Black Friday & Decorating!

For Thanksgiving we drove down to be with Michael's Mom's side of the family. It was so great to see everyone and visit even if it was for just a few hours. We had so much fun I didn't snap one picture. We left at 7:50am and headed for Salem, OR and then we pulled into my parents in Orting, WA around 9pm. It was a crazy day! 

Unfortunately since we were in the van so much I didn't drink enough water so when I went to bed I felt like I had a UTI. I ended up coming downstairs and drinking a bunch of water to try to keep it from turning into a full blown UTI. Because of that I was up until 3am. I eventually fell asleep on the couch and then was up by 6:30am when my Dad came down and the kids got up. 

There's wasn't anything that was going to stop me from going shopping with my mom though. It's one of my favorite things to do. 

Our first stop was GNC to see if they had any D-Mannose, but they were out. The guy did offer to look at other stores and he found some at the GNC in the mall. After that we went to Fred Meyer's, Kohl's, Walmart, Taco Time for lunch and then the mall. 

At Walmart mom and I both got a Time & Tru coat for $20! I found out about them from a lady I follow on Instagram. She lives in Bentonville, AR where Walmart started. She bought this coat and talked about it because she loved it so much and people went crazy for it. It almost completely sold out online and it was really hard to find in some stores. I got blue and mom got mauve. It's such a warm coat and not huge and too puffy. I love it! 

The next day we pulled out the Christmas decorations. 

Last year I went to Walmart after Christmas and ended up getting some great deals. They were having 90% off and I found these really pretty ornaments and only spent $4 for all of them. 

Every year we try to see if Jack can actually put the star on the tree. 

Every year he tries and every year Daddy ends up putting it on! 

This was our year to have what we call a pretty tree. Next year we'll have a fun tree with all the kids ornaments. It's a nice compromise! 

I really love how it turned out this year and even the kids said they like it! 

Now that we don't have a screen door....still not sure if we are actually going to get one...we are able to have a wreath on the door. I usually put this JOY sign that I made, on the door, but our old door was red so you could actually see it. With the door being white it didn't really have the same effect. Plus Michael put the wreath upside down. 

Much better! 

The stockings were hung! 

Our Bethlehem journey where Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem where baby Jesus is born. This was the first year we rotated who starts the journey because whoever starts the journey ends up being the one to bring out baby Jesus. Since we always go in birth order Owen was always the one that got to bring him out and as you can imagine that was not okay with the other 3 kids. So this year Jack started the journey. Then next year it will be Ella's year and so on and so forth. I actually have to write up a schedule so I can keep it straight. Every day each kid does something different for the countdown to Christmas. Jackson will move Mary and Joseph, Ella will get to open the Candy Advent Tree, Zeke will get to hang the star for the day on the star tree and Owen will get to turn over the number blocks. It's crazy, but it works and they all take it very seriously!  

Also this is the first year I took all the decorations down from the ladder shelf in the kitchen. I just love having bits of Christmas everywhere.

My mom's nativity that she painted years ago is sitting on the coffee table this year. There are some other fun decorations, but I want to do a whole separate post for them!