christmas tree – BabyCostsMoney

The Longest Christmas Season.

Published on December 5, 2017December 2, 2017 by Darlene Dee4 Comments

Did you know that this year we have the most days possible between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Which means that THIS YEAR we have the longest Christmas season possible.

I love lights and trees and wrapping presents and holiday playlists so this is SO LIT.

We bought Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. The ToddlerMonster was super excited. But she didn’t want a big tree. (Mama did though so obvs we have one.)

But she got her little tree too. HER CUTE FACE IS IRRESISTIBLE! Literally impossible to resist.

The little tree is in her bedroom, waiting for ornaments. ($40 plus a $25 small stand.) I have a feeling we have started a new tradition.

Oh look, there’s that $9.99 robot pillow we bought at Ikea. Yet another offering to the Goddess of Tantrum-Free Shopping.

What else have I forgotten? Gas. For years and years, I filled the minivan once a month. I worked from home and I hate driving anywhere outside the beltway. But now, I fill the tank TWICE a month. I still don’t often leave the beltway but Babystar and I find ourselves on mini adventures every day. This started when she was about eighteen months old and noticed that we were walking to the same three playgrounds and one library. So a year ago. And a tank of gas is about $40. I’ll add $480 for the last year and $40 per month going forward unless something changes.

Oh, and diaper pail liners! We buy one pack of Harris Teeter brand thirteen-gallon trash bags every month and we only use them in the Ubbi diaper pail. We bought the diaper pail in February of 2016, twenty-one months ago. The bags are $6.47 per box. Um. Math. That’s $135.87 so far. And I’ll add the $6.47 going forward until we are done with diapers.

I wonder what else I have missed. There hasn’t been a change in the electric bill or anything like that. I used to work from home, so we had the air or heat on all the time anyway. Am I overlooking anything obvious?

Yes. The Target Baby Box. $7.42. They only offer the Baby Box once in awhile but I got one last month! We already love the honest face and body lotion — both of us. Babystar likes to lotion her hands and legs and put on chapstick just like mama. SO CUTE I COULD DIE. (You see why she gets her own Christmas tree just by asking nicely, right??)

And again with the food. Below is November’s list. I KNOW that this part is horribly boring but I’m really all about the accuracy here. Just skip reading this part. I don’t mind. I barely want to write it. All those bullet points and typing, ugh. Amirite?

Costco fruit bowl 9.99
waffles 2.50, 2.50
blueberries 6.99, 3.99
pirate’s booty 8.99
Costco hot dog 1.50
IKEA pizza 1.75
IKEA hot dog .75
IKEA water 1.00
Trader Joe’s strawberry bar 1.99, 1.99
Trader Joe’s fig bar 1.99
Trader Joe’s toaster strudels 2.69, 2.69
Mac and cheese 2.99, 2.99, 2.99, 2.99
cheese slices 4.99
pasta snakes (penne) 1.49
letter cookies 2.99
bananas 1.50
Honest juice boxes for popsicles 3.69, 3.69
frozen pizzas (don’t judge me!) 3.14 3.14, 2.15, 2.15, 2.15, 2.15 (hell of a sale!)
vanilla ice cream 4.49
McDonald’s Happy Meal 2.99, 2.99, 4.19 (they gave me the wrong one but I didn’t bother to complain), 2.99
Chick-fil-A kid’s meal with uncharge on my fries to share 3.49 + .20
Chick-fil-A kid’s meal 3.49 + .20
Chick-fil-A kid’s meal 3.49 + .20
Chick-fil-A kid’s meal 3.49 + .20
cantaloupe 3.99
grapes 4.24, 4.76
tots 3.49, 1.65
Panera kid’s meal 4.99
small box of cereal at 7-11 1.99 (ripoff)
Busboys and Poets kid’s pasta and juice plus tip 10.00
Harry’s fries plus tip $7
goldfish crackers 2.49, 1.79
animal crackers 1.49
Haagen Dazs sundae 5.68
turkey pepperoni 2.19, 2.19
strawberries 2.99
penguin crackers 1.49, 1.49, 1.49

We bought some other boring stuff in November.

diapers 23.49, 15.09
bubble bath 14.09
baby wipes 3.49, 2.99, 4.99, 2.99, 3.29
laundry detergent 8.46
storage unit 127.00

Hopefully you haven’t read all the way down here because WHO CARES about the cost of grapes in November although why are grapes always on sale in November? I never noticed until I started writing this shit down. It’s such a weird time for them to be in season. When is grape season? I need to go to bed.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $24,297.64

SaveSave

Boxing Day.

Published on December 26, 2016April 9, 2017 by Darlene Dee3 Comments

I hope you had a very merry Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas. Or are in the midst of a happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate Hanukkah. Or are enjoying a nice British Boxing Day, if you know what that is. And if you do, please tell me, because even Wikipedia is vague on the origins of Boxing Day. It’s either an extended Christmas (brilliant why didn’t we think of that!) or a Black Friday type situation. Either way, it sounds groovy.

I like to celebrate Boxing Day by removing boxes from my living room.

Christmas was bittersweet at my house. Babystar is here, of course, but the Teenager is visiting Florida where the College Boy now lives. So I only had one of my little chickens here on Christmas morning.

