Our Elf On the Shelf | Buster

This is the first year the Elf on the Shelf came to our house! We now have our very own personal and direct line to Santa himself, and we named him Buster.  Paul and I were the initiators on this.  Why you ask?  Well, I will tell you a story.  I am in love with Buster Posey, the catcher for the San Francisco Giants.  Love Him! I just think he is so cute, and I love watching his interviews.  He just seems like a really great guy!  I have been trying to turn Zachy's nickname into Buster, but it's just not sticking.  Anyways, he won the NL MVP this year, so naturally we named our Elf Buster! Yay, I have a Buster in the family now :)

Buster arrived the day after Thanksgiving.  This is mainly because I went out black Friday shopping and got a $5 gift card with the purchase of the elf and book.  He made his debut sitting in the blue Christmas tree in the boys room, with the book nicely placed underneath.  And of course I didn't get a photo of this because I set it up at 2am when I got home from shopping.  Cut me a little slack, okay!  Braden was SOOOOOO EXCITED when he woke up in the morning.  He came running into our room to tell us that Santa brought him a present already - it was really cute!  So far, Buster is not really helping with the 4 year old tantrums, but he keeps coming back despite how naughty Braden has been the last couple days.  I will say "the boys", but we should all know by this point Zachy does not talk (hopefully that will be changing very shortly after his surgery though).  "The Boys" are supposed to be telling Buster what they would like him to tell Santa they would like for Christmas, but so far, no help on that front either.

Here are some pictures of where Buster keeps showing up.  I am not very cleaver, and by 10pm at night when I get around to setting him up, I just really want to go to bed.  Maybe as the weeks go on I will be forced to get more creative.  There are some great ideas floating around pinterest on what to do with your elf, most just take a little pre-planning, and that would require me to organize my life.

Playing Candyland with friends

Reading Daddy's baseball book on the couch

Brushing his teeth

In the Christmas Tree

Drinking the soda B left out over night

Getting into the Halloween candy

Buster is a new tradition in our house this year, and I hope that the boys enjoy him for years to come.  We also have a couple other traditions that we have started in our house, but I will save those for another day ;-)

What is NMO and What Does it Mean to Me??

I first want to start off by saying, despite the title of this lovely blog, and the recent posts about NMO, I really hate talking about this stuff.  Despise, hate, loath, you can choose any adjective you'd like.  It's a huge part of our lives, but as long as I am feeling well, I really don't like to think about it.  It's not that I choose to be ignorant about the disease (I am a firm believer in 'Knowledge is Power') I just choose to not let it affect me.  I am still in control of my life, and how I choose to live everyday.  

That all being said, since it is a rare disease, I figured I should give a little background to those of you who are unfamiliar with it.  Most of this information is coming from various medical websites, and my own personal experiences.  I am by no means a doctor, nor is this disease the same for everyone.  

Guthy-Jackson is the foundation set up by Victoria Jackson, and her husband, Bill Guthy when their daughter was diagnosed with NMO in 2008.  It is a Charitable Foundation dedicated to funding basic science research to find answers that will lead to the prevention, clinical treatment programs and a potential cure for Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO).

Until recently, NMO was thought to be a type of Multiple Sclerosis.  However, recent discoveries indicate that NMO and MS are distinct diseases.  Traditionally, spinal cord lesions seen in NMO are longer than MS, but this is not always the case.  And brain lesions are often found in different areas of the brain.  NMO also attacks the optic nerves more frequently than with MS as well.  With so many symptoms in common, NMO can sometimes be confused with MS or other diseases.  But these diseases are treated in different ways and early detection and treatment help ensure best outcomes.  

The Guthy-Jackson website provides a pretty detailed list of common FAQs if you're interested in reading more about it.  The NINDS also gives a pretty good definition of what NMO is. 

In our house, we call it the "crazy brain disease".  It's easier to swallow.  Zach is too young, but Braden understands that sometimes mommy just gets really sick and we can't always do the fun things we want to, but lately those days have been few and far between.

I have had a few attacks since first being diagnosed.  The major side effects are really not so "major" yet.  I have nerve damage in the lower half of my body, but it's all starting to feel like a 'new normal' to me.  I am used to the random stabbing sensation when my pants rub my legs the wrong way, or the sometimes burning feeling I get in my legs when I am playing with the boys.  I have had a few attacks in both my eyes as well, but the only thing that is really wrong so far is a little bit of peripheral vision loss, but not enough to effect day to day stuff (honestly, I don't even notice it unless I am "testing" it), and colors are not as vivid and bright as they once were, but no colors have gone "dark" yet.

