Moving On

It has been a jammed-packed weekend so far, but we’re getting a lot done, so it’s a fruitful weekend as well. It all started, for me, on Friday afternoon when Uncle Nicky Nick came over to watch Little Man while I went on errands. I had a few stores in one area to go to and decided not to torture Micah by bringing/dragging him along. He’s great company on shopping trips, but I knew this was going to be a long one. So thankfully Nick was around and willing to entertain. I spent exactly two hours in the dollar store. Yes, it can be done. I got some paper goods for D’s party, some fun stocking stuffers for my parents’ stockings, a few Christmas-wrapping related items, and a few other cool finds (like Christmas CDs that were themed: one was all piano, the others were bells, choral, harp, string, etc. They are awesome, especially for $1!). I also made a quick stop at TJMaxx that was in the same plaza and at Walmart a mile down the road. Boy, did I feel accomplished!

When I got back, Ryan called and wanted to take Little Man for a few hours. It seemed like it was going to work out, but it ended up not. However, Ryan, Yana, and Rita ended up coming over (with some yummy, homemade Chicken Noodle Soup!) and visiting for a few hours. I was in the middle of making Baked Apple French Toast which was also yummy…and brownies from scratch, a treat for D. M enjoyed the company, of course, but since he didn’t have a second nap (even though Nick tried very hard!), he turned in early. Having the night to ourselves, D and I (what else??) watched an episode of MI-5, read, computered, and read our Advent devotions (these are really neat devos that you read for the month of December, which take you from Creation to Revelation showing you God’s plan of salvation in all that he did throughout history. We’re enjoying them!).

The next morning, M was up earlier than usual because of his early bedtime. I should mention that he woke up with a stuffy nose on Thursday and it has progressed into a stuffy nose with a cough. He has slept great at night, except for last night. And that could have been from the three hour nap he had into the early evening! But I get ahead of myself…

D was relieved to hear Yana say that she wanted to go shopping with me on Saturday when they were over on Friday night. I rarely go to Bristol, so when I do, I pack as many errands as I can into the trip. There are some really great stores out there; however it just seems to far away with a toddler in tow and napping schedules, playtime schedules, etc. My poor, pregnant sister-in-law won’t be asking to come with me anywhere anytime soon: we were gone for about three hours (this is when M decided to take his three-hour nap!) and we went to a total of five (six, including the post office inside of Shop Rite) store. Here, I’ll list them: Walmart, Shop Rite/post office, a secret stop involving a Christmas present of a family member so I won’t mention the name, Dollar Tree (yes, another dollar store visit. I even managed to find more stuff, including these little gems):

...and our last stop was Once Upon a Child. They were having a one-day blowout clearance sale (I only go there for the sales): 10am to 2pm blue star tags were 50% off, 2:01-5pm 60% off, 5:01-8pm 70% off. Yana and I got 60% off of our items. I always buy ahead, so now I got M 2T winter clothes that will probably end up fitting him during the end of this winter, since most of the time he’s in between 18 and 24 months. Yana got some cute things for my little niece. Inexpensive baby/toddler clothes in great condition = two big bags full of clothing. My other sister-in-law Kristina gave a coupon and a gift card to the store, both of which I used…thanks to both her and Nick for an awesome birthday gift :)

When we finally made our way home, it was just about time to start making our way over to Mom and Dad’s. They were going to watch M while D and I went out to dinner and then Yana and Ryan were going to take over the babysitting duties so Mom, Dad, D, and I could go to a cello concert at church. What a fun night! I signed D and me up for Red Robin’s birthday club Friday afternoon with the hope of finding D’s get-a-free-burger-for-your-bday coupon in his inbox by Saturday. RR didn’t fail me, and each of us also received a $3 off your next meal coupon. We’ve only been there one other time and I don’t remember being excited about it, but it definitely ranks up there as a restaurant we’ll be visiting again soon. You can sign up for your own birthday coupon here. We had time to kill before the cello concert, so D dropped me off for a quick, secret errand at the mall before heading off to church. And then the (free) cello concert. Wow, it was so well done and David thoroughly enjoyed himself, since classical music holds a special place in his heart. He was humming and tapping along pretty much the entire time.


It was snowing throughout most of the day. Yep, you read correctly: snowing. It was beautiful and by the time we got out of the cello concert, everything was lightly coated with snow. M was mesmerized by it: