Meet Tommy Teal, our Elf on the Shelf. He first visited our house last November 26th. Tommy isn't as crazy as some elves you see out there. He's actually quite boring. That's ok and I'll tell you why! Yes, I do admit that I get a bit jealous of some of the ideas people come up with for their Elf on the Shelf. I've seen some cute ones, some mischievous ones, and some just plain wrong ones. However, not everyone is that creative nor do they have time to make those little scenes. If you are anything like me, you have to set an alarm to even remember to move your elf each night! Plus, I thought the point of the Elf on the Shelf was to help your kids be good during the holiday season. Your elf is suppose to sit somewhere in your house all day and watch your childrens' behavior. Each night he goes back to the North Pole and reports to Santa how they have been. This is where I have an issue with some of the ideas I've seen and why I think our boring Tommy is just fine. 1) … [Read more...]
Pinned it, Did it—Snowday Ice Cream
This post was actually written last winter and for some odd reason we never published it. We found Snowday Ice Cream on Pinterest but have since lost the original pin. Here's our take on it though :) Yes, the lack of snow continues this year! Where we live (the frozen tundra) we normally have a surplus of snow for this tasty treat. Notice I said "normally?" Yeah well this year, not so much...in fact this year was the first year I can remember in my 30-something years where we had a brown Christmas. Well we finally got a little bit of snow (just barely enough to cover the ground) and I can finally share this tasty treat with you.Here is what you will need:8 cups of CLEAN snow- steer clear of the yellow snow, for obvious reasons1 can of sweetened condensed milk1-2 tsp vanilla extract (or almond is great too!)sprinkles (because who doesn't like sprinkles)Grab your largest bowl and fill it with the fresh snow that has just fallen.Estimate 8 cups (give or take a little) and pour the … [Read more...]
Milk Art–Pinned it, Did it!
I've seen milk art all over Pinterest and was excited to try it with my girls. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as awesome as I hoped it would be...I'm not saying it wasn't cool and we didn't have fun...I'm just saying it wasn't as cool as the original post from Pinterest. Theirs was just so neat and at the end was a really fun video. Ours didn't look like either of those.We started by putting drops of food coloring in a thin layer of 2% milk on a plate...Then we dropped dish soap onto our food coloring drops and watched it react with the fat in the milk. The food coloring instantly dispersed all over the milk. It was neat to watch but again, not as cool as the video in the original post.In fact, my girls had more fun swirling the food coloring with a fork and making the above conglomerate.I then thought long and hard and took a second look at the original post. They had more food coloring and had it all in one place vs random drops. So...we tried again...Much better!! It was … [Read more...]
Four More Thanksgiving Activities for Kids and Adults
Last year we did a post on four Thanksgiving activities for kids and adults to do together while you hang out and celebrate as a family. This year, we bring you four more! 1. Pin the Feather on the Turkey This game is played just like Pin the Tail on the Donkey but instead you are pinning the feather on the turkey! We found a great turkey template that you can print and color. 2. Cornucopia Game Similar to musical chairs but Thanksgiving related! Players sit on chairs forming a circle. There should be one more player than there are chairs. Pick an adult or older child that is not playing the actual game to be the leader. The leader points to each player to give them a name, such as "Turkey, Pilgrim, Cranberry," anything related to Thanksgiving. After names are chosen, the leader calls out two names, "Turkey and Corn." Those two players must quickly switch places. The leader keeps calling at a quick pace, until suddenly they say "The cornucopia has tipped over!" Everyone, then … [Read more...]
Advent Calendar Making
I remember when I was a kid that I had an awesome felt Advent Calendar to use every year during the month of December. My grandma made it for her kids when they were young and it was passed down to me. Sadly, I have no idea where the calendar ended up (I sure wish I knew). I was thinking to myself that it would be fun to have one for my kids to use every year....and maybe pass it down to their kids. So I got to work!I Google-searched 24 images of items I wanted for the calendar and printed them out on paper, then cut them out and used them as templates for the ornaments.I made 2-3 ornaments each week during the summer and really tried to add as much detail as possible to the ornaments to make them extra special. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. What do you think???I made a stocking for each one of the kidsSanta, Christmas bag, Cardinal (for my grandma), Candy CaneChristmas Tree, Hot Cocoa, Gift, BellGingerbread Man, Ice Skate, Baby Jesus, HollyPoinsettia, Snowflake, Light, … [Read more...]
Bloggy Bootcamp Chicago Recap
As Lindsi said on Friday, I was away this past weekend for a blogging conference--Bloggy Bootcamp Chicago to be exact. What is Bloggy Bootcamp? It is a one day blog and social media conference put on by The SITS Girls and hosted in 4 major cities around the U.S each year. This year they added a 5th stop in Chicago for their first ever 2 day Brand Edition. The Chicago Brand Edition was focused on the business of blogging. Around 150 women gathered together to learn how to be better bloggers, to network, to learn how to enhance their social media presence, and the biggest reason, to learn how to work with companies and brands to earn more income from blogging. I can not begin to tell you how much I learned from Bloggy Bootcamp Chicago! I have 20 pages of notes and too many photos of slides to count! I'm still wrapping my head around all the stuff I want to do for our blog now! My trip, however, started with a little fun. The conference did not start until 2:00 on Friday but it … [Read more...]
