Bryn and Paige had off school this entire holiday week, so I took off work.

Monday I attended 2 classes at the Y to make up for later in the week that I knew I'd miss. That evening I went to Bryn's teacher conferences which of course were very complimentary. Her grades are proof of that.

Tuesday morning Bryn, Paige and I set off for La Crosse to pick Abby up for Thanksgiving break. We picked up Grandma Karen from Kristin's in Waukesha on our way out. The drive is so easy out to La Crosse! I'm really going to encourage Bryn and Paige not to go to college anywhere I'd have to go into or through Chicago-way. The ride started out noisy as Bryn and Paige were very excited, but they put on their iPods later and it got quiet. I did have a messy experience on the highway though. I ran over a mangled deer that seemed to carry with us for a little ways. Don't worry! I got the car washed soon afterward. We arrived at UWL right when Abby let out of class at 2pm. We visited her dorm room then took us for a campus tour (Grandma had never been). The day was a bit chilly, but the sun was out so it was pretty. Bryn and Paige then helped Abby pack up to stay with us in the hotel that night. We went out for dinner, the girls swam and we were all snuggled in for the Dancing with the Stars finale by 8pm! Abby had class the next morning til 11am. We met her and had lunch on campus before our way back to Milwaukee. We dropped Grandma back at Kristin's where she helped Kristin prepare Thanksgiving dinner for my family - minus me & mine.

We headed up to Appleton for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Van Abel's in Hollandtown, just east of Appleton. They have the BEST fried chicken! We found out that new baby Chayse wouldn't be at the event, but we were able to meet him at Debbie's beforehand. So tiny! We had a great meal and we all went to Maggie's afterward to visit longer. We were tired, but Abby knew she wouldn't see Craig at any other time, so we drove back to Waukesha where he had come for Thanksgiving dinner. We found out that Craig's truck had broken down on his drive up from Chicago, so he was actually staying to get it fixed the next day.

Meg and I left the house by 4am on Black Friday. We met Kristin and Mom at Kohl's and got some great bargains. From there we headed to get some caffeine and breakfast and then were ready to tackle ToysRUs and Brookfield Square. The ToysRUs checkout line went all the way around the inside of the store so Mom immediately got our place in line while we shopped. The line lasted 1 hr, 10 min so thank goodness Mom did that! We ran into Abby and her friends at the mall. We had margaritas for lunch and closed our shopping day at Target. All of us went home and napped. We met again for dinner out at Trysting Place because we were all too tired to cook.

Saturday Meg treated me and the kids to a mini-spa treatment to demonstrate her new business venture, selling BeautiControl products. We sported eye patches, had a hand massage, and lip masque. I was surprised how into it the kids were! We went bowling in the afternoon to get everyone out of the house. Mia and Cooper bowled as one person since Mia would only bowl when ALL the pins were up, and Cooper was happy to launch the ball any chance he could get. We then visited Abby during her short work shift at Hallmark, then Meg & Co were on their way back to Indy. Way easier to drive in the dark after you've tired the kids out a bit.

So today was clean up day: sweeping, picking up Polly Pocket shoes, restocking food by grocery shopping, entering all the damage done on Friday to my checkbook. Abby was able to get a ride back to UWL and left about 12:30. She managed to leave behind a few things and a shopping list so she can expect a package later this week. I really look forward to having Abby home when there's not so much going on.