Advent Calendar

Last year I saw this post for an advent calendar and I have slowly been working on one of our own since then, yes one whole year!!  But moving on.  This whole project cost me a whole $2 and some odd cents because I had everything else.

Materials:

25 small match boxes (purchased at Dollar Store two packages $1/package)

scrapbook paper

number stickers

tags

I used brads but aren't required

tape/adhesive

address labels

Of course you need to empty out all the little boxes and wrap each box with a strip of scrapbook paper.  The strips I cut were 4 inches long by 2 inches wide.  I made star tags with my cricket but a punch would work or nothing at all.  I attached the tags with mini brads, a few of the boxes have a little ribbon wrapped around them just for a little something extra.

In each box the hubby and I sat down and came up with 25 family oriented activities.  Activities that encourage time spent together and giving to others.  Here is what we came up with (I am lacking a couple so if you have suggestions please comment).

• Decorate Christmas Tree
• Make A Homemade Ornament
• Shop For Non Perishable Foods To Donate To The Local Food Bank (our church collects these)
• Host A Holiday Playdate
• Make Cookies
• Deliver Hot Chocolate and Cookies To College Class (my husband is a professor)
• Watch A Christmas Movie
• Shop For Angel Tree Gifts (our church collects these as well and we try and find kiddos the same age as our kiddos)
• Write Letters To Great Grandparents
• Invite Friends To Share Dinner
• Make Cookies And Deliver To The Fire Department
• Build Lego Nativity (my boys *husband* are really into Legos)
• Shovel Neighbors Sidewalks
• Decorate Gingerbread Houses
• Take A Drive And Look At Lights
• Redeem Cans/Bottles And Donate Money To Salvation Army Kettles/Ringers
• Build Snowman/Go Sledding
• Sleep In The Living Room With The Christmas Lights On
• Record A Holiday Greeting For Aunts and Uncle (all of our siblings live a pretty good distance)
• Read The Christmas Story/Make Hot Chocolate

Flubber

Don't you just love Pinterest!?!?  But I get a little addicted to 'pinning' things and ideas that I don't ever get around to the making and doing part!  ;-)  Well I am happy to say that this is my second 'making/doing' after 'pinning' the idea on Pinterest.  Noah and I made FLUBBER!!  It has offered us hours of entertainment and has lasted well over a couple of weeks (I wasn't sure if it would dry up or what).  Here is where I 'pinned' it/got the recipe: FLUBBER RECIPE

Here is our HOURS of entertainment!  Levi (6 months) even got to squish it.  Remember ALWAYS SUPERVISE little ones, Levi wanted to put it in his mouth of course but I just guided his hand away.

Apple Galette

Now I am not really positive what a Galette is but I made it and it was yummy!  This is the recipe I used, click here.  And this is how it turned out for us.  I was a great recipe to do with kiddos.  Noah helped with:

rolling out the dough

 shaking up the sugar, cinnamon and apples in a sealed bowl

arranging the apples onto the crust

folding the crust up and sprinkling with sugar

This turned out delicious, hope you enjoy!

Purse Organization

Thanks to Pinterest I have finally found a solution for all my wonderful purses!  Here is the before pic: (please ignore the mess of shoes, if you know my house you will agree that it has lots of storage but unfortunately it is NOT in the bedrooms)

 I had some metal shower curtain rings so this little organization task took very little time and didn't cost me a thing.  Here is the after.

Something I will tweak a little bit and spend a couple of $'s will be to purchase an extension rod and try to hang them on it instead of the same rod that our clothes hang on...causing a little bit of cramping of our clothes.  So the extension rod will go between the front and back of the closet and hang under the clothes that is the idea....but for now I am happy and so are my shoes for the extra room!

Originally posted here.

Pumpkins and Painters Tape

I am not ready to give Noah a knife for carving his own pumpkin so we used painters tape and I cut out some shapes, he arranged them and after he was done painting and it had dried we pulled off the paint.

I made one too!

The Results of a Much Needed, Crafty Weekend!

A group of girlfriends and I get together (or at least try to) on a regular basis.  This weekend was much needed and with a busy summer we hadn't gotten together since April!!  I am usually a scrapbooker but this month I wasn't in the mood to sort through pictures and figure out what I still needed to print, etc., etc.!  So I went to my little idea book and started working on projects for myself, the kiddos and a soon to be arriving baby of some dear friends!  

Check it out!

Inspired by: Living With Punks

Instead of using decorative fabric like the tutorial suggested I selected some fun fleece prints.  I just couldn't get myself to spend that much money on decorative fabric and really I couldn't find anything super fun for a couple of my favorite little boys.  These will be spotted under out Christmas tree this year! 

Idea from: Whipper Berry

There are three separate growth charts here.  I made one for each of my boys and this has now become one of my go to, super cute and fun baby gifts!  I personalized Noah and Levi's but the proud, expecting parents are keeping their little one's name hush, hush!!

And who hasn't seen a burlap wreath this Fall, so I made my own with a variety of inspiration!

Getting Messy!

I usually add food coloring to our shaving cream fun but today we pulled out the washable paints and a paint brush and paint roller....we had fun getting messy!  And as much as I like to control I have been trying really hard to just let Noah be in control even if he squirts in half a bottle of paint! :-)