My Favorite Christmas Tradition

Here is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions. The reason I must post about it TODAY is to give you some time to prepare, (in case you love this idea too)!

His name is "Mr. Peeps". He's an ELF from the North Pole, who shows up each year the day after Thanksgiving. He stays with us until Christmas Eve, let's Santa know how the children behaved the last few weeks, then goes back home in Santa's sleigh. Mr. Peeps has been coming to our home for several years now. He even brought a new elf with him a few years ago named Stanley. Click HERE to meet my elves and see the Mr. Peeps explanation poem.

"Mr. Peeps" was not my idea of course. The tradition has been around a long time. In fact, we had an elf named "Lucky" growing up, that still hangs out at my parents' each year.

If you love this idea and want to start this tradition, these little guys can be hard to find!! (You can check your local craft stores. That is where mine came from.) But here are some great online links to check out as well...

The Crazy Quilter (I think this is just for the pattern, to make your own)

Ragamuffin Designs (You can order Mr. Peeps, made by a gal named Kristen)

Elves Around the World



Elf On the Shelf

HaLLoWeeN TrEaTs

I was asked to bring a sweet treat to my son's Halloween "Harvest Party" on Friday, so I started looking around for some fun ideas. Here were some of my faves (in no particular order)...

1. Krispy Apple Treats from Gourmet Mom On The Go

2. Grandpa's Popcorn Balls from AllRecipes.com

Just an update... If your child has a loose tooth and wants it to come out, this would be your recipe. It's really hard (which I'm not a fan of), but if you like rock-hard popcorn balls this is a good one. (I prefer the soft, gooey ones.)

3. Best Ever Popcorn Balls from AllRecipes.com

4. Forked Eye Balls from Family Fun

5. Daddy Long Leg Cupcakes from Family Fun

6. Two Caramel Apple Recipes (one using wrapped caramels and one from scratch- I'm anxious to try both and see which one we like best)

7. Kittencal's Caramel Apples from Food.com

8. Candy Apple Recipes from AllFreeRecipes.com

Great Video for Teaching Selfless Service

It's that time of year again when we get to focus on Gratitude and Selflessness. I plan to do a Family Night lesson/activity this week about Annonymous Acts of Service, to try and get my children to think more outward. (I will post what I did later.) This short video is perfect for this teaching. Enjoy...

"Flax" Eggs

My sister, who is "vegan", shared with me an insightful tip to cooking.
Using Flax Seeds combined with water to = eggs.

She made this Chocolate Zucchini Bread that was great and I didn't know it didn't have any eggs in it. Flax Seeds(when ground) are supposed to be really healthy for you. [She mentioned she got her seeds at Winco in the bulk section. Then you just grind them up. Best kept in frig to keep the nutrients though.]

I so excited to now try different recipes to put these in (plus if I run out of eggs).

Halloween with {Witches}

Some of my Witches:



Clay


Wooden

Backside

Close-up of the face

Halloween with {Candy Corns}

I love eating Candy Corns, smelling the sweetness of Candy Corns & decorating with Candy Corns. Here are some of mine:
>
Clay Magnets


Wooden Ones

With my leftover wood scraps, I would love to make some of these cute ones.

Sore Throat Home Remedy

I wanted to share this awesome home remedy with you, since it's the beginning of that time of year (flu season) again... Last Wednesday morning I woke up with a terrible sore throat and swollen tonsils. It hurt to eat, drink, talk, or even breathe! I've always been very prone to strep, so I wanted to fight this any way I could.

So my sister told me about a home remedy she recently heard about, that worked for her when she had strep throat a few weeks ago. I am SO grateful she told me about this!!!!...

It's a mixture of Listerine and Hydrogen Peroxide. All you do is pour some Listerine into the cup, mix in a little peroxide, and GARGLE!

I guess you can also just get the Listerine Whitening kind (which already has peroxide in it) but I already had the regular Listerine, so I just mixed it myself.

