Christmas Advent- Day 2: Meet Frost

Remember I mentioned we got an Elf on the Shelf this year?  Remember how I'm kind of a tightwad?  I looked into buying one at Hallmark, but I couldn't justify the price.  So I went to the Dollar Tree and found a cute Red Fairy.

I just took off her wings, made her a fun little hat, and added some puffs of white to her shoes.

Her name is Frost.  She comes on the night of December 1st and picks up our letters to Santa to deliver to the North Pole.  She comes back and "hides" somewhere around the house for the girls to find the next day.

Seeing as this was the first day, she "hid" amongst a fun North Pole breakfast. (Inspired by this post)

 Snow covered donuts,  hot cocoa with marshmallows and crushed candy cane, and red M&Ms

(cuz that's Frost's favorite color, of course!)

Each girl got a pair of Christmas sock, and there was a letter for Frost!

As mentioned in the letter, Frost brings us a fun activity to do each day.  She is our Advent Calendar!

 As a sad little aside:  All of my Christmas stuff is in storage.  Dear Hubby found the tree, but when we opened it up, the stand wasn't in it.  So, he is looking for the stand today so we can set up the tree!

 I think they enjoyed it!

 I know this has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but this is too cute not to share!

At least, it was cute the first few times...

Now it's just getting old having to re-decorate the tree every few minutes!

Where will Frost show up next???

Stay tuned!

Christmas Advent- Day 1: Letters to Santa

This year, our advent calendar is a little different from years past.  You have all heard of the Elf on the Shelf.  Well, this year, we got one!  And she is bringing us our daily advent activity.

So for day one, we wrote letters to Santa.

We put them on the tree so that our Elf could pick them up and take them to Santa while we were all sleeping soundly.

The older girls drew pictures for Santa on the back, too.

          

Then we put our letters on the tree and went to bed.

Chocolate Gingerbread Men

When I saw this post, I knew what I was going to decorate my tree with.  They were just too adorable to pass up.  But I started getting my ingredients together and took a closer look at the recipe.  1 cup of cinnamon!?!  I don't have enough!  So I looked in my pantry and found a GIANT container, full of cocoa powder.  Perfect!  Same color without having to go to the store!  Granted, it wouldn't give the same smell, but with all the Scentsies all over my house, what difference would it make?

So I whipped up their recipe, substituting cocoa powder for the cinnamon.  When that came out too dark, I made a batch of white salt dough and mixed them together.

I may not have the cinnamon smell, but my house sure smelt like brownies while they were baking.  Yum!

Yes, they look pale and sad now, but once you seal them, they darken up nicely.

 Add some puff paint for eyes, buttons, and ric rac, but they still needed something...

 Ah!  Much better!  Aren't they adorable?

 String up the Gingers and give a good hose down with top coat.

 (Maybe shed a tear or two for the casualties on the garage floor) Let them dry and admire your work.

 Then let your kids decorate the tree...

 ...and do a little rearranging once the munchkins go to bed.

Did you know that Sharpie markers run when you spray them with sealer?

I didn't.

But Hubby did.

Maybe I should have waited until he was home to spray them...

Oh well!  Their still cute!

Now I just have to go shopping find a fun topper!

Finally Gettin' to the Costume

I know, Halloween was almost a month ago.  My sister asked me to take some pictures of her little girl in her costume, but we couldn't ever seem to get our schedules to match up.  We finally got to it this weekend.  Want to see one ADORABLE pixie?

Isn't she just the sweetest?  Look at those curls!  And those big brown eyes!  Couldn't you just eat her up???

Guess What!!!

'Nuf said!

Shutter Love: Birthdays

Another fun photo party!
When I saw the theme for this one, I couldn't help but dig up Cassy's first birthday pictures. She is just too cute to resist!

Go check out the other fun entries. Feel free to vote for me!

Go now!

I Heart Faces: Silhouettes

Another fun Photography contest.
This one's theme is silhouettes this week.  I took this picture at the end of the summer.

It started out looking like this:

I cropped it in Picnik, then added a focal soften.  And just like that you have a fun, Goodbye Summer silhouette!