADE A NEW FRIEND!”