Anyway, I tried this remedy and it TOTALLY WORKS!! I started gargling with this solution several times a day, especially after every meal and before bed. Within 36 hours my sore throat was completely GONE! (I continued to gargle after I felt better, just not as often. I just want to be sure all the bacteria is gone- as if I were taking anitbiotics.) I feel great!

It was really cool, because I could hear and feel the peroxide sizzling on the painful parts and just killing bacteria with every crackle.

The best part though? All the MONEY [and time] I SAVED by not going to the doctor or buying a prescription!!

Birthday Blessings!

I love my Birthday and this year was just as special!

[Thank You Angela for your kind words!]

I had many blessings today but I just wanted to share something that my 8 year old surprised me with:

She mentioned it took her 6 days to complete. All of her lego men even have their hands up to cheer. Too Cute!

I usually do the surprising for birthdays so this was such a treat!

Happy Birthday to {Heather} !!

It's Heather's Birthday today! She is so good to always remember other's special days, so I just wanted to let everyone know that it's her birthday. I'm headed over to her home in a bit to drop off a little birthday surprise. Have a FABULOUS Sunday!!   

Trick OR Treat?

I love how these blocks turned out when I made them last year.


I cut the wood(using 2x4's): Trick=3 1/2" x 7", Or= 3 1/2" x 2 1/2", Treat= 3 1/2" x 6", Orange=3 1/2" x 3 1/2". I hand made the clay ornaments to fit on the orange block. The other blocks I just cut paper to fit inside that block.

Halloween with {Frankenstein}

I know he's a different type of guy but I wanted to share some of my Frankenstein Buddies.


#1 Block Head
[Wood measures 7"x8"]


#2 Clay Magnet


#3 Soup Can

RS {Craft} Night

I was asked a while back to create some crafts for our RS Craft Night. What a blessing to be able to serve-lucky me! Here they are:

#1 "BOO" Blocks


These blocks(5 1/2" wide. B=8 1/2 " tall, O= 5 1/2" tall, O= 7" tall) are painted black then sprayed with glitter with sanded edges. The letters we made from 3/8" sisal rope(found at Home Depot. B=22" in length, O=12" in length, O=15" in length). TIP: To cut the rope I used masking tape and then a serated knife. I then cut stripes of fabric, frayed them and just wrapped them around the rope-ends tacked with a glue gun. Then we attached them to the wood blocks with 9/16" double point staples(found with screws & nails at Home Depot).


#2 Tile Magnets
I took these mini tiles from the 12x12 tile sheets. Put magnets on the back. For the front: took paper and punched shapes then glued them onto the tiles. Then used glitter glue and clear glaze to put focus on the shape.


#3 Give Thanks Blocks
I cut these 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". I cut the fabric to fit just inside that measurement. Glue on with Mod Podge.


#4 Calendar Keeper
I wanted to make one like Angela's but had to simplify it for this night. I had Home Depot cut some beadboard into 2'x2' squares. Then I trimmed them out with 1x2" wood(only $0.77 for 8' piece). I found the calendars (at Walmart) and had to drill the hole bigger to fit the nails(#12 carpet tacks) I used. I loved the nails so I had to make adjustments to the calendar.

The bottom portion (ribbon is held on with 2 bolts&nuts-cut slit in ribbon to fit) is to hold any notes/invites/etc. and a pen pocket(found at the dollar store). Like Angela I use a different color of pen for each child, our business and just everyday info.


#5 Birthday Hanging {My Favorite}
The wood (9"x12") hanging lets everyone know who's birthday it is! The name boards at the bottom( 7 1/2"x 1 3/4") are covered with paper. For the names we used glitter foam (with sticky back) traced from letter stencils. Attach the nameboards with velcro.


So I wouldn't lose any of the nameboards I attached the rest of them on the back. [Thanks Andrea for the tip.]

For the wire top I cut strips of fabric(2"x6") to tie on. I did 5 colors using about 4 to 5 strips each.

A couple of the other crafts, that were pictured in Ang's post, I will do a "tute" on later. [FYI: The muffin tin countdown wasn't a favorite so that's why I didn't picture it]