Drea Wood

Christmas List Ideas

Written on 11/28/2011 by Dreawood in caleb, Owen, shopping, Taite

I have had a few people emailing me asking me for Christmas ideas for their children.

I don’t really know if my ideas are good :) – but I figured I’d share “the list” – and maybe it spark some ideas for you all searching.

Some of the items I am listing btw are items we already own... but would make awesome gifts!

1) Tag Pen by Leapster – these are awesome!! We own two and I plan to buy Owen the Tag Pen Jr. as his Christmas gift this year. ONLY because Owen is really rough on books. I wanted something for him to use as well. The Tag Jr. comes with board books, but besides that and the looks, its just like the traditional tag pens. The Tag Pen books btw go on sale all the time online and even in store… you just got to keep an eye out for those sales.

2) The Leapster 2 – We own the CLASSIC Leapster, but its years old now and is on its last leg. We love it so much though, that we wanted to replace it. It requires a rubber band to hold the game in right now… so an upgrade is in need :). On black friday we purchased 2 of them for $25 a piece. A STEAL. Caleb and Taite both still enjoy the leapster… I think mainly because we have not introduced them to newer style games like the Nintendo DS or XBox… they play with a Super Nintendo at home, and thats it :) – we like to keep it old school.

3) The Empire State Building Lego Set – this was a request by Caleb this year. We are asking his Nana to buy it for him :) – he caught a glimpse of one at a Books a Million shop, and immediately asked for it. They cost a pretty penny, but its one of those special items I think is worth paying a bit more, esp. for those kids who love to measure and figure out how tall buildings are.

4) Travel Checker Rug @ Cracker Barrel - Our kids love to play checkers… but our cardboard cheap $2 checker board is falling apart… so while at Cracker Barrel eating we spotted a FABRIC checker board and snatched it up for $5.99 – it also included the pieces. This will be great to shove into the kids back packs for trips, since it is so small. Cracker Barrel also has a JUMBO size version for $12.99.

5) DVDS – These are always a hit in our house, since we aren’t big on cable. DVDS reaching our kids this year will be, Rio, Despicable Me, Cars 2 & Bambi. All of which I got at a discounted price on black friday.

6) Speedometer – We haven’t found the ones we want yet… but Caleb and Taite both want one for their bikes. Esp. Caleb… I have seen some on amazon for as little as $10… A small yet very cool gift IMO :)

7) Remote control Cars – we got some really cheap on black friday. I honestly can’t remember the brand right now and I am to lazy to walk down into the basement to find out ;-) – but they were over half off on black friday… so we got a deal. I remember playing with a remote control car a lot as a kid, so I knew this would be a hit.

8) The Razor Rip-Rider 360 – Our kids used one of these at a friends house & loved it. It is their big gift this year… and will be shared ;-) – I’m pretty sure I can ~~fit~~ squeeze onto this too ;-)

& I think that is about it. We dont go overboard for Christmas here… our kids will not lack though… and we are so thankful for the support of our church that has helped us financially during this time. With Travis still not having a steady job (just doing odds and end work for a contractor) – we just don’t have much spending money. My blog right now pays for our groceries… and whatever money Travis brings in goes towards other bills. So you can imagine we had to budget our Christmas well.

Shopping sales…

Black Friday ;-)

& getting creative is a must.

Hope my list helps some. Feel free to ask me any questions via comments :) – and do share what is on your kids christmas list!

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Bubble Brella

Written on 04/17/2011 by Dreawood in caleb, Owen, photography, shopping, Taite

Soooo I got a Bubble Umbrella! :)
I’ve always wanted one… so when I saw them on a website called The Foundary for under $15, I jumped on the deal.

I hope to use mine on some upcoming photoshoots.
I wish I had gotten a kid sized one however :) – because this one is way to big for kids.

I tried to shove Owen in it, he cried :-\

& to help show its size compared to an adult – heres a mirror shot.

Please ignore my hair! Remember last week my husband was gone :) – I think I maybe got 2 showers that entire week, gross huh? – So hair wrap it was…

Again, I got mine from The Foundary. Its kind of like Babysteals, but for adults. Its by invite only btw ;-)
So you can join FOR FREE here if you’d like.

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Boba & Sleepywrap Winners!

Written on 06/02/2010 by Dreawood in shopping, sponsor

Sorry I am late posting the winners of the Boba & Sleepywrap Giveaway!

Been one of those weeks :-)

A big congrats however to…

Jana @ Sidetrack’d! You are the winner of the BOBA

&

Madaline @ Barefoot Childhood! You are the winner of the Sleepywrap.

Madaline & Jana if you don’t hear from me by the end of this week please comment on this post with an email address for me to get in touch with you :)

Thank you so much for all those who entered! There was over 340 entries!

Be on the look out for more great sponsorship giveaways and deals. I am sure this wont be the last time I giveaway one of these great carriers ;-) hint hint ::wink wink::

In the mean time if you did not win you can still take advantage of the 10% coupon “Unique” on either a Boba, Sleepywrap or BOTH!

