More Elf Antics

I've had a lot of fun playing with our Elf on the Shelf.  Each day my daughter comes home from school and rushes up to her room to see what the elf has been up to.  Then she creates a scene or makes things for her elf.  This keeps her busy as well as giving me an idea of what the elf will do the next day.  

To read about how this year's Elf on the Shelf has been super easy for me, check out my previous post HERE.

When we last left off, our elf was sleeping in a bed made by my daughter.  

After my daughter found her, she excitedly wrapped a present for the elf and left a trail of note cards with arrows on them leading the elf to her present.

The arrows lead down the 'stair's and over to this pink present.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of the elf unwrapping her gift.  I wasn't able to catch her in the act, that sneaky elf.  The gift was some baking supplies.  They are actually American Girl sized baking supplies.  The elf used them to bake some cupcakes. And left some real cookies inside the wooden box as a special treat for my daughter.  FYI:  American Girl doll stuff works well with the elf.  That apron she's wearing is another AG item.

Since the elf was having so much fun raiding the American Girl doll's closet, the next day we found her and her new best friend horseback riding.  

She also left a note that said this is almost as much fun as riding a reindeer.

Stay tuned for more elf adventures.

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The Elf is Back and easier than ever!

We've been doing the Elf on the Shelf for a few years and have even taken a break a couple of years ago.  I wasn't sure we would continue the tradition, but after my daughter was asking about the elf a few weeks ago, I figured I'll bring it back out and go through the craziness of it one more time.  At least I hope this is the last time.  It's all worth it to see the joy on her face when she first discovered our elf's arrival on Tuesday morning.  Of course this year I've made it especially easy on myself as you will find out if you keep reading.

Back in 2013 we got an Elf on the Shelf.  You can read all about her adventures HERE.  

I stayed up late at night after the kids went to bed and created different scenes of mischief that the elf had gotten into.  The kids liked it but it was a lot of work on my part and some mornings I realized I forgot to move the elf so it created some stress too.   There are so many great ideas on Pinterest but some of them are pretty intense.  I kept things pretty simple and continued the Elf tradition in 2014 as well.  Click HERE to read about those adventures.  

Our Elf took a break in 2015, that's right, no elf came to visit us that year and no one really seemed to mind.  If you are looking for ways to end your relationship with your elf, be sure to check out THIS post.  

2016 was also the year with no elf and no one even cared.  I think I even tried to give the elf to my sister for her little girl but she didn't want it (wise move, sis, wise move.)

In 2017 our Elf made a reappearance but this time I kept things easy on myself by waiting until the week before Christmas for her to arrive.  I figured 1 week of elf antics is easier than 4.  Check out last years post for what I did.

This year I wasn't planning to do the Elf on the Shelf.  I figured I could get away with saying she didn't make the move.  But then my 8 year old daughter asked about our elf.  Would she be able to find us in our new house?  Seriously, my daughter was almost in tears waiting for our elf to come.  She's not sure she believes in Santa, but she believes in this elf.  How could I disappoint her?  So our elf is making it's 1 week appearance again.  And this time, it's even easier for me.

You see, already on day 1 I forgot to put the elf somewhere.  I forgot to do it after the kids went to bed, and since my 4 year old woke up early I didn't have time to drag the elf out of the basement and hide it somewhere in the house.  Actually I hadn't even thought of where I was going to stash her so having some extra time worked to my favor.  I had to wait until all the kids were in school (luckily my 4 year old goes to half day pre-K) so I'd have the house to myself for a little bit.  

Since it was my daughter who really wanted the elf, I decided to put it in her room, hanging from her window.  There was also a note on her bed and a candy cane pen.  The note said something like, "Sorry I'm late but you moved!"..and... "try to find me everyday after school".  

Yeah, that's right, no more late night or early morning elf hiding.  I'm going to move her while my kids are in school.  And my daughter has made it even easier on my by making presents for the elf, including a little bed.  So where did the elf end up to day?  

That's right, in this cute little bed my daughter set up in the closet.  She even put steps for the elf to get to the bed since the bed is kind of high.  My daughter showed me the bed she was making for the elf yesterday, but when I went to put the elf on the bed this afternoon, I couldn't find it.  The bed was in the closet and the closet was booby trapped closed.  Well, her sneaky elf got around that and tucked herself in bed.  Then I reset the booby trap on the closet door and can't wait to see my daughter's reaction when she gets home from school

I don't know who's having more fun with this elf thing, me or her?  I'm almost sad it's only going to last a week.  Of course we are also only on day 2.  I might be done by day 4.  Ha!

Anyone else doing the Elf on the Shelf?  How have you made it easy on yourself?  I'll need some ideas just in case I have to do this again next year.  I'm kind of glad my 4 year old never caught on to this trend so I don't think he'll mind when our elf never returns.

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Cupcake Christmas Tree

Sunday we hosted an activity at our house for the youth of our church.  And since it's close to Christmas, I decided to make a Christmas themed treat.  Here is my version of a mini cupcake Christmas Tree.

