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!