Paper Bag Rudolph Puppet

Okay, I know I am a little bit late on this one but it was so adorable I couldn't pass it up.

Plus, I had promised my kids we would do a Christmas craft and they bugged me every single day so I couldn't say no. I don't really consider the holidays done until after New Years Eve anyways. That is when the tree comes down, officially marking the end of the holidays, so we are still allowed to do holiday projects until then.

Don't worry, I confiscated those scissors he is swinging.

While perusing the web for Holiday crafts that were easy enough for my kids to do and also did not require a lot of costly supplies, I stumbled upon this adorable little project. It is super easy for even very young children to do. My two year old had a blast making it although I did have to assist her with the cutting parts. My five year old did the whole thing no problem without assistance. If you have younger kids I would pre-cut everything beforehand so that they can do the whole project themselves.

Supplies:

-Brown paper bags (the kind used for lunches)
-Construction paper of various colors. (We used yellow for antlers and white for the eyes).
-Pompoms (Red if you are making Rudolph, black or brown for other reindeers)
-Scissors
-Glue sticks
-Markers (Pencil crayons or crayons would also work)
Optional:
-Small bells
-Ribbon
-Any other embellishments you wish to decorate them with.

HOW TO MAKE:

Step 1: Trace you child's hands onto construction paper (whatever color you wish the antlers to be)and cut them out.

Step 2: Glue the cut out hands on each side of the backside of the paper bag, to look like antlers.

Step 3: Cut out two circles from white construction paper and glue onto the front of the paper bag (On the piece that would be the bottom of the bag if it were opened) for eyes. Then create irises by either cutting out smaller circles from black construction paper and gluing them on the middle of the white circles. You could also just draw them on with a black marker.

Step 4: Glue a red pompom onto the paper bag underneith the eyes for Rudolph's nose.

Step 5: Now you can add further embellishments if you wish such as a ribbon color with bells on it. For the younger children simply allow them to decorate their Rudolph puppet with markers or crayon. The possibilities are endless!!

Step 6: Now for the fun part!! Open up your Rudolph bag puppet and put your hand inside.The kids will have a blast making their Rudolph puppets "talk" and putting on a puppet show. If you are feeling particularly inspired you can create a puppet for all of Santa's reindeer!! Maybe even a Santa puppet!!

Coder was super proud of his Rudolph!! I made one to and it was actually pretty fun. The kids love arts and crafts so this was a hit with them. Here is what the finished product looked like.

Nelly's (left), Mommy (middle), & Coder (right)

Do your children enjoy doing crafts? What types of crafts do they enjoy the most?

This post is linked up at the Today's Creative Blog Tuesday Crafty Linky Party. I encourage you to link up your projects as well:)

Thursday Tidbits: Gingerbread Fun!

With so much going on during the holidays we hadn't got to decorate our gingerbread house until Christmas Day.

I hadn't planned on even buying a gingerbread house kit because last years attempt went horribly awry. The walls and roof kept collapsing, there was much frustration and a few choice words on my part and we ended up throwing in the towel and just eating the pieces as they were. However, while shopping at Giant Tiger a few weeks ago with the munchkins I saw that they had gingerbread houses marked down from ten bucks to two dollars in the clearance bin. The best part? They were "PRE-ASSEMBELLED" houses, with all the fixings to decorate it included. (Second best part? A free pair of New Year's margarita-shaped, glittery eyeglasses with purchase!) It came with a bag of gum drops, a bag of colored candy beads, two bags of white frosting, and some candy canes. The house itself was already put together so all we had to do was decorate it. I figured it would be a fun little activity for the kids to do together. I kept putting off actually doing it because I was either to exhausted to bother or I just didn't want to deal with frosting everywhere and the sugar-induced craziness that followed.

Finally, on the afternoon of Christmas Day the kids asked me if they could decorate it. Since the holidays were almost over and the house was already a mess from that mornings festivities, I didn't really have any excuse for saying no. I sat them down at the coffee table with aprons on to protect their new clothes that they insisted on wearing. Chanel had not only her new clothes on but also her new coat from Old Navy that she absolutely refused to take off. I figured icing couldn't be too hard to wash off and was for the most part right, although I learned the hard way that once icing has hardened it is not so easy to get it off of a microfibre sofa. I armed them each with a small bag of icing and some candies and let them go to town.                           