We live a pretty active lifestyle, and try to be really healthy.  Are we freaks about working out and how we eat?  Not at all, but these days we are careful about what we do with our bodies and what types of foods we are putting into them.  Our lives don't revolve around food or exercise, but we do make a point to make those things fit into our lives.  I cheat.  There are weeks I don't work out.  I also really enjoy french fries, hamburgers and rice....we just make better choices and try not to "cheat" very often. 

This is how I choose to look at "why" I have this disease.  There is so much research out there on food and modern farming and how horrible it is.  Do I read it?  Yes.  Do I learn from it?  Yes.  But I can't blame myself for what I feed my body with in the past (I would literally go insane, padded room, insane).  So here is how WE choose to think about my "why me" (everyone who is 'sick' is going to have their own way of thinking):  Everyone has something wrong with them.  Maybe they will have a stroke when they are older, maybe they have vision loss and need glasses, are born with a hernia, or will get cancer, etc.  Everyone has something wrong with them.  When you take a tiny little egg cell, and a tiny little sperm cell and say "make a baby", something is going to go wrong.  I got an extra immunoglobulin (lucky me).  Are there things we can do to HELP these things not happen?  Yes, but call it fate or divine intervention, or belief in whatever higher power you choose to believe in, something will go wrong with everyone despite our best efforts.  Make the best choices everyday and you can help your chances, but there is a plan for us all, and a reason things happen to each and every one of us.

So there is it.  My two cents about my disease.  So now, lets go back to living a fun, happy, "normal" life!!!!

Here are a few photos from last night - 

Zach and I out at Sushi

Braden and Daddy "crushing" sushi

Ice cream on the couch - we are awesome parents

Someone got a little messy

Welcome to Team NeMO!

Hi Y'all! I'm Paige :)  Welcome to my little space on the World Wide Web where I get to share about my life and everything that comes with it.  The incredibly adorable things the boys do, the incredibly naughty things the boys do, living with NMO and trying to not let it affect my day to day life, and how sometimes, despite my best efforts, how NMO kicks my butt.  My desperate desire to go on a vacation with my husband, recipes I try and the family likes, things I like to do, projects I attempt (the successes and failures), homeschooling the boys.... just life in general.  If I have time to write about it, you get the pleasure of reading about it.

Myself, Zachary, Paul, and Braden - Manhattan Beach, CA. July 2012.

A little about "us" I am a sorta wife.  I mean it's not that we don't want to get married, we just have not got around to it.  Paul and I have a backwards life, has it worked out for us - YES! In every aspect he is my other half, but would I recommend how we did things to anyone else, NEVER in a million years!  So for all intents and purposes, I am a wife, and Paul is my husband.  I am a stay at home mom to our 2 boys, I cook, I clean, I do it all - I am a WIFE! - And now that we are all clear on that, moving along...

Quick story while we are on the topic: Paul and I met in college.  He was a super super senior (24 years old) and I was a 17 year old freshman.  I got pregnant with Braden at 18, had him when I was 19 - and it was a horribly emotional pregnancy.  I moved back home (to Colorado) to be closer to my family.  Paul stayed in San Diego, where he is from and where he had been working since graduating.  Long story short - After Braden was born, he moved out to Colorado to be with us, and we lived with my parents for about a year.  Deciding if "us" was something we wanted.  I was finishing up with school.  We were learning to be parents. And so much more during that time.  Let's just say it was a crazy year!  Anyways, fast forward 4 years and we are here today, still standing, but through our fair share of ups and downs.

Braden, was born in August 2008.  After living with my parents (and younger twin sisters who were still in high school might I add), we bought a little 3 bedroom condo down the street, and a few months after moving, we found out we were pregnant with #2.  Zachary was born in September 2010 (he was actually planned!).  We wanted to give Braden a sibling, and since Paul and I were in a good place, we wanted to start growing our family.  I graduated from college with a BS in Business Marketing a month before Zachary was born (go mom!).  Both of these little guys are the greatest things that have happened to Paul and I, both individually, and as a couple.

Braden Richard - August 7, 2008

Zachary Charles - September 22, 2010

Then the madness of our lives began.  I will try to keep this short and sweet and not ramble on too much....

