Post-Christmas Dreams

Ahh… the day after Christmas SALES!  Do you love them as much as I do?  I love them more than Black Friday.

Here’s what we scored this year:

bonus points if you can spot some Bulldog wrinkles sneaking into the shot

We snagged these Alegra Hicks chairs from West Elm for 70% off.  SWEET!  Retail price = $499 each.  We got these puppies (brand new, still in the box) for $125 each!  They’re going to go in the living room with our brown leather couch once we get our couch swapping finalized.   Here’s another look:

Also at West Elm, we scored these sweet little handmade initial ornaments:

Jason, Michelle, Kenton, Bowdoin

At just $.90 each, we also picked up a couple of initials for possible future bebe’s names.  No, we’re not sharing what those are.  (We’ve got to hide these, I know a few people -ehem-cough-grandma-cough- will try to find them.)

At good ol’ Tarjhey, we found some cool vintage-y Christmas decorations for next year.  We brought home all of this for less than $10:

And, finally, we hit up Crate & Barrel for a whole pile of next-Christmas goodies:

We spent about $50 on this loot, which includes garland, candles, mini-cupcake papers, tea light holders, and the one thing I really wanted – Christmas pillows!  I snuck past two ladies who thought they were fighting over the last Christmas tree pillow and found a whole box full of them.  So, I snagged two!

Baby Gap also got some of our business for a few baby closet essentials…

Anyone else score some great deals this week?

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Dream Week

For the first time EVER… In the history of my post-collegiate-adult life… I have a week off of work and I’m not going anywhere. Instead, the Mr and I (he’s off too! Yay!) are tackling a number of projects around the Dream…

paint this wall

replace this couch

finish an ottoman/coffee table for the family room (progress!)

clean out crap and get organized (that Christmas present on the left should certainly help in the garage!)

laundry... just keepin' it real

replace one (or maybe all 3?) of these

begin the process of transforming our guest bedroom into a playroom (it's already being taken over)

And, of course, spending some quality time with this munchkin:

who? me?! But after I'm done playing with my buddy, Padraig, right?!

So, yeah.  We’ll be kinda busy this week – but hopefully, we’ll produce lots of things to tell you about!

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Dreaming of a First Christmas

Wow!  I can’t believe baby’s first Christmas is in the books.  I hope everyone had a fantastic day.  We sure did!

Kenton was surrounded by all of his grandparents and his great grandpa… lots of love for this little dude.

Sorry.  That picture is a bit “hot” – but that’s what you get celebrating Christmas in Arizona!  (We don’t miss the snow. AT. ALL.)

From our family to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

PS: This post is coming to you from my new MacBook Pro – my Christmas gift from the best husband IN THE WORLD.  Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!  🙂

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Dream on Santa

First encounter with Mr. Claus.

There are no words.  I could not have ordered a more perfect picture.

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A Dream Thanks

I’d like to give a heart felt shout out, sincere expression of gratitude, and virtual high-five to the inventor of the gift bag.

Seriously.

I would have never finished my Christmas wrapping if not for that blessed soul.  See:

Especially with these two around…

For both… the wrapping paper was a snack, the tape dispenser a teething apparatus and the ribbon a downright fascinating toy.

Despite being quite distracting, they did keep me company while filling in the bottom of our tree this weekend… their conversations are quite enlightening…

oh look, there she is with the camera again. let’s interact and give her some good material.

mom, please make me look good on the internets this time. There are some mommies of cute baby girls that read this blog and I need them to like me.

kid, please… just, no. Pretend you didn’t see me. I need to finish my 43rd nap of the day.

crap. he totally saw me.

MWAHAHAHAHA! Yes, I saw you. You are MINE. MINE. MINE. Come closer, you larger than life squeaky toy!

seriously… it’s time to take these two bottom teeth and get a matching set up top by gnawing on some bulldog wrinkles… num-num-num

kid, I’m only putting up with this because I know you’re going to hook me up with some sweet potato and avocado later.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, mom. Seriously. I eats all those foods myself, with my own two teethums.

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Getting in the Christmas Dream

Recently, this magazine arrived at the Dream:

INSPIRATION!

How fun is that wreath?! I set out to do my own version and even took before pictures of my pile of items needed for the post I was planning about my citrus-with-a-Christmas-twist wreath:

It was a complete failure.  I’m certain if I allowed myself more time, it would have really come together.  However, time is not something I have a lot of these days.  So, the above “ingredients” became Thanksgiving table centerpieces…

… and I did a happy dance when an LL Bean box from Maine arrived on our doorstep with a simple, guaranteed Christmas-y feel decoration for our door…

Thank you, in-laws!  Whew.

Meanwhile, we did get these done this weekend… so early (for us):

It will feel so good to drop 120 of those bad boys in the blue box tomorrow.  CHECK off the Christmas to-do list!  We have the wonderment of a six-month old’s first Christmas to get to…

… and a few more decorations to put up!

How about you?  Get anything on your list accomplished yet?

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Six Dreamin’ Months!

I cannot believe my BABY is six months old!  That is craziness.  For reaching this landmark, he earned a shirt.  He started off in just a diaper and in six short months has managed to get a complete outfit together… YET… six months remain until this project is complete.  Aren’t you just dying to know what else is in store?!

That smile was elusive this month.  Mostly because I decided it would be fun to take his picture after he wouldn’t go down for a nap.  Hey!  I’m still learning.  I’m only six months into this thing.  Mr. Dreamer and I tried everything for a smile…

We finally got it…

…with some good old fashioned peek-a-boo. Never fails.

We’ll be celebrating this half-year mark with some sweet potato and avocado… mmm… solids!

We’re keeping track of Kenton’s monthly shots here.

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