An untimely demise...

 Coder had a blast decorating it and had the most adorable look of concentration on his face the entire time. He had his tongue sticking out of the corner of his oh-so-serious little face, trying to line the candies up just so. Nelly, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less. She was concentrating purely on ingesting the decor. All in all, I would say that the gingerbread house was a success. There were no tears and barely any fighting (except when Nelly would eat a candy that Coder had just painstakingly applied) and the end result was totally cute. We displayed it proudly on the kitchen counter for all of one day until Nelly decided she wanted to relocate it and dropped it trying to pull it off of the counter. There were tears for a minute or so until they realized the could eat the candy now. It was a fun activity that kept them for the most part entertained for half hour or so and it was sweet to be able to display their handiwork, but I think I will skip the gingerbread house next year. It is a little to annoying for my liking, what with the candies repeatedly falling off and trying to get them to decorate with them not eat them. I think next year we'll do gingerbread men instead. Less room for error that way. So what kinds of activities did you do with your children this holiday season?

A Very Merry Christmas 2011

Phew! Another Christmas has come and gone.


I feel like the past year has just flew by so quickly. This Christmas was a great one and I am sure my kids will agree! I won't lie, I am a little sad that it is over. There is just something so magical about the holidays. Everyone just seems a bit more cheerful. With all the Christmas lights and the choruses of "Merry Christmas" from passerbys and neighbors, it is such a joyful time of year. Now that it is over I am a bit bummed, although we still get to relax and spend time together as a family for another couple weeks. Coder doesn't go back to school until the tenth of January and I must say I am thrilled. Because hubby leaves for work at 7am and I do not have my drivers liscence (I wrote my test once...and failed by one measly point...but thats another post) that means that I have the ever-so-fun task of bundling up Nelly and walking Coder to and from school each day. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE walking, just not in minus 30 degrees celcius (that is -22 F in case you were wondering). I feel bad waking up the baby and dragging her out into the cold every morning..but it is my only option at the moment. We are too close for Coder to be a bus student yet just far enough to be freezing by the time we get there. So yes, I am  beyond phsyched to have a two week hiatus from freezin my ass off twice daily.

Anywho, back to Christmas...We spent a lot of time with our families, drove around oohing and ahing over Christmas light displays, built a snowman, feasted on turkey dinner, decorated a gingerbread house, and of course opened a TON of gifts. On Christmas Eve day we spent the afternoon at hubby's grandmothers house with all of his family (his two sisters and their hubbys and children...six kids in total not counting mine)...The kids had a blast playing with their cousins while the adults sat around listening to Christmas music, talking and laughing at the kids antics.

Chanel enjoying some appetisers

The kids playing downstairs

After supper most of the party moved to hubby's mother's house where the festivities continued until almost 8pm.When we finally got home on Christmas Eve the kids were thrilled to find a note from Mrs.Clause on the bed along with a new pair of jammies for each of them.

I forgot to take a pic of the note but it basically said that Santa had left for his journey so they should put on their new jammies and get to bed...And not to forget to leave out milk and cookies. That was the most excited they have ever been to go to sleep. Well not so much Nelly, she didn't totally get it yet, but she was thrilled to put on her new jammies. Before bedtime we allowed them each to open one small gift. Chanel was thrilled with hers...Coder, on the other hand, was not. He opened a small one which happened to be a dollarstore toy four-wheeler and lets just say he was less then impressed. "I don't want this one" he whined as tears ensued. It was from Nana, who had also given them bigger gifts and tickets to Crystal Palace, but he didn't know that yet) I was so ticked off at his rude behavior that could have throttled him. After a breif lecture on why it isn't nice to say you don't like a gift and how some kids get nothing for Christmas and how it hurts peoples feeling, etc it was off to bed.

Kids in their new jammies

 At five in the morning Coder woke up bugging to open his gifts...I told him it was still nighttime and he had to go back to sleep for a little longer...Needless to say this elicited whines and cries on his part, thus waking up Nelly briefly. Thankfully, they both fell back asleep until almost 9pm (Thank god because mommy was pooped). I'm pretty sure that Christmas morning was just as much fun for me as it was the kids. I was so excited to see their little faces light up. Hubby and I woke up to choruses of "Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!!! Santa came!! He ate the cookies!!" I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled down the hall to see. Sure enough the milk and cookies were gone, as was the carrot left for Rudolph. There was also a rather charming letter from Santa.