Of course I got my inspiration from Pinterest, and naturally my version isn't nearly as Pintastic as the ones below, but hey, at least you could tell it was a Christmas tree and it tasted good.  

source

I didn't get nearly as fancy with my tree decorating, mostly because I only had sprinkles on hand to decorate with.  I did use the spray can of frosting with the different tips so that made icing the cupcakes easier.

source

For the past couple of years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has done a Light The World initiative at Christmas time.  

I love this idea, as it helps put the focus on Christ this Christmas season.  It helps us to remember Him, how He served and loved others, and how we can do the same.  

This year, each week in December is focused on a different way to serve. 

Week 1:  Light the World - Jesus’s love knew no bounds. Discover ways to help someone in another part of the world.

Week 2:  Light your community - Needs exist all around us – some are just a little closer to home. Make the world a better place, starting in your own community.

Week 3:  Light your family - At the busiest time of the year, fill your home with light by serving those closest to you.

Week 4:  Light your faith - By following the Light of the World, your faith in Jesus Christ will grow brighter and brighter.

Click on each week's link to watch a short video and find out ways you can #LightTheWorld.


Merry Christmas!

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Christmas 2017 recap

I'm having a hard time getting back into the swing of things.  Being off for the holiday and sleeping in was great.  I got used to it real quick.  The kids first week back at school wasn't too bad since 3 out of the 4 days had a delayed start due to the weather, so I was still sleeping in.  This week however, has been a little rough.  The super cold temperatures didn't help either, but yesterday and today are warmer, if you can call 40° warm.

I'm finally getting around to recapping our Christmas.  I know it's 2018 and I've already taken down my Christmas decorations, but I'm still going to write about it.  Then I'll share some Valentines decorations I've been making.

This Christmas seemed to fly by and we didn't get around to doing all the fun traditions we've done in the past.  But there is always next year.  Some of the fun and FREE things we did included:

* Making a gingerbread house at Home Depot.  I was quite impressed that my 7 year old did all the work herself

OK, she got a little help painting from her brother.

* Along with a wooden gingerbread house, we also made the edible kind.  I think more candies were eaten than actually put on the house.

* My little guy just loves trains.  So of course we had to take him to a train garden.  Actually he got to go to several of them thanks to relatives taking him as well.  He loved being able to press the buttons to make things move.  

I think he could have stayed there for hours.

* The two youngest and I went to see Santa and one of his reindeer.  You can't tell by his worried expression, but my son was so excited to pet a reindeer.

* The Elf on the Shelf came back.  You can read about how and why we brought it back in THIS POST.  This was the first time my son was involved in this tradition.  And since the elf was only around for a week, which is a lot more manageable than a month, I think she'll be coming back next year too.

* We went to Bass Pro Shops and played in their Winter Wonderland while visiting with Santa.

Once again my daughter impressed me with her skills, this time it was shooting.  She had pretty good aim for only playing this game once a year.

The 'dirt' was brown kinetic sand and the kids loved playing in it.  We have kinetic sand at our house and I'm thinking of recreating this.  I could put the sand in one of those underbed storage containers along with some vehicles and sand toys and let them play with it that way.  We usually just have it on a baking sheet and use cookie cutters and plastic knives to play with it.  This would bring a whole new dimension to our kinetic sand play.

And let's not forget about Christmas morning.  I don't know who was more excited me or the kids.  Three of the kids got some big gifts.  They didn't cost that much, they were all bought second hand, but they were large and so I didn't wrap them.  You can see in the picture below how I like to separate out my kids gives so we have 4 piles.  On the left is my 7 year old's pile.  Her presents are stacked upon a pink and black leopard print high heel shoe chair.  My 3 year old son's pile is next and behind it is a tall Fischer Price Little People City Skyway race car ramp thingy.  And that big red bag conceals my teenage son's punching bag.  My teenage daughter didn't get anything very large.  Her gift requests were small items like books and art supplies.  I tried to make up for the smaller size with more items by individually wrapping the 13 book set she got.

Since some of the gifts were unwrapped, I didn't want to spoil the surprise (or spoil the change of me seeing their faces when they first see the gifts.  Because of the openness of our house, the kids can look down from the second floor and see right into the living room, I wanted to cover up the gifts and unveil them when I was there to see their expressions.  I just used some bed sheets.  The kids were definitely interested in what was under there making those weird shapes, but they did wait for me to unveil it for them and boy were they surprised.  

And then I took the obligatory Christmas morning photo.  My 7 year old's face was pretty much frozen like that all morning.  She's the most dramatic of our kids and it was so fun to watch her open her gifts and squeal in excitement over each one.  

This year we did pretty good with the presents.  We got stuff the kids actually liked and would use or play with.  That hasn't always happened.  Sometimes it's hard to know what they'll like/play with since birthdays are just a few months before Christmas and the kids already have so much.  To cut back on the amount of stuff, we've tried getting the kids 'experiences' such as pool passes or a trip somewhere but we also like them to have fun stuff to open. 

Here are some of the things the kids got (go ahead and plan ahead for next Christmas or think birthdays, or Easter baskets gifts):

3 year old boy gifts:

Magformers Magnets in Motion 37 piece set

Superhero dress up costumes - these are great to pick up on after Halloween clearance.

