Elf on the Shelf Breakfast

This is the second year our family Elf on the Shelf Jake has visited our household.  With today being December 1st, Jake's first appearance came this morning.  He greeted us this morning with a traditional Elf Breakfast, and my kids LOVED it! The ideas in this post are not my own, but they are a collection of ideas I found on Pinterest and other blogs.  Just look how excited these kiddos were when they first saw the table.

Having a two-week old newborn, I decided to go simple rather than extravagent on the decor and set up of this breakfast.  A simple red tablecloth and some party plates and napkins was all I did.  I wanted to hang red and green streamers from the ceiling and dust the tablecloth with pretend snow, but I didn't have a chance to purchase the supplies.  These kiddos are happy just to see Jake, and my son dove right in to the snowman donuts....

The snowman donuts were made with Skittles and mini chocolate chips.  I think a candy corn or a candy that would stick out a bit more would be better, but I just used what I had in the cupboard. 

The reindeer donuts were made with red M&M's, white chocolate chips, black gel icing, and pretzels. I had the square pretzels on hand, so I used those, but I think the standard-shaped pretzels would be look better.

We also had hot chocolate and mini marshmallows which is a real treat for my little ones.   Oh...and reindeer kisses (white chocolate chips).

 

Jake left a little note for each of my kids.  The note introduced him and briefly reminded them of why he was visiting our home.  I love the googly eyes added to the note.

Jake also left each of the kids a Christmas tradition...Christmas pajamas and socks. I like giving them on December 1st, so the kids can wear them all month, so this seemed like the perfect way to gift them to the kids.

Welcome to December! Here's hoping Jake helps encourage our kiddos to behave this season and beyond!!

Autumn Decor Idea

This post is a bit delayed in that the day I was going to post about this autumn decor idea, I went into labor with our third child!!  I gave birth to our beautiful daughter last Wednesday, and she has already added such joy and happiness to our family. I just love being a mom, and we have so much to be thankful for. 

Now onto this autumn decor idea...

I saw the idea for vases filled with popcorn kernels on Pinterest, but decided to add an extra something to it with the Cricut letters. I wanted to share this idea because it was so inexpensive and easy to do.  The entire thing cost me less than $12 and I finished the project in less than an hour! 

I bought the vases and candles at the Dollar Tree.  I placed a large shot glass in the bottom of the vases to lift the candle.  This also enabled me use less popcorn kernels to fill the bottom.  I tied fake fall leaves to the outside using twine.  Then finished each vase off with letters cut from my Cricut machine.  The photo does not do it justice.  It really pops (no pun intended) on my mantle.

I didn't glue anything, so that I can use these vases for future decor as well.  You may even see a future post with a Winter decor idea!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Party with the Presidents!

I was in a panic last week as I was racing to finish grading all my student's essays before I had to turn in semester grades.  I took a one second breather when finished and then realized...I have a monthly dinner on Monday, and I haven't even come up with my theme!!  So on Friday, I finally decided on a theme and set to work to create a President's Day party theme. For a rush job, I love how it turned out...

Decor:  I set my table with a red tablecloth and some patriotic napkins/mini runners that I borrowed from my mom. Using my kids' toys, I crafted a fort out of Lincoln Logs to tie in Abraham Lincoln.  M&M's were on sale, so I bought some Valentine peanut M&Ms (because they are larger and you don't have to buy as many) to fill some small vases I already owned with the red and white ones.  The blue M&Ms I got from a regular bag of peanut M&Ms.  As added decor, I drew a giant cherry tree on butcher paper and taped it to my wall.

At each place setting, I used Photoshop to create Mount Rushmore place cards replacing one of the President's faces with the face of my guest.  These were hilarious! I stacked Lincoln Logs to use as holding stands.

Here's a shot of another vase with the M&M's and flags.  I wrapped the napkins in patriotic ribbon with the Seal of the President. 

Menu: To craft my menu, I printed off a list of all the U.S. Presidents and tried to find ways to incorporate their names/variations of their names into each menu item.  Some are quite a stretch, but they got the idea across.

