Advent Calendars

I found some DIY Advent Calendars online and wanted to share them with you!  

First, here's the one I'm doing. 

Last year, I began creating this one!  It's not finished, but here's what I've got!

1.  Cut 50 circles of fleece; I used red, white and green. 

2.  Embroider numbers 1-25

3.  Embellish each with stitches, ribbon, rick-rack . . . be creative!! 

4.  Lay a numbered circle on top of a blank circle.  Blanket stitch them together on the bottom & sides.  You can find a tutorial on blanket stitching and how to make these as tags or ornaments HERE.

5.  I'm going to (yeah, soon!) attach them to a red & green cord & stuff 'em with chocolate! 

 I found this great collection of ideas recently and wanted to share! Check out the very creative Advent Calendars here: dm designs: 24 Creative DIY Advent Calendars

Noodles to Dye For

My mom has been bringing home extra Disney's Family Fun magazine for us.  

We love the project ideas!  

This one is particularly easy and fun.  

It's not even super messy (don't you love that?!)

Here's what I learned to do (Thanks, Disney!)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon Vinegar

10-12 drops food coloring

About 1/2 cup noodles for each color

Mix vinegar, food coloring and and uncooked pasta in a ziplock bag & shake.

 

Spread noodles onto paper towels, turning over once while drying. 

(Doesn't take too long--20ish minutes)

 LOVE (most of) the colors!

 Even Bug can string 'em easily!

Bee making necklaces "for kids who don't have any Christmas presents." 

(Yeah, her idea after doing Operation Christmas Child boxes at church!)

Stored these in jars.  

Speaking of which, I have a lot of jars sitting on my counter.  

They are supposed to be inspiring me to think of a great way to re-purpose them.  

Still waiting for the inspiration.

Personalized Mugs & Hot Chocolate, OH MY!

 This morning, the girls colored their own mugs.  With my 25% off all purchases coupon at Michael's, I was able to get these mugs & the pens that came with them for 75 cents each.  Easy, inexpensive craft project.  Then we made hot chocolate.  Does life get better than this?! 

 Bailey liked coloring the inside of her mug more than the outside!

 Brooklyn wrote her own name--all the letters are there, even if they are on different lines.

Lovin' the hot chocolate!

Birthday @ Sarver!

Well, I'm a bit behind on blogging (surprise, surprise!).  For the first time  ever, we joined a wine club this summer, Sarver Winery in Eugene, Oregon.  The wine is fabulous and it's conveniently close.  At the beginning of October, we attended the our first release party.  Despite the rain, was a blast!  Plus, it was my mom & my birthday celebration.  Wine, family, and feast . . . pretty good birthday!

 Bug & Mommy!

 Dad, Jenny & Mom

 Mom with Bug!

Me & Mine  :)

Bee Kneads Bread!

Yesterday was a great day to bake!  

 Bee, Bug and I made chocolate chip cookies, and I taught Bee how to knead The Best Bread Ever! 

 Yes, we're still sporting the whiskers from the Hello Kitty party.

Bee's 4th Birthday: A Hello Kitty Party

 

 A few of the cute little "kitties"

I love people.  I love my kids.  I love parties.  So, it was a party.  A 4th birthday party, no less.  Brooklyn saw some Hello Kitty party decorations a while back, so she decided on a Hello Kitty party.  We made Hello Kitty ear headbands, cake pops, and my mom made a kitty cake (pic to come!).  We bought crayons and Brooklyn glued pictures of Hello Kitty on them for party favors.  But none of that mattered, really.  It was the people.  We had such a fun time celebrating a special girl with family and friends.  Thank you to all who made her feel so special.

 Our family

 Cake Pops--YUM!!

 Hello Kitty ears for girls & party favor bags

 Duck-Duck Goose--hilarious game with 1-5 year olds

 Love these cuties.

 Group hug after Red Light/Green Light

 The Pinata!

 No, not digging for worms; frantically collecting candy!

 New PJs.

 

 Bug's ears are my fav.

When it was over, my dad said, "Thanks, great party"

I replied, "Anytime.  But let's keep it to twice a year."  

Love parties.  I'm tired.

Chocolate Strawberry Pancakes

I know I should have posted this MONTHS ago
when strawberries were still in season.

  But I didn't.  

So here you go anyway.  

This is my favorite breakfast at the Pancake House in Puerto Vallarta:  

Chocolate pancakes with strawberries.

 Not the best pictures in the whole world, but you can use your imagination,right?

So, the recipe?  Still perfecting that, but I have found several chocolate pancake recipes online.  

Just add strawberries to the batter, 

top with powdered sugar (or whipped cream--hello!!), 

and more fresh strawberries.  

A true delight!

Here's a pretty darn good recipe to get you started.  

Plus it has pictures for every step.  

Someone has time for such things.  Not I.

{click here for recipe}

New Shoes

Who doesn't love a good bargain?

Here's the shoes I found @ St. Vinnie's on Monday.

 Clogs.  I know.  But I love them!

 $3.47 & I don't think they've really been worn.  

(Parana gun!  Oh yeah!!!)

Dress & Headband for Bee's friend

  It was a birthday party!

Bee's friend "Joey" had her party at the local pool tonight.  

A gift was in order.

 Thankfully, I had already had this fabric cut to make this dress/top.  

(Because, of course, I realized I needed a gift at about 10:00 this morning).  

I had made one just like this for Bug months ago, and was going to make this for Bee, except that she wears the one I made for Bug.

[Insert big breath here; that was a dizzying sentence.] 

So this was the perfect garment to make for the perfect little birthday girl.

  I decided to make a headband to go with the dress.  I mean, what girl doesn't want an accessory?