The ELF on the Shelf!

A friend of mine just told me about this book and I am excited to be getting mine in the mail next week!!

You can find it Here or Here:)

What is it about? --

"This clever holiday book uses playful rhymes and an entertaining story to remind kids that Santa is watching who’s naughty and nice. The accompanying elf keeps an eye on children by day, reports to the North Pole after bedtime and returns to a different location in the home, creating a fun hide-and-seek game each morning."

And the parent reviews said it helped their kids behave better this time of year...

Well that sold me!!

Now I am crossing my fingers that it works;)

○YuMmY pLaY-DoUgH○

Pumpkin Spice Playdough:
2 cups water

orange food coloring (or combine yellow and red)

2 TBSP vegetable oil

1 cup salt

4 tsp. cream of tartar

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 cups flour

Combine all ingredients in large pan on stove. Over medium heat, stir until most of the lumps disappear and it thickens up to a dough-like consistency. Put on countertop and knead like bread dough. Store in a air-tight container.

Chocolate Playdough:

Mix together:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

Make sure you combine these ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed together. Then add 1 1/2 T. cooking oil and 1 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a nice smooth ball of dough.

Roberts Give Away!!

Robert's Arts & Crafts is having a FREEBIE FRIDAY giveaway! Check it out!! There is a cricut cartridge involved!! Check it out, and enter to win!! :)

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE??

I have never heard of a Tooth Fairy Pillow before, until today. A friend of mine got one for her little girl. She said go to www.etsy.com, and type in Tooth Fairy Pillows. There are tons to choose from!! Such a cute idea. From what I understand, you put the tooth inside the pillow pocket, then the Tooth Fairy leaves treats inside! BRILLIANCE! I swear, whenever my kids finally start to loose some teeth, I am getting some! Click HERE for information regarding the above pillow.

HaLlOwEeN Preschool Movies

My Preschool age children LOVE these movies!! (My older children do, too. But Shhh! They would probably be mad if I told.) It really gets us in the Halloween spirit around here, when we watch these. We even pop popcorn, and put them in festive Halloween cupcake wrappers.

Halloween Forest Centerpiece

Doesn't this look like fun?!

Directions:
Black licorice, threaded with wire and shaped to make a forest of spindly trees, makes this creative non edible Halloween table topper. Snip off the ends of six pieces of black licorice and push heavy-gauge wire through the holes of each piece. Holding the pieces together in the middle, bend the ends to form a tree trunk. Bend the opposite ends to form gnarled tree branches and wrap black wire around the center of the pieces to hold it all together. Repeat for each tree. Place each tree atop a chocolate-frosted graham cracker, add a candy-corn fence, and arrange mini artificial pumpkins under the trees to complete the landscape.

Thanks for the idea, Parents.com.

~Picky Sticky~

I snatched these up from babyhalfoff.com right after the little man turned 4 months old.  Man I wish I could have found them sooner.  But they still are GREAT and fun to use.  Just peel, stick to a onsie and snap some pictures:)  When your done just take off and I plan to stick them in his scrapbook along with the photos.  These are great for a shower gift or if you are expecting!!  They also have milestone ones...i.e. I can sit, I crawl etc.    These are the boy ones and I bought my adorable niece Baby P some girlie ones.  They also carry generic:)  Check out their website for all the info PICKY STICKY.

My handsome little man is 5 months old - YEAH!!

Servin' Up Some Ice Cream...

I feel bad I don't remember where I got the idea from and the picture that I stole isn't all that great but I LOVE this!!

We had a Cupcake Baking Party for my daughter's 6th birthday.  I not only thought this was great to go along with the theme but I plan on using it at all our parties from now on.

I hate trying to dish out ice cream amongst the chaos at the party so when I found this I thought it was a genious idea. 

Take cupcake liners, fill them with scoops of ice cream and place on cookie sheet BEFORE the party starts and stick back in the freezer.  Pop them out of the freezer and let everyone take their flavor from the tray.  Perfect portion, no mess and no chaos!!:)

4th of July Prizes!

I just happened to be out shopping for our family BBQ when I ran across some fun things. I ended up making these cute little prize boxes for the kids for the 4Th. Each little box, and the stuff inside cost me $3.80 to fill. The shaker thingy is actually a pen, but it was so fun to wave at the parade. It also came in handy for them to color with during the boring spots. The glow sticks were way fun during fireworks. Then of course the sparklers & pop its were a blast! They really didn't need the candy, especially after the parade, but it was fun anyway! Then they took the boxes to the parade for picking up candy there!

--yummy SUMMERTIME treats--

I have seen this idea on numerous blogs so we thought we would give it a try...

All you need is a melon - cantaloupe, honeydew or a watermelon

and a package of Jello.

