Thanksgiving Weekend and Black Friday Shopping Part 1

This past weekend has flown by and it's hard to believe my 4 1/2 day work break has come to an end. Our Thanksgiving this year was filled with lots of fun and a birthday for Jason which made it even better!

On Wednesday afternoon, I began my annual baking tradition. This year, my list included pumpkin pie cinnamon rolls, pumpkin muffins, chocolate caramel dessert, and corn for Thanksgiving dinner. Since the rolls are from scratch, I put them together the night before Thanksgiving, then pop then in the oven that next morning. If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it here!

After finishing up with the cinnamon rolls, I decided to call it a night. While browsing facebook, I came across the facebook page of our local newspaper...who stated they were in a local grocery store parking lot, selling Thanksgiving papers out of a uhaul! Say what?!

I mentioned it to Jason and his response was, "Let's go!"...I didn't argue. 

Sure enough, not five minutes down the road from our house - there they were! I am so grateful because that saved me a 4 a.m. wake up call of going down to the local gas station for a paper!

YAY!

It didn't take long to discover my husband's ulterior motive for going with me to pick up the paper - that's the Best Buy add he's looking at, by the way....

On Thanksgiving morning, I headed out for a Turkey Trot of my own. This was the first year my area wasn't hosting a Turkey Trot of any kind which made me super sad...whomp whomp. Oh well, guess I'll just have to find something else next year. I was excited to find the Fit Mouse Podcast's Thanksgiving episode, so I listened while I ran! :)

After the run, we had our annual brunch with my parents! 

Delicious as always! 

These cinnamon rolls really are amazing! 

Love my family! After everyone left, I finished up the Christmas decorating (mainly the tree) and looked through the paper to map out a Black Friday plan!

On Thanksgiving night, we had a dinner of spaghetti at my dad's house, because my brother and sister in law wouldn't be in town until Friday. 

Before  I knew it, Black Friday morning had arrived! My friends and I met up around 4 a.m. to hit the mall and look what we arrived to.....

Wow. Black Friday sure has lost the excitement it used to hold! Oh well...that meant less waiting time/lines for us! 

Let the fun begin! 

We stopped by Kohl's and Bath and Body Works, then drove through Starbucks for breakfast. 

At Target, I got a few deals for Baby Seal including a jogging stroller and a video monitor!

Carter's also recently opened up in our town (literally last week) and I definitely did a little damage in there. Apart from those mentioned, we also shopped at Bed Bath & Beyond, Academy, Michael's, and JCPenney! 

The Black Friday Team back at it again!

At JCPenney, we were the first in line for the final year of Mickey/Disney snowglobes. Whomp whomp. I own at least one from every year and am only missing a few of the "extras" when they gave out more than one style during those early years (2000/2001).

Our store's supply was INCREDIBLY small this year, too!

Mission accomplished! Woohoooo! 

After 12 hours of shopping, we decided to call it quits! We had a blast as always and I look forward to this day every year! Next year, I'll have a 7 month old! So crazy and hard to believe!!

Since this post is so long, I'll finish the rest up in part 2! :)

Do you Black Friday shop? What's your favorite places to go if so?

Pregnancy Update: 21 Weeks

Happy Black Friday! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed their celebration (however they chose to celebrate)! This photo was taken before any food was consumed, by the way! :D


How many weeks are you now?
21 weeks + 6 days (actually, today makes 22 weeks but this update is from 21 weeks)

 
Baby's size?  

Banana - per the What to Expect app

Symptoms:

Occasional cramping and round ligament pain when I move too fast....it also wakes me up at night make any sudden movements. Also occasional leg/foot cramping.

Exercise: 

Still run/walking but using a support band now on every run.

Clothes: 

I'm glad I wore bigger clothing non-pregnant because all of my tops still fit! :)

Cravings?

Rice Crispy Treats

Aversions? 

Still fish.

Any Movement?
Poking and jabbing - usually when I'm sitting down after eating! :)

Sleep:

Very good! For some reason I no longer wake up in the middle of the night to potty and that's been going on for a few weeks now...I'll take it though!

Purchases:

I haven't officially purchased any additional baby items yet although I'm sure that will change today...especially now that we know Baby Seal is a boy! If you missed details of our Gender Reveal, you can check it out here!

What I miss: 

Sleeping on my back.

What I’m looking forward to:
Next week's ultrasound (it's on Wednesday). We should have a little more information on Baby Seal's size and if there's a problem or not. I tell you, these two weeks of waiting have been torture. I just want a yes there's problem or no there's no problem at all. Prayer and faith has gotten me through, that's for sure. Please continue praying for us if you think about it! I definitely appreciate it!

