Our Advent Calendar

 I love Christmas. No really. I do. I am one of those people that still believes in Santa. Not the guy with the presents and the reindeer, but the spirit of him. Really I'm all about it.


A few years ago I bought this advent calendar on super sale from Target. It was damaged and it was after the holiday season, so it was super cheap. Previously it was blue. Which to me said "Christmas" about as much as the Easter Bunny. So this year while my in-laws were in town over Thanksgiving, I refinished it. They were here until the Monday after Thanksgiving so we roped them into helping us decorate. The advent calendar project was done in bits an pieces over a few days, so there are no pictures (sorry!). But here's the after:

I just love it. It says homemade, a little bit rustic and all family. Just the way I like it. Behind each door is a piece of candy for D, 2 M&M's wrapped up for K (Yes I encourage my children's love of chocolate. Sue me.), and a family activity card. Last year we did it with just candy for D since K was too small.


Each of the family activity cards is something that we can do together so we are building memories and not just eating chocolate. I printed out the cards on photo paper and then laminated them. This way I can use them for years to come. So far it's a total hit. Here's what we included:

1. Decorate cookies
2. Play a game
3. Make ice cream
4. Go out for a Christmas treat
5. Drink Apple cider
6. Read "The Night Before Christmas"
7. Drive around and look for Christmas lights
8. Color a Christmas picture
9. Go visit Santa Clause
10. Dance around to Christmas music (or any other music)
11. Have a camp-out in front of the Christmas tree
12. Call grandma and grandpa and sing a Christmas song
13. Make a graham cracker house
14. Dress up for dinner
15. Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn
16. Read a Christmas Story Book
17. Make a Christmas craft
18. Do something nice for someone
19. Make a new Christmas Decoration
20. Play a Christmas game
21. Have breakfast for dinner
22. Build a snowman or hang up paper snowflakes
23. Tell your family you love them
24. Make a gift and take it to a friend
25. Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes

These are put in to the house in (somewhat) random order. I admit I fudge this a little bit. For example the graham cracker house was put in on a special day so D's friends could come and do it with her. And read The Night Before Christmas is on Christmas Eve, because it's tradition. But other than that, random. 

This year the order has been

1. Do something nice for someone- we gave D's teachers $5 Starbucks cards and took balloons to the pediatrics floor at a local hospital. 

2. Drive around and look at Christmas lights- There are some people with REALLY involved lights. Wow!

3. Make Ice cream- We made vanilla gelato. 

4. Dress up for dinner- according to D this meant dress up in costumes, not be fancy. So here we are in our costumes:

5. Play a Christmas game! 

6. Tell your family you love them

7. Have breakfast for dinner 

8. Camp out in front of the Christmas tree
9. Play a game
10. Visit Santa- It was the first time K went to see Santa. It was D's second time (we missed it last year. K had just gotten out of her 2nd stay at the hospital, and I was in no mood to brave mall germs.) So cute!!
11. Make a snowman or paper snowflakes. Since there is no snow on the ground, we made snowflakes. Here's a little side note about that. First let it be known that D's favorite holiday is Halloween. For the snowflakes, I was cutting and she was unfolding. She suddenly exclaimed: "Owls and witch hats! Mommy thank you!!" I, of course, have NO idea how I did it, but I'll take the mommy hero badge just the same. Here's the witch hat snow flake:

I'll keep posting about the cards as we go through them. So far I'm so thrilled with this idea, I can't even tell you. 

The Perfect Holiday "Party"

I had an idea. 

I'm sure that your holidays are as busy as mine are. You know with all the fabulous parties, dancing the night away, designer dresses and the last minute trips to Europe for that hard to fins gift. Wait... maybe that's not quite right... 

Let's try this: days of screaming over sugared children, work Christmas parties, stealing precious moments for shopping alone and trying to hide presents in crazy places to keep them from prying small eyes (husbands included).

So here's what I thought- I send out holiday cards, so do my friends.  So I invited a few of my friends over one evening before life got mad crazy. They came over and we can drank wine, ate snacks, and addressed envelopes together. 

It was genius. We all felt like we checked something off our endless holiday To-Do, but this way we got to see each other and have real conversations, not just do a fly by holiday kiss-kiss. 

Best. Idea. Ever. 

It was such a success we decided that we are doing it every year. 

Now for the food:

I made baked brie wrapped in Puff pastry with apricot jam.

•  Gently roll out one sheet of puff pastry. Place a round of brie in the middle and put 3 Tbs of apricot jam on the top. Fold the pastry over the brie by overlapping corners. Brush with an egg wash and bake at 375 until the puff pastry is golden brown. Yum-o!!

I also made a brand new dessert. I really wanted a chocolate caramel something. So here's what I did. 

• I made a graham cracker crust and pressed it into a mini muffins tin. I baked it for 7 minutes at 375, and let them cool. I then piped chocolate flavored whipped cream into the crusts. Then I drizzled caramel sauce over the top. So. stinking. good. 

