Black Friday Shopping

We had an amazing Thanksgiving with all of the Gray's at our house again this year (more on that later this week). While there was always some excitement going on at our house, some of the big excitement happened when some of us decided to brave the crowds and head to Target for their 5am opening on Friday. With Karterman was still asleep, Grandma and Papaw woke up early to stay with him while Emily, Zach, Kamaron, Anique, Kristoffer and I headed to Target. We weren't expecting what we saw when we got there. "Our" Target isn't really close to any other stores, so we weren't expecting big crowds, but boy were we wrong! When we got in line a little before 5, the line was wrapped around to the back of the building and circling back up to the front of the store.

Once the doors were opened, we didn't make it into the store until 5:07. Inside it was crazy! By the time we were in they had already ran out of carts and people had already purchased their big ticket items (TVs) and were already taking them out to their cars.

We weren't shopping for much, we all just mainly wanted to see what the crowds were like. We all got such a rush from watching all the people around us acting so crazy.

We were all out of the store and back home by 6:10. It was a great outing to people watch, but was just the beginning for the girls! After breakfast, Karter stayed home with all the guys while the girls went back out for round 2!

The Pioneer Woman in MN

We had quite the day this past Saturday! I have been a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman for the past two years and was super excited when she came out with a cookbook a few months ago. We have made MANY of PW's recipes and have loved them all, so I couldn't wait to get my cookbook. When she announced that she would be doing a book signing and would stop in MN at the Mall of America, I told Kristoffer we had to go! Neither of us knew what to expect, but we made our plans for the day.

We rarely go to the MOA, especially during the holiday season, so we thought we would make a day of it and try to get some Christmas shopping done. We stopped at IKEA to check out big boy beds for Karterman and then got to the mall around 11. The book signing was suppose to start at 1, so we got lunch as soon as we arrived and then went to one store. Around noon we decided to walk by where PW would be to check out the situation. When we arrived we saw the scene above and knew we had to get in line before it got even longer.

I was in line by 12:15 (along with many other eager fans) and watched the line behind me continue to grow. Kristoffer came back to check on me at 1 and took the camera to snap a few pictures of PW making her first appearance. She stood on stage and answered questions for about 15 minutes before she started signing. We tried to figure out how long I would be in line so Kristoffer and Karter could come back to meet me. We guessed I would be done around 3 and then we could finish shopping.

About 30 minutes into the signing I turned around and Marlboro Man (aka PW's husband, Ladd) and her two small boys, Bryce and Todd were standing there. Once everyone realized they were there too, everyone started cheering.

The two boys were super cute and kept picking on each other the whole time. PW's two boys are about as far apart as my two boys will be, and I definitely got a glimpse of what our life is going to be like!
Marlboro Man caused as much of a scene as PW did (this is him signing my cookbooks!). And check out their youngest son rubbing his ears, the oldest had just pulled his ears out and held them there for a couple minutes.

While we were all waiting in line we got to watch the filming of a new TLC show, "Mall Cops: Mall of America." It should be on TV this spring, we are definitely going to watch the first episode to see if we are in it!
Back to our plan...yeah, 3 came and went and I was no where near the front of the line, in fact I hadn't even reached the roped off area yet. This is my FANTASTIC husband around 5 when I was finally to the front of the line. We were both really tired and (past) ready to go home by this point. He was tired of walking the mall and trying to entertain Karter, I was tired of standing on my feet for 5 hours, and...

...poor little Karter was tired of being in his stroller all day and not napping.

At 5:15 I was finally sitting in the chair next to PW, and no wonder it took so long to get through the line. She was SO nice and personable and chatted with me for a couple of minutes. In our short time together we talked about babies, how crazy the line was, recipes, husbands and mother in-laws. She even waved at Kristoffer and Karter, who were standing off to the side of the stage.

The day didn't end up anything like we had planned, but I am glad I was able to get my books signed. Most of all I was glad that I have such an amazing husband who would wait with me all day. We both agreed if we had known I would have stood in line for 5 hours, he and Karter would have stayed at home. The day didn't end up anything like PW and her handlers expected either. The signing was suppose to be 1-3 and they were expecting around 600 people. Over 2,000 people showed up and she wasn't done until around 7:30.

Thanks for coming to MN, Pioneer Woman!

Bed Bug

Karter LOVES getting up on our bed. I'm not sure what it is, but probably because it is up so high. His newest trick is to try and climb up himself. Yesterday he thought it was hilarious to climb up on the bed while I was trying to put the clean sheets back on. (See the blue toy under him, that is a toy he hasn't played with for MONTHS, but of course wanted to play with it when I was going to pack it away. I guess it stays out a little longer.)

Check out those two new molars on the bottom!

Where ever he is playing, he likes to lay down and pretend to sleep and then pop up and laugh. He thinks it's extra funny if you do it too!

I tried to finish making the bed, but Karter wasn't done playing yet. He still wanted to play peek-a-boo and flash a few mischievous grins!

He is the cutest bed bug!

Our Little Architect

Every night after dinner it is Karter and Daddy time. It is fun to watch my two guys play and act silly together. One of their all time favorite activities to do together is build towers. Kristoffer and Karter have completely different styles for building, but they always work together! I think Karter actually enjoys knocking the towers over more than the building, but he wants you to rebuild pretty quickly so he can do it again!

