i heart black friday

photo from Real Simple

Many of my friends hate the commercialization of Christmas (I'm right there with them!) and in protest have chosen to boycott Black Friday shopping. While I totally agree with the premise that Christmas has become way too much "Santa" and crazy gift giving and far too little worship and meaningful celebration of the birth of our Savior, I confess that I LOVE Black Friday!

In fact, Adam and I usually scour the ads on Thanskgiving day, get up superearly on Friday morning and scoop up the deals we've found to sell on ebay. We use the profits of this little adventure in deal shopping to pay for Christmas presents- a fun contribution to the family budget! :)

Here are a few resources for those of you who will be joining in the Black Friday festivities (or the internet shopping on cybermonday):

real simple's black friday holiday shopping guide

a sneak peek at ads, etc. at bfads.net

blackfriday.info

more ads and deals at blackfriday.gottadeal.com

blackfriday info at dealsofamerica.com

cyber monday sales

cybermonday.com

hats!

We're loving hats around here lately... well mostly I am loving how cute Burke is in hats, so we rarely leave home without one! :)

study buddy

Burke is a superhelpful study partner as Adam prepares for yet another big anatomy exam.

half a year!

I know I'll keep thinking this each time Burke gets to a new age milestone, but I absolutely cannot believe that Burke is 6 months old! I kind of can't imagine our life without him... What a tremendous blessing he is to our family!

A few funny Burke-quirks:

-he loves to sing

-when you hold him, he pats your back

-he loves showers

-it takes him a while to wake up... and if you force the issue or get him up too quickly, he is one grouchy bear

-he keeps the hours of a college kid- to bed at a 11:00 and up at 9:00

-he sucks on his own tongue... and his mama's shoulder...

-he loves watching tv and will twist around and contort into all sorts of crazy positions to catch a glimpse

-his mellow personality comes straight from dad

Happy half birthday burke-y baby!

snow bear

It was only a dusting, but we had our first snow last week... Before it all melted, we took Burke outside to see what he'd make of the fluffy freezing-ness (not that interested, turns out). Good thing he has the attire for such occasions (the hat is from Lita and the sweater is from Aunt Jojo). Now all he needs are some mittens from mama (they're on my to-do list!).

what a day to sub!

Yesterday was supposed to be a pretty laidback day... Most of the fifth graders from Crawford are in the mountains camping and I was going to sub for the ones who were still at school so that another fifth grade teacher could join them for the afternoon. It was super laid back... initially. We did Math, made Project Wild journals and generally had a good time. The school was in lockdown for most of the afternoon, but just level 2 lockdown which means that something dangerous is going on in the community, not in the school itself.

And then at 3:00ish, the principal announced that the dangerous situation had not yet resolved itself (turns out a code officer was shot and killed a few blocks from the school and the suspect was still at large in the neighborhood) and that we wouldn't be releasing students. Three and a half hours (and a few shark movies and lots of coloring) later, I finally got in my car to come home! My 'laid-back' afternoon was not to be...

You can read more about the craziness here (they still haven't caught the suspect).

christmas crafting

When I looked at my planner and today's to-do list only included a Target trip (for free Ziplocs) and cleaning the house (which is already in pretty good shape), I happily wrote "Christmas Crafting" across the day and began gathering supplies.

Many hours later, the to-make list only has a small dent in it, but it was so fun to sip on Berry Blossom white tea, listen to Christmas music and create things for the people I love! Glorious!