Bring on the Christmas Shopping!

I can't believe that its already halfway through August... next month I start Christmas shopping! I know you're probably thinking that I'm a crazy person--but I wasn't the one running around like a chicken with it's head cut off last December. Starting your Christmas shopping early is a great thing for two reasons: 1). You aren't stressed out shopping with the crowds and standing in crazy long lines on Christmas eve, and 2). You aren't strapped for cash at the end of the year. A lot of people take time off at the end of the year--so that they can sit around at home and do nothing because they're broke? Heck no! If you start shopping in September-ish, you can buy a couple presents with every paycheck.  You're never broke, you're never stressed, and if you're like me, you can be excited to have a ton of presents under your tree by the time you put it up.

This year, Joe and I decided that we are going to buy the kids each one big present and one present from Santa; between my parents, my sisters, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law, these kids get a TON of presents. The last thing they need is 30 different new toys that won't get played with. We decided that we are going to buy both of the kids their own tablet. I know what you're probably thinking: a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old with their own tablets?! I get it. BUT we've done our research. Apparently there are tablets out there that have some pretty cool features; you can set a time limit for games. Say I set it at 30 minutes for the day. Once they use those 30 minutes up, it won't let them play anymore. I won't have to be the bad guy at all! However, they can read on the tablet all day long if they'd like;  once their game limit runs out, they'll still want to play with their tablets, so they'll read! I plan on loading up their tablets with tons of fun books before Christmas morning so that when they open it up, they'll be able to just start using it right away. 

I can't wait for the next couple of months; I'll be kicking my baking into full-swing (I actually feel like baking today so I'm going to whip up some triple chocolate chip cookies that I'm pretty excited about--they call for chocolate chips, white chocolate chips,  and butterscotch chips--YUM!) ...if they turn out as delicious as I'm hoping they will, I'll post the recioe on here tomorrow :).

I'm off to go get ready so that I can run to the store to pick up the ingredients. Happy Wednesday everyone!