Fa-La-La-La-La...La-La-La-La!

Had my Annual Sistahs Christmas party get together last night and it was awesome! We usually take turns hosting and this year I decided to host. A few of the ladies in attendance, I didn't get a chance to get pics of before they left! Anyhow, we did an ornament exchange, had some yummy food, and played some pretty fun games. Even tried some Pinterest thangs! I tried some Chili Queso Dip...was supposed to taste like Chilis Queso...and it was tastin like it! BOMB! Also tried a Peppermint Martini....yumm...but strong! I am not a Martini drinker, but it looked cute, looked rather festive and why not!? You only love once right! In the drink was...Vanilla Vodka, Peppermint Schnapps, Club Soda, Crushed Peppermint around the rim of glass and peppermint at the bottom of the glass..the biz! Everyone enjoyed it..to say the least!

Here are a few pics for ya...

                                     
 Yumm...look at that crushed peppermint...dipped the rim in the vodka and then the crushed peppermint...

Here are gifts I made for the girls...

Made 5x5 Canvas for them with an inspirational piece on it and also altered planners...

 This is what the planners looked like before...usually you can find these in any $1 bin..got these at Micheals.

After being up till after 3:00am, making sure was everything was on track they better like it! And thats on my mama! 

 The finished planners...all 10 of them...

 Finished canvas...

2 of the 10 I made...

                                      

The piece reads:

"You.Are.Amazing."

As.you.are.

Stronger than you know,

More beautiful than you think.

Worthier than you believe,

More loved than you can ever imagine.

Passionate about making a difference.

Fiery when protecting those you love.

Learning. Growing. Not alone.

Warm.Giving.Generous.

Quirky.Sexy. Funny. Smart.

Flawed. Whole. Sacred. Brave.

And so, so, so, much more.

Be Strong. Be confident. Be You.

- Tia Sparkles Singh, 2011

 Here's the finished of both products!

Happy Holidays my friends!!!

More Elf Shenanigans

Hey! Hey! Hey!

Well, Miracle is up to her antics again....today...Bre found her chillin with one of her baby dolls in her highchair, eating on some Apple Jacks and a candy cane! Not a very balanced meal there Miracle!

Bre thought it was super sweet that Miracle put her arm around her baby doll...lol..she was so excited...

Love the elf shenanigans...and I am glad she does too!

 

"Miracle" Wrecked Havoc....On Her Tree!!

So. Her name is "Miracle", the Elf on the Shelf!

Bre came home from her dads today and was introduced to the elf, and she named her "Miracle". Not sure where the name came from, but hey....we asked her to name her!

She is really excited about this elf and her magical powers that she will be reporting back and forth to Santa in the North Pole! Miracle is under strict guidelines to not speak to the children, but the children can speak to the elf's...Also, the children are to not touch the elf or else she will lose her magical powers!

Anyway, the elf is known to do mischievous things when kids go to bed...so tonight...as you can see below, "Miracle" wrecked havoc on the little girls Christmas Tree....OH BOY!!! Umm, yeah , that is what you think they are...26 pairs...LOL!!!!

 

Can't wait to see her reaction...hopefully I can catch some flicks!

 

 

 Look at her...innocent little "Miracle"....lol...tee heee!!!

Happy Holidays!

{Alternative to Advent Calendar}

 

Ok...so I luv Pinterest, because otherwise, I wouldn't have known about alot of different things I have learned of recently or tried. I just LOVE being able to bring a smile to my baby girls face...so one of my dearest friends Alondra, told me about this alternative to a traditional advent calendar. I have been wanting to do an advent calendar for so long...so here we go.

 

What it is, is empty matchbook boxes...of course empty out the matches, save them if you wish...you can put little cute notes, activities that you and your child can partake in. So for instance, I put the following in her boxes, make a fort and eat dinner in it, make a Christmas card and mail it, have breakfast for dinner, open a small gift (from $1 store), I put a dollar in one and some change in another.

 

Normally, you would put numbers on the wrapped match boxes, but because of my lovely circumstances and not having Bre 7 days a week, I left the numbers off. So she will be be able to unwrap something each day as a count down.

 

We are exposing the elf for the first time tomorrow, as she comes home from her dads, can't wait..lol. Hopefully I catch some smiles and giggles for you on camera...

 

Have a great week!

 

{ Christmas Time, Pics, Elf on the Shelf! }

Thought I would catch you up on a few goodies...I have more than a few pics to share...had some fun with these pics....

 

I have been having alot of fun with Bre this year and Christmas, she is so innocent, I love it! I think I am having more fun than her! Oooh if she only knew the tricks that are up my sleeve! Just found out about this darn Elf on a Shelf which I will share more when you scroll down...

 

One of Santa's elfs came by and visited Bre before she woke up and we woke up to chaos in the bathroom....scroll down...you will see!

 

Enjoy!

 

1. The day we decorated the trees with "plain" lights. Lol...if you missed that post, you may want to go back and re-read the prior post about my Shenanigans!