A few months after Zachy was born, I started getting sick, really sick.  What started out as headaches and being tired all the time, slowly turned into muscle aches and paralysis in the lower half of my body.  The first few signs and symptoms I thought nothing of, I was a mom of a 2 year old and 2 month old - of course I am tired, of course I have headaches, of course my eyes hurt.  I eventually ended up in the ICU for about a week on a heavy, heavy does of steroids, and then moved to a recovery center where I had to learn to walk again.  What was originally diagnosed as MS, turned into a diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) a few months later (we are now in March of 2011 for those of you keeping a timeline).  All I can say is we have the best family and the greatest support system there is.  It takes a village to take care of a sick mama and 2 little boys. 

So at that point in life: I was a new mom of 2 boys, have an incredibly rare disease, and, oh yeah, my parents were getting ready to move to Texas in July!

Now, I am walking, running, only have minimal sight loss, and am other wise really healthy.  I stay at home with the boys while the hubby goes to work for us.  We attempt homeschooling, and really like to go out to lunch with friends ;)  Every day is a learning experience for each of us.

A few months ago, I started this blog to keep my family and friends in touch with the happenings in our lives.  If I made phone calls to everyone about the cute little things the boys do everyday I would not have time to sleep! I have tried to do this a few times before and really have never been extremely successful {I would define success in this case as staying active in writing things} I would post photos every couple months or so, and would always forget to remind people to go check out the latest updates.

So now I am making this blog a little more, and the adventure begins....

My Favorite Things - Online Shopping

I will try to update this page as I find new sites for y'all to check out :) 

E-BATES:  First and foremost I should tell you about ebates.com - Serious AMAZING! This is Cash back shopping.  Simply go to the ebates website, search for the store you want to place an order from, and that's it!  Ebates will send you to the stores website and you will order directly from that store, and then Ebates give you cash back (will literally send you a check) for every purchase you make.  Anywhere from 2%-50%+ back!!!  So no matter what online shopping you do, you should always go to this website first and see if the store you want to order from is on here!!!!

I recommend setting up a new (free) email address - gmail or yahoo - and signing up for most/all the sites that interest you.  They send out daily emails with new deals, so it's worth keeping them separate from your other emails, in my opinion.  They will also let you know about specials going on (ie cyber monday deals/codes).  So watch for these emails daily!

If you plan on taking a vacation, check out the city you will be going to for deals a few months in advance on sites like Groupon and Living Social.  You can often find great family activities to do on your vacation for a great discounted price, as well as deals to local restaurants (we all know food is a huge part of the travel budget!!) You can also find great travel deals on hotels.  Subscribe to the emails, and keep an eye out on the sites (the emails don't always send you everything).  

Zulily: {baby clothes. kid clothes. shoes. boots. toys. books. accessories. maternity stuff. women's stuff clothes, shoes, purses, etc}.  This website is great - things for 50-90% off.  I have snagged 50 dollar shoes for 3.50, 50 dollar outfits for 5-10 dollars, baby blankets, gift cards, and more.  The only thing you have to keep in mind  with zulily is that shipping often takes around a month.  New deals are added on a daily basis, and last for about 3-4 days. 

Totsy:  {Same exact description as Zulily}  Just like Zulily, I love Totsy for their amazing deals and have purchased dozens of things from them.  This also takes about a month for shipping.  New members also get free shipping on first order placed within 30 days of signing up and then all other order over $75 after that.  A major downside to online shopping is having to pay shipping, so who can complain about FREE shipping?!?

Plum District: Great for local kid, mom and family deals, as well as some great online offers.

 

Overstock.com: This is just a great website in general. You can find some really great deals on this site.  Sometimes you just have to browse around. And everything ships for $2.95 (they sometimes offer free shipping as well). And, there is no tax!!

Eversave: Receive $5.00 to spend for being a new member.  This site has lots of online deals that are great for the whole family, as well as gifts etc.  You can also find printable manufacturer coupons to use on your next shopping trip!  As well as a blog with some great money saving tips and ideas. 

Groupon: Great for local deals! We use this (a lot) to try out new restaurants or for discounts to places we like.  They even have a new "goods" section where you can find deals on online shopping (photo websites, appliances, watches, etc.).  As well as travel deals.  If you are going out of town, or looking for a weekend escape, you can often find great deals here.

Living Social:  This site is just like Groupon...great local deals with some online deals for "stuff".  They also have a section for take out and delivery food

Perks Deals:  Same as Living social and Groupon. 

