Shop 'till you drop

Contrary to a lot of women, I don't REALLY enjoy shopping. I am not sure if its because I usually go w/children. Whether its one, two, or three. And sometimes its more if I meet friends for a pretzel or cinnamon roll. Things are always rushed as I am worried about nap times being messed with or lunch times or enough snacks to make it through. Anyway....My husband REALLY, REALLY doesn't like shopping. He gets what he needs/wants when he needs/wants it. Doesn't mess around. And when he is looking you are not to rush him. He doesn't care when I do go shopping (for the most part) just as long as he doesn't have to go or be bothered with it. So about 5 years ago my mom and I decided to do some xmas shopping in Topeka. We left early in the morning and came home late afternoon. The second year we decided to leave the night before and spend the night. Shop in the evening and shop all the next day. Then 2 years ago my sister came along. And we have been doing it ever since. Brent says if he has to pay for a night in a hotel so he doesn't have to do ANY xmas shopping it is well worth it!!!! Our trip was Monday evening and all day today. I am writing about this now, because I am way too tired to do anything else. I haven't done much since I got home, but I am EXHAUSTED. We had a great time and hope this tradition continues. It was so nice to go into a store and not have to find the bathroom, carry only MY snacks in my purse and not have to worry about who was climbing under what rack. I managed to get almost done. My goal was to get completely done, but as the day wore on and the crowds got larger we all started loosing interest.

One funny thing that did happen. On Sunday night when I started packing a bag, Garrett and Maddie had asked if I was packing a swimsuit. I said "YES" rather loudly. They started mouthing off about how it wasn't fair about me going swimming or sitting in the hotub. So I bragged Monday and Monday night rubbing it in, but jokingly (probably not very nice, but it was funny to get their reactions )until we got to the hotel to find out that the hot tub was CLOSED! The pool was freezing so we didn't get to RELAX like we thought. This morning as I was checking out I told the lady we were really disappointed about the hot tub and how we were wanting to warm up and relax and lady says, "oh well you should have said something you could have gone across the street to that hotel. They are a sister hotel and we use them and they use us for things like this all the time" HELLO???? The lady last night didn't mention anything. She saw us go into the pool But when the hot tub has a chain around it, no water in it, and a sign that says "out of order". We guessed there wasn't reallly much we could have done. Right? So a word to the wise I guess you should always ask/complain about things that are broken because you might get some perk some way. My kids thought it served me right, because I bragged about it. Once again the Lord has a since of humor! We had a wonderful time and found a few bargains. And yes Brent managed getting the kids to bed and up and ready for school. He was supposed to have Owen ALL day today, but I think he parents bailed him out, again! What wonderful in laws I have! Ok I am going to bed now. I have a big day tomorrow. I now have to put everything away and clean up my house from my ONE day being gone. I hate to see what two days would be like!!!

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree

Looking, Looking, Looking

THE ONE!

Finished! (Yes there is a star at the top, sorry)

Every year we get a real Christmas tree. For several years we went to a little old lady in Green who used to have a tree farm. The early years were a little hard to find a tree but still managed to find one, but as the years went on (and she hadn't planted any new ones in years) the pickings were getting a little slim. So last year Brent called around and found some tree, but we didn't go w/to pick out. Which was fine, because Owen was only 6 months old then. Well this year I called around to a few places and Christmas Trees are just plain expensive if you ask me. Saturday morning was yucky to say the least. I was ready to call off Christmas Tree hunting unless we were going to go find a fake one. But my brother in law Rex bailed us out by telling us that he knew of a couple down by Talmage that had started a tree farm several years ago. He couldn't promise us how many trees or what they looked like. We gave it a shot. We bundled up w/boots, hats, gloves, heavy coats and sweated our way to Talmage. It was snowing/raining pretty decent by then. Owen fell asleep on the way. We thought about leaving him in the truck while we looked, but I said no because that would have really messed up afternoon nap time. The couple was very nice and found one right off.For only 20 bucks. Yes we still payed for gas, but the family time was so worth it!!! So here are some pics of our yearly tree find! Kids were excited and Garrett thinks the thing grew on the way home. He complained the whole time that he thought it was too short. But once it was up in the house it was "just the right size".
Tis the Season to be jolly!

First Snow

I took some pics of the first snow we had on Friday. But they didn't really turn out and it wasn't a REAL snow, but still first of the season. It was so pretty and a little exciting. A new sesaon is upon us. I am hoping that all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday!