An Elf on the Shelf Proposal

What a momentous night for our little elves, lol!!

An Army Themed Birthday!

Here's a little recap of my son's Army themes 7th birthday party we held at our house. It was an absolute blast for all of the guests and most certainly for the birthday boy!

Each guest became a new recruit as they arrived at the party. They were issued dog tags, a helmet, had their face painted camouflage, and were ordered to complete the obstacle course. The obstacle course was a complete hit and filled the bulk of the time of the party as the kids all wanted to do many of the challenges multiple times. 

Pics from the obstacle course: 

All of the kids LOVED the cardboard camouflaged tank we made. They all enjoyed going inside it and especially shooting various things through the turret! 

Face Painting:

Lunch was served in true Army fashion: MRE's! 

Instead of the usual cake/cupcakes, we decided to stick fully to the Army theme for the cake. Each guest received a "cake in a can" cake ration in their MRE. These were an absolute hit with the kids! 

The party favors each child received upon visiting the "Out Processing" table before leaving the party. Each child received a "Basic Training" certificate of completion and were promoted to the rank of Private First Class:

A very happy mother and son celebrating his special day: 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Party

I thought I'd take a minute to finally post a few pictures from my son's TMNT party that we had WAY back in October (yes, that's how sporadically I blog). I thought I could give some of you planners out there a few ideas for your upcoming party. Enjoy! 

A few of the decorations: 

Some of the games and activities:

                (Knock out Shredder)

      

                    (Dig for prizes)

                  (Pizza frisbee toss)

            (Make your own nunchucks)

Cupcakes:

Water:

Goody Bags:

Washing Easter Eggs

I don't know about your Easter eggs, but after being hidden outside and then manhandled by my kid's candy-laden hands, our plastic Easter eggs get NASTY! I save the eggs year after year and some get filled with jokes, some get filled with money, but some get filled with candy...and I don't want that unwrapped candy touching those nasty eggs, especially perhaps the ones that have perhaps been filled with the world's filthiest item...MONEY! 

Having the work smarter not harder philosophy, I figured out the easiest way to wash our Easter eggs...in the washing machine! My sister asked me why not the dishwasher, but I figured the washing mashine would be best for two reasons. One, I thought the eggs might fall through the racks and melt on the washer coils. Two, if you put them in a mesh bag to prevent this, they nest together. The spinning of a washing machine will be sure to slosh them around and ensure all the eggs get washed. 

I purchased a mesh laundry bag at the dollar store (my favorite place on earth), put all of the opened eggs inside, and knotted the end so it wouldn't come open. I set the water on warm (I figured hot might ruin some of the paint on the eggs) and set it on the gentle cycle).

 All the eggs came out perfectly clean with all the candy goo and dirt washed off! 

I then laid out a large towel and spread out the eggs so they could dry....you want to make sure you don't store anything even the slightest bit wet at all! It will destroy everything in your storage bin with mildew! I've learned that the hard way unfortunately! 

Voilà! Perfectly clean eggs that are all set for filling next year...the EASY way! 

Math game - Decomposing Numbers

Here's a game I've created that you can easily make at home with just index cards and 2 dice. My son and I play all the time and he LOVES it, but what he doesn't realize is that it's also a game that is great for practicing number decomposition. 

Set out cards labeled 1-9. Roll 2 dice. Add the numbers of the dice together. Whatever the total of the die are, you must flip over cards in the same total in whatever variation works. For example, in this picture, I rolled 12 so I flipped over the 8 and 4. The goal of the game is to flip over as many cards as possible. Your turn ends when you roll a total in which you can not flip over any combination of cards that will amount to your rolled total. The numbers on your cards are then added up as points and then the next player begins their turn. The player with the least number of points wins. 

My son and I will honestly play this over and over and play "winner of 5 rounds" or "first to 100 loses". It's a fantastic way to reinforce both addition as well as number decomposition in a fun and positive atmosphere. 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes! 

