We started the tradition last year with our elf on the shelf. Our elf, Molly, quickly became a part of the family. After a long year she's back to keep an eye on these crazy kids and maybe get into a little trouble herself. :)
I'm not sure how many with toddlers have heard but there is now a YouTube craze for videos where a woman opens Kinder Surprise eggs. My son will sit for an hour and watch the woman open chocolate eggs to see the surprise inside. The surprise is normally some sort of Disney or other cartoon character. They are mind numbing videos but my son is borderline obsessed. So of course when the time came to look into Christmas presents for him the obvious choice was to order some surprise eggs for him to open on his own. Then came the fun part... Surprise eggs are banned in the United States because you cannot have food with non-food products (the toy) in it. So I had to get creative. I have added here my do it yourself picture instructions to make your own surprise eggs at home. You can use any small toys but I especially liked squinkies brand because they come in small capsules already. There is also a variety of Disney and super hero characters in this brand. I will post photos of him opening them later. This is obviously a project I did not want to get into with a two year old around. If you have any questions just let me know in the comments!
With Christmas approaching quick, I wanted to share some of the things our elf, Molly, got into last year. This by far has been one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Molly has became a part of our household and E still talks about her often throughout the year. Can't wait for Molly to return for more Christmas mischief the day before Thanksgiving, this year!
Last night I maybe some of my homemade chocolate and decided to add the recipe and a picture to show you how simple it is! Most of the products you probably already have in your pantry. I don't know if your house is like mine but we go through a lot of chocolate syrup in a month so doing this way saves me quite a bit!
1 & 1/2 Cups- sugar 1/2 Cup- cocoa ( I use toll house brand) 1 Cup- water Dash of salt 1 teaspoon- vanilla
You start by mixing together your sugar, cocoa, and salt in a bowl. Next add mix to a pan and pour in the cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil stirring well with a fork throughout. After the syrup comes to a boil turn down the heat and let it simmer for about a minute. Then add the vanilla. Pour into a jar or squirt bottle with a large nozzle. Then refrigerate. After it gets cold, enjoy!
Well sickness has struck in our household today. Little B has an ear infection, asthma flare up, and a stomach bug. All this has caused quite a stir in our little home. This is the sickest I have ever seen my little man. After a quick trip to the doctor I came home with a handy hint. My son refuses and I mean REFUSES to take medicine. I have tried the nurse trick of squirting it in the back side of his cheek, he spits it out, blowing in his face to force him to swallow, he spits it out, offering a drink after, he spits it out. Basically whatever I try to do he always spits his medicine out. So, to some folks dismay I began sneaking it in juice. This worked well for his daily allergy medicine and his occasional cough medicine but today I was stressed. The doctor was prescribing amoxicillin which is thicker and more grainy than typical medicine. I asked her opinion about mixing his medicine with juice and she said when it comes to thicker grainier medicine to mix it with a little chocolate syrup or jelly. Both of these are thick already and the sweetness hides the flavor of it. Brilliant! It worked very well for my little man who loves chocolate milk. I make my own chocolate syrup at home which is running low so you will probably see a post on how I make it in the next couple days as well. Hope everyone is well. If you would like to see a life hack added let me know and I can do it! Thanks and good night to all!
Was making some dinner tonight, buffalo chicken loaded baked potato casserole, and had a little help. Also thought I would add a quick life hack. Got a lot of potatoes to dice? Use an Apple slicer to get you started and then just slice across the potato slices you already have. So simple!
So I am having trouble deciding what to blog about. I love doing crafts, cooking, finding new ways to clean, doing bible studies, anything with the kids, photography, and party planning. I have figured out that the bible studies are a bit too tedious to do daily as a blog because I have to write the entire bible plan on word then write a blog post about it. I also work full time so you can see how this can be hard. Don't get me wrong, I will still add bible lessons as I do them and get them typed, I just can't do it daily. So I need your input. What do you want to hear about? What interests you? I have even thought about just trying popular pinterest pins to see if they work or fail. Let me know in the comments! Thank you to everyone that reads this blog!
So I had a great couple of days. My best friend went into labor and now is the mommy of three wonderful boys. I was able to be with her through all the pushing and when the Dr made the decision a c section was necessary. I have never been more proud of her. She was so strong. She lives three hours away so it will be awhile before I get my snuggles again but for now I'm so happy I got to share this moment with her!
So as usual it's been a crazy few days around our household. My parents and grandmother came to visit for my daughter's grandparents lunch at school. I have done a couple bible studies since my last post but I have not had a chance to type them and post. I did a Peter Pan bible study which the kids and I had a blast doing, and a Monster's Inc bible study too. Today I have been researching a lot of character building ideas for children so you may see those in the coming weeks as well. With the Christmas season upon us I like to do random acts with the kids to teach them to do good deeds and become givers. If anyone has any ideas of some fun ways to encourage giving through random acts please let me know and I'll post with your name and a shout out to your blog if applicable. Have a great night all!