Where to put all those stuffed animals??

My two little boys have so many stuffed animals. I can't seem to find something to put them in that doesn't take a lot of space. Here's what I did.

 We had a couple of beanbags downstairs in the basement that I wanted to use.

 First, I emptied one of the beanbags. I took the foam balls out  of the one beanbag and put them in the other beanbag I wasn't going to use. So one beanbag has stuffed animals and the other has foam balls still in it.

Next I placed all the stuffed animals in the empty beanbag. Zip it up and your done. Now when my kids want to read, they grab a book and sit on there beanbags. I don't have to worry about stuffed animals all over the place or trying to find a spot to put them!!


*Amy*

Elf on the Shelf Naughty Letter

So my kids have had some trouble minding mommy and daddy, so we had Buddy (our elf) bring a letter back from Santa with a warning.

It has worked wonders!!! So if you are doing the Elf on the Shelf and your kids need a sweet reminder, then I hope that you give this a try!

Here is the elf that visits our house!!

Cinnamon Spiced Pecans

I have a "Clique" of friends - and we get together once a month for dinner. We started our monthly get togethers YEARS ago when my kids were in elementary school, they were all teachers at the school, and I was the PTA Pres. Over the years we have seen each other through the happiest & hardest of times.  Oh how I LOVE these wonderful friends!!!  They are truly the salt of the earth type people, whom I adore!!  We all took a vote this last year & allowed another person to enter the "clique"  Haha  And she is a wonderful cook.  Lastnight she brought us some lovely spiced nuts! 

of course we all wanted to know how to make them, and she was kind enough to give me the recipe... so that is what I am sharing with you today!!  They sound really easy- and I can tell you they are delish!  So cook some up for your Christmas Parties-- they will be a hit!!!   Thanks Shirley!!!

click on the recipe to enlarge it, and as always if you want the file- leave me a message with your email address & I will send it to you!   ~Karen 

Game Time

It's that crazy busy time of the year.... it seems like it takes me a good chunk of the month to get things ready for our family Christmas Eve Party.  Maybe I need to start assigning some things out to the rest of the family, and spread the LOVE around. Haha    I wanted to play this game this year, I had read about how they had wrapped different things up in tape to form a ball- but I thought that might be a little tricky or sticky, so I decided to try using plastic wrap instead.  We'll see how it works!   First I bought all kinds of things..... 

Socks, gum, tissues, nail polish, shaving cream, clippers, popcorn, gluesticks. bandaids, slinky. whoopie cushion, chapstick, binki's ect. there are a few GIRL toys in there... we have NO girls yet, so the little boys will think thats fun! Here is a great bundle that I found on amazon that would work PERFECT for this game!

then just take something, this is a small bottle of lotion- and start wrapping the plastic around it

as I wrapped, I twisted the roll of plastic to help tighten around the object better & get it to form a ball shape better

the plastic broke a few times so I cut it, and put a piece of tape around it in a few places... then started wrapping the plastic wrap around it again.

it gets pretty big, this isn't quite finished, I have 20-25 more things to wrap up... but hopfully you get the idea.  Then On Christmas Eve- we will sit in a circle on the floor and take turns rolling dice trying to get doubles. The person that rolls doubles gets to start unwrapping the ball, and they keep anything they unwrap-- the person next to them starts rolling the dice until they get doubles- then they take the ball and start unwrapping... I think it will be a fun game we can play with the adults and kids together!!  I wish I had played it once to let you know exactly how it works... but you'll just have to check back after Christmas and see.  Here's a tip... get wrapping early!!  ~Karen

Here is a great bundle from amazon that would be perfect for this game!!! 

Make your own Buttermilk or Sour Cream

Have you ever needed Buttermilk or Sour Cream- but when you went to the fridge.... you realized you didn't have any?   Yeah I've been there, and it usually happens when I'm making something and need it that very minute!!

Well it's your lucky day.. here's all you need!

Click on the recipe card and it will enlarge it so you can read it better... and as always if you would like the file for the card so you can print it, just leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you.

                                                                                                                ~Karen

Peppermint Trees

I was at the dollar store last week and saw these styrofoam cones- and bags of peppermints- so I thought I would try to make peppermint trees. 

 You need one 7 oz. pkg. of mints to do each tree.  Just unwrap each mint and starting at the bottom- glue each mint on with a hot glue gun... when you get to the top stack two on top. 

I glued 1 tree onto a glass candlestick and the other one onto a glass gobblet for the bases, tied ribbon around them & added a little bit of glitter to make them sparkle!!  They were very easy and quick to make-- and look perfect with the rest of my candy jars.

                                                                  ~have fun with them~ Karen