Needless to say, the kids were awestruck. There was a crapload of gifts and they wasted no time tearing into them. I had to help Nelly because after she opened each gift she wanted to play with it, so it took a while to open all of hers..This did not fair well with Coder seeing as he tore through his in record time and then proceeded to try opening everyone elses. They both got tons of stuff, and the the hubs and I got some nice stuff as well, including a new pot and pan set, a knife block and knife set, an awesome red slowcooker that matches my other red pots and pans and much more.

Before the chaos ensued...

After all the gifts are open

I was running around like a crazy person trying to clean up wrapping paper and boxes, thinking about where the hell I was going to put all this new stuff. Then I recieved a call from my mom and her fiancee saying to come over for turkey dinner and that they had a bunch MORE presents for us and the kids. 'Oh dear god, now I'm going to have ten times as much toys to clean up. After all the gifts were opened and each was played with we all curled up for a nap until around lunchtime. Then we got up and played some more until it was time to go to "'Nother Nanny's." (The kids call hubbys mom and step-dad 'Nanny and Papi' and my mom and step-dad 'Nother Nanny and Gampy'...as in the other nanny and grampie.)

Ready to go in her new clothes...

 When we got to nother nanny and gampys there were a bunch more gifts for all of use from them, my sister and my grandmother. The kids got a bunch more toys including about a million Lego's...the REALLY small ones...I am not kidding like a HUGE storage bin FULL...I swear my mom did that on purpose to torture me. I got some really cute stuff to including some new perfume and an adorable hat and mitton set from Aeropostale (from my sister), a Tommy Hilfiger hoodie, a super cute Clinique makeup bag and makeup (from my grandmother), a 50$ Giant Tiger gift card (from my mom) and hubby got an MMA track jacket from my mom and an H & M hoodie from my sister. We got other stuff too but I am too lazy to list it all.

More gifts at "nother Nanny and Gampy's"  house...

One of Nelly's faves...Vtech Zebra 3in1 scooter/ride-on toy

After the second round of present opening we sat down for a delicious turkey dinner with mashed potatos, homemade stuffing and gravy. It was honestly one of the best meals I have ever tasted courtesy of "Gampy." He's one of the best cooks I know. We talked and laughed while the guys had a beer (Hubby was limited to one because he was driving us home later). A few hours later turkey burnout had set in and all I wanted to do was crawl under my covers. We drove the long drive home, carried two sleeping kids into the house, brought all the gifts inside and climbed into bed. Lucky for me I got to sleep in a bit because the kids were so preoocupied with all their new toys the next morning that they left me alone for a while. Unlucky for me I awoke to what looked like a tornado had crashed through my home.

Boxing Day morning...they only LOOK innocent

 The last few days were full of fun and laughs and memories that I will always cherish, and while I am sad to see 2011 come to a close, I am also excited for the future. Who knows what 2012 will bring..I am sure there will be struggles and challenges but I also know there will be triumphs and milestones and overcoming obstacles. I am looking forward to a clean slate and the chance to start fresh in the New Year. A chance to both grow as a person and also watch my kids grow even more. What did you do for the holidays? What do you look forward to in 2012?

Simple Pinecone Door Decor

With Christmas just mere days away I couldn't help but notice that my house was lacking as far as decorations go. 

Sure I had lights up and the tree but that is pretty much it. I was feeling pretty festive and was brainstorming easy ways to add some finishing touches to the house. As I pawed through my ornament box (courtesy of my mother-in-law) I came across some adorable faux acorn ornaments. I knew I wanted to use them for something but I wasn't quite sure what. Then I remembered a cute idea I had seen a while back. Don't ask me where I saw it because I honestly have no sweet clue. The pine cone craft I had seen had them hanging at different lengths with the ends gathered and tied in a knot, so it was a bunch of pine cones hanging from ribbon. I decided to try my own variation of the craft and instead hang them one at a time at different lengths. I apologize for the crappy photo quality. I have once again had to resort to using my sons Vtech kids camera until I can pick up some better batteries. This camera really doesn't do it justice. It looks so much beter and more vibrant in real life. The ribbon is a bright red and the tops of the cones have green leaves and red bows, but you can't really tell from the pictures. It is an easy way to add some sparkle to your door and is a welcome change from the standard green wreath. For more inspiration I managed to find a how-to for the exact same craft as the one that inspired me. You can check that out HERE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

All you need for this insanely simple project is:

• four pine cones  (Or as many as you wish.You can also use either real or fake pine cones, you can pick fake ones up at your local dollar or craft store for a couple bucks).
• Ribbon (Again the color and width are up to you).
• Scissors
• Thumbtack or tape (Whichever you prefer to hang the ribbons. I used tape myself cuz the tacks were to hard to push into the top of the door).

