Elf Update Day 6

I wasn't able to see Addi in the cafeteria when she opened her lunch box....but I did make a short visit as she was finishing up. She was super excited about what Elfie had done to her lunchbox. She said, "Mom- he wrapped everything!" It was super cute! Anything to put a smile on those babies faces! 

The girls were super excited to wake up this morning and find that their peppermint seeds had magically grown them candy canes! It is amazing how something so simple (seemingly) is so awesome to them! 

Craftiness of the Day

One of my very best friends asked me to come up with something to make for her staff at work. We were working with a very limited budget and came up with this idea. This is a 4 x 6 L-shaped picture frame. I took two different colored black/white prints to make the background. Then I tied the cute ribbon with a tag. I will finish this off by putting a stack on post-it notes in the middle. Voila- a cute post it note stand! This is a really cute teacher gift. I think it is pretty stinking cute for a simple project. I would recommend only attempting to make them in small quantities. I am on number 75 right now and I am no longer feeling the love for these! 

Craft Club 

At the beginning of the school year, we were told we had to either tutor our students or start a club one day a week. So me...being the crafty fruit loop that I am....decided to start a craft club. I enlisted the art teacher at school to help keep my sanity. We opened the club up for 15 students and charged a nominal fee for 8 weeks of craft classes. Needless to say, we have the best 15 kids and we love every minute of it! I secretly look forward to it every week. The kids do too! They are usually at the building before me on Thursday mornings! We have completed several kid friendly projects. Our first project landed us a spot in the local newspaper. 

Spooky Halloween canvases

Acrylic cups we personalized.

Christmas Ornament

TGIF! Can't wait for the Georgia game tomorrow! I will save a pic from the Dome! 

Elf-ed Lunch *Sneak Peak*

This charade is set up, ready to go for tomorrow. I am so sad that I will be in class when she opens this and I won't see her. I may have to enlist a few spies to scope it out for me! 

Bahahahaha.....!!!!!!!!

This is the sandwich that I attempted to create a little elf face on...ran out of room!

I wrapped every little thing. I maybe put a few extra things in too!

One of those extras may have been a bag of sugar that looked like marshmallows and m&m's!

This is the little card I made with the funny Elf App! 

Elf-capades Day 5

It appears that the 'elves' around this house are a little tired towards the end of the week! I decided to take it easy for a night or two. Last night Elfie left us a cute little note telling us to plant some peppermint seeds in the bowl of sugar. Tomorrow he is going to leave us a special treat.......candy canes-sssshhhhh!! 

Future Elf Business

I have really been pondering this lunch elf business and I think I have narrowed it down. I think I will make an elf face in her sandwich with m&m's and then wrap all of the items separately in wrapping paper. Of course, I will still make the cutie patootie Elf card to put in there. This is what it looks like so far....

I can't help but to laugh when I look at this! It is going to be awesome!

Another Day in Paradise

If you know me personally, you know I absolutely love my job. There was a couple years that I went part time and I missed the classroom tremendously. I had the easiest, gravy job in all of teaching, but yet I wanted to have MY classroom back again. I don't regret that one bit. 

Some days after work, I come home and thank my lucky stars  that I have such an awesome job where I can make a huge difference. Well....today was NOT that day. I am not sure if it is 1) my attitude, 2) all the changes, or 3) a super lazy generation of kids. It is not my whole class, so I definitely try to focus on the bright side. I have one of the most caring group of kids, but there is some rotten apples in my bunch. I must find a way to not let them spoil the fun for the rest of my awesome kids. I have never, ever 'given' up on a child.....but I am at a crossroads. I can't keep letting the same thing bring me down. I just don't know if I can save everyone. That makes me sad. 

Elf Catastrophe Day 4

Well.....today elicited a slightly different response than expected. I was in the bathroom getting ready this morning and in comes Addi in tears. She was hysterically crying that Elfie had really made a mess and he used up all our toilet paper. It was really hard not to burst into laughter myself, but I somehow managed to hold it all together. I left Lance with explicit instructions on what Elfie would be doing last night before I went to bed. I think he did a pretty terrific job of pulling it off. I wish I had a picture of Sofie while Addi was crying. I couldn't tell if she thought it was funny that Addi was crying and she had nothing to do with it.....or that she was admiring Elfie's handiwork! 

Nothing like a little toilet paper tinsel!

Elfie made quite the mess while flying around the living room! 

Dangling from the ceiling fan!

Of course, we had to turn it on! 

Elfie survived!

It did sound like we had several kites flying around in our living room! 

Pondering Upcoming Elf Activity--Please HELP!!!!!

