Ornaments

Tonight was fun.
I'm blessed with amazing neighbors. One of them has a little girl and she came over to bake and do some crafts with the boys and I.
She brought her pink apron over - it was so cute. I can't wait to do this kind of stuff with Isla when she is older. It's strange that I have to wait 4-5 years for that!! LOL

Anyway, here is what we did.
I saw this ornament on Pinterest and I loved it. I was very surprised at how excited the boys were to stuff feathers into this plastic ornament. They were both very focused - totally thought Norah would have chosen that project but my boys couldn't wait.

 Norah made this for her parents which I find both sweet and creative.

Everyone painted an ornament too. I bought 4 wooden ornaments for a buck or less, the bag of feathers were $1.50, the plastic ornaments were $0.75/ea, the bag of foam beads in Norah's ornament were a buck...cheap and kept everyone happy for 2 hours!!

We also baked cookies. I can never get frosting SUPER red so I bought some at Micheals. It saved me frustration. I melted those Wilton white chocolate discs and made hearts and snowflakes on wax paper. We stuck them in the freezer until it was go-time.
Below you can see where we used the white chocolate heart.
I actually prefer to use the melted discs instead of frosting because of they way it hardens on the cookie - it doesn't smear as badly. I like how thin you can spread it over a cookie, which is great for layering. It also makes a great "glue."

A Christmas Story Display

Today we went to the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond to check out the "A Christmas Story" Exhibit.
The six animatronic window displays are from Macy's Department Store in New York but "come home" for the holidays. Brant seemed very confused about the flagpole scene. The favorite scene among the boys was the toy story window. Jaxon LOVED the train!

You can vote for your favorite Chrsitmas tree too! I of course voted for Village Kids - #17!



Admission is free and the exhibit runs through Jan 8!

Book of good-doings as teacher gift

My friend Kara was telling us that her daughters' school sent home a note asking to donate to charity instead of buying a gift for the teacher. The letter included a list of items that would be helpful to shelters, etc.
So my first thought was to give a card and then inside say, $10 was donated on your behalf, blah, blah." I have been to baby showers, weddings, etc. where the family did that instead of a favor. But then I thought about putting this book together. It's not finished yet but in case some of you want to use the idea I thought I would blog about it.

Title: From Our Hearts To Yours
Inside page: I have this quote (which unfortunately I have no clue who the author is): "Christmas gift ideas: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."
First Page: Dear TLC Staff,
Every day you give to my kids. So we decided to pay it forward and give to other children. We hoped to touch their lives as you have touched ours. The last month before break, Nov 13-Dec 15, we particpated in four charitible projects - all in your name! Here is our journey.

Then each page briefly outlines each project. I need to print the pictures out but it will have candid pictures of the boys and I completing each project.

My husband isn't crazy about the idea but if someone did charitble acts in my name, I would be touched. I'll let you kow how it goes over!!!

snowman project

Mason LOVES to glue and cut things so we made this snowman picture for Great Grandma.

We used googly eyes, old buttons, construction paper and ribbon. Mason had a lot of fun making it but more importantly it will make Great Grandma feel loved that during the hustle and bustle of this holiday season we stopped and took a moment to make her a picture.

Holiday crafts: napkin rings

Mason and I did some holiday crafts over the weekend.
We started with homemade napkin rings. This would be a cool thing to bring a host or to put on your own table if you are doing the hosting this season.

Tools:

• Construction paper
• scissors
• glue or stapler

Santa Belt:
Cut red construction paper 2" x 7". Seal ends with glue or a stapler. Cut a black strip of construction paper 1" x 7". Wrap around red ring and seal ends with glue or stapler. Cut out a 1" x 1" square out of yellow construction paper. Fold in half to cut the middle out. Glue to front of napkin ring.

For the berry one we just cut green construction paper same size: 2"x 7". I bought a bag of foam berries at the dollar store and glued them to the ring.

Chocolate Gooey butter cookies

To thank my neighbor, I made these cookies for her. I can make them quickly and they are sure to please. I usually add white chocolate chips or Reese Pieces (I added Reese pieces to this batch). I do not dust them with powdered sugar either - just because I don't want the added mess and step.

Paula Deen's recipe for Chocolate Gooey Butter Chocolate cookies:

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Paper ornament in honor of my dad

Today is 9 years that my dad passed away from cancer.
He played the accordian and the blues harp. I have some of his accordian music and decided to make an ornament out of it (paper ornaments out of Family Fun).

It's my kind of craft - paper, scissors and staples (some ribbon to hang the ornament).

ORNAMENT:

• Cut two 12-inch strips, two 10-inch strips, and one 8 3/4-inch strip.
• Line them up in this order: 12, 10, 8 3/4, 10, 12, with one set of ends even.
• Staple this end.
• Line up the other ends evenly (bending the outer strips as needed) and staple.
• Use the completed shapes to dress up a window or spin in midair from a light fixture or a ribbon.
• To hang each, knot the end of the gold cord and place it between the loose strips of paper at the top. Staple it all together.

I think this would be a cool thing to do with a picture your child colored or drew. It would be a nice gift for neighbors or grandparents. I was also thinking if this was done on a smaller scale you could glue it to cardstock and make a 3D holiday card.