Life is Beautiful: Thanksgiving/13 weeks

This week was a fun-filled busy week for the kids. On Monday morning I volunteered in Amelia's class for their special Thanksgiving day. Here's Amelia in her bonnet as a Pilgram signing the Mayflower Compact

They got to read the story 'Stone Soup' and they stirred the pretend ingredients up...

Then they all got to eat some homemade soup, without stones of course.

They only had 2 days of school that week so we went to Jacksonville early. It was Lewis' first long car ride and he did great, he slept most of the time there and back. On Wednesday we got to visit with the Derstine family. Their baby Rylan is 6 months old, and he weighs the same as our chunker who is only 3 months old!

The boys were so cute together, we hope they'll be little buddies!

Their daughter Avery loved loving on the new baby in the house.

Grant and Amelia loved playing with all their kids' toys.

The girls are so sweet together

Later that night Grant fell asleep that night between the couch and the table.

Memaw loved seeing the kids. Every time I put Lewis in her lap she'd say, 'Oh! This is the first time I've gotten to hold him.' She'd talk to him and tell him all about the adventures he'd have in life: learning to play golf, getting a girlfriend, having kids and going to the beach with them, etc. She's so sweet, she commented on how 'healthy' he looked and what a good tan he had.

Thanksgiving day was nice just to rest around the house, play Wii with the kids and cook some yummy food. Mallory and Randy came over for dinner too.

After dinner it was time to plan the Black Friday attack. Dad and I weren't really impressed with the deals out there this year but Randy wanted to get a TV so we tried to help him develop a strategy. In the end we knew he'd probably get shut out but he did find an alternative TV that he was happy with.

Dad and I left the house a little after 4am. I got up to feed Lewis at 3:30 so it worked out just fine. We got our snowglobes from JCPenny together and then did shopping separately. I got some great $10 Wii games for the kids to play at my parents house and some new clothes and shoes for Kevin and me. I also scored some great clothes for the kids at The Children's Place. They had their Christmas outfits marked down, then 40% off that, then there was 30% off the whole store, then I had a 20% off coupon, and I got 5% off for using my Place card! I got about 10 different items for about $40! Including a gorgeous dress for Amelia to wear next year for Christmas that was originally $50, yay! For spending over $100 at the mall I got a free $10 gift card and at another store I bought a $100 visa gift card that they had discounted to $90. Got a free door-buster ornament at Sears and $10 off some clothes for the kids. At their Christian book store I scored some $5 CDs, some books they had 1/2 price and a Jesus Storybook Bible for $5. Dad and I met back up and he'd stand in line for me and helped me pick out pants that Kevin would like. We had a fun time together, mainly getting things we already needed or were going to purchase anyway, but at great prices. And I got to spend 7 hours of uninterrupted shopping without Kevin having to watch the kids for that whole time. He did take the kids out to Dunkin Donuts to get their traditional Black Friday breakfast. After shopping all morning I rested in the afternoon and then had to go back out that evening to shop with my mom for a minivan. We are hoping to find something we like by Christmas time and so we test drove a few different styles to get an idea of what we wanted.

On Saturday morning Lewis had a blowout diaper so we gave him a little bath in their sink. He was pretty fussy and cried through most of it, but actually started calming down when Meme took some pictures.

After lunch we had Christmas with my parents, Memaw, and the Millers. The kids were excited to open stockings from Meme and Poppa.

They loved their presents from Uncle Randy and Aunt Mallory. They got her a squinkie cupcake playset and him a set of Cars walkie talkies. When I told Mallory that the kids would take 2 of Kevin's deodorants and run around the house pretending they were walkie talkies she said they needed an upgrade, haha.

For Kevin and I the Millers were, as usual, super generous. They got Kevin a tailgate table and a cornhole game. That will be fun to play in the backyard with the kids. We played some with them in Jacksonville and they handily beat us, we had to split the Kelseys and Millers so it would be more fair. They got me some Gator servingware and a new Coach purse. Mallory loves to ensure that I'm stylish.

Meme and the sweet boy, who is getting a Bumbo seat for his gift. We had a great visit with them.