Black Friday

It has officially started. Carols, blinking lights, and my personal favorite.....GLITTER! That's right, the Christmas season is here. I kicked off the season by doing something that has been previously categorized as "unknown territory" for me. Black Friday. I've heard about. I've read about it. But I have never attempted to participate in it. And quite frankly, I've never even had the desire to do it. (I know, I know. What's wrong with me?) And I probably wouldn't have done it this year if I had not found out that you could do Black Friday online and Kohl's would kick it off at midnight CST which is 10:00 my time. Most definitely a perk seeing how I pass out around 9:30 every other night. I know my limits and staying up til midnight or waking up at 4:00 am breaks them.

So, I researched and previewed and sneak peaked all week. I even got a special 15 minute head start at Kohls. I was online 30 minutes early just in case I might miss something. Amber and I called each other back and forth with different game plans. We would be professional shoppers for one night and we would get deals that would blow our minds. Or so we thought. At exactly 11:45 CST I was allowed into "special" areas and given great deals. I zipped around Kohls website at breathtaking speed and rapidly filled my cart with things I needed and things I didn't. After all, these deals would never come around again. Right?

Anyhoo, I had a blissful 15 minutes and imagined Christmas being done at half the cost. And then midnight hit. (Remember, it was only 10:00 for me) The website suddenly got slow. Too slow. And then I started spending 15 minutes just trying to get from one page to the next. At 10:45 I couldn't take it anymore. I went to Amazon and found 3 GREAT deals on Christmas presents for the girls. We're talking 50% off. And free shipping. And the website was not overloaded in the least. I went to bed on some sort of "high". It must have been the frantic shopping and suspense of, "will I get it in time?" Whatever it was, it had me a little jittery while I was trying to sleep. So, that was my Black Friday experience. But not Ryan's.

He woke up at 3:00 am and made the trek to Kohls for me. It's about 45 minutes away. (I know. What a good husband I have! For the record, he likes to shop and it really was fun for him. Not torturous like it would be for other husbands:) He actually went to Kohls, Target, and Walmart. He got most of the things that we had tried to get online before the site crashed. So now the majority of Christmas shopping is done before December is even here. This is unknown to us. We're usually last minute shoppers. But not anymore. Black Friday is now welcome in our home.

Thirty and a Day

So, I have now officially been 30 for a day. (And so has my twin, Amber. Happy B-day to her). I must say, I don't feel any different but I do have to admit there is a small part of me that DOES NOT want to say I am in my thirties. But as I told my husband, even though his twenty-something wife is gone at least his new "hag" is still medium foxy. You know, for having 3 kids and never getting any sleep at night. (That can be wearing ;)

All right, let's talk about the big day....I woke up to two little cuties running into my room singing "Happy Birthday" to me. What good little girls to remember their mommies birthday! :) Then I worked in the kindergarten class all morning where Lexi told all of her friends it was my birthday. I got lots of big wishes from little ones. Ryan managed to take half the day off so he was home by noon. Lucky me! We went to Round Table for dinner where I got my own personal gourmet veggie pizza and the rest of the family got boring old pepperoni. Then off to home for presents and cake!

Lexi and Kendri got me "Bumpits". Anyone ever heard of them? (Well, if you ever watched info-mercials you wouldn't be in the dark). Lexi is totally into info-mercials. She sees them Saturday morning and thinks everything on them is FANTASTIC. (I think she's going to ask for a toothpaste dispenser for Christmas...it attaches to the bathroom mirror and dispenses the "perfect" amount of toothpaste. And no mess! She can't stop talking about it.) So, back to the "Bumpits". They go under your hair and poof it. Imagine ratting the back of your hair for height (something I've never done). Well, these bad boys make it easy for that same look. We've been wearing them nonstop since I opened the box. (When I say "we" I'm talking about Lexi. She has one in her hair right now;) I thought I might get away with taking them back. No such luck. (Here's the picture of the "Bumpits" present)

Ryan got me some really cute boots. The only problem is they were 4 1/2 inch stilettos. No joke. I wore them around for cake and ice cream and then took them off when my calves started going numb and my feet were crying for mercy. (But I did manage to get a photo so I had proof that I actually wore 4 1/2 inch stilettos for a night.) See the picture below? Boots, bumpits and all! Can you tell I'm wearing the "bumpit?" It's a little hard to see in the picture. The dress was wrapped but it really wasn't a birthday present. I ordered it 2 months ago and it just happened to arrive on my b-day so I was trying it on with the boots. I asked Ryan to go a little shorter next time (the boots, not the dress!). Too bad. Overall, it was a great entry into a new decade! Here's to the thirties.....

PS If any of you care to take a walk down memory lane with Amber and me, visit her blog at http://rockinrobbins09.blogspot.com Seriously in for a good time! And feel free to leave guesses about which twin is which!

Kendri's Box

So this is Kendri's "Holy Ghost box". You're probably wondering what that is. At church a few weeks ago, Kendri came running out of nursery to tell me she was holding the Holy Ghost. My first thought was the lesson in nursery must have gone south for the day, but then she showed me her box. I still wasn't sure what lesson had been taught but I was anxious to get home and have some lunch so instead of investigating I just listened to Kendri ramble on about how she now "could hold the Holy Ghost." I knew whatever she had learned had really, REALLY excited her.

When we got to Gammi's house (Ryan's parents) she ran in to tell Gammi all about it. I decided I had better explain a little bit more about the Holy Ghost seeing how my 3 year old was convinced it was now in her pocket. So I kept trying to get her to understand that the box she got in nursery was not actually the Holy Ghost but it was a way to help her understand what the Holy Ghost was. Inside the box was a little message, "Kendri, you can't see the love in this box but it is there and it is real. It is like the Holy Ghost, you can't see him but he's real." As Gammi and I tried different approaches to get her to understand a pretty difficult concept for a toddler, she kept saying "I know. You can't see him but you can FEEL him." To which I would say "That's right. You feel a warm tingly feeling when you feel the Spirit."

So Kendri carried this box around with her all the time for while. She would tell everyone about it. And I'll admit there was some questionable "doctrine" being taught by her, but I figured I'd give her a little more time and then we'd try explaining it again.

Okay, fast forward 2 weeks....

I heard one of my children stumbling around at 3 in the morning. So I layed in bed waiting to see which one would show up. I figured it would be Kendri since Lexi is usually quieter. Sure enough, Kendri came running in out of breath.

"Mom! I have the Holy Ghost with me! I REALLY, really do! I promise! It's in my hand! It really is!" (All of this is said in a whispered shout).

I said, "Okay, Kendri. Climb into bed with me." I was hoping she would calm down so we could all go back to sleep, but she wasn't finished. She kept talking in her breathless whisper-shout,

"My hand is all tingly and that means the Holy Ghost is in it! It really does! I really have it in my hand!" My first thought was she had found her box and was carrying it. But then she said, "My hand is all tingly and that means it has the Holy Ghost!"

I was confused at first but then it dawned on me. Her hand was asleep. So, being the good mother that I am, I told her that was awesome and to go back to sleep. I decided that it was a lesson best saved for the morning. I was way too tired to get into that conversation again.

Halloween

Okay, so here we are with our "newest addition". Unfortunately, it was 3 weeks premature. By that I mean we had some nosey neighbor messing with our pumpkin. I came outside one day and noticed the pumpkin looked weird. I went over to check it out and saw that someone had picked the pumpkin and turned it over. We were a little disappointed because the stem was still green and it could've gotten much bigger. When Ryan carved it, there were still green seeds inside. Obviously, it was not ready to pick. But even with our little "helper", Ryan's baby weighed in at 73 pounds! Not too shabby for a premie. For those of you wondering, it took about an hour and a half to two hours to gut and carve. The shell was very thick (1-2 inches) but because it wasn't completely ripe it cut through pretty easily. We had a great time showing it off and Ryan won a prize at the ward halloween party. Whooo hoooo!

Speaking of which, here we are with 2 cinderellas, one prince charming, a fairy godmother and a pumpkin. Bippity-boppity boo! (Okay, I know my costume really doesn't look like the fairy godmother but I just worked with what I had. I didn't even have wand. We used to have, like, 3 lying around the house. But the one night I needed one I couldn't find any. I ended up using a twirling baton. You can't see it in the picture, but I also wore a sign that said "bippity boppity boo". You know, to avoid any confusion. Since my wand is actually a baton. But at least it sparkled :)

And next we have Prince Charming with his two little Cinderellas. By the way, Ryan did NOT want to be Prince Charming. He had visions of 4 Ninja Turtles and a little baby Splinter. Too bad for him. It really got him mad when his friend got to be Luke Skywalker. Their baby is 3 month's older than Kyson and he was Yoda. Totally cute. I told Ryan we could change our theme at any time but he would have to explain to his little princesses why he didn't want to be their prince ;). Problem solved!

These are some pictures from the pumpkin patch that Lexi's kindergarten class went on. I tagged along and brought Kyson and Kendri. This is Kendri and Lexi riding on the tractor that took them to the pumpkin patch to find their pumpkins. And then we have a hay maze and a little scarecrow. We had a good time!