The last couple days have been crazy. I have been getting January’s kit together and my daughter left yesterday for Illinois. She was supposed to leave Monday night but the weather in Illinois was so bad her flight got cancelled. It was a long day.

Tony had off on Monday and we had to leave for the airport at 3pm. We decided that since we are on break from school that we will make meals and freeze them. So Monday we decided to make some lasagnas. I made some pancake batter for the week(we put them in squeeze bottles so we can have fresh pancakes in the morning) and then I helped Tony make the pasta. Tony took apart a turkey. One we got just after Thanksgiving for like $3. It was insanely cheap, we ended up buying 3 and put them in our deep freezer.

Nicki was able to get her luggage and we were able to rebook the flight for the morning. We then headed home, all together we were on the go for 6 hours. The kids were very cranky by the time we got home.

6:30am yesterday morning we were up again, getting ready and out the door by 7am to head to the airport. This time I was on my own with my kids. I have done this plenty of times but I think we all had enough. We made our way through the airport with no problems, and sent Nicki on her way.

I think we ended up spending $100 yesterday and the day before in gas, food, tolls and parking. It was ridiculous. Needless to say I am exhausted.

I LOVE the looks I get from people when they see me handling my 4 kids, I think they think I am insane. LOL! So anywho, that is what I have been up to.

Christmas will be here in about 3 weeks.  Then the end of the year.  I cannot believe it will be 2011.  I do love the end of the year because that usually means tax time and that time is pretty good to us. 

As for Christmas though I think we have it all figured out.  We certainly don’t have much money to buy for our kids and because of this we are going to purchase “family gifts”, one big gift we can all enjoy. 

As for Tony, he would like an electric razor.  When he worked at the restuarant he had to shave everyday.  He works in a grocery store so they will tolerate a little facial hair, so he doesn’t shave as often.  He would like to be able to just clean up a bit with an electric razor. 

I would love to be able to get parts for his car so we can finally get that run.  No they won’t be Ferrari parts, thankfully, as those would probably cost a ton.  Plus if we had a Ferrari to fix up we certainly wouldn’t be stressed about money, lol! 

As for my gift, Tony let me adopt a kitty this weekend.  The local Subaru dealer was covering the cost of the adoption fees so the cat was free to adopt.  I will just need to take him to the vet tomorrow, which was free for adopting him, and get his rabies shot.  That was my gift from Tony and I couldn’t be happier.  I have been begging him for quite some time to get a cat. 

Meet Charlie Brown:

Isn’t he handsome and he made himself right at home.  He is so good with my kids and Abby (my chocolate lab).  He is 3 yrs old and was previously owned by an older lady whom passed away.  He had been in the shelter since September 14.  I felt so bad for him!  Welcome home Charlie Brown!

I read a lot of people commenting on Facebook about their Black Friday experience and I am really just not sure I am up for that challenge.  One girl said she was in line for Toys-R-Us starting at 10pm and by 1:30am she had only made it half way through the line.  Then by 3am she was in Walmarts line.

I went out at 9am.  Most of the crowds had gone just like most of the good products that were on sale.  I first made may way to Walmart.  They had some sleepers in the sale paper for $4, Hotwheels 10pk for $5 and Toy Story figures for $12 (regularly $24.95).  I first made my way to the sleepers and they certainly didn’t have much left.  I got Isabel and Tony and pair of pj’s and Max 2 pairs.  While I was by the clothes I found a coat for Isabel for $5.

Then I made my way to the toys.  I first saw the Toy Story figures and they only had Buzz left.  I know Tony would love Woody but I think Buzz will do.  But as I was walking down the aisle I found a cart that probably came from the service desk or something(needing to be restocked) that had a Woody figure.  So I had Buzz and Woody.  SO EXCITED.  I also found the Hotwheels and I got 2 packages.  So now I need to find some baby dolls for Isabel and some blocks and lil kids toys for Max.

We are getting a Wii for Christmas and a bunch of games so we aren’t going crazy on gifts this year.  Nicki will be getting a new cell phone.