For an appetizer, I served Van DeCamps brand fish sticks and tarter sauce.  I created menu tags with the President and the menu variation of the President's name so guest's could see the correlation.  Jimmy Carter and Martin Van Buren were the inspiration behind this appetizer.

Along with wine, I also served Kool-Aid inspired by President Calvin Coolidge.

I served a regular green salad with two choices of dressing -- Ulysses S. "Ranch" (Grant) and Roquefort (Rutherford) B. Hayes. (If you don't know, roquefort is a type of blue cheese.)

For my main course, I served Dripping Roast Beef Sandwiches with Melted Provolone.  These I termed, Franklin D "Roast-a-Melts"!  They were very easy and very yummy.

1 (10.5 ounce) can Campbell's Condensed French Onion Soup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3/4 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef

4 Hoagie rolls

4 slices diced provolone cheese, cut in half

1/4 cup drained mild pickled banana pepper rings

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the soup and Worcestershire sauce over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.  Add the beef and heat through, stirring occasionally.  Divide the beef evening among the rolls and top with cheese slices.  Then place onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 3 minutes or until the sandwiches are toasted and the cheese is melted. Then spoon a little of the soup mixture onto the sandwiches and top each sandwich with 1 tablespoon pepper rings.

I also served Bush's Baked Beans. I suppose you could use any brand of beans, but the fact that there is a real brand "Bush's" is what led me to come up with this menu item.

I love this "Barack-oli" in honor of President Obama.  It was a perfect play on his name.

Even though the menu didn't need another starch, I couldn't help adding some tater tots inspired by President Taft.

For dessert, I made a Chocolate Strawberry Lincoln Log.  It was pretty easy to make and very tasty.  To make the lines on the tree, I just used the tines of a fork.  I added my husband's ax for the photo, but didn't really cut with it!

Chocolate Cherry Lincoln Log

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Confectioners' sugar

1 quarter strawberry or cherry ice cream, softened

Frosting:

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons milk.

Line a greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper and set aside.  In a large bowl, beat eggs for 3 minutes.  Gradually add sugar; beat for 2 minutes or until mixture becomes thick and lemon-colored.  Stir in water and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; fold into egg mixture (batter will be thin).

Spread evenly into prepared pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-13 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Cool for 5 minutes. Invert onto a kitchen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar.  Gently peel off waxed paper.  Roll up cake in the towel jelly-roll style, starting with the short side.  Cool completely on wire rack.

For frosting, in microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth.  Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and enough milk to achieve desired consistency.

Unroll cake; spread ice cream evenly over cake to within 1/2 inch of edges.  Roll up again. Place seam side down on a serving platter.  Spread with frosting.  Cover and freeze overnight.  Yield: 14 servings.

Favor:  Although I already had dessert for my guest's, I wanted to tie in George Washington since he (and Lincoln) are the two holidays we celebrate in February.  I made these mini cherry pies in my cupcake/muffin pan.  I followed the recipe on Adventuress Heart although I used canned cherry pie filling since cherries are not in season.  I made the tag and these favors were waiting on each guest's plate when they arrived.

If you are looking to host a last minute gathering for President's Day weekend, this was really an easy dinner overall.  The pies took the most time, but the remainder of the meal was very easy.  If you would like the menu tags, favor tags, or napkin ring image, just comment below with your email address.  They were all created in Microsoft Word.

Those of you who are teachers like me...enjoy your day/days off this month!  To all of you...hope you enjoyed this post.  Please comment and let me know your thoughts!

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

We decided to introduce the Elf on the Shelf idea for the first time this year.  Luckily, it is fairly low-key in our house currently and the kids don't expect much, so I have gotten away with doing some fairly simple placements around the house.  I wanted to share a few easy/creative ones in case you are running out of ideas and need a few.

Idea #1:  Have your elf eating a banana.  I hang our bananas, so this worked out perfectly.  I ate half in the morning, and left the rest for "Jake."

Idea #2:  Time to go fishing!  My daughter has a small fish bowl which has a glass fish in it.  I made a fishing pole out of a wooden skewer and some embroidery thread, set Jake on some books, and he went fishing.  My daughter got a kick out of this.