Step 1) Cut a strand of ribbon for each ornament. Leave a couple extra inches past how long you want it to be so you can hang it over the door.



Step 2) Tie one end of each strand of ribbon to the top of each pine cone. (This was easy for me because these cones already had loops at the top of them but you could also glue the ribbon in place with a glue gun).

Step 3) Arrange them over the top of the door so that they hang down the front of the door. Play around with the spacing and different lengths until you are satisfied then either pin or tape them in place on the back of the door at the top.

**If you are feeling particularly ambitious there are many other variations to this craft and ways to further embellish it. You can dip the pine cones in glitter, spray paint them, add flowers, beaded strands, lace. The possibilities are endless. Feel free to put your own creative spin on it. This craft is going to be added to my Christmas lineup for the coming years but I am definitely going to gussy it up even further next time with glitter and some different color ribbons. This would also be adorable as a fall/autumn craft or you could change up the ribbons to fit almost any holiday (Pale yellow, blue and pink with white glitter cones for Easter, green ribbons with green glitter cones for Saint.Patty's, orange and black for Halloween, etc). Please share your own twists that you added!!


Enjoy your new simple and frugal decoration!!

Thursday Tidbits: Mr. Snowman Needs some mittons!!

First off I wanna say that I am so incredibly proud of Coder. He had his very first school Christmas concert on Monday and it was A-freakin-DORABLE!! All the kindergarteners sang a song about building a snowman to the tune of "If your happy and you know it" and it went along the lines of "Mr. snowman needs a hat, needs a hat (2X) Mr. Snowman needs a hat. Oh, fancy that! Mr. Snowman needs a hat, needs a hat!" For each part they had props and actions to do. Put on a hat for the hat part, put on sunglasses for the eyes, put on their mittens for the mittens part and so on. They also had to clap twice at the end of each verse. This is a lot going on for an adult, let alone a five year old!

Now keep in mind that Coder is often terribly shy in front of strangers and that night there was a full house of parents. I was kinda worried he would have stage fright and burst into tears or something.  However, he got off to a great start singing, clapping in time and putting his hat and glasses on. Then somewhere around the halfway mark things went downhill. He kind of froze like a deer in headlights, only snapping out of it long enough to clap when he noticed the other kids clapping. Then the cutest part ever was when he bent down to put his mittens on and could only find one He was spinning around and around on his knees trying to find the other. It was too cute!  Too be fair though, many of the other kids were doing random things too. Everything from kids dancing like a spastic chicken to excavating their noses was featured. At the end of the performance when I went and got him and asked how it was he kept saying, "Good but I didn't like the dark." I think what he means is that because the spotlights are so bright when they shine on you that when you look away into the audience everything looks black. I have a feeling that this freaked him out a bit. But oh, how it melted my heart to see him in his little Christmas suit on stage. Apparently, it melted everyone elses hearts too because the kindergartners got a HUGE standing ovation at the end of their performance. They most definitely stole the show!!

I also had Nelly with me in the audience, and she was putting on a show of her own for everyone in our general vicinity. She kept trying to play Peek-a-Boo with the woman behind us. Bless that lady, she played right along with it, much to Nelly's enjoyment! There was also a huge snowman on stage that she kept screaming "NOMAN!!" at. Then every time a new class would come on stage to perform she would alternate between yelling "WHERE SANT-Y CLAUSE?" and dancing on the seat. They were the fold down seats like at a hockey rink and she was barely heavy enough to keep it open. I had to keep part of my leg on her seat so it wouldn't swallow her up.

