Catching Up - Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm a few days late, but that's to be expected when you've had as much on the agenda as we have. I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend with your family. We did! It was much less stressful this year and that is always a bonus.

Our first stop was at my dad and step mom's house. Her family and our family was there. It went off without a hitch. A great time was had by everyone! It used to be a bit awkward, but this year everyone seemed to get along and have fun. We had tons of food! Much to my surprise, a lot of it was Gluten Free. Woopie!! That's all I needed was another excuse to eat. I feel it today, believe me..right in the hip area.

The girls frolicked, played, and ran around. They fed the ponies carrots and the ducks bread. They played chase and swung in the porch swing.

They also looked like little dolls. Everyone agreed with me. My step mom's family couldn't beleive how precious their outfits were. Any old blog readers recognize Care bear's outfit? It's a recycled Miss Priss getup. She wore it exactly two Thanksgivings ago in 2007. I wish I could find the picture, but sicne my desktop crashed I lost all of them. Boo! "Rocka Rock" that's what Care Bear says.. she loves to swing.

MIss Priss didn't want to sit still long enough for a picture. She was all over the place!

CB watching the ducks very intently. She loves ducks. Anytime she comes upon one she exclaims "Quack.Quack!!"

After the first part of our day and my dad's , we went to my inlaws. It was just C's immediate family there so it wasn't nearly as eventful. MIL cooked though and we ate .. again! Stuffed much? Yes, we were. The girls were awake all day with no naps. You better believe they conked out in the car on the way home.
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Black Friday recap.
I'm one of the Black Friday crazies. I am proud of it too! I love me some Black Friday sales!! I understand if you don't need the things that are on sale , you don't save any money, but if you do need something{like a Tom Tom} then you will save a generous amount of money. And I did. ;)

I left the house at 5am. My first stop was Wal Mart. The parking lot was reDONKulous. I went it and walked right back out. There was nothing there that I absoloutley needed, so I didn't want to fight for nothing. I headed to Target, Kohls, and Old Navy {they are in the same strip mall..thank goodness!} I rushed to the electronics at Target around 5:25am and stood in line for about 35 mins..which wasn't bad at all! They were almost out of the TomToms on the floor, but thankfully I got one of the last three. Score! C is going to be so happy. =) I didn't buy anything else there, but I did find some awesome deals on clothes for the girls at Old Navy and a pair of $15 jeans for me. Although, the 1 hour wait in line almost made it unworthhy.

I went home after that. C and I took the girls to my inlaws and we headed back to Kohls. We found more great deals on clothes for both girls and their Christmas dresses and PJs! Woo Hoo!!! I'm so excited for our Christmas pics this year. We normally go to Sears, but I think we will go out ona limb and try the new Portrait Innovations Studio {just in to Arkansas} this year.Wanna peek at their dresses?! {Don't mind MP's headband..she will have a pretty and prissy Bow!}
Like Care Bear's Red Mary Janes? I got them at PBK on clearance! They were regular $48.00 and I got them for $12.99!!

Saturday and today{Sunday} we've been working on our Christmas decor. We have an upstairs tree that we do every year. It is white with blue decor in our living room. All of that is finished. Every year, I do less and less because I don't like the clean up after Christmas. Man, i'm a bummer. Just a touch of decor still gets the job done. I'll post pics of that later. This post thas gotten really long.

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That's What I Love About Sunday

I woke up late this morning. My first thought was "OH! I've got to get ready for church." But then I got distracted and let a few things get in the way. But, I did manage to tear my mind away from those "other" things and get my hiney ready. We were a few minutes late, but we made it!

I enjoyed today's sermon, much like every other Sunday. Our preacher is awesome! The girls went to Sunday school. Miss Priss loves it and asks to go back all week long. Care Bear though is not used to being away from us or other family, so she has a rough go of it. She managed to stay in there though, so I think she is getting better.

After church, we decided to go the park to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and snap pics of the girls . I feel that it was a success. We got a few good shots {read..potential Christmas card photos!!!}

Miss Priss is so.very.photogenic!! I can take a picture of this girl covered in mud and messy hair and she still looks gorgeous in photos. It's just comes natural to her.
{Let me know if you think I over edited these pictures. I just changed the Contrast and Color Temp}