Idea #3:  Lincoln Log fort. I set up a fort/store with my kids Lincoln Logs.  Jake sat on top so he could easily be seen.  I have to keep Jake up high since I have an 18 month year old, so this is why he is on top of our buffet table.

Idea #4:  My kids love to color. I printed out a coloring book-style Elf on the Shelf page on Google Images,  and set Jake up to color himself.  I used a dollhouse chair, some building blocks, and a Frisbee to create the table.

Idea #5:  On the day my mom takes the kids to story time, Jake decided to have story time as well. The book is just cut up typing paper stapled in the middle.

Idea #6:  My daughter loves to play dress up.  Today, Jake decided to play with her!

I'll try to post more Elf ideas that aren't already all over the internet as I do them.  Feel free to share your ideas with me as well!  Would love to steal them!

Black Friday Party

To start off December and get the monthly girls in the holiday spirit, I decided to theme our December dinner after Black Friday.  I wanted to have a holiday theme, but one with a little twist.  This led to the craziness of hosting a Black Monday Madness party (since my dinners are actually on Mondays).  I put in some long hours of prep on this one, but I loved how everything turned out.

Invite:  I designed my invitation to look like a Black Friday advertisement, and printed it on 8.5x11 paper.  The image is a Walmart advertisement I found on Google, that I just added text boxes, etc. so that it revealed all the party details in a creative way.  As you may recall if you read my blog regularly, I have no idea how to use Photo Shop, so everything you see in this post is done on Microsoft Word.

Entry:  Although I didn't really make my guests line up and wait outside like Black Friday, I did set up the outside to look like it.  I used wooden stanchions to create an area for the "line"  A sign on the first stanchion told guests to form a line.  I put a Girls R Us sign on the door as if that was the name of our "store."

Decor:  I set my table with a black tablecloth for Black Friday.  I used a shopping cart filled with small kid toys for a centerpiece as well as my daughter's cash register.

For added fun, I made shopping bags using mini gift bags from Michaels.  I cut out logos of various stores to glue to the fronts and spread these around the table.  I also bought some fake money at the Dollar Store to wrap around green napkins.  Black Friday is all about saving money!

I spent hours making coupon place cards for each guest.  I wanted them to be silly, so I found funny/different photos of each guest to use rather than plain typical looks.  Depending on the photo, I then adapted what was being sold and the description of the "product".  I even found fun logos that went with the pictures to spice it up a bit.  These were a bit hit, and we all got a kick out of seeing the photos and reading the silly descriptions.

I made these simple wine charms to go with my theme.  I had everything from 10% off to 80% off.  The images were found on Google Images, printed on card stock, hole punched, and tied with ribbon around the glass stems.

Menu: I created an advertisement with my menu as well.  These were placed at various spots on the table.  The food was free for the first 10 customers on Black Monday = my number of guests for the evening!  I tried to think of clever titles and descriptions to really pull in my theme.  We started with Saving Lots of "Green" Salad.

The main dish was Blackened Chicken Alfredo Pasta, Zucchini Quarters with Black Pepper, and a Little Extra "Dough" bread sticks.  I found the recipe for the pasta on This Week for Dinner.  I followed the recipe except that I used the grill instead of pan frying/oven.  This dish has a bit of a kick, which I usually can't tolerate, but I actually enjoyed it.  The spice was strong, but not overpowering.

The dessert was Million Dollar Chocolate Pudding Pie with Peppermint.   This is an easy dessert that is great for the holidays. I called it Million Dollar pie to pull in the theme and created dollar signs out of chocolate.  The original recipe made stars.

Favor: The whole purpose of Black Friday is to save money and spend money.  This is why I created a purse favor. I made a rectangular box for the inside and filled it with some black tissue paper and gold chocolate coins I found at the Dollar Store.  The outside is made with card stock, ribbon, and a scrapbooking rhinestone.  I had to purchase sticky Velcro to keep it closed as the coins were too heavy for just scrapbooking glue/tab.  I designed the priceless tag on Microsoft Word.

We had a great time at this party.  Almost all the details were very inexpensive because I made them all myself; it just took time to create each item. I think it was worth it though.  The girls and I had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the night.  As usual...if you would like any of the documents for a future Black Friday party, just send me an email!  Oh, and please comment below.  I love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Shopping!

