Shopping, Turpin girl's style

Mom & Abigail cuddling on Thanksgiving day while watching Frosty the Snowman

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and truly have so much to be thankful for. We missed all who were not with us this year especially Ron. He was usually hunting on Thanksgiving so it was rare that I saw him but I always knew he was doing what he loved most. I pray he will be with us in years to come and on a new path of life.

BLACK FRIDAY!!! WHOA, what a day! We (Mama, Di, Stace, KK, Mom & I, Necie didn't go since she hurt her back, we missed her) left the county at 3:30a.m. and returned home at 8:00p.m. that evening. We have been doing this for 32 years!! We joked all day about how well we utilized our time while shopping. HA! But for real, we did! :) One of us needed to return a cooking set to Toy's R Us after it was bought at the "early bird" special since finding it cheaper at Costco later in the day. While another needed to be dropped back off at Macy's since the $20 coupon that she didn't use earlier while we were there was a burning a hole in her pocket. Two of us needed to be dropped off at Michael's Arts & Crafts while the other's ran in Sam's Club. We did indeed make the most of our time.

Saturday Robert, Abigail and I bundled up and ventured out to get our Christmas tree! The rest of the weekend was spent decorating, watching Christmas Vacation while putting up the tree, burning the Christmas candles, cleaning and getting ready for my most favorite time of the year.

Abigail watched a few Sesame Street video's on You Tube this morning and the commercials prior to the show were for Key West, FL. I cannot stop thinking about the beach, dancing outside to reggae music while wearing slinky summertime dress's and eating a meal by the water....ahhh, it's fun to daydream! And now back to cozying up by the fireplace!

Abigail & Michael Alexander (two cute little turkey's) :)

Our tree!

Thanksgiving Eve

I love the day before Thanksgiving! The hustle and bustle of preparing for the big day. Today the sun is shining beautifully, our living room is bright and cheery this morning. We will spend tomorrow at my grandparent's with the rest of the Turpin, Hudgins, Hurst, Fletcher gang. Layla and Tracy will join us this year too and I am looking so forward to spending time with them. Even more excited that Abigail will get to spend Thanksgiving with her cousin Layla whom she truly adores. I also cannot wait to cuddle with baby Michael Alexander! I'm making a chocolate bourbon pecan pie and green bean casserole for tomorrow. I'm taking Taboo and Scattergories to play sometime throughout the day. We will first look through the paper at all of the ad's and plan our strategy for Black Friday! We'll probably leave around 4:00a.m., last year it was 3:30 but I think this year will be more like 4:00.

I have a funeral to attend this afternoon for Ms. Mabel Owens. Please keep her family in your prayers as it's never easy to lose someone especially this time of the year.

For this I am Thankful

And here we are, the great Alumni of MHS. That's me in the blue jersey and pink shirt.

1. The ability to still dribble a basketball down the court and score two points.

2. Friends in the bleachers cheering me on.

3. Hearing Abigail say "fwank you"

4. Health and happiness

5. The Oak Ridge Boys! Mama, Mom, Di, Stace, KK, Necie and I saw them last at the Ferguson Center at CNU. It really took me back to the 80's when my brother's and I listened to them on our record player. We had such a wonderful time together and as ALWAYS we laughed the night away. Looking so forward to our shopping day friday!

6. O.J. and salt water...I have had a severe sore throat since lunch time today, so bad that I can hardly swallow. I am in bed early and will hopefully be feeling much better in the morning.

7. Robert's ability to take over when necessary.

8. My family

9. My friends

10. Jeopardy

11. God

12. My parents

13. Mom

14. Watching Abigail walk down the isles of Target yelling "I LOVE SANTA" "I LOVE SANTA"

15. Clean hardwood floors

16. My co-workers

And these are in no specific order.

Abigail and I decorated her Christmas tree today, here she is ringing her bell singing "Jingle Bells" She is without a doubt her mother's child.

an early Christmas present

It's Friday and I'm one happy girl! We have a fun weekend planned. Tomorrow we're going to look for a piece of furniture to go under our NEW 48in. flat screen television which was an early Christmas present from my parents. They made sure that we came home from work at the same time yesterday. The t.v. was mounted on the wall and Abigail was more than excited to show us our surprise! Since mama babysits Abigail on Thursdays while we work daddy spent all day here installing our new t.v. Not only did we have a new t.v. but we also had a delicious meal prepared by mama. We really love it and are watching The Man Who Will Be King right now as I write. I am so excited about the engagement of Prince William & Kate Middleton. I can't wait to watch as the details of the wedding unfold.

