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?