Some things I'm excited about...

A friend of ours is starting a new company, called Torture the Devil.  It is a Christian company focused on serving God through your gifts and talents and "torturing the devil" by serving God to the fullest! 
Check it out if you want:  www.torturethedevil.com and read more about the company and becoming a Christian!  You can also get some cool "Torture the Devil" gear like shirts and wristbands! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, you'll probably think I'm a little nuts, but I think about Christmas all year!  Seriously, I enjoy thinking about what to get the kids and others on our list.  Mainly, I think about it because being a one income family, we can't just go out and buy everything in December and be done with it.  That would cost WAY too much and not be feasible.  We either have to buy things early, or save early so we'll have the funds to buy stuff when the holidays arrive.  I try to do a little of both.  Plus, if you look early for gifts, you can usually find great deals!  Soooooo...where am I going with all of this? 

Enter, the Lucy Locket.  Dustin's grandma, "Nanny B" as we call her, has this Lucy Locket at her house.  It looks like this: 

It is heart shaped, you can carry it around, and it reminds me of a Polly Pocket, but much bigger and nicer (in my opinion).  It's about 12 inches x 12 inches and almost 5 inches thick.  All the kids LOVE playing with this at Nanny B's house, even the boys (but don't tell I said that!).  When you open it up, this is what you see:

the top

the bottom

It IS a lot of fun to play with, and you can carry it whereve you go.  I have searched and searched for something for Emilynn like this ever since we've had the one at Nanny B's to play with .  As it turns out, they were made in 1992 by a company in England.  How did Nanny B get one?  At the dump!  She bleached it and it was good to go! 
I've looked on Ebay for a while for one and today, I was able to "make an offer" on one in decent shape and it was accepted.  Yay!  I am going to give it to Emilynn for Christmas and she will LOVE it, I know!  The thing it, usually stuff that's no longer made costs a LOT on Ebay.  I got this for only $20 plus shipping.  Yay!  I love when I find stuff I know my kids will love for a great price.  Does it bother me it's used?  Nope, not at all.  I've looked for something brand new that compares and it just doesn't seem to exist.  I can't wait for it to arrive! 

The only other Christmas item I'm working on right now is getting Henry a "baby Henry" doll for Christmas.  The twins each have an American Girl Bitty Twin that looks like them and they call them "Baby Carson" and  "Baby Emmy".  Henry only needs one, so it's taking a little more effort to get just one brand new Bitty Twin, but you can get them and I'm sure he'll be loved like our other baby dolls here. 

I know I'm crazy for thinking of Christmas already, but it such fun!