Black Friday

Does anyone else have Black Friday traditions??? This was actually my first year of leaving the house to shop. The past couple of years I have shopped online and then Ryan will head out for some shopping. (He is half-girl. Most people just don't know that. JK. Sort of :)

This year my friend and I decided to head out to the crowds but we certainly were not the die-hard type. We left Friday morning at 5:30 and headed to the Roseville area. I was surprised that there were not hordes of people. Apparently everyone was done and sleeping! And we were still scoring door busters! I have to say, I was happy with what we found. To be honest, most of my Christmas shopping was done so I was sort of along for the ride. But I did pick up some fashion tights for $5 courtesy of JC Penny. I don't normally shop there, but let me tell you, I spent $50 and saved over $100! I thought that was pretty good. :)

Lots of fun and I'm still waiting for my sweater to arrive. I got it for 40% off. It has a little bling and who can say no to that!

Thanksgiving

I went to celebrate Thanksgiving with the elementary school kids with Kyson and Shayli in tow. We didn't stay long because we didn't want to overstay our welcome! But we did get to hang out with the 2nd graders and kindergarteners for a little while. Kendri's class dressed up like pilgrims. I thought it was totally cute. We ate stone soup and had a feast!

Our actual Thanksgiving Day was out of the norm for us this year. Most of Ryan's family was in Hawaii and we didn't make the trek out to Colorado. Instead we had dinner with some friends and had a low-key day. It was fun!

All in a Day's Work

Kyson.

He had a bad week. Or should I say, he had an adventurous week and I had the bad week. Where to start?

Maybe with the "accidental" pooping in his underwear? Followed by the "accidental" peeing in his pants and then on his shirt 30 minutes later. (He spent the rest of the day naked.) Or perhaps the "accident" on the bathroom floor that I found while I was cleaning up a blow-out from Shayli.

No, no, no. I'll start with the story of Kyson trying to drive away in my car. That's right. I found him in the car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blasting. And then I'll follow that story with the 100 meter sprint I participated in while trying to catch up with the "Lightening McQueen" on training wheels. I was trying to stop my little Kyson from riding his bike into the highway after he so quickly raced through the front gates of our neighborhood. Luckily I was fast enough to stop him.

And then I'll talk about how he hangs on the garage while it is on it's way up and then dangles his little legs and drops to the ground unharmed. Except sometimes he makes it to the top and then needs mommy to save him. But not often does he need saved. Because he is invincible. Or so he believes.

And then I'll finish with the story of Kyson escaping the "compound" otherwise known as "home." I'll talk about how I keep the front door dead-bolted with an additional latch at the top so the kids can't reach it and how we have a padlock on the gate so the kids can't leave and how I use the secret lock on the garage so no one can open the garage without me.

And then I'll hint about sometimes tuning out while I'm nursing Shayli and after 10 minutes of peace I'll start to realize something is terribly wrong because I haven't been hounded for anything and I havn't seen or heard from Kyson in about 15 minutes. Which is what happened.

By then it will be time to tell you about how I started to check all of my "compound" locks to make sure there hadn't been any oversights and how then I double-checked and still no sign of Kyson. Next I checked all closets and closed doors including inside the car. And by now I'm starting to feel slightly faint and panicky because I'm remembering how the cops frown upon you if you wait even 20 minutes before calling 9-1-1 in an emergency and all of a sudden the crazy mother is the prime suspect. How much time has passed?!?

AAARRRGGGGGHHHH.

And then you'll be ready to hear how I raced out the front door certain my son had somehow bypassed all locks and how, even I, am starting to think he is invincible and possibly a superhero.

