let the madness begin!

my daughter sophia is finally at the age where buying gifts, especially toys is so much fun! about a week ago we received the toy ads for walmart and target and i asked sophia to sit down and go through them, telling me which items she might like for Christmas. at first she was just pointing to every toy she saw and said she wanted it...even when i asked what it was and she responded by saying 'its just a thing mommy.' after a couple pages she started to see toys that she is into like babydolls and games and started to get really excited.

yesterday around 3pm i got an email from toys'r'us about their mega sale that is happening until 1pm today. ive been wanting to get started on my Christmas shopping early this year, unlike previous years of leaving it to the last minute and struggling to find meaningful gifts. so i emailed a friend to see if she'd like to join me after our kiddos went to bed last night. so we ended up getting to the store close to 9pm and had a blast! the store had a TON of great deals and i was able to almost get my shopping for sophia completely done. so needless to say if you have kids and havent started shopping yet...get over to toys'r'us before 1pm today :)

as fun as it is to shop for my children and be able to provide fun toys for them, it is all so meaningless without the promise that i have in Jesus. im so looking forward to this upcoming Christmas season and the opportunity to teach my daughter about the gift that God gave us which is Jesus Christ. i thank God all the time for allowing me to be born into a home with parents who love the Lord, and for raising the man i would one day marry in the same type of home. i am so thanful that God is in control and has provision for His children. it is such a blessing now to be raising children of my own. i hope and pray that jerry and i can do as good of a job with sharing Jesus to our kiddos as our parents did with us. :)

ok now i just have to share some of the deals i got last night because they are so great and i always get excited when saving $. this first picture of these cute little critters is the main thing i went to the store to get. they are called 'zhu zhu pets' and basically are just little hampsters that crawl around the floor and make cute little sounds...they are normally $10 but until 1pm today you can print off a coupon for 50% off! yay!

 this next picture is of the dollhouse i bought for sophia. my parents have one from when my youngest sister was sophias age and any time we are at my parents' house, which is quite often, sophia begs for 'papa' to bring it up from the basement. i got this one, with the accessories included for only $19.99!

 these next 2 games i had when i was little and loved them. i think they are the greatest deal of all. both games (along with a few others at the store) are only $1 each!!! this is after a $2 mail-in rebate...but i mean come on...$1?? so great!

i have 1 niece and 5 nephews to buy for this year...so i will probably be making my way back to toys'r'us in the very near future :) such a fun store! i love having kids!