Camping Out

This morning, Audrey found Cookie and Tinkerbell having a campout under the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree with a note that says camping out under the stars.
I used shoulder pads as tents, a battery tealight with broken skewers over top. a folded napkin for their pillows and added our silver christmas trees for a better outdoor feel. :)
And although Cookie did not bring me a Powerball win, she is still winning my daughters heart everyday.

Its good to be the PRINCESS

At least that is what Cookie's note told Audrey this morning.

She found Cookie riding a carriage amongst her Little People castle with the King, Queen, and knight, and even the dragon. Cookie left her a cute little crown. As you can see Jim helped her find Cookie. He is growing his hair out apparently, LOL!

Today, I did a snowman candy bar wrap REMIX....I used trial size candy bars instead, so cute AND, at the end, Audrey stuck the snowman wrap on her finger and used it as a finger puppet!

We are looking forward to a very full event weekend.

It is the annual Dickens of a Christmas Celebration. I got engaged at Dickens and 1 year later, I told our family we were having a baby at Dickens.  It is my favorite weekend of the year. I highly recommend finding a celebration and fair near your home that allows you to breath in the flavors of Christmas.

On our event Calendar is also the LIVE Nativity at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church in mechanicsburg. It starts at 6 pm on Sunday, December 2nd and ends at 830 pm

The write up on their website says:

Live animals, Christmas music, caroling and more! A drive through nativity takes place 6 to 7 p.m. with a Christmas celebration beginning at 7:45 p.m.  There will be refreshments, caroling and the kids will be able to pet the animals. Join us for this very special 3rd annual event.

We are truly looking forward to it. Perhaps, you will join us!

MERRY MERRY CHRISTmas!

Stacy

Snowman Candy Bar Wraps

My mom found this cute little snowman candy bar wrap.
Such a great little inexpensive gift to give.
So, tonight I tried my hand at making one my own way
All you need is some plain white printer paper, markers, fabric, scissors, glue( I used a hot glue gun for the little bit of gluing that I needed to do) and ribbon.
It turned out pretty cute, even cuter than the one my mom gave.

Then, I mixed up some "Sooth Your Tired Soul" bath soak.
Mix up Epsom Salts and Sea Salt with essential oils. I used Peppermint and Eucalyptus. A few scoops in your hot bath water and it clears your sinuses and draws out impurities, and relaxes your tired muscles.
I use about 20 drops of essential oil to 1 cup sea salt and 1 cup epsom salt.
I put them in great parmesan cheese like shakers that I got from the Dollar Store, cut a square of fabric to cover the top and screw the lid on, viola! I have a fun wooden tag to add, but you can spruce them up any way you like.

The Elf was so fun this morning. I had Cookie sitting in the bathroom behind a wheelbarrow that was pushing a bunch of cotton ball "snow balls". I captured Audrey on Video and her reading of the note was so funny. But for some reason my video cant upload on here.
So a picture will have to suffice.

Happy Holidays!

Stacy

Move over Panera....

And its not because of paninis.
Panera Bread has the best shortbread cookies on earth...its true! Ayt my old job, when Panera catered, I would grab the cookies with my lunch, so I didnt miss out.
But no more Panera, No More, for I have found the recipe to the most delectable and light shortbreads in the universe....thanks to allrecipes.com which is the best site for recipes, or at least in my opinion.
So today, that is what Audrey and I whipped up. It is just 4 ingredients, simple.
Cream together 4 sticks of butter, I use salted, with 1 cup of white sugar. Make sure the butter is soft before you start creaming it, makes it super easier.  A 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix it all together, or cream it as I said before.
Next you will sift in flour, my recipe says 4 cups, but seriously, I use about 3 1/4. My hand gets tired after 3 cups...lol...but again the recipe says 4 cups. Refrigerate it....DONT MISS THIS PART, it gives your dough the right consistency for shaping it and cutting it. You can freeze the dough also.  I would say fridge it for 2 hours at least.
Preheat oven to 350, plop your dough, cook for 12-15 minutes....VIOLA! Eat your heart out PANERA!  YUM!!!!