This morning on my way to work I had an awesome idea pop into my head. I want  to ELF Addi's lunchbox. She never looks in there until time to eat, so it would be perfect. I downloaded an app called 'Elf Ur Face' and I made a cool pic of her that I will turn into a postcard from Elfie in her lunchbox later. I downloaded another 'Elf' app that really stunk. I have this idea of using that paper that you print on and put onto cakes to put on her sandwich....I have never used this, so I will go to Kroger and beg for some info. I also thought about finding someone who bakes bread and asking to get a piece of red and green. I may be crafty, but I stink at cooking. I know my limitations! I can turn her water bottle green maybe. A friend mentioned filling the lunchbox with mini marshmallows (add some confetti snow flakes maybe), but I think Addi would be mortified and would cry when it spilled everywhere. Yes....she is a pleaser and it would break her heart to make such a mess! I will have to come up with some funny snacks to go with the Elf theme. 

If you happen to have any ideas or suggestions about this Elf lunch business---please share!!! 

Elf Adventure- Day 3

I was super tired last night when I went to bed and realized that I forgot to take care of a little something. That little something happened to be our little guest Elfie! I had pretty much got Elfie situated in his cozy marshmallow bath when Lance came home. He decided to take Elfie's bubble bath to a whole new level! I told him to think about it before he had to go buy a new "Elfie" today while we were away! 

Needless to say, I got a phone call on the way to work from two super excited little girls. They were so funny telling me about Elfie taking a bubble bath in the bathtub! I have a little more time tonight to figure out my game plan so tomorrow should be super fun. 

Elf Madness Day 2...and a Little Craftiness

Day 2: 

Elfie decided to remove all of the stockings and hang the girls panties instead. The panties were much more fun! I didn't realize how awesome this would be until I heard Addi scream this morning from the living room....."MOM! You won't believe what Elfie did! You have to come see this!" Lance even got out of bed to check things out. It was hilarious! 

Is it okay if I enjoy this as much as my kids?! Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us! 

Craftiness

I love it when I completely let something slip my mind. I was sitting in a meeting this morning when I realized that I forgot about a baby shower. Those are like my fave thing in the whole world to make crafties for! So I rushed to do my errands, came back home, threw the girls in the bed, and ran up to the craft room to come up with something. It's not my most creative design, but I think it will work! 

Of course, there are no BOY items in the Burns household. So I had to throw together something cute to put this stuff in. I always say that vinyl makes everything better and I think it did this cute little pail well. 

I really hope tomorrow is not quite as crazy as today. Whatever tomorrow holds in store for me....I got this! 

Craftiness of the Day

Infinity Scarf

I have absolutely no patience whatsoever! I watched two different tutorials on how to make an infinity scarf. Needless to say, I took a little bit of info from both and went at it. This is what I came up with! 

I can post some handy dandy instructions on how to recreate this masterpiece when I make the next one. Or....I can make and monogram one for $17. This one happens to be black and white chevron with a red fancy-shmancy monogram. Did I mention that it is cozy flannel?! 

Crayon Rolls

With two small kiddos, crayons are a part of our everyday life. We take crayons in the car, to church, to school...and even places we should not have crayons! The boxes have always annoyed me because my kids destroy them the first time they open them. My next solution was the trusty ziploc baggie. That works fabulous when they leave it open and pick it up. You see what I mean?! So I was really excited when a friend told me about the crayon rolls. 

I use a pattern on my monogram machine to create this, but it could easily be done on a normal sewing machine. You could also change the size to accommodate markers, paint brushes, or make-up stuff. Once you fill it up you just roll it up and tie the ribbon into a bow to hold it secure. When it is opened up, the crayons fit securely into the pockets. They don't fall out, even when dropped. I make these personalized to order for $10. 

The Elves Have Arrived!!!!

Addi and Sofie stayed two extra days at their Nona and Grandpa's house after Thanksgiving. It allowed me some extra time to get some shopping taken care of before the elves arrived. I think... *think*... that I have everything ready to go for the next month. If it works like planned it should be a lot easier than running out to the store every other day for this and that.

Elf Surprise

The girls arrived home on Saturday afternoon to a small present that Elfie, Amelia, and Razi had left for them while they were gone. My husband had bought the girls a 2 pack set of pj's at Target and I split the set (one for now and one for when the elves leave on Christmas Eve). I think the Christmas card from the elves is my favorite part of this! I taped a cute piece of fabric to the wall, posed the elves, then ran down to CVS to pick up the pic. 

