Is it time to start the countdown?

My goal this week is to clean up and rearrange the apartment so we have somewhere to put our Christmas tree. I don't think its going to happen. I just don't have the time.... unless I want to stay up really late after the kids go to bed to work on it. It'll be easier when hubby gets back from hunting...but that won't be until Saturday.

I'm pretty much done with all my shopping. I just have my grandparents, my step brother's kid, my oldest brother and his girlfriend left to shop for. I think I'll just get them all some ornaments or the tree. There's this new store in the mall that sells nothing but Christmas ornaments. There's Elvis, Betty Boop, hunting ones, high heel shoes, Charlie Brown, The Grinch, wine glasses, pianos, sports, the Beatles... oh, the list just goes on and on. I did buy some already. I got my mom Rudolph on a sleigh, my step dad Walter from Jeff Dunham, Lilly and Zach just got 2 little balls with snowmen on them and their names with the year. We still have to get Zach's first Christmas ornament, but I don't want to get one without hubby.

Work is already decorating for the holidays. There is light up reindeer outside and trees inside. Here's a picture of the trees.

Hubby's mom gave me a book and elf. Its called Elf on the Shelf and Lilly loves it. The elf magically shows up around Thanksgiving and watches you all day. Then, at night he leaves and reports to Santa about if you've been good or bad and then comes back in the morning. Every morning he is in a different spot. No one can touch him or he'll lose his magic and will never come back. You can tell him your wishes, what you want for Christmas and he'll go back and tell Santa that too. I put him up on top of the dresser mirror Sunday night so he'll be there when Lilly came home on Monday. She was so excited to see him. She couldn't wait to try to find him this morning. He was in the entertainment center right beside the TV. So, it gives me a new tradition to begin with my kids. You get to name the elf too. Lilly named him "Dee" so Zach could say his name too... that's all Zach says anymore. He says 'Dee' and 'sissy' and that's about it. He use to say a lot more. Oh, I wish you could have seen his face yesterday when Lilly walked into the nursery with me to get Zach. He stood up and pointed and yelled, "Sissy!" over and over again. He's walking a lot more too. He was all over the apartment yesterday.

Last night, after I put Lilly to bed I had Zach in the living room watching tv. He crawled off the couch and was headed to the bedroom. I said NO and he stopped... still on his hands and knees. I sat there and watch him. After a few seconds he lifted his knee up to take off crawling and I said NO again. He stopped just like before. A few more seconds passed and he lifted his knee up again. I waited to see what he was going to do. He started to crawl away very slowly. I said NO again. He stopped, looked back at me and laughed. A couple seconds passed and he started to go again, before I could tell him NO he took off like a rocket to the bedroom. By the time I got in there, he was already standing up beside Lilly's bed. I grabbed him and told him "No, sissy go night night" and took him back into the living room. He tried it again, slowly crawling toward the bedroom. This time when I told him NO he stopped and laid down on a pillow. It was so comical.

I don't really know exactly what I'm going to get into this week with the kids. We'll see, I guess.

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....

Here's a bruise I on my left arm I noticed after I got home Friday. I believe its from carrying toys through Target.

Here's how far back I was at Target before I left to go get Zach.

Lilly's with my uncles phone...with a bro-stash.

Zach at hubby's sister's house having breakfast.