Examples --

Raspberry, Cherry or Strawberry for the cantaloupe

Lime for the honeydew

or we are going to do Watermelon flavor for the watermelon;)

Cut in half and scoop out the middles to whatever thickness you want.

Place upside down to on paper towel to dry.

Make jello according to the Jello Jigglers recipe and pour into fruit.

We placed ours in a bowl to make it stand flat because our cantaloupe wasn't that round on the bottom.

Put in fridge till Jello is set up, cut and enjoy!!!!

My kids thought it was so fun and YUMMY!!

Another FUN and refreshing treat this summer is homemade SLUSHIES --

I found this recipe over at The Idea Room!!

You need: Large resealable plastic bag, small resealable plastic bag, rock salt, ice and a drink.For a drink you can use orange juice, lemonade or Kool aid.  We used Root Beer -- mmmm!!

Place the ice (about 2 cups) in the large bag.

Add rock salt ( about 1/3 cup) to the ice.

Pour the juice in small bag a seal tightly. Put the small bag into the larger bag and seal the large bag.
Now shake the bags until the juice turns into a slushie.  Gloves helped because it's SOOO COLD!  And I suggest making it outside...our counter was covered in salt;)

Enjoy with a spoon or a straw!!

Another GREAT recipe is ICE CREAM in a bag (which we are going to try up camping)!!

ICE CREAM IN A BAG --
2 TB sugar
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better.
Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
1 pint-size ziplock bag
1 gallon-size ziplock bag

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.
2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.
3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too! Serves 1.

{Our Newest Addition}

Sorry I haven't posted in quite awhile but this little cutie has been keeping me pretty busy...

And I am madly in LOVE with these nifty swaddling blankets!!

My wonderful cousin Jen has the most adorable twin girls and recommended these to me.  Not only do I like them but baby L does too!

Check out Aden + Anais's website for all their GREAT products.

Or head on over to Diapers.com were you can find the swaddlers for even cheaper!

Or better yet check BabySteals.com daily and you may just get lucky and find them for an even BETTER price!!

Vintage Pearl Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely LOVE the Vintage Pearl!!  I started following their blog and today it's her BIRTHDAY!!  Yeah:)  So she's having a giveaway for this pretty little thing...

Oh how I want it!!!!!!

So head on over there and enter her drawing...GOOD LUCK!

ONLINE SHOPPING - Woo Hoo

Today I discovered that Carter's and Osh Kosh has ONLINE shopping - YEAH!!  I am an avid online shopper and so I was very excited to discover two of my favorite stores is just clicks away:)  Here is a link to their stores...Carter's/OshKosh online!  They will link to both stores in the upper left corner!

Discovery Gateway

Free Day at the Discovery Gateway!! Wednesday March 17th, 2010.

○Smore FUN○

For family night on Monday we made our family favorite (chocolate dipped marshmallows) and added a little twist to make THE easiest Smore's ever:)

Ingredients:

Popsicle sticks or sucker sticks

WF or Kroger brand chocolate (also called almond bark)

Jumbo Marshmallows

1 pkg Graham Crackers crushed

Melt chocolate according to pkg instructions.  Dip end of stick in chocolate and put on marshmallow.  Place on wax paper and put in freezer to harder up.  When ready, dip marshmallow in melted chocolate and roll in Graham crackers.  Place on foam block to harden.  Then enjoy!!

This is so easy and fun for kids and a GREAT, yummy snack:)

Husbands will LOVE them too...my wonderful husband gave me the idea! 

Oh, the Places you'll go...

...like Target!

For Free story telling, and fun activities.

Go to any Target, Saturday February 27, 2010. From 9am-11am. In honor of Dr. Suess, and Read Across America. If you want more details click the following link:
http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-034346&ref=sr_shorturl_readacrossamerica

{Fun NEW Websites I Have Found}

Sorry I haven't posted anything new lately...
The holidays were crazy and I was trying to recoupe and finally get our house unpacked (we moved 5 months ago...lol) the past month.
But I have come across a couple fun new blogs...

Want FuUuUn bows, bracelets, watch bands and crayon rolls for you and your kids?  Head on over to Oh So Girly!!  I just recieved my order in the mail and they are great products and at a GREAT price.  I can't wait to give the crayon rolls to my kids for Easter (or Valentines cause I just can't wait) and the bows and flowers will be so fun in Ellie's hair.  I bought a bracelet for her too that is adorable.  She was wonderful to work with and I got my order very fast! 

Another GREAT site for fun Scrapbooking deals is...

It is a lot like cropchocolate.com!  They have a new deal everyday at a GREAT steal...so check it out!!

If I come across some other great sites or if you have any that would be great to post here please let me know!:)