On the another cookie....COOKIE our Elf.
This morning, she had made paper chain links and hung them and garland from Audreys room and swung herself through one. Audrey never noticed her when she woke up at 5 am and crawled in our bed, but was sure excited to see her when she finally crawled out of our bed at 630.
We love foam paper, and the crafts that you can come up with our endless.
Today, we made reindeer for our tree.
What a day, whatta day!

Already playing catch up...but so much to catch you up on

So my parents came to visit on Friday and well, the weekend just got away from me, so lets play catch up.
2 days of Elf on the Shelf:
The First day a tea party with "the girls" aka Princess Barbies for Cookie.

Audrey woke up to cookie sitting on our kitchen counter enjoying some tea and snacks. She, of course, left a note and a little craft to do. I am amazed at how seriously she took the "no touching or she will lose her magic" rule. That elf sat on the counter for a whole day and she never once moved her, just played around her.
Yesterday, we all decorated our Christmas Tree, so this morning Cookie was found sitting atop it! Her little note let Audrey know how much she loved the tree and how beautiful it was, and of course she had a little craft to do with her dad this morning.

The cold stifled our activity plans for this weekend, but with the weeks ahead I promise we will make up for it! We did manage to get in most of our outside decorations and some shopping, so the weekend was certainly not a loss.

As I said, our tree is up and beautiful.
We did a family craft of a YEAR in our life ornament. I bought a clear ornament and spray painted the inside and swished it back and forth to count it.  I am sure you could use any smooth ornament and a permanent marker. We added all of the BIG moments in our life that covered the last year: Our cruise to alaska, Audreys start of preschool, the beach with the conways, etc....  You can add anything...we even added Hurricane Sandy! A great tradition and a great memory keeper, very simple.

One holiday tradition that I kept this year was to bring out my german carousel. Janet Campbell, a lady from my small little town of English Center bought me the carousel when I was young, like 8, so it is nearly 30 years old and in the original box. We stopped at Kathies Christmas to get the candles that fit it and I saw a similar carousel for $392.  WOW. The candles make the carousel blades spin and merry-go-round it.

Love this. 

We did whip up a great turkey leftover treat: Turkey Nachos.

Simply shred your turkey, put over tortilla chips and sprinkle with cheese and bake.....SO SO good!

Right now, I am working on Audrey's Elf Party Invites, a party she will have for her friends at school.

I bought cute little $1 invited from Michaels and will add the paper invite to the inside.

I am so looking forward to this, and I am hoping to add my own UGLY Sweaer party to one of the next few days, though I realize that I add too many thing sometimes.....meh....thats what the holidays are for!!

Leftover PVC pipe & a plan

Thats what today looks like, and I didnt even know it! yesterday I was cleaning out out storage room to prep all the christmas bins and I found a few odds and ends that needed to be used up or tossed.
One of those things: a bin of PVC pipe and elbows and connectors that my husband had when he made marshmellow guns for our nieces and nephews 4 years ago. 4 LONG years ago and the PVC pipe was shoved in the corner of a basement. So I got to thinking, if I had a diagram, I could make use of this pvs pipe and make my own Marshmellow guns.
Audrey loved helping and Molli, our dog, loved chasing and gobbling up the marshmellows that we were "test shooting"! I realized after the first one was fitted together that for a small kiddo, the gun has to be cut into shorter pvc pipe portions to fit their hands and breath force.
Here is the diagram I used: http://www.campercommunity.com/camping/articles/1021/1/Marshmallow-Shooter/Page1.html
And here is a pic of the fun we had!

For today, our activity will be looking for some little treats during Black Friday shopping with mom mom when she gets here.
AND, we decorated Audrey's animal tree. Beautiful felt animal ornaments.