Never made caramel sauce? Here's how:

This is from Ina Garten. Love Ina. You can find the food network recipe HERE

Ingredients

·         1 1/2 cups sugar

·         1/3 cup water

·         1 1/4 cups heavy cream

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves about 5-10 mins. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. You can also dip a pastry brush in water and use it to gently scrape down the sides. The mixture is SUPER hot so be careful!! Towards the end do NOT leave your stove, this can go from caramel to burnt nastiness super fast. Turn off the heat.

Stand back to avoid splatter and slowly add the cream and vanilla. The cream will bubble violently and the caramel will become hard. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. The caramel will dissolve and the sauce will smooth out, about 2 minutes. You can let it continue to simmer a bit for a thicker sauce, but once as it cools it thickens. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. 

Enraged Fowl!!

Okay, I meant Angry Birds. Actually I meant an Angry Birds party. My now three year old is obsessed with Angry Birds. So she asked to have an Angry Birds party. How could I say no to that?

So here's what we did:

My little angry bird

 This is my brother-in-law wearing the pinata after we busted it

Piggy cupcakes

The birthday girl's cake

The cake display

Balloons on a string

We served some hot drinks and warm food. Then we went outside and threw some birds at some pigs. It was so much fun I am not sure how we are going to top it next year....

Hormonal Insomnia

Every so often I can't sleep. At bedtime I am suddenly a wide eyed owl that simply cannot rest. Strangely enough this seems to happen about once a month. I wonder why that is.... :p

Anyway. I have taken to completing craft projects during these times of midnight unrest. I guess they aren't all bad as some pretty cool things have come from them. This is the latest.

I took a canvas that I found at a local hobby store and used my handy 40% off coupon. Gotta love those things!!

I painted the sides brown to go with the sign and I then covered the front in Modge Podge. Then I lined up sheets of craft paper to create a backing. Another layer of Modge Podge. Then I used my Cricut to cut out all the words in different styles and fonts. Covered THAT in Modge Podge. And finally, added another layer of Modge Podge in the end.  Let it dry and hung it up. 

It is one of the first hings you see when you come into our house and I get so many compliments on it. :)

A Little Ladybug, a Whole lot of Fun

My baby isn't a baby anymore. {sniffle} She turned one and is now a toddler. May I ask you, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?! Crazy. Well every one year old deserves a stellar party, so here are some pictures of hers.

The guest of honor- the ladybug herself

   The sweet table                               .

The "rose" bouquets. LOVE dressing up cupcakes

                           The party favors

This is an up-close of the banner I made. 

It was a picture of her for every month for her first year. 

Between the pictures it spelled out "Our Special K". 

That's what we call her. Special K. I love my Cricut machine!!

Gifts galore!

                            The smash cake. 

The birthday girl enjoying her cake. 

If you didn't know her cake was red and black...

this would be horror movie material. 

But I still think she's adorable. 

Hair Bows. Hair Bows Everywhere

I have two girls. No wait. I have two girly girls. and we have more hair bows/flowers/clips then their little bathroom can handle. So what happens? Pinterest happens. I saw these cool bow hanger things on there and HAD to make my own version. So here it is:

What you need:

wood frame in at least an 11x13

Landscape fabric- it isn't fabric at all, is wire mesh you get in the garden center of Lowe's or Home Depot. 

Picture hanging wire

Small eye screws

2 wooden dowels-.25" size

Hot glue

Wire cutters

I started with cheap WOOD frames from Wal-mart. They really need to be wood or the paint doesn't stick. I did a coat of white spray primer (sorry no pic) and then 2 coats of  paint. Don't ya just love that blue!?!? 

While the paint was drying I cut the landscape fabric to match the size of the glass in the frame. 

Then I used hot glue to sandwich the "fabric" between the frame and the dowels. You have to hold it there for a bit to make sure the dowels don;t pop back up when you let go.  (Don't ya love the picture of my cast?? Stupid broken wrist.)

Then hammer a starter spot for the eye screws. 

Screw in the eye screws and then attach the picture wire. Wrap it up nice and tight. 

And hang your bows!! Easy as pie!

Yummy Tea

I don't remember where I got this. But it is SO good. It's been hot (for Idaho anyway. Nothing like Phoenix) here, and I've made this about 9 times. It seems like I make it and then it's gone. Maybe there's a hole in my pitcher.... ;)

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. whole cloves
• 6 black tea bags
• 3-4 C. apricot or peach nectar
• Sugar or honey, to taste (optional) I use the Kerns nectar, which is really sweet, so no sugar for me. 

Instructions

In large saucepan, simmer water, cinnamon stick and cloves 15 minutes, covered. Turn off heat and add tea bags. Steep 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength you prefer. Remove tea bags and add nectar. Add sugar or honey, if desired. Strain to remove spices. Refrigerate until cold, or serve warm