Zach falling asleep during breakfast

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating tomorrow. I will be out until Monday again. I don't really have much to say right now. I've been doing nothing but planning for Friday. Watch, with my luck everything will go bad. I'll try to take pictures of the crowds and post them on here Monday with my story of how I survived. I'm not even thinking about Thanksgiving. I haven't even gone to the store to get the stuff I need to make my cheesecakes I'm taking to my family's houses. I've even been having dreams of Black Friday. I'm alway in line at Target and something goes wrong. Last night I woke up after my dream and then that's all I could think of. I couldn't go back to sleep for hours. I finally told my brain to think of something else... and you want to know what it decided to think of?... What would I do if zombies attacked?!!!!!!!! Really? That's what you think about? Crazy brain. No sleep makes me think of weird things I guess.
So here's the run down of what I expect to happen. Thursday, be at my moms moms house at noon. Eat. Leave and go to my dads moms house. Eat. Leave and try to be at my sister-in-laws house around 4 or 5. Eat. Get kids to grandma's no later than 9. Meet my friend at grandma's house. Wait for Lilly's father to pick her up. Spend a few more minutes with Zach. Leave to go get in line at Target. Target opens at midnight. Shop. Go to Walmart. Shop. Go to Kohls. Shop. Go to Toys-r-Us for one toy. Breakfast? Go to Sporting Goods store to look around. Dollar store, shop. Kmart, shop. Big Lots, shop. Go to mall. Coffee. Shop in at least 4 stores there. Eat lunch. Rite Aide, get wrapping paper... its going to be buy one roll get two free. Can't beat that. Another dollar store, shop. Magic Mart, shop. If we still have any energy and its not too late, we might go to the movies to see Breaking Dawn. I doubt we will make it there. After we are done I go to grandma's to get Zach and head home to unpack all the things and figure out where I'm going to put them. Then, I'll probably go out to dinner with mother-in-law like last year. Go home and try to get Zach to sleep at a decent time.
Busy. Gonna drink lots of coffee. See ya on Monday!!

Vacation is over

So, my vacation was uneventful. I didn't really do much. I wanted to clean, but I hardly got anything like that done.

Hubby took me and Zach to Toys-r-Us and we shopped a little for Christmas. We got a lot of things that aren't going on sale on Black Friday. We even picked up something for Lilly's birthday.

My bff and I have been super planning for Friday. I have babysitters, color coded sheets, a list of things I'm definitely going to buy and where, a list of things that I might get if I have money...its things that aren't on sale that can wait, a list of things we need to survive and my go bag packed. My go bag has all my survival gear in it... hand sanitizer, pens, paper, snacks....things like that. Super excited! Our plan is to line up at Target really early while a lot of people are at Walmart and Toys-r-Us. We'll get a good spot there, hopefully.

I had bought some colored cookie dough from a fundraiser Lilly was doing for the Y and we finally made some last night. The blue cookie dough turns your mouth colors.

This is a picture of the cookies befor I baked them. Still ooey gooey.

Lilly has been doing great with soccer. Her first game, she scored 5 goals. Her second game she scored 3, and she was feeling sick. They were also alternating her team members in and out. There were way more kids from her team that showed up that day. Here's a pic of her first game. You see all the blue kids on the left...well Lilly is the first kid in the red to the right of the blue. She's running.

 

Went to Lilly's school on Thursday for the Thanksgiving lunch. It seemed more organized this year. I think less parents showed up for Lilly's class than last year, so we went through the line pretty quick. I sat with Lilly, Zach and 3 of Lilly's friends. About 5 minutes before we were going to get up, hubby's nephew came to sit with us. I had lunch with 4 first graders, a second grader and a baby. Zach ate all my turkey and a bit of Lilly's pumpkin pie. I think he's going to enjoy Thanksgiving. We have 3 houses to go to.

I came to work after my vacation to find out that they are wanting to cut my overtime. Without my overtime I can't pay day care. I don't know what they expect me to do. A raise has been up in the air for nearly a year now and nothing has happened with it. I need something now. I need something quick. I can't go on like this. I wish I lived in a world where money didn't matter as much as it does.

15 days!!!

Oh, there's just so much planning. I'm still obsessing over Black Friday especially since Walmart has finally up their ad out. They, along with Toys r us so far, are opening at 10pm on Thanksgiving. We are going to have to start even earlier this year. I'm afraid that the things I really want are going to be gone. I don't think I can make it there in time to get hubby's gift and its the cheapest at Walmart so far. I'm still waiting for Target to release theirs. Maybe theirs will be as good. I just don't know when I'm going to leave hubby's sister's house for Thanksgiving and even then I have to drive 20 miles away to drop Zach off to my grandma and Lilly off to her father. I think I'm going to ask hubby's mom is she can get hubby's gift for me if I give her the money. She is a Black Friday junkie too.
So, I am taking a vacation next week. Well... I guess if offically starts tomorrow. I won't be back until the 21st, so there will be no update to this blog or my other one.. http://smilesareeverywhere.blogspot.com/
You can bet your hiney that I'll be freaking out about shopping during that time off. I'll be freaking out until its all over.
Well.. take care everyone and be sure to come back on the 21st for a new post!