We got out 30 Christmas books to enjoy and placed them in a sleigh. We will read a new Holiday book every day.
Most importantly, we decorated our house for christmas AND introduced COOKIE our elf on the shelf to our family. we watched her movie and read her book.
Cheers to Christmas!

There truly is no place like HAPPY for the holidays

Let the holiday immersion begin!
The turkey has left the building.
Welcome to the next 39 craziest most fun filled and most importantly FAITH filled days of my 2012.
As promised, I will be doing 5 things every day for the next 39 days...I will probably miss a few "things" here and there, as I get older I forget...and goodness knows I can only do SO MUCH!  But, I will try my very best to:  1.  Create and Share a fun recipe everyday. 2. Create and Share a fun craft every day. 3. Share my wacky Elf on the shelf ideas. 4.  Take part in a local activity or business and share what I think of it, there is a calendar listed on a previous post, so anyone is welcome to join us on days that we head somewhere local.  5. Share our advent activity ( starts December 1st).

So today, we started decorating our home for Christmas. It looks like Clark Griswold decorated my house. And, I am sure it will only get tackier when we put the blow up Santa in a Helicopter on our roof.  LOL!  I spent the last 4 christmases "baby proofing" the house, but Audrey is now 3 and everyday she asks if it is Christmas. I cant wait to show her a wonderful time.
We enjoyed a delectable Thanksgiving meal at my inlaws this afternoon.
I made each of my Sister in Laws and MIL homemade sugar scrub and I made my niece and nephews Pumpkin peep smores.  I think that they were both a hit.
As my contribution to the holiday meal, I made peanut butter balls.  Easy , easy , easy to make: pb, powered sugar, freeze, roll in melted chocolate and let sit.  YUMMO!
The most fun part of the day was prepping "Cookie" to make her first appearance tomorrow.
She is our Elf on the Shelf.  We picked a girl and we even bought her a skirt.
Looking forward to sharing the next 39 fun filled days with her.

So now I have a sleeping kiddo on the couch and I am ready to hit the hay, so that tomorrow, I can begin this super fun time with you!

Stacy

Thankful for Good Teachers

So today I made Brown Sugar Scrubs for Audrey's Preschool teachers as a Thanksgiving gift.
I mixed together white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, olive oil, and Canola Oil.
I spooned it into pumpkin glass jars, and added a pumpkin shaped loofa and a cute little tag that Says "I am thankful for you!"
I hope it brightens their day tomorrow.

And, I headed to the store to get the ingredients to make the pilgrim hats that I made last year.

THEN, after I made 2 dozen I realized that they are made out of peanut butter and Audreys school is Peanut Free.....so.......the cute little pilgrim hat cookies made their way to the UAFD training tonight.

Audrey came home with 2 really cute crafts that you all may want to try with your kiddos. I cant take the credit for crafting them, but I think they are worth sharing.

First, she came home with this super cute construction paper hat.

And who knew how much fun an empty roll of Toilet Paper could be?

