Holy CALORIC Intake! - Year of the MOTHER part 11

Man...talk about gut-buster....fat pants wearing holiday.

We had a great time basking in the gorgeous Phoenix weather with Matt's oldest of oldies brother - Jon. He hosted us beautifully...and provided a wonderful location for the family to descend upon. I brought sweet potatoes by Nic (I swear you will never EVER think of sweet potatoes as a vegetable EVER again after eating that dish AND I made it my mission to convert everyone at dinner to be a sweet potato eater - I think I was 100% successful - young children not included). I also brought stuffing - which I love to make and love to eat and think that my family would be happy if we just had a big bowl of stuffing to eat for dinner - it has sausage and nuts and celery and cherries and all around yumminess. We spent the night there and the little boys got to hang out with Grantos in the "MO-HO" (motor home)...I was surprised that the little girls were able to leave Grant's side. He and Ian played with the kids all day long. I promised them that when they're adults :) and have children of their own that I'll step it up and play with their kids so they can take a break. (I hope I remember ;) Since the kids got in sooo much awesome playing time - I'm counting it as my "Year of the Mother - Part 11" (yes...we're getting desperate here...talk about pressure mounting...I see Christmas lights and Christmas trees up and decorated and I start having some anxiety shakes!).

So all in all, Thanksgiving Day was full of football games (I got in on the huddle), food, video game DELUGE and tons of family pictures! I also stumbled upon the 3 sections of our Holdsworth Family - The OLDIES, The MIDDLES, & The LITTLE'S.


I now must move on to Friday. Black Friday. I have never ever ever ever ventured out on Black Friday. I usually hide in my pajamas all day long (don't worry I did that on Saturday). But for the first time in my life - I found myself awake at 5:45am (okay...who am I kidding...it was more like 3:30am and on) with a little baby who was NOT going back to sleep...in a house FULL of sleeping people. SO. What do you do on Black Friday when you're awake at 5:45am and nothing to do - nowhere to hide? You pack your precious bundle of joy up (how are they so happy when they've been fussing since 3:30am???) and get in your car and just do a drive-by of Old Navy. It looked nice and empty so I went for it. I walked out around 7am...picked up breakfast for everyone (ANOTHER YEAR OF MOTHER - Part 11) and walked back in the door about 8am and started the morning wake-up--its just not fair that all those teeny-boppers get to stay up late and sleep in! And that completed my first (and probably last - because I'm sure I'll be sleeping next year) Black Friday.