Toob animals

Books

Little People Wheelies

7 year old girl gifts:

Little Live Pets Bird

Fingerlings Monkey

Sequin color changing storage bin

Books

Glittery wedge high top sneakers

Teenage girl gifts:

Books - mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, how to draw, how to paint, creative writing...

Art supplies such as canvases, paints, gel pens, high quality markers, fabric markers....

Clothes - robe, pajamas, shirts...

Teenage boy gifts:

Lock picking set

Ceiling fan - because he says he's always hot at night.

Books

Punching gloves

And here's a fun family gift they got - The Claw Arcade Game.  They loved it and practiced much patience in playing it.  It has been fun to play with their friends too.  The novelty has worn off like I knew it would, but I plan to use it for the kid's birthday parties too.  You can change up what you put in it from candy to small toys or even money.  In the video below you can see how intense the kids are in trying to get something.  It's much easier than the claw machine at the arcade.  Depending on the type of candy/toy you put in there, you could be a winner every time.

Hope your Christmas was a merry one and that 2018 has been off to a good start for you.

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Elf on the Shelf Returns

Early Saturday morning my daughter runs excitedly into my bedroom exclaiming the elf is back!  The excitement on her face is what makes it all worth it.  We've done the Elf on the Shelf before.  You can read about our many adventures about that HERE and HERE.  Then we decided to take a break.  I mentioned how and why HERE.  Well, she's back and this time I've made it easy on myself.  She's only here for about a week.  I figure I can handle a week of this little elf.

My daughter was so excited to see her Elf return.  And the Elf brought her some new pajamas.

Anyone else doing Elf on the Shelf?  Are you burnt out yet and need more ideas?  Check out all the activities we did with out Elf in previous years and how we ended the relationship HERE, HERE and HERE.

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Christmas Crafts

Our Elementary PTO is great.  They have lots of activities planned throughout the year and most are for the whole family not just the elementary student.  One night last week they had a family Christmas craft activity.  There were 10 different craft stations set up for the kids.  We were able to do 8 of them in about an hour.  They were all easy to make and my 7 year old daughter had a blast making them with very little help from me.

This snowman craft was easy to do and didn't take much time since all the pieces were cut out and ready to go.  Just glue the snowman head and body to the blue paper, then glue on the scarf and carrot nose.  Using a black marker, add eyes and a mouth then paint on some snowflakes using white craft paint and a Q-tip.  And there you have a cute little snowman with some falling snow.

Next up was this jolly little elf.  All my daughter had to do was color, cut and assemble with brads/split pins.  The pattern was from Red Ted Art. 

This snowman cup was another super easy one.  Put the silver pipe cleaner through the cup, glue on the red ear muffs and carrot nose.  Finish it off using a black marker to make the eyes and mouth.  How cute would this be for a Christmas party filled with candy favors.

This fingerprint tree would make a cute Christmas card.  All it took was some red and green ink, a gold star and brown marker for the tree trunk.

Beaded snowflake

  The silver pipe cleaners were already made to form a snowflake so all my daughter had to do was add the beads and bend the ends.  Then we added a hook so we could hang it on the Christmas tree.

Craft stick Rudolf

  All we had to do for this was to glue on the antlers, eyes and nose.  I think hot glue would have worked better.  The craft glue made things slip around a bit until they dried. 

Twig and Ribbon Tree Ornament

I thought this craft was so cute, I made one myself.  All we had to do was tie scraps of fabric around a twig.

Cork Santa

This one took a little longer because we had to wait for the paint to dry, but other than that it was easy.  The bottom half of the cork was painted red.  A cotton ball was glued on as a beard.  Using a black marker my daughter added eyes and a nose.  There was a Hershey Kiss glued on top of the cork for a hat and then the small cotton ball glued onto that.  However, my daughter couldn't resist and ate the Hershey Kiss.  I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like though.

My daughter also had an ornament making day at school so check back next week to see more Christmas craft ideas.

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The Christmas Towel and #LightTheWorld

Several years ago I received one of these Christmas towels as a gift.   They are just white tea towels with the word Service embroidered on them and a little story attached.  Although I've never used mine as a towel, I enjoy reading the story each year as I unpack it from my Christmas decor box.

I thought they'd make a cute gift, and perfect for this time of year reminding us of our Savior in the everyday acts of service we do.

Here's my version.  I don't know how to embroider so I omitted that step and used a festive red towel instead. 

I love how a useful everyday object now has deeper meaning because of the story.  These would make great gifts for neighbors, friends, or large church groups.

If you are looking for more ways to serve this Christmas season, check out the Light The World campaign from Mormon.org  There are 25 ways to serve over the 25 days leading up to Christmas.  Each day there is a short video, a scripture and a challenge to serve.  We've been watching the videos each night and trying to be more mindful of serving others this holiday season.  It's a great way to remember Jesus which is what Christmas is truly about.

You can download the calendar which has each day's scripture HERE.

And if you're looking for how to apply these ideas for families, teens or little kids, check out THIS POST or THIS ONE.  Thanks to Emilie of A Year Of FHE for putting these together.  If you need FHE ideas, she's got you covered so be sure to check out her entire site.  

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