Are you ready for what happens next? The neighbor comes strolling down the hill with my little superhero in tow. Where was he, you ask? Patrolling the neighborhood and fighting crime. And what was his method of escape? Climbing our 6 foot fence and dropping neatly to the ground. Superhero. I'm sure his realization of freedom was quite intoxicating. His little hands were pretty torn up but who cares? He discovered a means of escape. *Sigh*

We celebrate every day that Kyson is still with us. He should be dead by now, the little stinker. But the good news is our "super-special" week came to an end and Kyson is still alive. Thank goodness that even superheroes need to take a break every now and then! ;)

Chicago Get-a-way

Hello. I'd like to introduce you to the "new" me. The "city-living" me that went on a trip and spent the weekend living it up in downtown Chicago. That's right. Living. It. Up. Here's the view from my hotel room. Just call me ritzy.
Oh, and here I am at a Broadway musical. Perhaps you've heard of it.......Wicked? Mmmm hmmmm. But don't get jealous. I was sat in the very, very way back. I think it was, like, the fourth row or something. I was a little disappointed that I could totally see the zipper on Elpheba's costume. Talk about tacky. Wink. Wink.

I guess I should pause a moment and explain just what was going on. My mom and sisters and I decided it was time for a girl's trip. So we decided to go visit my sister, Bre, in Illinois. While we were there, we'd hit up Wicked in Peoria and then make our way to Chicago for a couple days of shopping and sight-seeing. And the only kids allowed were nursing infants! So that meant Shayli got to come.

Here we are in the hotel. (Please ignore the double chin. I was appalled when I saw it, too. But not appalled enough to delete the memory ;) As I said earlier, our hotel was one block away from the Magnificent Mile. Also known as Shop Til You Drop road. Okay, so I made that up but that's what we did! And we totally got a taste for city living. Our "hang-out" was the Corner Street Bakery. We slept in and walked to the bakery for breakfast everyday. Then we'd walk off our french toast and coffee cake by shopping. It was fabulous. I envy myself.

We managed to hit up a few tourist attractions, too. This is the famous popcorn shop. I didn't really know Chicago was famous for popcorn but that's Bre said. So I believe her. And if you look close enough, you can see my dad in the corner. He tagged along to watch Shayli for me while we went to Wicked and help out with the shopping! Thanks, Pa!

Amber and I are modeling our twinner jackets that we bought in this picture. (Ignore the creepy smile. I was overly excited by my super steal.) We call them our Chicago coats. We also have matching Seattle jackets from our trip to Seattle in February. It has become somewhat of a tradition. :) We almost convinced my mom and Breanna to buy theirs in green. They withstood the peer pressure.

Here we are at the Navy Pier. We were very lucky and had nice fall weather for all of our walking and shopping. It rained one day but not hard enough to keep us indoors!

Chocolate anyone? Of course, we had to hit up the chocolate shop! We went to Hershey but the Ghiradelli (right behind me) had a huge line. We skipped it. At this point, we were getting rather winded from all of our traipsing about the city. But we still had shops to see so we pushed through our tired legs and aching backs and pregnant bodies (Amber and Bre. Not me.) and kept shopping! After all, we were leaving the next day.

Shayli sure had a good time. She got lots of Grandma and Pa all to herself!

This picture is from the top of the hotel. We snuck into the sky lounge. They wanted to charge us $17 for breakfast just so we could enjoy the spectacular view. Amber and I just waltzed in like we belonged there and started to talk to the manager on duty. Turns out he liked us because we are twins. (I know, right? What's new?) Just kidding. In actuality, he did like us because we are twins but also because he is a triplet! And multiples just have a connection. So anyway, we stayed as long as we wanted with no pressure to buy an over priced meal and didn't feel guilty about it!

We made it to Millenial Park while we were killing time before going to the airport. They have the giant "Bean". I didn't get a picture of the whole thing but here is a close up. It basically is a giant silver bean that is super reflective. As you can see. People like to get real creative with their poses. We just copied a couple of people to try it out and then we were on our way!

And then it was time to go home. Dad got pulled aside for saying "bomb". Okay. Actually he was randomly selected for further screening. He's complaining to this girl about it.

And flying! I was lucky enough to get a flight with a layover in Denver. That way we all could fly together for half of it. It really made the trip easier on me. And I think Grandma and Pa enjoyed it too! Shayli did so well the whole time. She started falling apart for the trip home but who could blame her? She had a taste of the city life. And then she had to come home to the living room floor. I'd cry too.

Overall, we had a blast and I'm saving my money for the next girl's trip. New York, anyone???