I have to say, she and Grandpa made it look pretty effortless. We hosted Thanksgiving last year and I feel like my kitchen was a sh*tshow. Thanks to both of you for a wonderful dinner :)
The day after Thanksgiving we hit the Children's Museum in Bridgehampton with Lizzie and Owen and then headed back to MA to get going on Christmas. We took the boys to Lowes to see what they had for decorations. We were contemplating getting an inflatable, then we thought maybe a pair of those sparkly reindeer...we are new to the neighborhood so of course we needed to have an impressive display! So many possibilities.
Ultimately we just got a wreath and a new pet snowman for Alex.
He stood with his arm around it for awhile and then observed while Jason and Ashton twisted some lights into the little tree that stands in the front yard. It came out great!
Uh, a little better in person. I still think we should add some lights to the bushes too though :)
Well on Saturday this past weekend it poured rain and the boys and I had ZERO to do, so at 4:30 pm I packed them up and we went to Toys R Us to scout some toys. I'll tell you what, I avoid Black Friday like the plague, but I see now why other people don't - the deals were still insane, even the next day. I wasn't planning on buying anything though, just wanted to see what seemed to get the boys excited. Last year Jason and I shopped like two days before Christmas and it didn't matter, but this year, Ashton is very aware of what is going on and has already made his list.
Jason: "Ok boys, let's tell Santa what you want!"
Ashton: "Yeah! Let's do it!" [Runs and gets out the paper, gets out the pencils, hops up on his chair and freezes.] "But Daddy! Oh no. I don't know how to write."
Jason: "How about you just tell me and I'll write it for you?"
Ashton: "Yeah! Ok. I want...." He rambled off lots of things that had "big" and "huge" in the title ;)
So back to Toys R Us. There we were and we round the bend to the Matchbox/HotWheels aisle. All of a sudden, before me was this box, this beacon of light, this Christmas miracle!!
This toy, dear readers, does not exist. HAS NOT existed for two years. I saw something similar being sold on one of my mom's groups, did not get it, and have been on the hunt ever since. Sure, you can look on eBay or Amazon, but you'll pay through the nose (right now Amazon has it for $159 and that's cheap) because they seemingly don't make it anymore. It is honestly impossible to find and I have looked at every obscure internet website there is to try and track it down with no luck. Until now! Toys R Us was selling it for $99.99, but the Black Friday deal was half off at $49.99. I could hardly believe I was looking at it in the flesh. Ashton has hundreds of cars and plays with them constantly. He would love this. LOVE LOVE LOVE this.
There was one left.
What should I do? I mean, Ashton was with me. Could I buy it right in front of him? No way. But look at it! If little metal cars had a mecca and a 4 year old was their god, they would live here.
It's 8 feet of racetrack. I couldn't risk losing it so I was just going to get it and face the consequences.
Well I picked up the box and made it two aisles before Ashton broke me down. He was like an excited puppy jumping and yapping at my feet. What was that? Who was it for? Why did I have it? Could he look at the box? Could he hold the box? Just for a second? When could he open it? Now? When we got home? AHHHHH!!! I put it down, got on the Toys R Us website right then and there and saw it listed for sale for the same price. I thought, I'll just go home and order it tonight and that way I don't have to deal with this right now.
I got home, clicked through and tried to add it to my cart and it said "this is an in-store item only. Please select a store for pickup." Grrr! I was just there!! I entered my zip code, pulled up Framingham... "Out of Stock." WHAT?! I called the store, explained I had been there ten minutes prior, could you please go grab this toy (and this is where I left the box) and put it aside for me. She put me on hold for honestly 15 minutes, came back and said sorry, it's gone. AHHHH!! No!! She said yeah it's been crazy today, and hung up.
While I made the boys' dinner I frantically called three other Toys R Us stores. I wondered if, despite the website saying they had none in stock, they actually might. That theory was wrong and it took me at least thirty minutes to find out. I was still not going to accept defeat. I didn't believe that my original one was gone so first thing the next morning, I left Jason with the boys and marched back into the store. I rounded the same bend, checked the same shelf...there it was! Just one! I grabbed it and headed to the checkout.
"Your total is $106.23."
"What? Eight hours ago it was half that price!"
"Er, sorry. The sale ended."
I asked for the manager please. She came over and I explained the whole scene from the night before. I said, "You were open until midnight and I would have come back to buy this once my husband was home, but when I called, your employee told me it had been sold! Clearly it was not sold - here it is!"
She punched some numbers into the computer and said, "Well, this one just came in last night."
"Really. You got a whole shipment and only got ONE more of these?"
"Yes."
We stared each other down. I was getting this toy for half off if I had to stand there all day. I said, "Look, I am going to be buying a lot more here in the next few weeks, so this would really mean a lot to me."
Three minutes later, I was loading my $49.99 Hotwheels Super 6 Lace Raceway into my trunk. I texted Jason a triumphant YESSSS!!! and then thought my god, is this what I am going to have to go through to get EVERY TOY FROM NOW ON? The answer so far, by the way, has been yes. I can't even begin to tell you the story about the Paw Patroller.
It's a giant van that opens up to hold all the characters from the show, each with their own machines - Ashton LOVES Paw Patrol and this is on his Santa list. While I did manage to buy the Paw Patroller, look again. Everything with a black circle is not included.
Yep, you actually get this.
A hollow shell. All the figurines are *of course* sold separately, and when I realized that, found that they were nearly none to be found. I tracked down a couple at Target (there are 7 total) for the appropriate price of $12.99 (each), but the others? Hit up eBay and be prepared to pay $50+. I think the general lesson here is caveat emptor. Toy boxes can be very deceiving.
Speaking of deceiving boxes, I was admiring the Super 6 Lane Raceway, soaking in its amazingness, and suddenly noticed on the top flap:
ON BLU-RAY AND DVD FALL 2014.
Fall of...I'm sorry...what year? What is with this mysterious, elusive toy! Where has it been hiding? All I know is Ashton better play with it for hours and love it so much he only stops using it when he leaves for college.
2 toys down, many to go. 23 more days of blood, sweat and tears. Bring it, Christmas.
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