We won't be spending all day across the river since I'm playing in an alumni basketball game at the high school tomorrow evening for a fundraiser. Wish me luck! Hope you all have a great weekend.

XOXO

D DAY

.....And I am not talking about the invasion of Normandy! Today was another one of those days that I am officially calling DISASTER DAY! The day started off pretty good and then quickly went to hell in a hand basket. I did my usual workout, came home and got us both ready to go to Gloucester. We stopped by Bay Properties and visited mama for a bit and it was there that it all started. Abigail didn't want to leave, we got in the car and she wanted to listen to the same Christmas song (yes, we're already listening to Christmas music :)) over and over. So needless to say once we got to A Hop Skip and a Stitch I was ready to get out of the car. She was pretty good in there with the exception of touching every single thing in the store after me telling her no less than a thousand times to look and don't touch. We walked over to Hallmark and after a few cards and two balloons we left there with her in my arms kicking and screaming. She cried the entire drive home and went into hysterics when we passed Lowe's and didn't stop. I've never known a child that loves a hardware store the way she does. Honestly at this point I think it was just something else for her to cry about. We got home and she took a good nap but woke up with the same disposition as when she went to sleep. She was playing with playdoh and ended up throwing every bit of it on the floor. I put her in time out and she cried for a bit and then just sat there for a while. Once I let her out she was good for the rest of the night. I am totally exhausted.

On a side note we had our propane tank filled today for our gas logs so looking forward to a cold wintry night so that we can fire that baby up. I love our fireplace but have been daydreaming about one like this.

We have our chiminea all ready with firewood piled up next to it but how wonderful would it be to someday have something like this?

A girl can dream, right? G'night ;)

The week in review

On the go!

-Monday was catch up day from the weekend and I made a pot of chili that was the best I've made in years.

-Tuesday I worked and then went to a Zumba class that rocked my world. It was great fun not to mention a rockin workout.

-Wednesday morning I did a 30 minute run and ab workout at the Y. Then Abigail and I went to the grocery store, visited Grandmama (Gigi) and Uncle Ricky who tried teaching Abby how to play the harmonica which she was actually REALLY good at, went to the library and checked out some great new books for Abigail and we ventured into Real Goods which is a local wine and cheese shop that recently opened. We bought Robert some She-Crab soup and a bottle of Blue Crab red wine for Veteran's Day. I made fettuccine alla carbinara for dinner and it was pretty tasty.

-Thursday was Veteran's Day and I want to take a minute to thank all of our military who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom. Robert and my brother Robbie both served in the United States Army and both were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Robert was in the 82nd Airborne Division and was an Army Ranger. I honor them and am so proud of what they did for our country. Thank you seems inadequate and talking about this chokes me up because I am so full of love for these two boys who sacrificed their life for us. My brother's humvee was hit by an IED while in Iraq but thank God his injuries were not life threatening and he made it home safely. There are servicemen everyday that do not make it home and it's them and there families that we continue to pray for. Thank you both for your incredible service to our country.

Thursday was another VERY special day. My dear friend Elaine Miller Bahr gave birth to her first born Miller Jamison Bahr, just typing that brings tears to my eyes. I am so happy for she and John and cannot wait to meet this precious baby boy.

Abigail with her bag of goodies from Gigi

I love the smile on her face in this picture.

Every girl needs a pair of zebra slippers for the winter!

Oyster Festival 2010

It was the perfect day for the Oyster Festival, partly cloudy, a chill in the air and fresh cool breeze's. I love the different smells that permeate throughout festival's, charcoal grills burning, peanuts roasting, stale beer and the sweet aroma of fried foods. Out of all of the vendor's selling food where do we end up eating, the Mathews Lions club no doubt and as always the food was delicious. Although Robert has already said that next year we're trying something different. Abigail loved the parade and the clowns were without a doubt her favorite. Maneuvering the stroller's through the massive amounts of people is always an interesting feat but we managed to do it yet once again.

Abigail was all bundled up.

And now we rest.

Happy Halloween!

We had so much fun on the Pine Hall Hayride!
Trick or Treat!

Michael Alexander "This being a lion thing is pretty easy"

Abigail "Why are you making me sit here and WHY did you take my popsicle from me"

Our favorite part...cleaning the "guts" out of the pumpkin!

My little pumpkin!
The finished product.Nick & Abigail icing their pumpkin cupcakes.