Busy, busy, busy

I feel like I have ten million little things that I should be blogging about on a daily basis, but I'm not nearly organized enough for that lately... so here goes--a nice, long, unorganized "catch up" post!

I finally knocked out the majority of my Christmas shopping yesterday, whew!! Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute, huh? I still have a few little things to run out and get, but I think I can handle it. I'm feeling much better now that the kids are taken care of, for the most part.

Avery is having a "themed" Christmas, for sure. Her big gift is a Dora Talking Vanity, and purchasing that was the highlight of the season for me! It was selling at Toys R Us for $80 (although yesterday I noticed it was marked down to $60), but the day last week when I went to Toys R Us to get it, I just couldn't bring myself to actually put it in my cart and continue to the check-out. I had a mini panic attack in the middle of the store because I was so overwhelmed and confused, and came home empty-handed... and super depressed.

Then a friend told me she saw the vanity on Amazon for $49, and I thought "hmmm... that's pretty tempting." But still didn't buy it. The next morning, my friend Angie, online bargain shopper extraordinaire!, called to tell me that Amazon had marked it down to $27.35!!! What a steal! Needless to say, Avery is getting one, lol.

My mom is making her the most adorable ever little princess dress-up dresses, and she got her some ballet slippers to wear with them. Avery's also getting all of the dress-up accessories: make-up, jewelry, and hair stuff. She is such a diva, and this dress-up theme is going to be RIGHT up her alley!

Damon was really difficult to shop for this year, for some reason. His big gift is the Guitar Hero III game for his Playstation. He's played it at friends' houses several times and with Uncle Donny last Christmas, and Damon loooooves it! So I broke down and got that for him. I have a feeling that he won't even notice the rest of his gifts once he sees Guitar Hero. And I predict we'll all be jammin' out in front of the television for the majority of Christmas Day!

In other news, my father-in-law arrived from China last week, and he's making his rounds visiting all of his kids for the 3 weeks that he'll be in the States. I'm picking him up from the airport Sunday evening and he'll spend several days here with us. Everyone is super excited to see Papaw! The last time he was "home" was last October for Nick's brother's wedding... so a visit is long overdue!

Nick should be home sometime Monday, Christmas Eve. And he's supposed to have a whopping 24 hours here with us for the holiday. But we're kinda holding out hope that they'll extend his home time by a day or so... that would be really nice, especially considering the fact that his baby girl has a birthday to celebrate the day after Christmas!

And, I just picked up a new client for work! YAY! I've been trying to get on as a freelancer with this company for MONTHS, and finally received confirmation yesterday that I "passed the test." I'm not quite sure where I'll find the time to work for another company, but I'm excited about the opportunity nonetheless.

Speaking of work, it's piling up... so I'd better get back to it! I'm sure I'll be back with Holiday updates! Happy Holidays, Everyone! :)