The only shitty part of the night was that my p.o.s camera was dead so I couldn't get any pictures. This really ticked me off. Apparently my camera will only work with top of the line batteries and even those only last a few hours. I bought some Panasonic batteries at the dollar store, planning to take pics at the concert. Yeaaaa, they wouldn't even turn the damn camera on!! I tried some Energizer ones (they are the type you push a button to test and it shows how much 'juice' is left in them) that were over half full and still no dice. It was a major disappointment because his look so friggin' cute. My sis-in-law did manage to get one pick of his class performing and you can see him in it but it is from pretty far back so it isn't the best picture. I'll post it when she sends me a copy. Would have loved to have close up pics but what can ya do?




                                                                                                                                                                       

Cute & Simple Toddler Hairstyles

Ever since I first found out I was having a girl, I had visions of all the adorable ways I would style her hair.

Unfortunatly, at age two, her hair is still not really long enough for any type of intricate style. Truthfully, most days I barely manage to run a comb through it, let alone get her to sit style long enough to style it. However, with the holidays finally here this means many a party to attend and dinner to host. I decided that I need to find some cute and easy hairstyles to go along with her incredibly cute Christmas dresses. Also, lately she has been bugging me to give her piggytales every day.

Had to use Coder's Vtech kids cam cuz mine was dead.Sorr so blurry!

She brings me elastics from her little container and whines and whines until I put them in her hair. This piggytail ritual is not complete until I also put elastics in all twenty-four of her dolly's hair. Usually the only two hairstyles I attempt are either a little half ponytail on the top of her head or pigtails. I am not very creative in the hair department. I have styled my hair in the same messy bun since high school. I wanted to try to find a few different options for her hair that could be done fairly quickly and easily. Luckily, she is going through a phase right now where she enjoys having her hair done so her yanking the elastics out won't be an issue (Although I am sure this will soon change).  I found some really cute ideas on Google but there wasn't as much info on toddler hairstyles as I thought there would be. I decided to post my findings hoping to provide some great styles all in one place, something I could not seem to find online.  I am not sure which style I am going to do on Nelly for Christmas day but I am definitely going to be stuffing her stocking with tons of hair accessories so I can experiment. Lucky for me, the dollar store by my house carries pretty much every type of hair accessory there is, for only a buck a pop. Since all dollar stores are pretty much the same ideas I am sure that you can find many great accessories at your local one as well.  Here are some simple and adorable ideas for your the little princess in your life:

Ponytails/Pigtails

You cannot go wrong with simple pony or pigtails.

You can spice up pigtails and ponys by adding multiple elastics or attatching multiple ponys together like so:

 Hair clips/Barrettes:

Hair clips and barrettes are a super easy way to spice up your little ones hair and you can easily coordinate them with their outfit to complete the look. If baby's hair isn't quite long enough for a normal clip try the velcro kind. They re designed to hold small and fine amounts of hair. Even baby's with just peach fuzz! To learn how to make your own velcro clips click HERE!

Braids:

Braids require a bit more time and effort but are perfect for special occasions or for keeping your little ones hair out of her eyes. You can go with the basic braid, multiple small braids, or french braids.

Hairbands/Headbands:

Hairbands are the perfect solution for toddlers who are, like mine, lacking in the hair department.

Ribbons/Bows:

Ribbons and bows are a simple way to make a basic hairstyle really pop, and you can easily coordinate the color to match any ensemble.

Knots/Twists:

This is a great hairstyle if you are looking for a fun and funky look that stands out from the norm. There are many ways to incorporate twists or knots into different styles. You can go more laid back with just two pigtail twists or you can go for a fun and playful look with whole head full.

Styling Tips for Toddlers:

-Apply a detangling spray for little ones with thick and/or curly hair. This will get the tangles out, making it easier to comb and preventing a tearfest.
-Give them a small toy to hold. This will, hopefully, distract them long enough for you to do their hair. Or just do what I do and turn on Treehouse channel:)

Resources:

• www.baby-log.com/hair-issues/toddler-girls-hairstyles-collection/
• http://www.beauty-and-the-bath.com/toddler-girls-hairstyles.html
• http://thewrighthair.blogspot.com/2010/06/toddler-french-braid.html
• http://www.princesshairstyles.com/2011/12/criss-cross-ribbon-hairstyle-for.html
• www.carolinehair.blogspot.com
• www.boutiquesweetheart.com
• www.prettybow.com
• www.curlyqshairdos.blogspot.com
• www.keepmecurly.com
• http://www.hairbowholders.com/catalog.php?category=38