 

 2. Bre wrote on a post-it note her letter to Santa. I mean that's not bad for a 5 year old...one thing...I like it. She has been learning how to write her sentences out without help..we teach her to just sound it out! And she is doing great! Her post-it reads, "Der Santa, wut a Bike"! Well you go girl! You got it!

 3. The elfs came!!! Mischievous little boogers!!! Wrote in LIPSTICK on the bathroom mirror...
The elf wrote..."Hi bre! I saw your PJ's! Ha! Ha!, Elf"....The next day was wear your PJ's to school so, supposedly the elf saw her PJ's...and Bre was trippin out...lol...she walked in the bathroom and said, "Oh boy!" LOL!

 4. Yours TRULY!

 5. Last but not least....thanks to friends and Pinterest...I heard about the Elf on the Shelf....for those who do not know...here is the little story on the back of the box. Its really cute...(written by the creator Carol V. Aebersold.

"This charming tradition began for our family when my children were very small.  Like most children through the ages, they wanted to know how Santa really knew who was naughty or who was nice. Their answer, as in my own childhood, came in the form of a small pixie-elf.

The first time the elf arrived at our home, my children officially adopted him by giving him a name. Each year he would arrive around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving.  His sole responsibility was to watch the children's behavior and report it to Santa each night.  The next morning after the children awoke, they discovered the elf had returned him from the North Pole and was not resting in a new and different place. My children would race each other out of bed to try and be the first to spy him in his new position.

To preserve the elf's Christmas magic the children were not allowed to touch it; however, talking to the elf was encouraged.  My children shared many secrets with their elf and while he was under strict orders not to talk to them, the elf was under no such orders where grown-ups were concerned.

Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit, it helped the children to better control themselves.  All it took was a gentle reminder that the "elf is watching," for errant behavior to be modified.

**Carol V. Aebersold

Im sorry! Yes, I was having a little fun with the elf! LOL! Bre is not here....so I thought I would acquaint myself with him! I will have her name her (yes, its a girl), and the pranks shall begin immediately!

Ok...The Things We Do For Our Kids!

Ok, the things that we do for our kids...

I took the task of going to storage and fetching the Christmas decor and tree. Well I forgot that I put my Christmas Tree in my parents storage so there were two trees in there. Well I just grabbed mine, not remembering that one had the clear lights and one had the colored lights.

Let me rewind for a sec...we have never put up Christmas decor up this early before, usually its maybe the 2nd week of December. Well you know how we (society) rush right through Thanksgiving and get right into Christmas right? Well if it wasn't Thanksgiving Day or the day after, neighbors were putting out decorations, putting lights up, just pumping little Bre up! It didn't help that Adriana my sisters friend from Arizona dropped off my sisters gifts to us from her. Of course they are all sparkly and blinged out and Bre's wrapped all bomb in princess wrapping paper...so Bre is super stoked like, "OH YEAH! SANTA'S COMING! SANTA'S COMING!" My poor child thought Santa was for sure coming that night. She knows Santa is in town becuase she "Saw Him" at Victoria Gardens Mall and we took a $16.00 5x7 pic (yeah, thats sarcasm!)....Anyway...baby girl is SUPER HYPED! Ok!?

So anyway..picking back up to the tree business. I promised her after church, we will decorate, and put up our tree and the Christmas lights will go up. So...we put up the tree and she looks a little disappointed. I'm thinking to myself, "What now!?" lol...I ask her, "Whats wrong Bre?", she says, "Mom, how come we don't have colors on our tree?"...when she asked me this, I forgot the fact that I grabbed mine and mine had clear and moms which was still in storage had colored lights. I tried to tell her, "Baby, our tree is still beautiful it has lights like snow, cute and cool ornaments and a beautiful star! We will get colored lights next year...", she seemed to be satisfied. She also made a comment about our clear outdoor lights and everyone else has colored lights...are they ever satisified? Im like, man!

Woke up this morning, and mom realized that I grabbed the wrong tree, and also moms tree had a easy toggle switch as we made it Bre's responsibility to push the easy button which turns the lights out on the tree. Grandma said she would go to storage and get the tree with colored lights...ok cool!

Sooo.....fast forward to this evening.....I get my mind right to take down ALL the decorations off the tree, to have the new one up by the time Bre gets home tomorrow as she was with her dad this evening. I take the other tree out the box only find out that it was perhaps packaged or stored wrong, all the branches were bent, making the tree look sad and unloved....Needless to say, we had to take the colored tree BACK DOWN and we will be putting that bad boy in the trash! I'm a little tired at this point, but then put the old tree BACK UP and dug out 3 strands of colored lights...we threw those bad boys on the tree and WAH-LAH! Operation tree make over! Lord, I am tired now...

The things we do for our kids! You know what, I jsut have to realize that it is not all about me... =)
It's all good...cuz my mama would have done the same for me!

Here are a few holiday pics...