Thanksgiving and The Blackest Friday of the Year

Ahhhh, this Thanksgiving was WAY too much fun. I haven't had a camera for a month and a half (well, I have Andy's work one, but that's only home about half the time and not always accessible. It drives me crazy to not have a camera!!!) so I don't have any pictures of the fun day. We were with Andy's family which is as good as my own. We had an amazing dinner, Andy's parents and his siblings are all wonderfully talented cooks. I think we had 8 pies to choose from as well. MMMMM, so good. Just thinking about it is making me hungry!!

We had so much fun playing games, scoring the ads (I was converted to Black Friday shopping last year..... and now I'm addicted), talking, laughing and just being together. I am so grateful for so many things and blessed with so much. Some of the top of the list are:

-My wonderful hubby and kids who I love love love!
-My parents, siblings and inlaws. They all do so much for me and my family.
-Good doctors.... they are truly few and far between (I should know.... I just noticed I have eleven different doctors phone numbers in my phone.... ELEVEN!!! We see a lot of doctors around here...)
-Good friends that help me out all the time- ladies who listen, help out with my kids and loves them even when they're stinkers, bring me dinners, send me notes of encouragement, are just there when I need them, and best of all, fun girls nights out! I have some lovely ladies in my life.
-My husbands job. They are so good to us and have been so supportive during all of my health issues and have given Andy ANY day off that he has ever requested so he can come to every doctors appointment, big or small.
-Good diets and being able to work out (spinning being at the top of the list).... I started the South Beach diet and have lost 6 pounds in a week! Go me.... I feel great :)
-Spending time with my family. I love to just relax together.
So many things that I love and am grateful for!


Later on Thanksgiving night, my sister-in-laws along with Becca and I, went to the mall which opened at 9 PM to kick-off the holiday shopping season. We had so much fun and it actually wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. We finished there at about 11:15 so we could make it to Toys R Us by midnight, which was when they opened. I only needed a couple of things there, but a bunch of my sisters didn't want to join crazy Becca and I, so they gave us a list of stuff to get. Okay, seriously, Becca is the lady to go shopping with. She is one determined woman, and thanks to her, we got everything on our list, plus some! It was INSANE there but we were only in line for a couple hours (we both had really high heels on and ditched our boots while we were waiting. Me in my white ankle socks and Becca in her pink argyle!) and got out of Toys R Us by 2:30 AM.... just in time to go home, change into warmer, comfier clothes, and head to Target to get a good spot in line, which is where we were getting most of our stuff. Someone was kind enough to take the pic below of us making our game plan (haha!)


We got into Target at 5 AM and we were in and out by 5:45, only missing out on one thing on our list! Can I just say.... we are awesome! Off to K-mart for 1 thing, and then to Wal-mart for another couple of things. Finally..... we finished by about 7:30 and I went home and crashed..... for an hour until my lovely sister woke me with a phone call :) It was seriously so much fun, I got about 90% of my shoppping done, and awesome deals to boot. I love shopping.... especially on Black Friday.

Welcome Christmas!!!