I'm A Plumber Too!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about efficiency. I absolutely LIVE by the motto "work smarter not harder". In doing so, I've created numerous ways to easily problem solve. One of my most favorite solutions I've come up with over the years is how to easily unclog a slow or clogged bathtub drain. My bathtub drain ALWAYS gets completely clogged due to having long, thin hair. I absolutely REFUSE to a) call a plumber or b) use Liquid Plumber (or any other variation of such). It barely works, but more importantly, it is 100% lethal if swallowed. Having 2 little ones in the house, I'm completely unwilling to take that risk. So, in my many attempts to unclog drains, I've figured out that a simple hemostat will completely unclog a drain that is filled with hair. If you don't know what a hemostat is, it's a metal pair of scissor looking things that are used by medical professionals to put in sutures. They have dull ends (unlike scissors) that have ridges for gripping and also have a locking handle so they don't open up and can maintain their grip while pulling. So, if you or someone you know works in a medical office, make sure to snag yourself a pair. Otherwise, you can purchase them on Amazon for a few dollars. 

Take your hemostat, stick it down the drain, close it, and then pull up. You will be ASTONISHED at how much hair you pull up. Set the clump of nasty hair to the side and repeat the process until you can feel all the hair is gone. Use a paper towel to clean up all the hair that you pulled out and throw it away. Simple as that! Try not to get too depressed at how much hair you have lost in the shower, LOL! Anytime I see that my drain is draining water slowly, usually ever couple of months or so, I do this and it completely works like new again.

Try it out and leave a comment if it fixed your problematic drain! Good luck! 

Elf on the Shelf Mischief

We all love our elf on the shelf and there's nothing more fun and rewarding for our late night's of elf mischief than the smile and excitement on the faces of our children in the morning.

I'll be posting some of our silly elf shenanigans periodically to perhaps give you some new ideas. 

The Adventures of Bailey and Chippie! 

Our scout elves are back for the season!
They arrived through this little fairy door this year with
welcome note in hand!

The elves wrapped everything in the bathroom (mirror, toilet, soap, etc.) and were 

caught with the scissors and ribbon in their hands.

Breakfast with their favorite scout elf!
I looked for a cute cereal box with a face on it, cut it out, and had the
elf popping through. They loved it!

Kids always love a scavenger hunt too! Create clues for them to search for throughout the house with the final clue leading to a small gift from your elf!

This next use may be my favorite in my 3 years of elfing...I found an elf hat, vest, and boots at Target in their $3 bins and it just came right to me. Sneak your elf costume into your room and quickly don your new apparel just before your kids wake up. Pretend to be sleeping when they come in to discover your new elf attire. When they "wake" you, you'll be completely mystified as to how you got such a silly costume on! I added a note to our elf's hand saying she had played a joke on Mommy just to add to the fun. My boys were in disbelief and could not stop laughing hysterically! What a great start to a morning! 

Good morning! Wait, what happened?!?!

Elf Training

One tried to sneak into a present but fell in! The other just giggled :)

Rocketing away back to the North Pole!
I found these free printable rocket ship templates on this site.

They wanted to add their heights to our growth chart!

If Chippi has an aviator jacket & goggles, he certainly has to take Bailey on
a plane ride! 

Shooting mini Nerf guns at their target

Playing Elf Twister
Free Mini Printable boards on this site. 

Absolutely perfect for the evening of  December 20th!

Credit to my friend, Kendall, for this one! Fore more days!

Minecraft elves with blocks and farm animals
(I think that's what happens in Minecraft, I never pay attention, lol!)
Free Printable elf block heads found here!

Camping and reading mini Spooky Elf Stories around a campfire

Stuck in a Slinky hanging from the ceiling fan

They have their eyes everywhere to watch for good behavior!

This one was super fun and, once again, my boys were left totally stunned! I set up a little mini elf "photo booth" and placed the kids' iPad next to it. When they awoke and looked on their iPad, it seems those silly elves had been taking selfies!

Elf Selfies!
For the life of me, I can't find where I found these
adorable photo booth props, my apologies! It was somewhere on Pinterest!

This set-up was found the morning we were flying out for a trip. The kids got very excited with the hint that the elves may be traveling with us!

Packing their suitcase...Bailey's simply won't close! Too many skirts! Chippie to the rescue! 

With a little secret smuggling, they did make it to our hotel! Imagine that!
All cozied up for the night in the hand towels and washcloths for pillows. 

And in case you've noticed our beautiful Bailey wearing an engagement ring in some of the pictures, this is how that began...
 

Chippie pops the question to Bailey!
She's been seen wearing her ring each night since the engagement,
so she must have said "Yes!"

They kids ALWAYS love it when the elves toilet paper the Christmas tree! 

***As always, keep checking back for more fun ideas and happy elfing!***