I made it.

I made it to the end of November, blogging everyday.

Today I:

• made Macy's 9th birthday party invitations
• finished a brochure for our journalism program
• met a new advertiser for our newspaper
• watched the Crucible four times
• planned the Revolutionary War unit

Tonight I am

• going to see my beloved Missouri Tigers play basketball!

But my favorite part of the day?

• Snuggling with my girls on the couch this morning. 

Almost done!

Only one more day until I can stop blogging every day! Really, it hasn't been as bad as last year. But I will be glad to give myself a break.

Remind me next year to start with a movie after Thanksgiving...it was a very nice way to ease back into the swing of things. Do that at Christmas too? Mmmm...

Oh, and our boys' basketball team had their first win EVER tonight. How cool is that? Yeah for them.

Thanksgiving wrap-up

What a great Thanksgiving break. Special times with family, good friends, decorating for Christmas, and most importantly--Bobby was off for most of it. Beautiful thing.

Today we fought the Christmas tree. We didn't get the best one, and finally Bobby put two 10-pound barbells around the base to support it, and I think it will be okay now. Our house is decorated. Normally I decorate just the living room, but I spread it out a little this year and decorated the living room, the kitchen and the dining room. The girls have little trees in their room.

Yesterday we brought home Bobby's grandmother's freezer, and her working record player and 8-track player. We listened to Johnny Cash's Walk the Line original record, circa about 1955, and brought home a huge bag full of other albums I need to sort through. If you like old, old, country, we have it!

Tomorrow starts the fastest 3 weeks in the entire school year. Somehow I blink and it's Christmas.

Black Friday Tips

1. Wear comfortable shoes. While boots might be stylish and keep your feet warm, after hours of standing on concrete, tennis shoes might be a better choice.

2. Tag-teaming is a must. Once entering the store, one person needs to get in line immediately. The others shop, then return to relieve the person in line so she can shop. Two of the stores had waits of an hour or more, so this allowed you to have a place in line while you continued to shop. A lot of women bring their husbands as line-holders. Mine said, "no way!"

3. Bulky coats are a hassle. A more practical choice might be more layers.

4. Have a list in mind. Yes, $5 pj pants are a great deal, but do you really need them? It's really easy to overspend. Know what you want, and stick to it.

5. Be patient and courteous. At 4:00 in the morning, after being up all night, crankiness can come out in all shoppers. Be nice to others.

This is my 3rd year doing Black Friday, starting at 11:00 pm on Thanksgiving Night. It is an incredible amount of fun. This is my friend Amy. It was her first year to go with us. Her daughter is Kaylee, Macy's BFF. I've mentioned her numerous times.

 And this is the crew...this was our 3rd year doing Black Friday together. Maria, Misty and me. This was about 3:15 am, right before we left Zona and headed over to Kohl's.

Ready for next year!

Our Family Tradition

This afternoon we headed up to the tree farm where we always get our tree. Here's the girls with Santa. Love this guy. This year he looked on his "list" and said Macy sometimes kept her room messy and Kaylin left clothes on her floor. Hmm. How true.

Bobby and Macy on the hayride to the trees.

Me and Kaylin. I was running on fumes at this point, after staying up all night shopping for Black Friday.

Photo Shoot with Macy

Photo Shoot with Kaylin

Checking out the pigs before we left.

Expression on Macy's face when Bobby said, "Yummmm....Bacon!"

After much searching for the PERFECT tree, we have brought it home and put it up. It's crooked. Very crooked. Not sure how he's going to fix it.

As much of a pain it is to find a tree, bring it home and set it up, I LOVE creating this family tradition with the girls. Dragging an artificial tree out of the basement just doesn't have the same memory-making event.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

Checking out the turkey with Aunt Julie...

Macy labeled the "desert table" for us...

Macy was a big help, and enjoyed mixing the 10 lbs. of mashed potatoes.

 

All four of the younger cousins. They were yelling "Grandpa has stinky feet!"

Now I'm off to Zona for some midnight shopping. Going to be a cold one!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Receiving Christmas cards in the mail is one of my ultimate favorite things. I blogged here about our dismal return rate last year, and I'm hoping this year will be better in that area. I LOVE seeing pictures of family members or friends we haven't seen in a while, and seeing how they've changed through the year.

I'm excited about Shutterfly this year for my pictures.  Shutterfly always does a great job. When my sister adopted Hannah, I created a photo book that chronicles Hannah's journey to joining our family, and it turned out soo good. Hannah and my sister really treasure that book. Shutterfly has a MILLION choices for photo cards.

Should I go with this design? I love the simplicity of it. And the H already in the middle is a good thing.

Or what about this one? A font fanatic that I am, I love the different fonts and the cool layout.

This one is neat...with the different sizes, and with 5 different pictures, I don't have to narrow the picture selection down too much.

Ohhhhh, I just saw this one. It kind of matches my blog layout. I love the "Believe in the magic of Christmas." It's only a matter of time before that magic is gone.

Which one should I choose??? I don't have anything to give you, except a big hug from me and a million blog points, but I would love it if you'd leave a comment and tell me which one you like. Or go to Shutterfly, look at their photo cards, and tell me which one you like.

Need more help with Christmas gifts? What about a calendar from Shutterfly? These are a great way to show off your family, and after the year is over, take off the pictures and frame them. What about a coffee mug from Shutterfly? We gave my dad one for Father's Day, and he loved it.

The really cool thing? Shutterfly is giving 50 FREE Christmas cards for writing a blog post about Shutterfly. Can you see my grin from your house? I LOVE Christmas cards, I LOVE Shutterfly, and I LOVE free stuff. Could that get any better???