Black Friday Shout Out

I have to comment about the shopping experience that I had this year on Black Friday because it was actually pretty positive, more so than any other year I've done it. Overall, the people were more friendly and not rude (didn't see any pushing or grabbing) and everything I got up early for was there for me to buy, nothing was sold out, yippee! I left the house at 4 a.m., hit 3 busy stores and was home at 7 a.m., not bad at all. I couldn't sleep and ended up being up all night, but it was worth it as I'm pretty much done shopping for my kids already. :) * NOTE* if you are a die hard bargain hunter and Black Friday shopper, I found out that rather than sleeping you can now head to the mall on Turkey Day as it opens at midnight. I met some ladies who cleaned up their Thanksgiving Feasts, tucked their kids and husbands in bed and headed out at 10:30!

What really made a good impression on me was what happened at Old Navy. I'm sure you've all seen the commercials that if you spend $20 you get a free mp3 player, right? They opened at 5:00 a.m., but when I got there at 4:15 there were already about 40 people in line. By the time the store opened, there were over 100 people in line. So rather than a mad rush at the front door, the store manager came out and passed out wristbands and thanked everyone for coming.
I was already impressed! Then he said that we could redeem our wristbands and get the mp3 player anytime that day, so if we had other bargains to hunt we could come back anytime before they closed and our mp3 player would be reserved for us...wow! Very smart on their part since we now could take our time shopping and probably ended up spending more $ there. The staff was all decked out in red too, so it was easy to spot them if you needed help and they had plenty of people on registers so we didn't have to wait forever to check out either. I must admit that I don't normally shop at Old Navy regularly, but they sure did make a great impression on me!

Anyone have any other cool Black Friday stories or shout outs? Let me hear from ya...

Thanksgiving

This year our family Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful! We (or should I say my Mom) decided that we all didn't need to go "all out" with the fancy side dishes and dressed up outfits and that we should be more casual and relaxed. It was sooooo much better and less stressful...as they say, Mom is always right! I only have pictures of my family and my folks as everyone else was shy. but here goes:

Kaley and Caroline pour Dad some spiced cider...yummy! Their tradition is to make the place cards every year, this year Caroline added a sign for over the table that read, "Thanksgiving Feast"...cute! She has called it that ever since she could talk. :)
Hubby and I getting ready to dig in!
The two things in this world that we are most thankful for...Kaley & Caroline!
This Thanksgiving wasn't just Turkey Day for us, it was also my parents 45th Wedding Anniversary...wow! That's just amazing to me and my siblings, what an accomplishment!
We are all going to a dinner show as a family to celebrate this coming weekend, but we also read them a sweet poem/toast at dinner, gave them a family tree with all of our pictures and various other silly gifts and a cake. Here is what they looked like 45 years ago on their special day:
And here's what they looked like 45 years later, adorable! Congrats Mom and Dad!!!
This is the cake my brother brought for one of the many desserts. Can you believe that after the huge meal we had, everyone still managed to find room for some cake?! :)

Our family is extremely thankful for everything that we have and everyone that touches our lives this year and always...that includes you blogger pals. Hope you all had a wonderful day too!

Festival of Trees

These are some snaps from last weekend when we checked out the Festival of Trees. I should warn you now that there are lots of pictures as I love Christmas and decorating, so this show was right up my alley!

What made it even more special was that we hosted my BFF since 4th grade Renata that weekend who was visiting from up North. We had a great time and the kids now know why I love her so...we miss you already Ree! She's a very talented photographer and was sweet enough to take all of these photos for us, so pull up a chair and enjoy:
Starting off with a self portrait R took of herself and my girls...I love this one! :)

Here's Liney showing off the "nature tree", she was drawn to the red cardinals on it...

Kaley and Caroline standing in front of the "love tree"...isn't it pretty?

Here's Doug's fave of course, the "sports tree" (who saw that one coming?) The only thing that could make this tree better would be if it was covered entirely with Dallas Cowboys gear!

On to Kaley's fave, the "Disney Princess Tree", this one was all pink and fru fru shee shee and very girlie. You could actually buy tickets to win it in a drawing (we did) and it had $400 of gift cards on it...