A Little Naughty, A Little Nice

Looking to add a little spice to your holiday this season (and I don't just mean in your spiced cider!)?  Then this just might be the post for you!  With December only one day away, it is time to get the advent calendar ready.  I've been working on our family advent calendar with fun holiday crafts and activities similar to last years, but this year, I've decided to make A Little Naughty, A Little Nice advent calendar for my husband!!

With two young kids and full time jobs for both of us, it is sometimes challenging for my husband and I to find the time to have stress-free couple time.  I decided to craft this fun calendar just for us.  Since it is meant just for us, I decided to hang it from our headboard. Honestly...this was also so we wouldn't get so busy we'd forget to open one each day!! 

 
I painted clothespins in red, white, and greens and clipped them to a red ribbon. I bought two small packs of 6x6 holiday paper from Michaels ($4 on sale) for the rest.  I ended up cutting the paper to be 6x4 because I thought it looked better.  The paper pack came with the numbers that I just cut out and glued to the clothespins.  I decided to roll the paper, so my husband couldn't cheat and know what was coming! I even taped them!

I typed up the advent activity for the day and glued it to the inside of each paper.  I couldn't just write it because the stack of paper I bought was double-sided.  It was fun coming up with the days activities.  I was purposefully vague on some items.  For example, I thought we could decided together which of us would give the back rub and which would receive it.

Here's some examples of A Little Naughty...(only a "little" naughty for this post!)

 And A Little Nice...

As crazy as the holiday season gets, I think these activities will enable my husband and I to have a little of our own time and just enjoy each other a bit. I cannot wait for December 1st!  If any of my readers do this, please let me know.  Maybe I can swap out some of my ideas for yours!

*Another note: Just like I do with my kids' advent calendar, I keep a hidden list of the days in order.  This way if something comes up and I know we won't have time to fit the activity in that day, I can switch it with a less time-consuming day.  This is another reason why I numbered the clothespins and not the papers. 

Thankful Tree

Happy Thanksgiving!! I love this holiday, not just because of the delicious food which makes me feel like I need to be rolled out the door, but because it is a holiday season that presents us with a great opportunity to reflect on all we have to be thankful for.  My husband and I took our family out for a walk on the horse trails near our house at the beginning of the month and we came across this...

This thankful tree displays the numerous blessings that surround us.  There were tags dangling from the tree written by neighbors and others who passed by the tree.  On these tags, the writers noted something they were thankful for and then hung it on the tree like an ornament.

Attached to the trunk of tree was a plastic container with a lid and inside the container were blank tags and pens/markers for anyone who wished to add what they are thankful for to the tree.  I loved this idea, and I decided to make a small tree for our house.  The remainder of the walk, our family picked up long sticks to be used for our tree.

When we got home, I found a vase.  My daughter and I placed the sticks in our vase, and then set about making the tags. We used my Cricut machine and Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to make 3.5" tags on light tan cardstock.  We threaded twine through the top of the make the ornaments, and placed the vase as the centerpiece of our dinner table.

Next to the vase, we placed a dish with blank ornaments and a pen, much like the neighborhood tree.  Throughout the month of November, our family (and whoever visits that wishes to add a thankful tag) have been writing down things we are thankful for.  Every time I look at this tree, it reminds me of all I have to be thankful for and the many blessings we have in our lives.

As this month comes to a close, I plan to write 2012 on the back of each tag and keep them all together. Next year, it will be so neat to read them again.  It will also show the growth of our kids as their handwriting and what they are thankful for changes. My favorite tags so far this year have been one I wrote on behalf of our 17 month old son, "Chairs, books, toys...anything that I can step on to reach things I shouldn't" and one of our 3 year old daughter's "I'm thankful for Johnny-John."  This one will be neat as her nickname for her little brother changes over time.  Each year, I will hang some of the past years on the tree, and then I will make tags in a slightly different color for the current year.

We have so much to be thankful for, and this tree has been a wonderful daily reminder for my family of just how much we are blessed.  I highly recommend making a tree of your own.  Happy Thanksgiving!