The last few weeks

We had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. A house full of family and wonderful food. We're so blessed! It was especially sweet to have baby Jack plus Chris and Hilary here. The kids had so much fun together. We celebrated an early Christmas too. Hilary, Mom and I ventured out on Black Friday and had a great time. Wonderful deals at Best Buy, Macy's and Old Navy. We love our new Dyson! We bought a family gift for ourselves too - should be here this week. I'll share more once it arrives. Trav and I rarely give each other gifts - we most often buy something for our family to use throughout the year. Through the years we've bought our wedding china, our silverware, a video camera, a DVD/VHS recorder, etc. I can't believe this will be our 15th Christmas - more than that if you count dating. :)

Overall, Black Friday was pretty good. I won't ever do Best Buy again. The lines were insane and I guess this was a 'quiet' year thanks to the economy. If there is anything I ever-so-desperately need from there, I'll buy it from the comfort of home in my jammies while shopping and clicking online. Thank. You. Very. Much.

We were back home by 9:00 a.m., so we were busy in 4 hours. An afternoon nap helped out and by evening we were ready to party - for a Norwex party that is! My sis-in-law, Rhonda, has been selling Norwex for several years in Canada. Over the course of the last year I've bought a few things here and there and loved everything I've bought. Cleaning is faster and with little-to-no chemicals. I love to clean so it didn't take me long to be hooked. My sis-in-law Hilary recently discovered the stuff and she is addicted as well (we joke about drinking the Norwex kool-aid). So Hilary and I both became consultants in the same week. My Mom hosted a party on Black Friday night and we had a great time talking about cleaning. (All of the guys and kids were downstairs in Mom's newly finished basement.)

If you've never seen Norwex before, it is amazing. Cleaning is faster and easier (and safe for the kids to do too!). If you want a catalog or more info on anything, just let me know!

We decorated for Christmas and Grace adores the decorations and the tree. Carson loves to point out different decorations and they both ooh and ahh over them. Funny how all of the Grace-friendly decorations are on the bottom half of the tree.

We started a new tradition last night. There was sign language story time at Barnes and Noble yesterday - while there I spotted this: The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition. It came with a book and the Elf. Our elf is named Casper. Once registered, there is a certificate and welcome letter from Santa. The essence of the Elf is that he sits and watches your behavior all day. Each night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. Every morning he is in a different location in the house. It will be fun to see all of the places Casper pops up!

Well, still more catching up to do, but that's it for tonight!