16 days!

I threw an idea at my best friend, CJ yesterday. I was wanting to surprise her, but I needed her input. I want to make shirts for Black Friday. Hers would be green and mine would be purple, since that's our favorite colors, and it would say something clever on the front and then say "Black Friday 2011" on the back. We finally figured up all the years, and this year is our 5 year.... anniversary? Is that what you would call it? An anniversary? Well....that's what I'm going to call it since I can't come up with a better word. If you have a better word, leave it in the comments for me. 5 years. Wow..... its hard to believe. We've come a long way since that first year. We wasn't at all prepared on our first year. We didn't know what to expect. Huge lines, angry people, snow, rain, 3 hour waits, no sleep, getting lost in the crowd... we enjoy every single second of it now. I am more prepared this year. I have planned much better this time. I have pictures of the things I'm going to buy, that way I can just show CJ what to be on the lookout for instead of saying something like, "Can you help me find a VTech activity ball or the Loving Family Dollhouse rooms... I still need the parents room and try to find the van too." Pictures are much better. It helps me too.
The countdown is ON....16 days until we go shopping!
I am taking a vacation next week. Nothing special, I just need to take it or I lose it. I have next week, Black Friday and the entire week after Christmas scheduled off. Saves me on day care too. I do still have to pay for Lilly even though she's not going to be there. I was upset at first, but the front desk lady explained that the day care keeps the kids on snow days and early outs without charging extra. Not such a big deal anymore. I was putting that money back for Christmas, but Lilly is cheaper at the Y than Zach is. Oh, I also have this Friday off. Its Veteran's Day here and its a Federal holiday, so I stay home in hopes of sleeping in and probably visiting my great-grandpa's grave. He was a veteran and it would have been his birthday as well. I usually pick up my grandma and we take him flowers and sing him Happy Birthday. I won't have Lilly this year though.
I had a weird dream last night, in the short time I actually slept. A guy that I went to high school with and have kept in contact with in real life was in my dream. He wrote some kind of speech and I was going to read it in front of a bunch of people but the speech was horrible and I was booed off the stage. I ran to my house in into my bedroom, but it was my bedroom from the house I lived in when I was 13. There was also a dog somewhere in there and cold coffee as well. I remember Lilly running off with my coffee toward the end of my dream, but by then I was at my grandma's house. Weird.

What do you want to be?

My daughter has said that she wants to be a heart doctor, but recently it has changed to an animal doctor. I know that her mind will change several more times as the years pass, but I will support her no matter what she chooses. She is a very outgoing little girl, but a little shy at times. She makes friends very easily and has a memory like an elephant. She is a very smart child, but she can't sit still very long to study. Last night I was quizzing her on her spelling words and she got every one right, but she had to dance around and roll all over the bed to do it. I'm glad that she's active, but it worries me a bit. She is great at sports, so a part of me can see her as a professional athlete.

I wonder what Zach will be like. He's already a huge flirt and so very happy. He's adventurous and curious. I bet he will want to be something great too. A doctor? An athlete? A fireman? Only time will tell.

I've given some thought about going back to school. I don't know what I would go for though. I use to want to be a teacher, but I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe only time will tell with that too.

Today I'm a very proud mama. I finally remembered to bring the coffee cup Lilly painted for me to work. I love carrying it around and showing it off. 

 Uh oh... you can kind of see my messy desk...
Here's some picture of the kids playing yesterday. Zach was trying to eat his toy and it was just so funny!

