Thanksgiving!

Well, our thanksgiving day turned out pretty good. I decided that even though it was just going to be the 4 of us, we would have thanksgiving dinner anyhow. So I made a turkey, homemade rolls, and everything else that goes with it and it turned out great. We put our christmas tree up that evening and Maggie had a blast doing that. Joe then got the idea to dress up in his Santa costume and come upstairs and surprise Maggie. Well, that he did...she was practically shaking she was so scared. He held Owen for a picture and then chased a screaming Maggie down and held her. He pulled off all his santa garb to show her it was him and then she thought it was funny. So anyhow, I am hoping when I take her to see the "real" santa and she finally sits on his lap (we have gone there 4 times now)that she doesn't rip off his beard looking for Joe. The day after Thanksgiving, I for some reason, decided to get up at 4 am and go shopping. So I fed Owen, and headed out thinking for sure I would beat the crowd and get the door busters I was after. Well, after getting to Walmart, Kohls and Toys R Us like 3 minutes after opening I realized everyone else must have gotten up at 3 30. I still have yet to figure out how you can get to the store 3 minutes after they open and they have already sold out of their door busters. Anyhow, I shopped until about 11 or so and came on home. I did manage to get a few of the things I had been after, and the shopping alone time was great. We sat Maggie's gifts downstairs and forgot about them, so that evening she and joe came downstairs and she went crazy when she saw her Dora talking house sitting in the floor. He quickly moved her upstaiars and put it away but she saw it on TV today and went running to the room where she saw it. So hopefully she will forget about it by christmas. Saturday the whole family decided it would be a good idea to all go shopping together. I am not quite sure what we were thinking...but anyhow it turned out as most of our family outings do....the kids crying and Joe and I annoyed at why we attempted to take out our small children so close to their naptimes. We left the mall and hopped in the car so I could feed Owen a bit before going home. Maggie sat on Joe's lap playing and then we proceeded to put her in her carseat. She wanted to strap herself in and when Joe helped her it put her over the edge. She threw the most incredible fit I have ever seen in my entire life. It is amazing the strength of a 2 year old when they are mad. I was forcing all my weight onto her to try to get her in her car seat and she was winning. So I am standing by our car swatting her leg (for those of you non-spankers, yes I do spank my kids, well not Owen!, when I feel it's needed) trying to get her to cooperate and all that is running through my mind is the lady a few years back who got caught on tape hitting her kid in a walmart parking lot and got her daughter taken away from her. Yes, I know the situations were quite different and no I was not beating my child......but I had those flashes going through my mind just sure that someone was writing down my licence plate and turning me into social servies. Anyhow, we got her into her seat and she screamed the entire way home until falling aslelep the second I laid her in her bed. So Joe is back to work tommorow, and the kids and I getting us packed for our trip to Germany this coming weekend.