North Pole Breakfast 2012 

I told the girls that I thought the elves had been watching for them so I could 'set the stage' for the North Pole Breakfast. I had picked up a few special things new.... Christmas tree snack cakes and Elf DVD. Then I found all of the old things from last year.....Merry-o-kee Microphone, cups, plates, etc. 

The menu was peppermint pancakes (red food coloring topped with whipped cream and peppermint sprinkles), Santa hat strawberries (white chocolate dipped), and peppermint kisses. It's amazing how much sugar those elves bring!!!! 

The Santa Hat Strawberries were super yummy. I did not, however, think they were very awesome at midnight when I was dipping them. Sometimes I wonder about my sanity! 

Addi reading her book from the elves.

Sofie reading her book from the elves.

Check out this link to copy and paste the info to create the book! 

DIY Elf Book

Elf Ideas - Christmas 2012

Our elves are coming to visit Nov.25 to Dec.24!

I have compiled these from all over Pinterest. These are my faves that we will be using in the Burns house this holiday season. Please feel free to leave other ideas. Most importantly...have fun!

These are in no particular order other than #1 and #30.

1.          North Pole Breakfast Pinterest

2.          Elf Hot Air Balloon- tie a couple of helium balloons to pair of undies. Put elf in for a ride. Pinterest

3.          Green Milk- put green food coloring in milk Pinterest

4.          Rudolph Nose- Paint noses red, elf holds a sign telling kids to look in mirror Pinterest

5.          Toilet Paper the Christmas Tree Pinterest

6.          Replace stocking with undies Pinterest

7.          Crepe paper kids doorway Pinterest

8.          Draw funny faces on a family photo Pinterest

9.          Marshmallow bubble bath Pinterest

10.       Hold Baby Jesus at nativity scene Pinterest

11.       Go fishing in toilet or sink with goldfish Pinterest

12.       Wrap toilet in wrapping paper Pinterest

13.        Candy Cane Gardening- plant peppermints and candy canes will ‘grow’ Pinterest

14.       Sugar Angels Pinterest

15.        Use red/green m&m’s to spell out ‘be good’ Pinterest

16.        Replace all pictures in frames with pics of elf Pinterest

17.       North Pole Video from Santa www.portablenorthpole.com

18.        Silly string fight

19.        Watch a movie (bring a new one) Pinterest

20.       Color a picture in a new coloring book

21.       Elf Glow Party Pinterest

22.       Dress Up party- Elves get new clothes that arrive in mail

23.        Elfie magic crystals….because you know they will touch him Pinterest

24.       Elves play Candyland and leave some candy

25.        Elf brings snow covered donuts and hot chocolate

26.        Elf reads a new holiday book

27.       Elf brings a new Christmas ornament for the tree

28.        Elf writes on the bathroom mirror Pinterest 1 Pinterest 2

29.        Plant tic-tacs in sugar and wake up to cookies Pinterest

30.        Goodbye Note-See you next year!

Need Thanksgiving Side Dish?

Mac n' Cheese

This is the BEST mac n' cheese ever! Maybe not THE best, because my granny's mac n' cheese rocks too. I made this at school last week for Addi's Thanksgiving feast and I took the leftovers back to my grade level. We promptly devoured it and everyone was asking for the recipe. It is super creamy and is just as good reheated as it is right out of the oven. This recipe was given to my husband by one of his friends so he could impress me back in the day. It worked! 

What you need: 
     1 box Kraft Mac N' Cheese
     1 cup milk
     1/2 stick of butter
     1 can cream of mushroom soup
     1 tbsp of mayo 
     3 cups sharp cheddar shredded

Cook one box of Kraft mac n' cheese like normal. Add the butter and cheese packet....but add 1 cup of milk instead of 1/4 cup. 

Next add.... 1 can cream of mushroom, 1 tbsp of mayo, and 2 cups of the shredded cheddar. Mix it all together. Pour into 8 x 8 pyrex dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Eat, enjoy, and then eat some more! 

Christmas Craft Fun 

These little girls steal my heart! :) 

Little Things in Life

Every morning begins with me getting up and getting ready for work. I usually wait to wake Addi up until 5:45am, so she has just enough time to get ready before we have to leave. You really don't know which child you are getting out of bed until you get into her room....evil Addi or sweet Addi. If sweet Addi gets out of bed, then the morning routine is smooth sailing. If evil Addi rolls out of bed....watch out. A simple task such as putting on your socks turns into a major screaming, yelling affair. When these crazy morning happen, it 1) makes me questions why I want 2 more children, 2) makes me want to yell back (yeah, that works great), and 3) makes me appreciate the weekends that much more. Everywhere we go, we are constantly rushing, i.e. herding squirrels, from one place to the other. 