Yes... my kids are my life. They make me so very happy, that's why I talk about them so much. They make my life interesting. They give me something to look forward to each day. They make me smile and laugh. I didn't want to be that parent that constantly talked about her kids... but I do. I try not to when in actual conversation with a person face to face. Its difficult

My kids are growing up

I sold my car. I'm happy and sad at the same time. I'm glad that's its no longer in my way and now we have some money from it, but it was my car. The first car I paid off. I've had that car longer than I've been with my husband. Well...its gone now. We got $1,500 out of it. I got $200 of that money to put toward my Christmas fund.
Zach says sissy now. He follows Lilly through the house saying, "Sissy" over and over again. For the longest time he was hissing, like a snake, but I guess that was just him trying to say sissy. He doesn't say mom or dad much anymore. He does babble a lot. He takes his socks off now too. Its kind of frustrating to get him all dressed up and then turn around to see him barefoot. Cute, but frustrating.
My bff has learned that she is indeed moving to New York. She was here in West Virginia, then she moved to Virginia. There was a scare that she was going to move to California, but its New York now. Her husband has a great opportunity up there. I just can't believe that she's moving farther away. Good news is that she is coming in for some Black Friday shopping. I think I'm more excited than she is this year. Last year, she was so excited and I was just sort of there and didn't really get excited about it until we were all in the mess of things.
The weather was nice this weekend so I took the kids out to play for a bit. Here's some cute pictures...

Lilly's dropping handfuls of leaves around Zach in the last picture. I thought he would love it, but he didn't seem all that interested.
I was watching a few shows on the DVR yesterday that kind of made me sad. It was about the parents realizing that their kids are growing up. Made me sad because I know that mine are going to. It was the episode of The Middle where Sue goes to some Halloween parties and wears clothes that's in style and then the episode of Modern Family where Phil takes Haley to visit college. That's going to be me one day. Time is flying by. It seriously seems just like yesterday that I was in the hospital having Lilly yelling at her father to quit talking. Great memories. Now she's almost 7!! I'm getting her a real camera for her birthday, well...I've already bought it. She plays sports. I'm very proud of her, but I don't want her to grow up. While we were watching the shows last night, me and hubby told Lilly she has to stop growing. Then we came to the conclusion that she can just go backwards to 2 years old. It made her giggle. I love my kids so much.

First day of soccer

I signed Lilly up to play indoor soccer. She's never played before so she was very nervous and very excited. Yesterday was the first practice. We met at a church in their gym and there was a lot of kid there, but most of them were way older. Only 3 kids (counting Lilly) on Lilly's team showed up yesterday. I hope more shows up. I don't want them to not have a team, she's so looking forward to playing. The coach informed us that he is going to also do outdoor soccer later, so she'll probably end up doing that too, as long as it doesn't interfere with softball. She loves softball too. So here's some pics I took of her practicing. I tried to get more, but she was just so fast and she ended up being blurry.

She's a little blurry. This is right after she picked out the ball she wanted to use and she found a little friend she knows.

I have no idea what she was doing.

That's Lilly waaaaaay over there kicking the ball and running.

Zach ended up in the nursery at the church for a bit. He wanted down to play, but I didn't want him to get run over, so we went here and he played for a little bit.

Here's a picture of him after we got home. He's playing with Lilly's toy phone. Lilly said he was talking to his girlfriend, Bella.