And I am super mean and am making the Teenager wait until she gets home to open her gifts. Or am I really awesome and creating a second Christmas in January? Yes. That one.

Santa brought a LION. As requested. And Babystar is terrified of the lion. He does look super scary tbh. Lion is currently living in the basement working as a guard lion in front of the work bench. So far, Babystar just likes to talk about her lion and growl and sometimes go wave at him. Someday they may become roommates but it’s definitely not happening in 2016. (Santa, what have you done? Whoops.)

How does Santa work at your house? Santa never wraps gifts here. He’s far too busy. And he only brings one special gift. But I am told that he has different arrangements with other good little boys and girls. What’s yours?

Also, we do the Somethings you Want, Need, Wear & Read deal. Christmas gifts were getting out of had so I had to stop the madness somehow. This seems to work. Except Babystar can’t count or understand this year so I wrapped up some extra things for her. For example, the dinosaur magnets and hammer toy have been hiding under brown paper in a box in the living room for weeks. I bought them when I bought her Buckle Bear (oh yeah, I’ll tell you later) because of an awesome sale and made them available in case anyone needed a tantrum distraction during this past month of skipped naps and added sugar. But they were still in that box when I was wrapping presents the other day so under the tree they went! The Ikea hammer set has been in the top of her closet forever because I bought it for my nephew but forgot to give it to him the last time he was here and it says 18 months so I thought he was too old for it now (but Ikea lied and I am once again putting it back at the top of her closet until she is ready) so under the tree it went! I just realized I gave Babystar two hammers for Christmas. Oh, well. Jesus was a carpenter, right? Hammers are totally Christmas-y.

2016 tally (not all are pictured above and some of her gifts were from other people’s bank accounts):

Lion $59.99 (Santa always makes us pay!)
wooden bus, airplane, helicopter, extra people $73.95
Melissa & Doug hammer toy (in picture) and dinosaur magnets $30.08
Three Usborne books $34.17 (a friend had a party this fall)
Re-play plates (and snack containers that didn’t get wrapped) $20.14
Dinosaur pajamas above were added to tally in previous post
Ikea toolset $7.99

Her Christmas haul was meant to be Something she Wants (wooden vehicles and yes she looooves them), Needs (more plates), Wears (pajamas), and Reads (books). The others snuck under the tree but I’ll be more strict next year, I promise. Probably. Otherwise, she might start to notice and then want extra presents in ten years when everything is holograms and hover boards.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $14,072.21

It’s Beginning to Look a Tiny Bit Like Christmas.

Published on December 21, 2016December 18, 2016 by Darlene Dee1 Comment

Just a little, though. HOW IS IT DECEMBER 21 ALREADY? By my math, I still have about three more weeks until Christmas. Right?

We bought a tree. I haven’t bought most gifts. Amazon Prime and I have a hot date tonight. I’m already chilling the pinot noir YES I KNOW IT’S RED WINE DON’T HATE.

The Teenagers and I made gingerbread houses last weekend. We totally had the Trader Joe’s White House kit from July, Haunted House kit from Halloween, and Gingerbread House kit from modern days, and we made them all into Christmas themed masterpieces. We listed to Christmas music and everything. Ta-dah! (Babystar was at Costco with her dad.)

Why yes, my smartass son did make the White House and updated it to the Trump House. That orange blob is Mr. Trump. That lady on the top is Hillz. When they go low, she goes high? Ah, Millennials.

We hung felt ornaments on the tree that the Girl Teenager and I made a few years ago. Babystar keeps taking them off the tree and putting them back on and taking them off. So sometimes there are twenty and sometimes there are zero.

We also made some ornaments this year out of card stock and stickers, and we bought some foam and wood ornament making kits at Target but have not made them yet. Scratch that. The OMG NOW HE IS 20yo and Babystar made one. One. But he’s gone on the airplane now, so luckily I’ve got a date tomorrow with my 3yo niece to help make some more ornaments before Santa gets here. I bought washable markers to replace the ones in the kits because I am smart. And I bought a cute zipper case with bunnies on it to replace the delicious looking semi-edible cardboard marker boxes because I like when Babystar makes the ‘sniff sniff’ bunny face. I also bought some art paper and sparkly ribbon to hang the card stock ornaments (not pictured) and everything was from either Target or Marshall’s (the bunny case) or Micheal’s and most of it was on sale. All of the ornament making craft supplies purchased this month are BECAUSE of Babystar so it’s all going on her tab. Total: $34.97. At least the markers and paper can help stock the Toddler Craft Closet that exists only in my mind right now.

I also ~~built~~ bought a snowman at Marshall’s because Babystar loves her ‘That’s Not My Snowman’ book and is mildly obsessed with snowmen (and mittens) these days. And the snowman has mittens. Dude. $7.99. She loves him btw. We took him to the theater last week.

Oh, right. We went to the theater. Actually, we went to a baby play were we sat on the floor but it was really good and held her attention for the entire thirty minutes. I was impressed. And surprised. Totally worth the $9 per ticket ($19.75 with fees). No, we didn’t have to buy a ticket for the snowman. And we have been to Busy Bees twice lately. But I finally got smart and bought the $36 gift card that covers three visits. Which saves $9 over the course of three visits. And we still have one visit left on the card. Yay!

RAISING BABYSTAR: $13,796.18