Want to see a little peek of what we have been up to over the past few days! Join us next week as we post updates on decorating my daughter's room, our $5 goodwill chairs, and a winter wreath to carry you thru the rest of Winter!! And if we have time this weekend hope to get started on my daughter's dress up armoire!!
As the story goes on Christmas Eve Santa picks up all the elf on a shelf elves on his way back to the North Pole. I had been so proud of Maddie for not touching Jack this year because apparently our neighbors have an elf that you can touch once he has been found and she really wanted to play with Jack too. So thanks to pinterest I saw a note for the kids for the last day(Christmas Eve morning). I modified it for us and to allow her to play with him and sat him on the entry way tree (where sadly he has been a couple times before) and she awoke to quickly read the note and then take him off the tree and hug him...I actually let her play with him for about an hour before I made her put him back on the tree.
Parker, Jack & Madison Christmas Eve 2011!!
PointsPlus® Value: 16
Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas~ hope this morning you found everything you asked for under your tree!
Our church sent home with all the kids some cake mix and icing to make Jesus a Happy Birthday cake! Here is the one my daughter made before she covered it in sprinkles!!
Elizabeth
Jack our elf sure has been up to lots of fun this month...
I haven't had a chance to catch a photograph of all that Jack our elf has been up to but I did capture a photo of him and Barbie out on a date! Notice how he can not take his eyes off her!! And from the looks of her hair it sure looks like they had a wild night!!
Here is Jack relaxing in a snowball bath after a couple wild nights of partying with Barbie and her friends!!There are tons of reindeer cookie ideas floating around the web and pinterest. Some use peanut butter cookies, some with nutter butter cookies, some using m&m's or chocolate covered pretzels. But I needed something I could take to my daughter's class party and we have a peanut allergy in her class so I knew that I was going to have to modify these so all could enjoy.
My daughter did not want to use m&m's and so we looked at what we had in the pantry and came up with mini chocolate chips and red icing for the nose. These were very easy to make and she enjoyed helping! Have you started to notice a theme for most of my recipes...simple ingredients and easy to make with children!
1 package of rolled sugar cookie dough (or peanut butter cookie dough)
mini pretzels
chocolate chips or m&m's for the eyes
red icing, red hots, or red m&m's for the nose
Preheat oven based on cookie dough directions
Cut rolled dough into slices- mold on pan into an oval or diamond shape
Place mini pretzels into each corner at top
Place chocolate chips/m&m's in dough for eyes & nose (if using)
Cook per directions, let cool completely then add red icing for the nose!!
Enjoy!
~Elizabeth
My daughter loves to decorate Gingerbread Houses- she usually starts asking about the time Thanksgiving rolls around when they will get the chance to decorate their gingerbread house. Which means this momma snaps up 2 prebuilt houses as soon as Target puts them on sale in early November!! Because you never know when that perfect afternoon will come when everyone is bored...
This year my kids had their own designs in mind and so I did not get to help too much- might have to pick myself up one next year! Maddie wanted her roof iced just like the designs because she was going to put a colored "light" in each one! With red & white lights on the roof top!
Ever wonder how the children of photographers behave when it is time for their photo? Yep I am here to admit my daughter is totally a poser!! Poor thing I promise I did not do it to her...well maybe I did, but I did not mean to...but after a few years of being my model for different locations, props and such and well she has totally turned into a poser!! Enjoy her finest moments as she strikes a pose for the camera!!
This time she got her brother to join in the posing..luckily he usually does as I ask and doesn't get carried away with all this posing!! But yep it carries over into our daily snapshot life too!
~Elizabeth
So it's time for me to start working on my 5 year old daughter's room, I am struggling a bit on whether to decorate her room more childish as a 5 year old or push it up a bit more girly like a 7-9 year old. Her room is 12X13 with a fairly large walk in closet. The first thing I did was take down the closet door- it was directly behind the entrance to her room and the previous owners had knocked a hole into it from the doors banging into each other!
Next it was time to pick a new color for her walls to replace the painter tan that was in there. She picked her favorite color- yellow of course! Now let me warn you right here- yellow is a nightmare to paint & I will never do it again!! I first bought the new paint at Lowe's that has the primer mixed in with the paint and it took almost an entire gallon to just do one wall....however it just took one wall for us to realize that not only was that paint not going to work in that room because it would have cost a fortune to paint but the color was a little more neon then we wanted! You know when you step back and look into the room the people in the room should not be glowing from your wall color!!
So back to Lowe's we went to get some new paint mixed from our 2nd choice color. This time I got primer + 2 gallons of our paint. I put 2 coats of primer on the walls- that original yellow was neon I tell ya!! Here is just a crappy iphone pic of her new wall color and bedding. The bedding was from Brylane Home after waiting on backorder for over a month at JCPenney. I do love it for her but the reviews on it were right and the bedspread is lightweight and the fabric on it just does not seem like it is going to last very long, but for now it works.
Excuse the paper blinds as the previous owners had 1" vinyl blinds hanging in the windows and they had to come down- to be replaced with the faux wood blinds plus the previous owners had measured for an inside mount and then hung them on the outside so they did not even cover the entire window glass!!!
So back to some inspiration- I would like to create her walk in closet into a changing room. I want to take down the long closet shelf & rod and replace it with 2 smaller ones stacked on the end of the closet. Then move her vanity in there along with maybe a full length mirror. Right now she has a huge dresser that I may either move into the closet or remove all together as it does nothing but collect more junk inside of it!! Also since I took the door down to the closet I was thinking of hanging a curtain on it like this:
I love this little nightstand table- isn't it just awesome for your little ballerina!! And it's just made out of a kitchen stool with a tutu wrapped around it- how simple!
I absolutely love this room- probably because I love the wall color- which is what her old room was painted and to me so verstaile-but I love how the bedding can work for either a pre-teen or a younger child.
I loved this wall decal mainly because it is so large at 58" tall and 68" wide - originally I was thinking of putting it in her corner and then adding some reading pillows underneath but now I am thinking of going more towards the image below. I already have that sofa table but mine is cherry and I would need to add a shelf- but I was thinking of maybe going with the white cube storage units that way for now I could use it as a bookshelf too?? What do you think?
Photo Inspiration Credit: PinterestWelcome to our new home! Decorating our new home is not going to happen overnight and will have to happen on a budget so here are some pics of it empty before we purchased it. I will try and come back and update the pics as we complete each room which will be a slow process!
Looking back at the entry way and dining room from the den.
Looking into the den from the entry way!
The dining room- the first thing we had to do was paint over that purply cranberry color- we painted a dark brown color on the top- thank you to my realtor, Harriet, for helping us paint - love ya!
The Kithchen, Hearth Room, and Eating Area
Standing in the kitchen and looking towards the hearth room.
Walk thru Shower
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