ho hum...

I haven't updated in a while simply because not too much has been going on...  Well, Thanksgiving weekend was last weekend and I would say it was probably one of the best I've had.  I took Wednesday and Friday off, so we had a 5 day weekend together.

We hosted Thanksgiving here at our house - our first time (obviously) in the new house and I think it went well.
Ryan's parents, brother and nephew came over.  My parents, sister and boyfriend and the three kids also came.  I was happy that our little house fit fourteen people comfortably. 
My mom and I split (a bit unequally - but split nonetheless) the cooking.  My mom cooked the turkey and stuffing (and turnip which only my dad eats!)  I did the mashed potatoes, squash and green beans.  My sister made a chocolate pie and a pumpkin chiffon pie and brought a huge fruit salad.  My MIL made an apple pie and rice.  Overall, the food was fantastic, the kids were so well behaved and we all had a great time.
My parents stayed over that night and we (last minute) decided to have Elizabeth stay over too!  Maddie and Elizabeth rarely get to play together without interruption - but this was such a great day/night for them.  They are so cute together and get along so nicely.  We couldn't say no when she wanted to stay over!!

We did something that night we've never done before and I hope we make it a tradition.  My mom and I got up at midnight (after going to bed around 10pm) and met Becky in Plymouth to do the Black Friday shopping!  We started at 1am at Target (when it opened).  I am not sure why were were surprised, but the huge line shocked us!! It weaved around the side and to the back of the exterior of the building.  People had been there since 7pm!! Nuts!!  We waited in the car with the heat on until the line subsided and made it inside about 10 minutes after the crazies who waited for hours!!

I had a specific list in mind and got great deals on everything I went for, so it was completely worth it for me!
We were at Target for about 2.5 hours.  After that we headed to Kohls.  (Last year I had gotten up at 3:30am and went to Kohls and knew that I could get the kids their gifts again this year).
All toys were 50% off, so I got just about all of the kids on our list done!

Becky went home after Kohls and Mom and I stopped into Walmart at 4:30am.  We didn't realize it but Walmart had just opened at 4am, so it was a MAD HOUSE!
There was no organization like that of Kohl's and Target, it was a complete free-for-all chaotic nightmare.  We grabbed the two leggo items we wanted and I think we cut people in line for the register, but we got out of there and were home by 5:30am.
I fell asleep at about 6am and then Maddie was up with my Dad (and subsequently woke me up) by 7:45am.
Take that first trimester!!!

Actually though, I think I suffered all weekend because of the lack of sleep.  I did take a little nap on Friday and a nap on Saturday (that was 2 hours long!)

Our town does a pretty decent job with a Christmas Parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it goes by the end of our street.  So on Saturday we grabbed some chairs, walked the .25 miles to the end and watched the parade.  My hormones are clearly raging because for some reason, the marching bands had me tearing up.  I don't think there's anything emotional about a marching band so I have no idea where it came from - but of course, Ryan saw me and was loving every moment of that!!!

Sunday night we met up with our bffl's Mike, Tricia and Grayson and walked around LaSalette.  I plan to do this every year, regardless of where we live.  I love it, I have loved it since I was a child and feel that it is a great tradition.  I remember a few years when I was younger, the shrine was suffering for money and they didn't know if they would be able to do all of the lights each year.  Well, this year, that is certainly not the case.  They had hayrides, merry-go-rounds, fried dough stations, and there was barely enough parking even in their overflow lot.  The traffic was backed up about 6 miles down the road to get in!! I was so happy to see that it was doing that well.    

So that was our weekend.  It just made me very excited about our week off during Christmas break.  23 more days!! I can do it!!!