Busy Black Friday

I am one of those crazy people who get up at a ridiculously early hour to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  Well, I am mildly crazy. I only go to one store. JoAnn's. I go for the flannel.  It is the best sale of the year and I stock up on enough of it to make my kids' pajamas for the rest of the year.  I spent $61 yesterday, and saved just over $180.  To me that makes the wait worthwhile.  I had a knitting project with me, so I sat and knitted while waiting for my number to be called, and I watched my fellow shoppers.  People watching is very fascinating on Black Friday.  It seems to be evenly divided between those who are excited and happy to be getting a good deal, and those who are ready to have a tantrum because they have to wait for more than thirty seconds for their turn.  Which once again supports my theory that everyone should learn to knit, just for those occasions when you are going to be stuck waiting somewhere.  That or they could learn to adjust their expectations that the world revolves around them. (It would probably be easier to teach most people to knit...)

Once I left JoAnn's I picked up Caite and then headed home to get Evie and we went out for a "Girl Day"!  Evie commented every two minutes or so that it was "...the best girl day EVER!"  I'm guessing it was because Aunt Caite was with us.  Anything is more fun when Aunt Caite is involved, she can even get my kids to clean their rooms without whining. 

The first stop of the day was Cookiecutters to get Evie's hair cut.  The lady was so nice and even took the time to put Evie's hair up into special braids when she found out that we were having a special day out.

Then we went and saw the new movie Tangled.

I don't know if watching a princess movie or having her own popcorn was more exciting for her, but she had a big grin on her face for the entire show.  It was great love story and we laughed and even all cried a little at the end. We would rate it a perfect chick flick.

After the movie it was time for lunch.  This is always a crap shoot on these special days with my kids, because they get to choose where to go.  Evie actually opted for the food court, and I was relieved because then even if she picked McDonald's (again) I could have something different.  But then she surprised me again and picked Panda Express. She was really enjoying her noodles.

Another example of why Caite is way cooler than mom, she can actually use chopsticks. She was teaching Evie how to hold them correctly.  Evie even got a bite or two this way...

...before she got a little impatient and went for function over form. I'm not judging though, this is what I would look like if I had to eat with chopsticks.

We spent an hour or two window shopping and completely wore Evie out with all the walking.

Once we got home Caite helped us pull out the Christmas decorations and start to set up the tree.

The decorating was done by 8:00, the kids were fed, bathed and tucked in bed by 8:30, and I was in bed by 9:00, happily reflecting that everything I had wanted to accomplish that day had been done.

"Best day EVER!"