Good Deal

Lilly's first day of soccer is today. The coach said its just going to be an hour of the kids running around. He wants to see if any of them have any 'skills' or whatever. She's super excited about it and so am I.
About 2 weeks ago I bought Lilly a camera that I was going to give her for Christmas. It was one of those kid cameras that is like a tank. You can drop it or throw it and it'll be ok. After a lot of thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that this camera (it was one of those Discovery kids cameras) was a little too baby-ish for Lilly. She's almost 7, not 3. So..... I decided to take the camera back yesterday and get my money back. I had seen this one camera that I wanted to get her online and it was half the price. Still a kid camera, but not a tank. I went to the store, receipt in hand and told the cashier that I wanted to return the camera. She looked at me funny and I assured her that I had not even opened it, I just wanted something more 'grown up' for my daughter. She said that I was past the 10 day return policy.........by only 4 days!!! She said she could give me store credit and I just sort of stared at her. I would have taken it, but the manager came by and showed me another camera. Its a Vivitar and was $80-a much more grown up camera. I would even like to have this one. The camera I was trying to take back was $40. I held the new camera and told them I didn't think so, I wasn't going to spend $80 on a camera for a 7 year old. $40 was a stretch. The manager took the cashier to a corner away from me and they huddled and whispered. The cashier then looked at me and said that she would do an even trade. What? Do my ears deceive me? I try to look unexcited and tell her thank you, I'll do that. I'll take the new camera. When I got out of the store, I did a little happy dance. I got an $80 camera for 50% off!! And its not even a big shopping day where there are good sales.
I got to see my best friend yesterday. I hadn't seen her since her wedding day back in August. We only had an hour together, though. She was with me during the whole camera ordeal. We even discreetly high fived while the cashier was ringing me up. My bff treated me to some coffee at a new coffee/tea place in the mall. Its called TeaCo. She ordered a Chai Tea and I ordered a Caramel Mocha. The lady behind the counter handed us each our drinks and told us what they were. Well... of course we couldn't drink it right away since it was so hot. My bff dropped me back off at work and a few minutes later I took a drink of my mocha.... it was kind of gross and tasted a bit like pumpkin. Then, my bff called and said that she is not happy with her drink. The lady got our drinks switched! Now I don't know if I like that place since I didn't get to taste the drink I had ordered. I got some gross pumpkin-y drink. I don't like anything pumpkin. I don't even like pumpkin pie...yeah, I know I'm crazy.
So anyway... I think I've decided to save Lilly's camera for her birthday in March. Then, I can get her all kinds of stuff to go with it- a case, photo album, some scrapbook stuff.... I'm actually really excited about it. Last year for her birthday, her big present was a diskman and 2 CD's and she was so happy about that she almost fell out of her seat. I would like to repeat that as often as possible. I was originally going to get her a Leap Frog Leapster Explorer for her birthday. Its a learning hand held game. That was going to be her big gift, but I'm going to give her that for Christmas now along with her scooter for her big gifts.
Seriously, Christmas has taken over my mind. That's all I think about.

Pics of trick or treat

Last night was a lot of fun. Everyone got along, no one whined...no much. It was cold though, real cold. The kids lasted the entire 2 hours, well, ok Zach was asleep around 7:30, but woke up 10 minutes later. We did end up going with hubby's sister and her kids. First we did the trunk-or-treat at the church with the cars, but that only lasted 15 minutes at the most. Then, we packed the kids up and went down a side street that had many other side streets. By the time we got here it was just too dark to take any pictures. I did get one, but its far away. I ended up carrying Zach for a little bit. He was getting really excited and wanted out of his stroller. When he was in his stroller he was shoving his hand down his bucket and getting out handfuls of candy to play with and chew on.
The kids came out of there with their buckets completely full. We ended up pouring them out in a bag halfway through because I didn't want any to spill out. They even got some glow sticks, which I think is a wonderful idea. This one house was giving the babies glow stick necklaces and the bigger kids full sized candy bars. Everyone had fun. I thought that Zach would sleep through the night due to all the excitement, but he didn't. It was the complete opposite. He woke up every 45 minutes or so. As soon as I'd get to bed and get comfy, he'd be awake. I think he was just too tired, and then he got a stuffy nose around 3:00 this morning...anyway...here's the pics of the kids!

Here's the kids playing with their buckets before we left the house. They were in their match skeleton shirts.

Here's the only picture I got of the kids at a house. There's Lilly climbing the steps and there's hubby pushing Zach in the stroller.

Here's Lilly right before we headed out.

Lilly trick-or-treating

Zach right before we left

Zach trick-or-treating

Yeah, they're a little out of order, but I'm too lazy to fix them today.
And as always, you can see these pictures and more here ...there's more pictures from last night.