As most of you know with two or more children, they are exact opposites. Care Bear is not.so.easily.photographed. It isn't completely her fault. Her Albinism plays a big part as she cannot open her eyes all the way in bright sunlight and her nystagmus makes it difficult for her to look directly at me for long periods of times. Oh and the transition lenses in the glasses are so darn dark outside! Plus, she is one year old and loves to explore!!
Once again, model much?! I can just see her at age 16 posing for pictures like this with her friends. =) I know because, this was me at one time. I was the same exact way.
Another almost impossible task. Getting a decent picture of your kiddos together. Yeah, it's not going to happen. You just gotta live with it.
Care Bear has learned a new thing. She now loves to "Call the Hogs" If you aren't from Arkansas, you may not know what that means. But if you are, say it with me "WOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIEEE!! RAZORBACKS. Go HOGS!!!!" Mm hmm, my one year old can do that and does quite frequentley and it's stinkin.hilarious!
These black shoes {from Wal Mart} and I are not getting along. They fall off of ONE foot only. Every time she tries to take a step in them, they will just fall off. The sizes are the same, maybe she just has a wonky foot..or maybe their cheaply made. {I'm going to go with the latter}
What was that about never getting a decent picture of your kiddos together? I take that back. This is pretty sweet. I sorta love it.
This one isn't bad either. {yes we did let her walk around the park with no shoes. We got tired of putting them back on, only to watch them fall off .2 seconds later.}
Did I say she was absoloutley gorgeous and oh.so.photogenic? Oh right, I did.
See, I think I over edited this picture. It was so dark and dull looking. Now it's bright and perky, but a little to bright maybe? Either way, she's such a happy girl and I love this picture. It shows her essence completely.
This is how most of the day went. She ran away from us no matter where we went.
At home, later in the evening, I tried again with a more subtle light for Care Bear's eyes. {Oh and she modeled a new hairdo and shoes! Way.to.cute for her own good right?}
This might have been a keeper if that darn paci wasn't in the shot! Girl loves her paci..no doubt!
Really? REALLY?? She waited all day, up until the last shot to give me this angelic, amazing picture? Of course she did, that's how she rolls. Make mommy stress all day then BAM. Perfection.

Love my girls so much. We had a fabulous day together. Oh and daddy had a good time too. He was the wrangler. hehe! He also finished the 1/2 bathroom this weekend. Go hubs!! I'll post pictures soon.

If you're wondering about the girls dresses{that's always what i want to know when I read a blog}, they're from Target! Of course, where else{besides Old Navy}..I loveeee me some Target! The one that MP is wearing was on sale for $6!

This is what I love about {this}Sunday!!

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Our God is an Awesome God!

I've had one of the best days ever today!

I was just saying last night that I was going to be so bored today because I didn't have anything on my calendar. And it did start off that way. I woke up at 6:45am with Care Bear. She usually goes back to sleep after a little while, but it dind't happen today because Miss Priss also woke up. I figured i'd better just get up and get a start on the day. I made MP and I bacon and sausage for breakfast and Care Bear a waffle. I cleaned up the house a bit and then took a shower while Bear was napping. She stayed asleep for a while and gave me time to get ready!

After all of that, I remembered that I needed to mail a few things and return our library books,so we headed to town. On the way I picked up a Mcdonalds Sweet Tea..yum and MP some fries. Then I had something click in my head! A few years ago, C found a tennis bracelet in an elevator shaft where he was working. He turned it in, but noone claimed it, so he got to keep it. It appraised at $2000! Wow..I know! We tried to sell it, but there was no way they were giving us that. I've kept it in my jewlery box for this long and it's just sitting there, so I wanted to take it and see what I could get for it since we're struggling right now. He offered me $535 for it and I took it {oops!} C was a little aggrivated with me because I sold it so cheap. My thinking was that it was basically free money! We didn't buy that bracelet and it wasn't doing us any good sitting there and i've always loved that jewlery store because my family has used them for years. I didn't think he was ripping me off or anything, but I guess I could have tried to ask for more. But, OH WELL! It's over and done and I have $535 in my pocket. Err.. I did.

You see, I wanted the money for Christmas and Birthday presents for the girls. We can cover our bills fine, but I was worried we wouldn't be able to afford ANYthing for them. So, I went to Wal Mart and Target and spent $172 on both girls for Christmas and Care Bear's birthday. I'm done too!! I got SO much stuff because I made a list and budgeted. Actually, I have to get Bear's Anywhere Chair, but I buy the insert from Ebay so that will be cheaper also.

Now we have the rest of the money to pay bills with, buy groceries, or get gas! We are SO incredibly blessed. Everytime i'm in a tough spot in life, God always comes through for our family. I've learned to continue on in faith through any and every difficult situation and He will provide a way!
Examples:
The car my grandma gave me.
My dad came into some unexpected money last week and bought us 150lbs of fresh beef.
A lady in the billing dept at Children's sent me a discount payment plan that we will be coverd 100% on!!! We have a bill for $1200 for Care Bear and were at our witts end trying to figure out how to pay it and now it will be completely covered!
..and now the tennis bracelet. Praise God!!!!

Oh and I found a really awesome tutorial on YouTube teaching me how to cut side swept bangs! YES!

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