*Don’t forget to sign up for this weeks sponsorship giveaway as well – If you are a photographer you will especially love it!*

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Pop of Color for $1

Written on 05/16/2010 by Dreawood in products, shopping

Yet another find at the local Dollar Tree!

Some fun utensils for my kids!

I keep them on my counter in a jar (that some local peanuts came in).
Makes it handy to grab since our kitchen pull out drawers are a pain to open (due to old age)

& you can’t beat the cost… $1
*They had pink & green to pick from*

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Gifts 2 Share

Written on 03/12/2010 by Dreawood in friends, house keeping, motherhood, my mom, pregnancy, products, shopping, simple

Back in February I was thrown a shower at my church. The lady in this photo with me was one of the ones in charge of putting it together. Shes soooo sweet! She baby sits our boys often and they just adore her.

She gave me an envelope the other day full of printed photos she took at the shower. I thought they were really special… I don’t have a scanner so I just took pictures of these photos :) but do plan to put them in the baby’s album (that we got at the shower). It will make for special memories.

Two of my friends who came to the shower are also pregnant. I thought id give them shout outs again (I just did yesterday, girls check your hits LOL).

One of them is Kelly. She is a Pastors wife in the town over.
She blogs at: http://seethefam.blogspot.com
Shes SUPER SMART. Her kids are a lot of fun! Her husband is really bad to play scrabble with. You have to set aside like 3 hours to even make a dent into the game with him haha, but hes cool :) And she is expecting her 4th baby (a little boy) due in May. So shes like 6 weeks behind me in the pregnancy world.

She also will be photographing the birth of our baby! Well thats the plan any way… It all depends on timing really :) Travis told me he didnt want to deal with cameras at this birth… so he asked me to find someone to do it if I wanted pictures. Since Kelly has birthed 3 kids naturally I figured she’d be a great coach lol and photographer.

This next little lady is Aliesha.
She blogs at: http://feathersinournest.blogspot.com/
She is our youth pastor Tad’s wife. THIS IS HIM hahahaha (Tell Tad Aliesha thats for telling me im not having this baby til the 23!)
Aliesha is a new wife but also a soon to be new mommy as well. Seriously theres something in our towns water :)
Shes around 19 weeks?? maybe 20, I lost count… but shes far enough along to know the sex, and its a sweet little girl.

Aliesha is super crafty, organized and one domestic lady! Im amazed at all her little crafts she makes and post on her blog. I wish I had the time and talent to do half of what she does.

Im excited to see how the Lord uses them at our church.

Since this has been a “link to other peoples websites” post :) I thought I would post some baby items I have in the baby hospital bag.

The reddish brown fabric thing is a nursing cover :) I got a steal on one (it was free, all I paid was shipping!) from Uddercovers.com. I plan to nurse… I actually don’t even have any baby bottles purchased… as motivation to nurse exclusively… but only time will tell.

I am also packing the cute monkey blanket my mom made. Its super soft and the perfect size. The blue blanket behind it wasn’t suppose to be in the photo… thats one she knit for Caleb that he uses at nap time (he naps in the nursery as of now). My mom also made the baby a really cute matching monkey hat. You can check out her shop on ETSY as well HERE.

The little plush doggy is a WUBBANUB! If you have never heard of these they are THE BEST. I used them with Taite and loved them so much. Seriously great invention for pacifier babies :) – I do plan to host a giveaway and coupon code over at SIMPLE for the WUBBANUBS… so keep an eye out for that once baby is born.

If you click the photo above you will see some little striped socks as well. I got these on clearance at babies’r'us, they are SOOOO CUTE!! If I had a link to buy them online id link you… but im not even sure who makes them :-\

The green shirts… that I apologize are SUPER WRINKLY… I washed them and left them in a basket with clean clothes for a week.. so they need to be ironed :) They were gifts from The Cotton Cupcake Shoppe on Etsy. The sweet owner of it Amber also sent the baby a baby hat for the hospital… that HAS HIS NAME ON IT, teehee. I plan to announce his name with her hats and once he is here I get to host a giveaway and coupon for her SHOP as well!

And of course the diaper bag has been mentioned before.
It is a FLEURVILLE Lexie Tote. I got it for over 60% off off babysteals.com
Love love love it.

Other items I have packed are baby onesies of course (Thanks Lindy!!), burp clothes, baby sleeper, gown, diapers (of course), wipes, and some cute booties my mom made Taite as a baby :)

I think thats about it :)
I snapped a few more nursery photos today… reminder… this room also serves as my studio and a guestroom… so theres only so much I can do to the room. The bed in it is a FUTON I got at Target… we have our MEMORY FOAM topper currently over it, which makes for a nice nap place or extra bed.

I hope to get my maternity portraits ordered some day… and once I do put some portraits on the wall near the babies crib… which ill show later :) I also still need to get the baby mobile up above the crib.