Happy After Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone!

I am sooooo tired!!!! Thursday morning we woke up, made a little breakfast, and watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade...which the boys sat and watched for about 5 minutes until they we onto being boys again.

Watching the Parade

Daddy joined

Braden watching netflix on the iPhone because he was "over" the Parade - "let me know when Santa comes"

We went up to Paul's aunts house for dinner.  I was to bring "a dessert" which turned into a pecan pie, pumpkin spice bars, mini apples pies, and homemade ice cream (all for 9 people, 2 of those being the boys).  Needless to say I went a little over board, but everything turned out delicious! I posted links to the recipes I used in case anyone else was in a baking mood.

The Pecan Pie with homemade crust I made...it only baked for an hour and 15 minutes!

http://www.justataste.com/2008/10/pumpkin-bars/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/07/vanilla-bean-ice-cream/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/11/pecan-pie/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/
http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/10/what-i-made-for-monday.html

...absolutely nothing Paleo about these dishes, at all.

After dinner, we drove home and made a quick pit stop at Walmart to grab a video game for Braden that went on sale for Black Friday at 8pm! Made it, got it, and was not trampled, YES! Although a mob fight/jump on the boxes broke out a few items next to us - great to watch, glad I was not a part of it though.  Guys really wanted their Xbox 360 games.

After walmart we took the boys home (side note: Paul and the boys waited in the car while I went inside and met up with a few friends who were already there waiting for those concerned about our safety).  I changed into some sweats and went back out to tackle the black Friday crowds.  I met up with those same friends and we waited until 9 for Target to open.  Got in, got my stuff, got some starbucks and left unharmed and with (mostly) everything on my list, YES! We all went back to Walmart to meet up with my friends daughter who was waiting for the electronic sale to start at 10pm.  We watched her battle the crowds (very amusing).  No one was harmed, and everyone in out group got what they wanted.  I even managed to snag an item I was not even there to get, and boy am I glad I grabbed it! I saved $50 on an iphone home speaker for Paul and I! YES!!!

After our second trip to Walmart it was over to Old Navy which opened at midnight.  Waited in line outside, was one of the first 50 people in line and got a free wii game, YES! Have I mentioned that I love Black Friday.

I got back home around 1:30, slept for a few hours, and was back out by 4am to go to Khols.  Got what I need, and went back home again.  The boys woke up pretty early Friday morning, but Paul let me sleep in until about 8:30.  The Elf on the Shelf also made his first appearance at our house (more on this another day soon).  I forgot to get a photo of where he was waiting for the boys (it was 1:30am when I set it up, give me a break) but he was in the boy's room, waiting on their blue Christmas tree, with the book underneath.

Our Christmas Elf, Buster, sent on a mission from Santa himself!

After we woke up and ate a little breakfast, and it was off to Costco to pick up our free cook book and PJs for B.  We went to Qdoba for lunch and got buy one get one free burritos, then drove down to the outlet mall.  At this point in the day, I am a walking zombie and just wanted to go home.  We went to our usual favorite stores, but the only sale worth wild was at Nike, where Paul got a $120 pair of shoes for $50, YES!

Back home it was for us, where everyone took naps.  We heated left overs for dinner (who didn't), and we called it a night fairly early (9pm for the boys is early, okay).

Watching the dog show and eating some ice cream

Saturday morning we woke up, and laid around the house all morning.  I went out to Walmart and Target to make a couple returns (I got excited with some sales, and bought a few things we didn't really need).  We also were able to go out to dinner, because American Express was having a "small business Saturday" promotion.  We used our Amex card at an approved small merchant and spent more than $25 and will be getting a $25 credit put back on our card (yay for a $7 dinner!)

The rest of our Christmas shopping will be little things here or there, or buying things online from a few of our favorite discount websites.  You can read more about these here :)

Good night for now everyone!

Santa Clause is Coming - TO TOWN

The title has a story behind it - It had of been 2 Christmases ago when Braden would sing "Santa Clause is Coming To Town" all day every day, and he would really accentuate the "TO TOWN" part, sometimes only signing "to town, to town, to town" around the house.

Today's post is for all my local mama friends out there - SANTA IS COMING! To Contemporary Expressions that is.

Who likes to go to the mall during Christmas? NOT ME! And who wants to wait in a 2 hour line just to get one lousy photo with Santa - NOT ME! And who wants to have their kids sit on some guys lap who just had 10 sick kids sit on it right before lunch (and how often do you think the suit gets washed???) NOT ME!