I liked this tree with it's unusual color palette of magenta and "grinch" green, it's pretty whimsical just like Caroline!

If you look closely, you can see that this tree is covered with plush animals, making it Caroline's fave (go figure). I liked the shape of the tree (alpine, tall and skinny) myself.

This is my favorite tree since it would match my house perfectly and I adored the cream and amber tones, it was soooo pretty!

The girls show off the pretty "winter wonderland tree" with it's blue, white and silver theme...

The self portrait tradition continues...how cute are we?!

We all liked the "music tree" as we are a bit inclined in that area...cool, right?!

This "believe tree" was stunning with feathers and crystals...love it we did.

The sign above Kaley's head says it all in this one, tee hee...any girlie girl would love to have this tree for sure.

If you're still with me thanks! To end, here is a photo of my best friend and my daughters in front of the "florida tree" (see the palm frons). I love this one! We had such a great visit with "Auntie Renata" and hope we get to do it again soon...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Just wanted to take a moment and wish all of my blogger pals a wonderful and safe holiday...I'm so thankful for all of you!

It's been a busy week again, but I promise to get some pics posted from Festival of the Trees last week and today's festivities over the long weekend.

I also want to send a special shout out to my awesome parents who happen to be celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary today too...we love you Mom and Dad!

More soon...

I've Been Tagged!

Katie at Cuppa Joe tagged me to list 7 things that I am grateful for since it's near Turkey Day and all. Everyone that reads this blog and/or knows me knows that I practice gratitude every single day. I am extremely thankful for my family of four, my parents and siblings and the dear friends that have blessed my life over the years. I thank God for them every day and frequently tell them how much they mean to me (overly sentimental I guess). Now with that said, I chose to make this list a bit more lighthearted and silly...so these are 7 little things that I am thankful for:

1) Pampered Chef Coffee- the blend of vanilla, hazelnut and cinnamon not only smells heavenly but can wake me up on my most tired of mornings...love this stuff.

2)My iPod- This makes a walk a pleasure and I can listen to my 80's tunes whenever I want without disturbing anyone else! If it's a bad day, I take it to work to help me ignore my co-workers too, LOL!

3) Girls Nights Out- I love getting together with friends and my sister (who is my best friend) to hang out and chat. I've been known to host a Skip Bo tournament or two for Girls Nights too, tee hee!

4) Sugar Free Russell Stover Jellybeans- love these soooo much! Think Jelly Belly without the sugar, I have and always will be a jelly bean fan. Cool beans!

5) People magazine- There is nothing I like better than getting home on a Friday with a fresh new People to read. Let me tell you too, I don't just flip through...I read the entire thing cover to cover. It's my "me" time after a long week and I look forward to getting the scoop and chilling.

6) Technology- I just know I'd die without my cell phone in my possession at all times, and owning a lap top and digital camera. Anyone else with me on that?!

7) Last but not least, I am so grateful for the spontaneous fun and silly times we have around here. I love to laugh, joke and play pranks and I have totally rubbed off on the rest of the gang!

So, my list ended up looking like the things I couldn't live without I guess (other than the humans I couldn't survive without listed above). This was fun Katie, thanks! OK, now everyone on my blogroll...consider yourself tagged, you're it!

School Portrait

This is our Liney's 4th Grade school photo. It was taken in October, she's 9 and a half now. She's not my "girlie girl", but she asked me to curl her hair that morning...the poor kid is cursed with her Mom's stubbornly straight hair that won't hold a curl (she hates hair spray too).
I think she looks cute and she was happy with the blue background since it's her favorite color! Just wanted to share since I posted Kaley's school pic a while back...

Sweet Sisters- Caroline reporting

Meet my new mice, Butterscotch and Patches! Patches is the one with the brown and white spots and the brown patch on her eye. Butterscotch is the one with the white stripe on her face. Aren't they adorable? My Mom and my Sister surprised me with the cute pair on Saturday while I was at a sleepover. Here's some pics of my new mice and me too:


I'm so happy to have mice back in the family, can you tell?! :)