Been a Bad Blogger - Catch Up!!

As everyone knows, this time of the year just gets busier and busier with Christmas upon us and other daily obligations. I just haven't had the time to sit down and write a good blog lately! I keep thinking to myself, "Oooh, I need to blog about that!" but I never get around to it!!! So here we are with a little overview of the past week or so.

SHOPPING
I just love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season!! I took Brooklyn and Blake out one evening to do some Christmas shopping for their cousins, with whom they are exchanging gifts with. I tried to let them have control over what the cousin would receive, but it ended up being more like them choosing from a couple options I gave them! ;) And I'm happy to report that I'm very close to being DONE with my Christmas shopping!!

DATING
Matt and I had the opportunity to go out on a date last Friday night (thanks Britt for watching the kids!) with Matt's brother, Derek, and his wife, Kristin. It was a rainy night, but it's been soooo long since Matt and I had been on a date (not meaning some function we had to attend) that I didn't care! We ate at El Paso BBQ, which was yummy, then headed over to the movie theater to watch August Rush. WAY good movie! I'd recommend it to everyone and anyone! It's not a total chick flick, even guys can enjoy this one too! ;)

BAKING
I brought out the Christmas decorations and Brooklyn and Blake were quick to put on their Santa hats and their Christmas aprons, so I decided that we needed to do some baking. I made banana nougat cookies, of course, and tried to let them help as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard for me to do that because I can do it much quicker myself and usually, it's a lot cleaner of a process! I didn't have to worry for long, they lost interest pretty quickly. ;) I love holiday baking and taking goodies around to our friends and neighbors!

My helper elves

PURGING
We still have boxes stacked around our apartment and the decorating is still not done. Makes me feel rather detached from this place. But, much to Matt's chagrin, I'm sure, I've been bringing even MORE boxes into our house, trying to clean out and get rid of things. My latest endeavor has been to go through ALL my girl clothing, from newborn to 5T and weed out what I don't absolutely want to keep for future girl babies- if ever. I figure by the next time I get pregnant and *IF* we ever have another baby girl, by the time she reaches 2T-5T clothing, styles will be different, seasons could be different, and I'm just SURE I'll be dying to shop again! ;) SO, I pared down from about 8 apple boxes and Rubbermaid bins to 6, which is excellent for me! I have an immensely hard time letting go of such CUTE clothes!!! Loads of Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree clothes! I gave a bunch to my sis, Becky, for her baby girl and then I did some massive selling of the rest I could bare to part with on one of my parenting message boards that has an auction section. I made myself back about $250 - HOORAY!! :) And that was just selling the winter clothes! I haven't even touched the spring/summer items! Looking forward to making some more mula when the time comes closer!

SOLD!

PICTURE TAKING
I attempted to take pictures for our Christmas card yesterday (thanks again to Brittney for helping me out!) and I was exhausted after 20 minutes!! 215 pictures to choose from and only about 3 decent of all three kids together!!! Why can't kids just manage to look AT the camera and SMILE?!??!? Blake was by far the worst! Looking in every which way BUT at the camera, slouching, and if he DOES look at the camera, it's some crazy, cheesy smile that is no way gracing our Christmas card! At least I managed to get an acceptable one.... grrrr. And no previews yet. You'll just have to wait! ;)

I think that will about do it for now! I promise to be better!