The boys had so much fun last year, we just have to go again this year (thanks T for ruining Santa photos for me forever!)

I will let the pretty photos do the talking on all the details - just know that it is an amazing experience for the kiddos! Santa was literally on the floor playing with the boys last year - AWESOME!

Make sure you call and reserve your kiddos spot so they can have coco and goodie bags ready for them :) - Last year instead of those cheap coloring books you get at the mall, Santa gave the boys Beanie Babies!!

PS - that's my friends little girl in the photo - I just love her!
 

It's Friday, Firday, Friday! - Weekly recap with some not so fun news mixed in :(

These cards seriously crack me up....one for every occasion! 

I have not posted pictures of us and the boys in a couple days, mostly because I have anxiously been awaiting the arrival of our Christmas cards and getting ready to send those out....I am REALLY excited about this years photo! It's going to be great.  We took our pictures with the one and only Tanja at Contemporary Expressions last Saturday.  Man is she AMAZING! Seriously, we were there maybe 20 minutes....and she got some great shots!

I skipped over the week my mom came out here to visit, mostly because everyone (besides me for once in my life) was horribly sick, so we really just sat around all weekend/week while she was here....seriously, I think I got 2 errands done :-/

He was being too quite....this is how we found him

Madagascar 3 Movie Night

Another movie night

The boys and I had a pretty busy week full of errands and LOTS of doctors appointments.  Zach had two this week - Monday and Thursday, and I had one on Wednesday.  Z also had therapy Tuesday....the list goes on.  Somehow I managed to find time to write a post today in between cleaning, bed laundry, lunch, emissions testing for my car, Costco, and a quick stop to Cinnabon to get some breakfast for the weekend ;-)

A little more about Zach's Doctors appointments this week....last Friday he went into the school district office to get his hearing checked again (he failed 8 months ago...no big deal they said, colds are going around, come back in a couple months).  We were finally able to get in again to see them, and he failed again - hummmm :-/  They suggested I call his pediatrician to have his ear drums/fluid checked.  Curious, since the kid has not had one single ear infection and has never showed any signs that his ears were bothering him (tugging, pulling etc.).  

We went in to see his doctor Monday morning.  She cleaned some wax gunk (it was actually really nasty) out of one of his ears, shined a light in them and blew a little air.  His ear drums were not moving as much as they should when she blew the air in, so she gave us a referral to see a Pediatric ENT.  I called them, and it was either be seen on Thursday, or wait nearly 3 weeks.  So of course we took the Thursday appointment.  

Thursday morning we went in, did some basic doctors office stuff which Zach really enjoyed at this point (standing on the scale, height, blood pressure, etc).  The nurse asked a bunch of history questions, and then the doctor came in.  They had a fancy TV that was hooked up to the ear scopes so that I could see what the doctor was looking at/talking about.  He shined a light in (which looks like the scope you see at every doctors office), all looked fine.  He blew a little air, and the drums were not moving...hum, it does not look like anything is behind his ear drum stopping it from moving.  He shined the light in Braden's ear too, so he could feel special, and I could see how a "normal" ear drum should move.  

SIDE NOTE: The ear is something I am less familiar with, so for the sake of explaining things (and your understanding) I found this extremely fancy picture on google...I really just wanted to show you that the eardrum is a clear membrane that you/doctors can see through into the inner ear where all the small bones are kept that vibrate and create sound.  The ear drum membrane is impermeable, meaning fluid cannot pass through it. 

 

Okay, back to Zach: First look, nothing looked wrong, but the drum was not moving as it should be (failing to create the vibration for the auditory bones in his inner ear).

Then, the doctor pulled out this big fancy (I have used that word quite a bit today, o well, doctors these days are fancy) light scope.  He shined that into Zach's ears and I was nearly blinded.  Once he adjusted the lights a little bit I was amazed by all the pretty colors reflecting from the inside of both his ears, cool right, NOT! When he shined the fancy scope into Braden's ear there was no reflection, UTOH!  The reflections of light were coming off clear fluid that was packed to the brim behind his ear drum.  

Normally doctors can see a line of where the fluid is (imagine a glass half full of water), except his was PACKED with fluid.  This explains why he never got an ear infection, because there was no space for bacteria to grow inside his ears (the doctor also thinks that his "drainage pipes" are not open for the fluid to drain out, or a space for bacteria to enter in).  Also why no doctors ever saw it, because it was clear fluid, not discolored by any bacteria.  Poor baby has probably gone his whole life not being able to drain this fluid from his ears.  THIS EXPLAINS WHY HE HAS A SPEECH DELAY....he hears as if he is underwater all the time :(.  

