Shopping....

Where has December gone? It's already half over, and Christmas is just days away... YIIIKES!

I've been a shopping superstar this year though, which makes everything soooo much easier. Black Friday I spent shopping in LeMars and Sioux City which is soooo much less crazy than Des Moines. It was amazing -- I didn't have anyone try to rip something out of my hands and shockingly enough, I didn't get run over by a shopping cart. It was GREAT!! Here's how shopping went down --

I ordered Katherine a balance beam which arrived a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. It's been sitting in a box in our garage ever since, and she hasn't noticed. What are the odds of that??? LOL!!

On Black Friday my sister in law and I took off for Wal-Mart and were there when it opened. I ended up getting Katherine and Caleb's big gift from Santa that morning -- a Nintendo DS for Katherine and a Leapster for Caleb. I also got them a ton of other little stuff, but since the "big" gifts were purchased, I felt such a sense of accomplishment. However, Katherine really wanted a pink DS, but all I could find was the RED Mario bundle, so I bought it but immediately had buyers remorse. Thankfully, Katherine has the best uncle in the universe and Isaac searched all over Des Moines and finally found a pink bundle which totally rocked. So, he bought that, and I immediately returned the red one.

Later that morning we went to Target and I got Caleb 5 Leapster games and got Katherine about the same number of DS games. By the time the day was over I had a great start on gifts!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been collecting Michael's coupons and picked up small things for the kids along the way -- Caleb got a new train for his train table, I got them both paint dobbers and books to use them with, and found Katherine a super cool American Girl Scrapbook, and as luck would have it, it comes with gymnastics ribbons, etc... Can you say PERFECT??? LOL!

Today, I was a shopping superstar. I made another pit stop at Michael's, then went to Olive Garden to get my dad a gift card as it's his fave restaurant, Lowe's, two different Kohl's stores and got the most adorable hooded towels along with the traditional Christmas jammies, and then Target and Toys R Us to round out the rest of the toys I had to buy. So ... I'm almost done. I need to hit Target one more time to get Morgan and Hannah their gifts, and pick up a few things for Andrew. I have to admit ... I have no idea what to get him. He needs NOTHING. I got so many adorable outfits when he was born and since his birthday is three weeks from Caleb's, I have all Caleb's clothes for him to wear too. I picked him up some teethers, and plan to get him a Bumbo seat, but really, that's about it.

Oh, and my mom's gift ... She's a big fan of Ina Garten who just published a new cookbook. As part of her gift I got her the new cookbook, only to get it home and find out that the cover was ripped. So I returned that one, and need to get another...

So, the score is ... Gifts for Hannah and Morgan (One of which I already know what they'll get), and get another copy of the cookbook for my mom. All three of these things are found at Target. Then I need to run over to Younkers and pick up some ornaments for the kids. I have Andrew's on hold as I'm looking for a specific ornament, and then also need to get Katherine and Caleb's for this year. Oh, and gifts for Katherine's teachers. After much thought and agonizing, I've decided to just get them a gift certificate to the mall. That way they can get exactly what they want. So ... two stops. Target and the mall and I'm done! Woo-Hoo!!

I've made a million suggestions on what we should get Matt's parents this year, but he's vetoed it all, so he's on his own. Can't wait to see what he'll come home with for them. This I know -- it'll be (i) last minute; and (ii) probably be something I suggested in the first place.

Even though I've rocked the Christmas list this year, everything else in my life is about 2 steps behind -- I just got back my Christmas cards, so I need to address and send them out, I need to write thank you's for Andrew's baby gifts (Shameful that I haven't done it yet, I know!!), send out his birth announcements, bake Christmas cookies, start thinking of what food I'm going to make for Christmas Day and get a list together as we're hosting, and actually take the time to enjoy it all. I love everything about this time of year, and more than ever I really want to make it super special for the kids.