bekah's blog: Shopping is done

Wednesday night was spent making cheesecakes and trying to pack everything for Zach for 2 days and make sure I had everything I needed for Friday. I wasn't going to go home after I left in the morning.

Thanksgiving went ok. Its really crowded at my moms moms house. I only had 2 of my brothers there. My oldest and my youngest, Josh and Donavan. Zach ate sooo much. The kids and I stayed there for about 2 hours before we moved on to my other grandma's house. Waaay less crowded there. Dad was in a mood. He hardly said anything and when he did, it was kind of rude...but that's Dad. Chris was there and in a good mood, as long as he was away from Dad. Grandma had burns on her arm from cooking, I felt so bad for her. Tony had to work and couldn't be there until after 4... but by then I was going to be gone. Lilly ate a little bit, Zach wouldn't and I gobbled down a deviled egg, a bit of turkey and some corn. Chris was very excited about the cheesecake I made. I made it for him and Tony, a chocolate chocolate chip cheesecake. That's right. Josh showed up later.

So about 3:30 I left to go to hubby's sister's house the same time Chris left to go get Tony from work. Zach fell asleep on the way there. As soon as we walked through the door, I put Zach's carseat beside a big chair and I crashed while Zach slept. Lilly played with the kids, she was too full to even try to eat anything. We woke up and spent a bit of time with hubby since he's been gone hunting. Zach ate some dessert and I stuffed my face with more food. Lilly got a rug burn sliding down the carpeted stairs on her tummy. We stayed until about 6:00 and I gathered my kids and went back to my grandma's house where my brothers were. Tony was still there and Dad was brooding in the corner. Tony told him that he wanted to stay until I got there, but when I got there, Tony announced that him and Chris were going out. Dad just stood up and walked out the door.

Lilly's father showed up shortly after and CJ too. I said my goodbye to Lilly and warned her father about the rug burn. I gave grandma instructions on Zach, set up his pack-n-play, organized my go bag, and headed out the door with CJ.

We got to Target about 8:30 and wasn't too far back, but I was surprised at how many people were lined up already. We were about 150-200 people back, maybe. About an hour into it, Chris and Tony comes rolling up. They say there were at Walmart just to see the crowd and were going to go to a movie. Chris saw me shivering and got a coat out of his car for me. I was wearing one, but it was REALLY cold.

10:30 I get a call from my uncle saying that grandma is sick and I need to come get Zach. Target wasn't going to open until midnight. I called hubby's sister and asked her if she could watch Zach whenever she is done since she was just going to Walmart and then going home. She said she would and she would meet me at my house with him when she's done. So... me and CJ got out of line at our great spot and headed to grandma's house. Zach was asleep. I got him dressed and in the car without waking him up. On my way home I called hubby's brother-in-law and told him that his wife agreed to watch Zach but I was wondering if I could just go ahead and bring him there. He said it was fine. CJ went to my house to wait for me while I treaded on. Hubby's 12 year old niece was still awake and she said she'd take care of Zach for me. I gave her instructions, set up his pack and play and told her to call me if she had any questions or problems. Knowing her mother would be home soon, I left without any worries.

I meet CJ at my house and we head BACK to Target. By this time its already open, its about 12:20 when we pull into the parking lot and I see red flashing lights. We get out of the car and there's 2 ambulances and a fire truck and a few cop cars with more coming. We jump in line and we hear that a guy had a seizure. We later learn that he had a heart attack as soon as he got in the doors and only 3 people stopped to help him. He hit his head when he fell and was bleeding, and people were just going around him. He was in need of help, having a heart attack and yet toys are more important to these people. I still want to cry just thinking about it. I wasn't there when it happened, but I know damn well I would have tried to do something. I don't know CPR, but CJ does. I would have tried to do something. A nurse, a doctor and one employee tried to help him. He was taken to the hospital and later passed away. By the time we got in the doors, he was in the ambulance.