Now I know in future years Black Friday shopping may be the way to go in order to afford Christmas gifts for 4 kids but I am not ready for that yet.

After Walmart I headed to Kmart.  Now with Walmart, I didn’t even wait in any lines.  They were busy but it seems they were prepared and had plenty of registers open.  Now Kmart on the other hand was the same business as Walmart but I stood in line for at least 30 minutes.  I bought the 3 lil ones some clothes.  I was not happy about my Kmart experience.  LOL!

Some day I may be a true Black Friday shopper but until then I will just be a wanna-be.  LOL!

Just a small little road trip to the airport in the morning.  Nicki is going to IL to spend time with her dad and the rest of the family for the week.  Well actually she will be going up to Wisconsin but she will fly and land in IL for her dad to pick her up and then they will drive 3 hrs to the Dells.

It will be sad to not have her here another year at Thanksgiving time but she certainly wants to be with her dad so I can’t stop her from going.  Her Grandma paid for the ticket so I had to let her go.

Then she will be out of town for Christmas this year too.  Not sure how I feel about that but she is getting older and can make her own choices.  I am not sure how she really feels about spending the time with my her Grandparents (on my side of the family) but she said she wanted to go and she will go.  I feel sad the whole family won’t be together but I will make the best of it with the rest of the kids. 

Oh I was so happy to be able to take my kids out trick or treating, I really think they had a good time.  Here are a couple pics from Sunday:
Introducing Buzz and Jessie. My lil Tony has been on a Toy Story kick. We have seen all 3 and watch them over and over again! LOL!

Aren’t they all so cute! I can’t wait until next year when Max will be old enough to go and the other lil ones will be a little older and be able to enjoy it that much more. I think I am going to make their costumes next year.

I bought all their costumes at the very last minute so the choices were limited. Isabel was Jessie and she looked adorable but her costume was a 2T and a bit snug. Lil Tony I am sure was happy as Buzz but I think he might have enjoyed being Woody. Nicki wanted to be a Ref but all that was left that was decent was Dorothy. She looked cute though.

I love shopping after the holidays too because everything is 50-75% off. I can get costumes for cheap for either the next year or just to play dress up. I can get costume jewelry for the kids to play with too.

I need to utilize the after Christmas specials too, stock up on decorations.  We really don’t have any and as the kids get older I REALLY want to be able to decorate and celebrate the holidays like I used to when Nicki was young.  I want my tree to mostly be decorated with ornaments the kids make and even most of the decorations around the house.  But what I need is lights and outdoor decor.  Those can get expensive so I need to get them on sale.  Hopefully I will have the extra money this year.

I really couldn’t think of what to buy for Tony for Christmas.  Do I even buy anything?  I usually surprise him with something.  But unless he gives me some hints, I never know.  We did tell each other we wouldn’t buy stuff for each other separately.  We said we would buy “family” gifts.  We might buy a counter top dishwasher and a Wii.  Other than that, I don’t think we will buy anything else major.  Maybe just some small things for the kids.

I did see some ncstar binoculars.  Not sure how Tony feels about them but if they aren’t too expensive, maybe.  Things like that I just never know, Tony usually likes to do research on products before we buy them.  Do some comparisons and such.  Maybe I will just hold off, who knows.

So next month Tony gets his bonus from work. They made bonus payouts at the perfect times. They get bonus in May and November. May is a good month because we can use the money to go on vacation and November is a good month because we use it for Christmas gifts. I can’t wait for Christmas this year. I posted previously that we are going to get a Wii. We may still have to get a blu ray player or something to be able to watch DVD’s because I have heard mixed reviews on whether the Wii plays DVD’s.

I am actually also excited because I think we did pretty well with our bills this year.  It might be a little too early to tell being that it is only October but usually by the end of the year we are a bit behind on something and have to wait impatiently for our tax return to pay up on the bills.  This year may actually be different.  I am totally excited about that.

I really think this time of the year is great, the holidays and the end of the year (tax time).  I really hope next year will bring great things for us.  We really do want to move in 1 1/2 years and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed about it, thinking it will never happen.