This is why I think you should appreciate the little things in life more often. You don't need a lot of money to entertain your kids. Here is a list of a few things my girls absolutely love to do that cost less than $5. 

1) Make hot chocolate and popcorn and watch a movie together.

2) Make cupcakes or cookies and decorate them. I used to do this when I taught 2nd grade and you would not believe how ecstatic kids were to do this. 

3) Go on a walk outside. Our girls love taking a bag of carrots and feeding the horses that live outside of our neighborhood. 

4) Pull out a few magazines and ask your kids to pick out things that they are thankful for. I did this with my 4 year old and I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful she could be. She picked things like a house and she told me she was thankful for it because she had a place to sleep....and keep her toys. Don't get me wrong, we picked out a Justin Beiber too. Don't wanna leave him out! 

5) Play in the leaves! Lance blew a big pile of leaves together and the girls had a blast!

Have fun and enjoy some relaxing time with the family! 

Shhh!!! Don't tell!....North Pole Breakfast Ideas!

Breakfast Part 1-

I can't lie...I get a little crazy this time of the year. I just love the elves! I figure I have only 7 good years of this Santa business per kid, so I plan to live it up! Last year our elves came the weekend before Thanksgiving and they went on vacation with us. Royal pain in my butt! So this year, they are coming the weekend we get home from Nona's. I initially started this whole book idea when we were doing Student Treasures books at school. After I got the whole thing typed out, someone burst my bubble and told me the books would not be back in time. Thus, my next project. 

The front of Sofie's book standing up on the counter.

One of the inside pages.

The front of Addi's book.

How To: 

I took a cute piece of cardstock scrapbook paper and cut it to 9x6in. That way it would be 1/4 of an inch bigger than the inside sheets. I took my Cricut and cut out the cute letters for their names. I stuck them on with tape before I laminated the books. The inside has 6 different pages. I simply punched two holes through the pages and tied them with a ribbon loosely, so the pages would open easily. 

Inside Page 1: 

AFTER WE LEFT YOUR HOUSE

You would not believe all the presents we had to get ready on Christmas Eve!

Santa had us loading up his sleigh for hours!  We were starting to think that there was not going to be enough room for all of the awesome presents.

When we were loading the presents we saw what Santa had in store for you girls.  I hope you liked your gifts!

Inside Page 2: 

DELIVERED PRESENTS

You would not believe all the stops we made! It is very important that we all work together to get the presents delivered to all the children around the world. Santa even shared his cookies and milk with the elves and the reindeer. I must say that chocolate chip is my favorite!

Make sure you throw the food outside for the reindeer again…they really liked it! 

Inside Page 3: 

ELF VACATION

Santa told us we could go anywhere we wanted after we finished delivering the presents. I (Elfie) chose to go to the mountains to rest. Amelia and Razi wanted to go to the beach.  They couldn’t wait to play in the sand.

        

         We were super excited to get back to the North Pole. Santa only gave us a week off….then back to work to get ready for the next year! 

Inside Page 4: 

Somebody’s Watching You

We keep an eye on you throughout the year. We are very proud of Sofie for starting school and being such a good girl everyday. Your mom and dad will be really proud when they see what you have been doing in dance classes. Keep up the good work Sofie!

Addi, you have been a busy girl! Santa was even cheering for you when you scored the goals at your soccer games. You have been a really good girl in Miss Brittany’s room.

Inside Page 5: 

A Note to Addi From Santa

Dear Addi,

         I have been so pleased to watch you this year. You are growing up to be a fine young lady. I have noticed you using your manners at school. You have done a super job on the soccer field. Make sure you help out your parents by cleaning up your toys and clothes each day. Be nice to your sister even when she is not nice to you. Keep up the good work! Don’t forget to write me a letter and tell me what you want for Christmas!

                                                                        Love,

                                                                        Santa

Inside Page 6: 

We Can’t Wait to See You

Santa told us it was almost time to come back to your house. We can’t wait! Boy, do we have some funny things in store for you guys!

We hope you have a safe trip for Thanksgiving to your Nona’s house. Don’t forget to start thinking of what you want Santa to bring you for Christmas.

We also want you to think of something special you can do for someone else during this holiday season. Some families are not as lucky as your family. Maybe you can donate some of your old toys to some children that don’t have many toys. 

Have Fun!!!!

I hope this helps spark some creativity for your very own North Pole Breakfast! I really enjoyed doing this with my girls last year. I am still planning what I am going to make food wise. I am thinking peppermint pancakes....a really cute idea that I found on Pinterest. As I figure it out, I will post more. I have a few more days to nail it down.