There were no carts left for us to grab and we forgot to grab our shopping bags. No biggie, we thought. Luckily I got hubby's mom to get hubby's gift for me since I had to leave Target line and there was no way I could get there in time to get the PS3. We didn't spend too much time shopping. We first headed to the toys and grabbed a firepit on our way there. I got Lilly's crayon maker and ran to where Zach's activity table was supposed to be. It was gone. We went to the movies and I grabbed Transformers 3, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Red. CJ got New Moon, Eclipse and a few more. I decided I wanted to go back to the toys to look for the table. I found an employee who went and got one for me! I got everything I wanted to get at Target. We got in line and it zig zagged through the isles. About an hour passed before we made it to checkout.

We hopped in the car and drove to Walmart. CJ's main thing to get there was a crockpot, but it was all gone. I got hubby a game for his PS3. I got Lilly some tattoos to put in her stocking and some zoobles. Zach got some balls and cars. The board game I was wanting for Lilly was gone and so was the Monster High dolls that was on sale. We were in Walmart about an hour before we gave up on looking for stuff. I found a crock pot for CJ in one of the carts that was by the registers full of stuff no one wanted. Turns out it wasn't the one that was on sale. While I was going through the carts, I get a text from my 12 year old baby sitter saying Zach is awake and won't go back to sleep. I told her to feed him, rock him, change him and sing to him. (He was having a bad day and a tooth was bothering him, usually just a bottle will calm him down) 10 minutes later she told me he went to sleep. We leave Walmart a bit disappointed and go to Toys-r-Us for one toy on my list for Zach for his birthday. Its originally $30, but was on sale for $12.49. We pull in the parking lot and there's not a lot of cars and I don't see a line when I look inside. We go in and look around a bit and I grab Zach's toy. Then we try to go to the registers...... and we find the line. I told CJ that this toy isn't that important, put it down and we leave.

We got to Kolh's next. That's where I was going to get a lot of toys for Zach. Fisherprice toys were on a great sale here. I got him a laugh and learn puppy, a laugh and learn soccer ball, a music book, something else I can't remember and Lilly a Pictionary card game. The line was long, but it went by fast. (Oh, and I was giving out Thank You cards and candy canes to all the cashiers who checked me out. The lady at Kolh's seemed very happy to get hers. CJ was giving hers out to any employees who helped us out)

After Kolh's we went to the mall. I wanted to get a stacking toy for Zach at JC Penny's, but they were all out by the time we got there. We got there at 4:50 and they opened at 4:00. Then we walked down to Gamestop to pick up a game for hubby..... then we left the mall. $1.75 to park for that.

K-mart was next. We got to them a little after 5:30 and they opened at 5:00. The lines were already gone. I got quite a lot here. I got Lilly a little purple sock monkey, a magic kit, some mighty beans, more zoobles, a monster high doll and walkie talkies that looked like cell phones. I got Zach a ball and my nephew a light saber.

After K-Mart we went and got breakfast at McDonalds, then back to K-Mart so CJ could pick up some clocks. Then we went to Big Lots and all I got there was a marshmallow gun for mom's boyfriend's grandson and stacking cups for Zach. Then we went back to K-Mart so CJ could get 2 more clocks. Then we went to Rite Aide and got our wrapping paper (buy one get 2 free) and Zach's rocking horse.

By this time my right eye was red and burning. I thought I had pink eye, so we called it quits and headed back to my house. We carried all my stuff upstairs, CJ left and I went to go get Zach.

Saturday, hubby's sister sends me a text to ask if I'll watch her 2 littlest ones while she takes her 12 year old to get a CT scan. She went ice skating with friends and hit her head real hard and was having bad headaches. After I babysat, I went to my mother-in-laws house to pay her for hubby's PS3. Hubby called and said he was home, so after Zach woke up from his nap, I went home.

Whew.... here's some pictures from this weekend....