What's Up With the Westovers: Deals and Dress Up

The day after Christmas, my mom came and picked me up bright and early (7am!)so we could check out the Christmas clearance sales. I never buy holiday decorations full price, so after every holiday, I'll go pick up a few things to use the following year. This year I was mainly looking for kids Christmas crafts and some ornaments that I could use on my holiday tree. Last year after Thanksgiving, I got some kids Thanksgiving and fall crafts at Michaels' for like 70-80 percent off. I stocked up and still have some to use next year. I did the same thing this year with Halloween and Thanksgiving and couldn't wait to see what I could get to use for Christmas next year.

I really wanted to get a couple Elf on the Shelf outfits, but I didn't have any luck. I thought the pilot and the chef outfit would have been really cute. I did find the Elf Pet, which is this cute, but 50% off was still more than I wanted to pay. If I saw him later this week at 75% off, I'd get it. I did find these cute Elf on the Shelf gift bags (perfect for the goodies that Dennis brings to our Northpole breakfast), this fun puzzle (for $4.00!) and the Elf on the Shelf movie. We don't have cable and so the boys have never seen the movie. I've been wanting to get it, but again, didn't want to pay full price. I am very excited about this find at Target!

I also got a couple bags of cute clothespins from different stores. I got the reindeer one on the bottom left the day after Thanksgiving at Michael's for 50% off (plus I had 30% off coupon) and I love using it above the boys crafting table to hang their artwork. I also think you could glue a magnet on the back and use it to hang pictures, cards, or crafts on the fridge.

I was able to find lots of cute kids crafts for the boys. Hobby Lobby had their Christmas stuff for 66% off and the other stores we went to had them for 50% off. I got a couple that made 24-30 so we could have a Christmas craft playdate next year. And I love any Christmas craft that is an ornament or that can be turned into an ornament.

The snowmen on the top left I actually got last year, but I was taking pictures of everything I had so I would know next year without having to check the attic. I got it for 70 percent off last year and it's going to last me two years (at least) definitely a great deal!

I'm really excited about this felt nativity scene. I'll definitely give this to them the weekend after Thanksgiving so they can use it the whole month of December.

And my absolute favorite thing that I got was this picture from Kirklands. I love Kirklands and pretty much every picture they have in their store. I just think this picture is so gorgeous. It's huge too! It's going to go on my mantel next year and I can't wait. The best part is that it was normally $79.99 and I got it for $17.99! They already had all their things marked down 75% and my mom showed her military id for another 10% off. $17.99!

After my mom and I went to several stores, we all went back to my parents house and had Christmas leftovers, let the boys play with their Christmas gifts some more and ride their bikes. We made several trips up and down that driveway.

I got some wreath making stuff that was marked down because it said "Christmas mesh" so I got some green mesh and green ornaments and silver mesh and some pink ornaments and went ahead and made my St. Patrick's Day and Valentine's day wreaths. This isn't a good picture and they're not fancy, but I'm happy with them. So, I got those made and was able to put them up in the attic when I put up my Christmas decorations. Now I just need to make an Easter and patriotic wreath and I'm set for all the seasons/holidays.

This is an awful picture and you can't tell, but the silver mesh is gorgeous. I actually went back and got another roll and my mom got one too. This is for the front door, but I'm going to make one with that silver to go in the house, not sure if I'll do another Valentine's wreath or not, but I wanted one inside where I could see it.

Saturday and Sunday, I worked on putting up the Christmas decorations. Our attic is a complete mess, I've just been sticking things up there when I didn't want to deal with them and my holiday bins are a disaster, I had Halloween in Christmas bins, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in a Halloween bin, etc. So, I brought all my bins down and took everything out and organized them and went up in the attic and organized everything up there. Taking down Christmas decorations is a job, but organizing the attic too made it a whole weekend event. Luckily, the boys played with their Christmas toys the whole weekend. It was nice enough Saturday that they got to go to the park for a couple hours with Greg, but Sunday was nasty and rainy, so they played in their pajamas all day. They opened up their Melissa and Doug dress up clothes and had the best time. They were so cute playing fireman, police officer and doctor.

Carter handcuffed Evan to the door. They had the best time with those handcuffs. Every time I turned around, Evan was handcuffed to something different.

I cannot remember the last time the boys stayed in their pajamas all day. It would have been nice, if I was able to relax and play too. :(

Evan hurt his elbow, so Carter immediately got on his doctor costume (see the difference in the playroom behind them from the last couple pictures--haha) When the boys are checking somebody out while playing doctor they call it "doctoring" so Carter was like "I'll doctor you Evan" and Evan would say "come here daddy, I need to doctor you" haha.