So on January 9th, my baby, who is only 2, will be having his second surgery :(.  I am just excited to see how much he grows and develops in the few months after ACTUALLY being able to hear.  Hopefully he will be out of speech therapy by the time he is 3!!

The good news is that none of this has affect his spirits at all.  He is still a happy go lucky little man who loves to play with his big brother.  The two of them have so much fun together.  Almost too much fun sometimes.  This week they were getting a little out of hand so I had to separate them for a few minutes until they both calmed down.

Cute even when they are being naughty!

BLACK FRIDAY!

I only thought this was an appropiate way to start off my post today...

...that being said I LOVE Black Friday! Who could pass up some of these deals!?

Every year I say I am going to skip on the madness, and every year I get sucked in.  I have been reading articles and watching news stories that say that the deals on Black Friday are not that great, and stores are starting to offer the same deals days/weeks earlier this year...but when Target has a doorbuster deal on a $50 scooter that Braden wants for $20 at 9pm - You better believe I will be there!

I figured I would share some of my favorite (not so secret) websites and aps I like to browse in the week leading up to this madness.

If you are looking for a place to start, check out this website: http://blackfriday.com/flyers
My advice (and it SHOULD save you a lot of money!) RESEARCH and make a list! A list of everyone you need to buy gifts for, and what you plan to get each person.  Set up a schedule, and plan your night/morning/day accordingly.  Avoid the stores where the deals are not really deals at all (i.e. the Coach outlet...they give out extra 30% off coupons nearly every other day, avoid the 2+ hour line there!).  Research the "deals" as well, all it takes is a quick google search to see what kind of "deal" you are actually getting. 

And also, don't forget about yourself...sometimes the 'gift' items might not be a great deal at all, but at places like JCPenny's and Khols, you could score on some great items for your home...new bath towels, kitchen appliance, etc!  Paul and I have scored HUGE in this area!  A few examples of GREAT buys we have found were a $10 waffle maker at JCPenny's a couple years ago (we use it nearly every weekend), and a new knife set, normally around $200 that we got for $20 maybe (I don't quite remember the exact number, but it was a steal!)  And make sure you save receipts and send in your mail rebates ASAP (like the next afternoon!)

Other places I like are Costco - because you get a free cookbook just for going in - and most people don't think to go here.  Target and Walmart are great if there is something on the ad you want.  At Walmart, some of the big ticket items may require you to wait in line and get a ticket before they open the boxes (I had to do this last year for the boys Wii), so you might need to take a couple people with you if there are a few items you want.  Also, be prepared to get trampled on things like the DVDs, clothing, and books!!! People are crazy, seriously.  Pay attention to what time the deals start.  At places like Walmart, they have different sales starting at 8pm, 10pm, and 5am.  So pay attention to those ads!

Another one of our most favorite places to go is the Children's Place Outlet!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!  It usually 50% off everything in the store!!  We usually walk out of there with $500+ worth of clothes for the next year for the kids.  No gifts, just smart shopping.  Plus, I seriously love their clothing!! Great quality for a great price...and quality is really important to people like us when we plan to use the same clothes for a few kids! Skip the clothing "deals" at Walmart! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE quality! 

I am by no means an expert when it comes to Black Friday shopping, but we have done this the last couple years and I have learned a great deal with each experience!  And who knows maybe I will see some of you out there this year!

Happy Saturday!

See - a week in and I am already slacking...in my defense, we had a pretty eventful week!  Okay, well I guess now that I am looking back - not eventful enough to have a lot to write about. 

Boring stuff - I had a dentist appointment, a couple meetings with some potential Thirty-One hostesses, and my sponsor...Zachy's therapy was canceled for the week because his SLP was not feeling well, and finally I had a doctors appointment.

Wednesday was Halloween, although we really did not do much.  We went to breakfast in the morning with one of my friends and her 2 little girls for Pie Rush Wednesday at Village Inn (a favorite of ours).  Hung out at home for the afternoon, and then after Bs swim class went Trick-or-Treating with Zachy's best friend.  In all the excitement I wasn't able to get a picture of the 3 boys...but here are a few of B and Z. 

Happy November Everyone!