Best Moment of the Week: 

Finding out that Baby Seal is a BOY! Now time to let the nursery planning begin!! YAY!

Up next is Baby Seal's first Black Friday shopping experience - we'll see how long I last this year! 

Merrytime Cruise - Disney Wonder Day 2

Hi friends, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful time tomorrow no matter who you're spending the holiday with! This week's pregnancy update will be posted on Friday, so no blog tomorrow! Have a wonderful day! We have SO much to be thankful for! 

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Welcome to another installment of our recent Merrytime Cruise on board the Disney Wonder! If you missed previous recaps, here they are!

Disney Wonder Day 1 (Boarding)

Disney Wonder Day 2 (At Sea Day) 

Disney Wonder Day 3 (Cozumel, Mexico) 

Disney Wonder Day 4 (Grand Cayman)

Disney Wonder Day 5 (Falmouth, Jamaica)

Disney Wonder Day 6 (At Sea Day) 

Disney Wonder Day 7 (At Sea Day)

Also, I was a guest on a Disney podcast recently where we discussed runDisney, my journey as a runner, and my most recent cruise! I had a blast with Lisa, Dave, and Nick and enjoyed recording with them! You can hear all about it by visiting The Disney Exchange! Their podcasts are also accessible on apple devices in the "podcast" app. Check it out...it's really funny!

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Our second day on board the ship was an at-sea day. I didn't have much planned but definitely wanted to check out a few of the items listed in the Navigator. First, my day began with a 3 mile run on the jogging deck. 3 laps around = 1 mile. I kept count by using the "K" lifeboat station as a marker. Get it? K for Karen? I'm a genus what can I say? (Right.)

I also had room service deliver a few items so I could eat a little something before the run and a little something after I completed the run. Overall, the run was great - I love running on deck! I've attempted the treadmills but the motion of the boat makes me feel like I'm going to fall off! Wouldn't that be a lovely sight?

While I was out running, Palo called because we needed to change our brunch reservation. You see, I booked brunch on the first at sea day at 11:30 p.m. Well, we received a letter on the first evening that we were being invited to a Gold/Platinum Castaway Club Reception...when? On the first at sea day at 11:30 a.m. (of course)! Luckily, Palo was able to accommodate us and changed our brunch reservation to another at sea day! YAY!

The morning was SUPER foggy! It was interesting to me to see the oil riggs out in the gulf! So many people I know work "off shore" and this is where they go! 

After breakfast, our first task was the napkin folding class. I heard through the grapevine that it was a fun one to attend, so we decided to try it! Jason actually had a lot of fun with the class which surprised me! 

Us with our "Peter Pan Boots"

Remember that Gold/Platinum reception I was talking about earlier? It came after the napkin folding class! This was our first cruise as gold members so we wanted to be sure we didn't miss it!

It was a neat reception - basically, servers walked around with hors d' oeuvres and a few different types of alcoholic beverages. Also, the senior officers of the ship mingled with fellow guests and really took time to get to know them. I thought it was a really nice touch!

On our way out, we also received Mickey rice crispy treats...WIN! 

We did attend the DVC presentation, but only to put our names in the box for the $200 on board credit. Unfortunately, we didn't win..haha!

We ate a late lunch (because we had a late dinner seating), then headed back to our room to relax, watch tv, and nap!

Not before telling Pluto hello, of course!

The sunset was another gorgeous one and I enjoyed it as I got ready for dinner!

Dinner this evening was formal night, so we dressed our best and made our way to the lobby. The line for a picture with the tree was the longest I'd ever seen but I really wanted one for our Christmas cards this year. We braved the line but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! 

As a random insert here - part of the photo line carried back into the adult club area and I decided to study the carpet...which led along the towns of Route 66. This city jumped out at me and made me laugh as this Louisiana girl spent a week (two different summers) in Kankakee Illinois with some of my favorite people...and we had a blast. We still talk about stories from those weeks! Awww the sentiment...

We finally got our picture, then walked around a took a few more with my camera! :)

 The show that evening was the Golden Mickeys which we LOVE! So good!

Dinner was in Triton's and the food was delicious! 

We started paying more attention to our napkins each evening, too! Haha!

Duck...it was delicious!

Jason received a little early "happy birthday" celebration that night.

Our awesome table mates - we had so much fun! 

After dinner, we walked out to the lobby to watch a little Christmas show that included Santa. It was super cute!