Calendar of Local Activities

Here is a list of some of the local activities that we are planning on taking part in over the course of the next few weeks.  I hope that this list proves helpful to you all as you also plan for the holidays.  I'd love to see you out at some of these events.  Many of the events actually take place on numerous dates, I have just chosen the date that works best for our family and our calendar. I encourage you to look up the events on line and choose a date that works for you!
November 24th: Camilla's Sin Tea Room Dickens of a Tea in Carlisle.  Open nearly every day, this tea house comes highly recommended, not for small children, but a great break for mamas.
November 24th: Carriage Ride with Harrisburg Carriage Company on City Island. The sleigh bells go on the horses on November 16th.  Reservations are highly suggested. What a fun family adventure or maybe something romantic to do with your spouse;
November 30th: Santa Train on Tioga County Railroad/ Wellsboro PA
December 1st: Dickens of a Christmas in Wellsboro PA. My favorite day of the year.
December 2nd: LIVE NATIVITY at Silver Spring Presbyterian Church
December 2nd: Popcorn hat Players Twas the Night Before Christmas at Christ Presbyterian Church in CH.
December 5th: Silver Spring Township Fire Department Sleigh Rides. Sounds like fun, why not try it!
December 6th: Mary Poppins at the Hershey Theatre
December 7th: Hershey Gardens Santa Garden. This sounds like a beautiful walk thru twinkly lights to meet Santa. It is included in the admission and takes place on several different dates.
also on December 7th: I think since we are in Hershey, we will hit up Christmas Candylane on this date as well.
December 8th: Fort Hunter Reindeer and Mrs. Claus Visit. Sounds like fun!
December 8th: Christian Life Assembly's The Gospel According to Scrooge! JUST GO! We went last year and the performance was PHENOMENAL! And on Saturday evenings they provide FREE childcare for kids under 5!
December 9th, 11th or 12th: Christmas Cafe at Daybreak Church. GREAT music and refreshments at my church of choice!
December 14th: Over various dates, but this is our date...Mrs. Bob Crachits Wild Christmas Binge Play. Thanks to my mom for the gift certificate. Cant wait to visit a local place I have never been.
December 16th 6:30 pm Drive thru Bethlehem at Hanoverdale Church of the Brethren, this happens 8, 9, 14, 15 and the 16th.
December 22nd: Popcorn Hat Players Gamut Theatre in Strawberry Square is doing Santa Claus is coming to town, geared specifically toward the kids.
Many Many more ideas and events to fill in during the next few weeks!
A few to think about:
An amish christmas buggy ride in Lancaster
Kitchen Kettle Village in Lancaster
Jonah at Sight and Sound Theatre
Allenberry Theatre Christmas Show
Hershey Sweet Lights
Rocky Ridge Farms
Elizabeth Farms
Chocolate World Breakfast with Santa
Dutch Wonderland Christmas
Hands on House
Snow Tube at Ski Roundtop
Christmas in Chocolate Town Show
Sleigh Rides at Childrens Lake Boiling Springs

This is a good head start, but I value any additions you may offer.
we may not be able to make them all, but someone reading this blog might.

Holiday Hair

No Not the stop on the mall.
This Holiday Hair is truly HOLIDAY Hair.
Audrey's Mothers Day Out Program on Thursdays in a classroom filled with only girls, 8 of them to be exact, from 3 to 5.
And I wanted to do something super girly and super cute for them for the holidays.
I LOVE Hair bows and Barrettes.
I have made them since my kiddo had enough hair to gather up in one.

So, as I prepped to make some fun hair accessories for Audreys winter outfits, I figured why not make some for the other little ladies in her class...put them in a special box and VIOLA, a super special christmas goodie!

I already had LOTS of ribbon, so I stopped at Michaels and snagged a few embellishments to add. I stopped at CVS for curler clips...aka what I use as a barrette, also known as alligator clips, only small.
To make these you need only a few other craft supplies:
scissors
glue gun and sticks
ribbon
metal barrettes
ribbon
and any embellishment you want to add.  I chose snowmen, snowflakes, and white and red pointsettias.

First step is to cut ribbon to fit around the barrette and heat up the glue gun
Next step, place the ribbon back side up in between the clamp part of the barrette.
Like so:

Then, stick some hot glue on the top of the barrette and line up the ribbon. This will clamp the ribbon around the hot set of "teeth" on the metal barrette.

Now fold the ribbon over the back( with the barrette teeth closed).

and hot glue it closed to the back clamp part of the barrette.

Then, add an embellishment and let it dry.

ITS THAT SIMPLE!

Here are some that I had cut and laid out prior to starting the gluing process. This is a good idea., get everything prepped before you plug in the gun.

 

Then one by one, the cuteness started to come together.

I made matching pairs, one with a snowflake, and the other with a snowman.

Audrey even got in on the action. First as a model, and then she decided she could cut with her scisscors to help me.

The final results turned out super cute!