Just Like Daddy

Kristoffer has been getting Sports Illustrated for as long as we've been together (and probably before then) and he is meticulous about reading every word. Between SI and Newsweek, passing the time on his commute to work is pretty easy. However, before Kristoffer can ever see a word on the page, Karterman has to look at every page first!

Karter is pretty meticulous when he reads through it too, although he is mostly just pointing out all of the balls!

Looks like we will be getting SI at our house for many more years!

Monday Morning Video

Before I was a mama, I never fully understood how much parents love their children. I loved Karter before I knew him, but I fall in love with him all over on a daily basis. I love being able to spend all day with him, although somedays I am more ready for nap time than others, and miss him even if I'm only gone an hour. He is changing so quickly and I don't want to ever forget how cute/silly he is when he is playing or doing everyday things, so I have been taking A LOT more videos of Karter. Maybe it is my pregnancy hormones, but whenever I look back at old videos or pictures of him I get all weepy. It is amazing how quickly he has changed before our eyes, but it really isn't until I look back that I realize how far he has come.

This video started out with him just building me a tower, but then he started to ham it up for the camera so I kept rolling. The video is pretty long (10 min), but make sure you see how cute the ending is!

Friday Night Movie

Ever since our basement has been finished our Friday night tradition has been to snuggle on the couch and watch a movie. This week was super fun, because Karter stayed up to watch the movie with us!! Kristoffer rented UP and we thought it was the perfect movie for our little guy. He sat like you see above for over an hour with his eyes glues to the TV. (Kristoffer also sat like you see above, with the remote glued to his hand!) Karter started to get a little too comfortable and was about to fall asleep (it was way past his bedtime), so he had to get up and run around like a crazy man to stay awake. It was so fun to be able to include Karter in our Friday night tradition.

Monkey Business

Karter really is a monkey, he loves to climb on everything. His favorite things to climb on this week have been the ottoman downstairs and his tipped over laundry basket. He thinks it is fun to climb on top of them and slide back off over and over. One time I saw him standing on top of the laundry basket and I think I just about had a heart attack! The picture above shows the only climbing incident I have been able to capture, and he does this every day...about 4 times a day. Anytime he is ready to eat he will let you know buy trying to climb into his highchair. I really think it is hilarious, but his lack of fear also kind of scares me. Our little monkey is definitely all boy!

Searching for Daddy

Now that Karter is only taking an afternoon nap, getting ready for church is getting more challenging. We used to be able to put him down for a nap and we could both get ready. For the past couple of weeks we have had to get ready in shifts.

Last Sunday while Kristoffer was taking a shower, Karter was not too happy that his daddy went "missing". He was just sure that he had to be behind that closed door.

He is very persistent (and so darn cute) and was sure that he could fit his arm under the door and reach daddy.

"Mama, I think he is in here!"

Playing by Himself

Karter is a very social little guy and likes to have people on the floor playing with him. He loves to do things to see what your reaction is going to be and if you react positively he will most definitely keep doing it...he loves to make people laugh (and does so on a daily basis!). It is so fun to be on the floor playing with Karter, because you never have any idea where is little imagination is going to go.

However, last week our little social butterfly decided to start playing for awhile by himself! This is a huge deal around here because now I can get a few things done and know that he will go play by himself. I still love getting down to play with him, but that is getting hard for me to do the bigger I get and it is nice to know he likes to play by himself sometimes too.

Here is a short clip of Karterman playing by himself...

Playing in the Leaves

After our picnic at the zoo on Saturday, our cute little boy had a blast playing in the leaves. Sorry there are so many pictures, it is hard to narrow it down too much when Karterman is so cute in them all!

Family Day at the Zoo

This past weekend was beautiful, the weather was gorgeous and we were able to spend a lot of time outside together. It is hard to believe but this will probably be the last weekend where we are able to be outside so much until spring...so we had to get out and enjoy it!

Minnesota has two zoos, the MN Zoo, which Karter and I are members of, and Como Park Zoo, which is free. Since Kristoffer isn't included in our zoo membership we decided to hit up the free zoo. There is a reason this zoo is free, it isn't as nice or clean as the MN Zoo but it has all the main characters that we care about seeing at the zoo.

Of course, Karter's favorite animals to watch were the monkeys and he wanted to make sure daddy knew where each of them were. A lot of the monkeys were outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather too, and we were able to watch a little baby monkey cling to his mama for dear life as she swung around the exhibit.

All of the African animals are inside for the winter. It is pretty small quarters for them and they will probably get bored all winter, but it was really neat to be so close to them.

Giraffes are huge animals!

We even got to see some of Santa's reindeer! (Can you believe Santa comes next month!!)

Part of Como Park is a Conservatory and it is filled with beautiful flowers and ferns. We didn't have much time (because someone was getting a little hungry and we needed to rush to get to our picnic) so we just visited the Sunken Garden. They change this exhibit seasonally and are gearing up for the Fall Flower Show that is next weekend. Unfortunately for us, because most of the flowers weren't blooming yet since they timed them to open next weekend.

Karter could have cared less about the flowers, he was more into trying to dive into the koi pond. We really need to get this boy a fish tank!

All in all it was a great day...

...especially since I was able to spend it with my two favorite boys!!