Santa hard at work on the Disney Wonder in November! :)
 

Even Mrs. Clause joined him. ;)

The characters came out for a dance party with the kids and snow appeared in the lobby. So cute!

After the show, we watched our favorite adults only event, "Match Your Mate" which was hysterical as usual. The couple who won had been married for 40+ years and were so cute! It was awesome!

We returned to our room to find that we were losing an hour of sleep that night. Whoops. Oh well. We had a fun day in Cozumel planned and we couldn't wait! 

Stay tuned for more fun on board the Disney Wonder! :)

What's your favorite thing to do on a sea day on board a cruise ship?

Prince or Princess? Our Gender Reveal

After a week of planning and preparation (and 20 weeks of growing), we held Baby Seal's Gender Reveal on Saturday! Lots of friends and family offered to help with food and desserts and I love how everything came together just right!

Our theme was "Prince or Princess?"

At the front door, I had a name suggestion jar, an ultrasound picture, a digital photo frame of pictures of Jason and I as babies, a voting page, pins to wear, a picture of my girls and the shirts I made for them, and an Old Wives Tales board.

Team Princess was the favorite here!

Most of my "Old Wives Tales" pointed towards boy!

Team Prince or Team Princess? Jason's grandfather guessed correctly and even wore his pin to church on Sunday! I loved it and thought that was SO sweet!

At the TV, I had all of Baby Seal's ultrasound pictures printed and pinned with little boy/girl clothespins I found at Hobby Lobby. I also had Disney instrumental music playing through the TV. :) Did you expect any different?

The fireplace is where the "big box" was located! Some awesome co-workers of mine put it all together for me and I loved it!!

Unfortunately, I have ZERO pictures of the food in the kitchen, but it was delicious! My dad grilled hamburgers and sausage, Jason's mom made baked beans and brought chips and dip, and Jason's grandmother made her famous potato salad!

For dessert, we had a variety of pink and blue items including:

Chocolate covered strawberries...

Cupcakes...

Mickey rice cripsy treats (of course)...along with pretzel sticks, sugar cookies, and oreo truffles. Thanks to Heather, Mackenzie, Melissa, and Kim for making these delicious treats for the party!

 A few extra touches included these He/She mini Hershey bars (thanks to Pinterest). Unfortunately, they weren't as easy to color in with sharpies as we thought they would be!

I also found these "It's a Girl/Boy" Hershey Kisses from Party City!

The drink table included "Sweet Pink Lemonade" and "Bouncing Blue Punch"!

This water bottle label project was probably the easiest thing I found on Pinterest! Basically, I printed our label on card stock, pulled the old water bottle label off, then placed packing tape on top. Of course, you can't refrigerate them because of the condensation, but it was a nice touch! :)

Even the straws had a special touch!

Oh yes, and I can't forget the guest bathroom...I added a little something there as well! :D

I wore a shirt and belt I made after being etsy-inspired! :)

After about an hour of eating and mingling, it was time for the reveal! 

Team Blue!

Team Pink!

I had to take this panoramic shot because everyone with their phones and cameras were cracking me up! Also, how we fit that many people in my house, I'll NEVER know! 

Here we go....

Inside the big box?

Another box!

Each box was decorated and we loved reading them! My coworkers really put time and effort into this project and I love them for it!

"Get tangled in the love of your new baby!"

After five boxes, we finally had THE box! As we were opening the box, I didn't want to look...I was too nervous!

As a final gag, they even wrapped the "surprise" in tissue paper! I saw red through the yellow tissue paper and thought it was the pink Minnie doll!

Nope, it's BLUE!

Baby Seal is a BOY! 

Jason says "YAY!" Haha!

My coworker helped me decipher the Ultrasound!

My brother and his wife weren't able to be at the reveal as they were on vacation, but they face timed us so they could watch the reveal!
 

We also read all of the name suggestions from the jar. Some of them were...interesting.... Haha!

It's a Prince!

My mom and dad were all Team Princess!!

Jason's grandfather just knew it was a boy! :)
 

Jason's parents were team boy as well!

My Aunt was all team girl! 

Y'all. My mom cracks me up. She went in her closet and pulled out every pink item she owned including a pink watch. Had she owned pink shoes, I'm sure she would have worn them as well!

Minus one box (I couldn't repair the design on the front)!

Overall, we had SO much fun at the reveal and are incredibly grateful to all of our friends and family who took time out of their busy schedules to celebrate with us!!

Now it's time to begin planning! YAY!

So, did your side win? Were you Team Prince or Team Princess?