DalrympleClanAdventures: Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was rather tame, it didn't seem much like Thanksgiving at all. We're more used to a family gathering with my side of the family with about 20 people or so, several kids running around. Spending the whole day together and catching up on all the family gossip, eating and cooking all day. This year it was just the five of us and Josh's parents. We still had fun and of course ate well!

We started the day out by taking the boys to Clemson Extension where Josh flew his rc airplanes. You would be amazed what can fit in a Prius...two rc planes and their stuff, two children's bikes, two dump trucks and a bulldozer, plus the five of us of course!! The boys played in the dirt, sand, rode bikes and had dump truck races. I pushed Jack in the dump truck, big mistake. He is too big and it is too low to the ground. As I was giving him his final push and letting go I somehow twisted my ankle and fell flat on my behind! My ankle bothered me on and off during the weekend. Oh well, it was worth it having that much fun with the boys!

Then we went home, Josh's parents came over and it was lunch time. We had homemade bean and ham soup for lunch. It seemed odd the rest of the day since I didn't need to spend much time in the kitchen. Usually there is lots of cooking to do. This year I kept it simple given the small group. We dined on turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, roasted fingerling potatoes, homemade rolls (I LOVE having a hubby who can bake great bread products), steamed broccoli and cranberry sauce. Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake, yummy! I actually had time to watch the Packers win!!!!

It was a fun day, just not hectic busy or full of family gossip and kids running all over.

Then came Friday. For the first time I actually ventured out for Black Friday. Josh was getting a new grill for an early Christmas present and we found a great deal. Plus my Christmas china was on sale for a big savings. So off I ventured before 4:30 in the morning. I swung by Wal-Mart on the way out but they didn't have what I wanted. We're getting the boys LeapPad this year. Well it seems it is the "it" toy this year and they are sold out everywhere. Guess they will just have to get that present late.

Anyway I then went to my parent's house to get their minivan (grill certainly won't fit in my Prius)!! I got to Academy Sports shortly after they opened at 5 and already the display of 3 grills was sold out. I was the fourth person waiting for them to bring out more. We waited quite some time, everyone was polite and several employees kept checking on the status. We didn't get an exact answer as to how many were in back so I was hoping I wasn't waiting for nothing!

After some time the first pallet of three grills came out. None for me....but there was another pallet they were working on getting out. It was way in the back and on top, trying not to kill anyone with the forklift getting it out! It came and I got one. The line wasn't long, assuming you knew which one to get in. Then I had to wait to get it loaded to roll out to the car. I pushed it out and help arrived shortly thereafter. All in all it was an hour and a half experience. I suppose it was worth it to save $150, but that is why I NEVER to Black Friday!!

I ventured over to Belk and got my china, though by then they didn't have everything I needed to complete my 12 placesettings. I got Josh a few presents and tried on a couple things, got myself two shirts. I would have liked to look around more, but I'm just not a power shopper and reached my shopping limit. I swung by Panera and picked up bagels, headed home and had breakfast with Josh and the boys all before 8:30. I was exhausted!!

The rest of the weekend was fine. We strolled through the zoo Saturday, played outside quite a bit, Josh worked on the car.... Pretty much usual weekend routine, though for some reason one of the kids was always waking up early. Needless to say I'm sleep deprived. Never a chance to recover sleep once I miss it! Josh still has off tomorrow so hopefully we can settle into "normalcy" before he goes back to work.

I'm looking forward to next weekend....Oma and Opa are taking the boys up to the mountains. We'll be home ALONE!!! Busy doing projects (tiling the powder room and painting Sean's big boy room), but still no kids is a welcome break.

The boys had fun entertaining their grandparents and look forward to Christmas with them.