Our Elf on The Shelf

Kalen and Lucas finally got to meet Our Elf.  He has been patiently waiting for about two years to come visit.  I wanted to wait till at least Kalen would understand him and actually look for him each day.  He showed up a few days before Thanksgiving, because he knew we wouldn't be home. Clever little Elf.  He showed up during nap time and brought with him marshmallows and a box of rice krispies so we could make Rice Krispy treats.  Kalen was way more interested in the marshmallows at the time. 
After we made Rice Krispies we sat down and read the book that came with the Elf.  He still didn't exactly understand that the Elf would leave at night to go see Santa.  I think he kinda understands now.  We also watched the movie, The Elf on the Shelf, an Elf's story.  He loved the movie.
Our next task was to get our Elf a name.  This took a few days.  I thought for sure his name would be, Frank.  He calls a lot of things Frank right now.  Surprisingly that wasn't his name.  The hubs and I would point to the Elf at random times and ask who it was.  Kalen started responding with Santa. We think he was slightly confused because we keep telling him that he goes and sees Santa.  So one day when The hubs came home from work Kalen told us it was , Chris King.  We have no idea where he got this from and we thought it was funny he gave him a last name.  We think he was maybe trying to say Chris Kringle.  So we went with Chris although he still calls him Santa also. 
He loves Chris and freaks out when he finds him.  Lucas actually found him first one morning and was screaming at him. 
Since we can't touch him he has mostly come back to pretty high places.  I don't want to tempt the kids to play with him since he does look like a toy  (A slightly freaky looking toy).  The one day he was in arms length Kalen would run up to Lucas and tell him "No touch, Wiscus!"

Here are some pictures of where Chris/Santa has been so far

Waiting for the Boys to get up!!

Kalen found him, trying to get all the marshmallows without touching the Elf

Hanging upside down on the garland. This was the day Lucas spotted him

 

Chris hanging with the Snowman

Chris hanging out with some wedding pictures

Pretending to be an ornament

Sitting on top of the entertainment center

Monday morning he dyed our Milk green!!! Crazy little Elf.  I told him to keep his shenanigans to a minimum since he has to keep this gig for a while, he doesn't want to run out of them. 

Silly Chris.. dying our Milk Green!!!

When Kalen asked for Milk Monday morning I opened the fridge and he saw Chris attached to the Milk.  He first told me he was stuck.  Chris only used two tiny drops of Milk so our Milk isn't super green and you can't really notice till you get it out of the fridge.  Kalen was laughing and dancing.  He was so shocked Chris dyed our milk green.  When I went to pour the milk in the boys cups, he told me "Careful, No touch." Such a cutie.  He was also telling Lucas that the Elf was silly and so funny!! He has been back multiple times to the fridge to check on Chris. 







Picture Coasters

I made two sets of picture coasters as Christmas gifts last year. I never posted pictures of them when I made them since they were gifts. But, since people say its "Christmas in July" I felt it would be appropriate to post them now.
They are pretty easy to make and my mom and dad loved them!

Materials:
White tissue paper
Mod Podge
Paint brush- I used the foam brushes
Blank tile coasters- I bought two packages of the travertine tiles from Home Depot, I believe there were 6 in each although there could have been more. They only cost a few dollars for a package
Clear acrylic sealer- comes in a spray paint can
Felt feet- I bought the sticker kind, easy to put on. So they don't scratch whatever surface you place them on

You also need a printer and tape.

Start out by picking out a picture per coaster. I picked two of each boy, since I was making a set of four.
Once you have your pictures picked out you need to print them on the tissue paper.
To do this tape a piece of your tissue paper to a piece of printer paper. Then print the picture as usual. I printed mine in black and white and loved how they turned out.
Once you have your pictures, lay out the tissue paper over the tile (I trimmed the excess picture off to make it fit over the tile.) Some tiles are really porous and the tissue paper will rip so I would choose a less porous tile out of the bunch.
Using the foam brush Mod Podge the the tissue to the tile. Use two/three coats letting each coat dry before applying the next.
Once you have applied the ModPodge spray the acrylic sealer on top to protect the coaster. I used three coats to be on the safe side. Let dry. I let them dry on our porch over night.
I added four felt feet to the bottom of each coaster (one in each corner).

They should now be ready to use or gift! Enjoy

Kalen's 1st Bday Picture

Lucas at Christmas

Lucas about 2 weeks old

Kalen at the Fall Festival

Christmas!!

Holidays are so much fun with two wee ones around! This year was Lucas' first Christmas and he seemed to enjoy himself! We had lots of fun Christmas Eve with the kids and doing the traditional stuff to get ready for Santa's arrival. Christmas eve also marked Lucas turning 7 months old. We baked cookies, hung out all day in our Pjays, watched Christmas movies and just enjoyed being home as a family.  Before bed we all got our Christmas Jammies on and went outside to drop food for the Reindeer.  Kalen seemed to really have fun throwing the food all around and Lucas even got in on the fun.  We left our "Magic key" out for Santa.  We do not have a Chimney for Saint Nick to plop down and leave presents so we leave a key out for him.  It's a special key that only works for him.  We placed cookies and milk under our smaller tree, and Kalen decided he needed to make sure the cookies were not poisonous.  Right before bed we read A Night Before Christmas and about the birth of Jesus.  Then everyone got tucked in so Santa could come.

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Kalen just strolled out to the living room and stopped to play with a magazine before realizing there were all kinds of presents under the tree.  He seemed most excited about his Stocking in which Santa filled full of cars! He was in complete shock that every time he placed his hand in the stocking he pulled out another car.  He actually opened all of his presents by himself this year and even helped Lucas get his opened.  A little bit later my Mom, Erik, and Nole came over to celebrate with the kids.  Kalen loved the train table they got him.  Luckily Erik had already put the buildings and table together we just needed to lay down the track.  We ended Christmas day by having a nice Christmas Meal of Ham and fried Turkey! Yummy

On the Wednesday before Christmas the Hubs Parents came down to give Kalen and Lucas their gifts and to have dinner.  Kalen got a cozy coupe and absolutely loves it. Lucas got some of his own cars to play with, although Kalen thinks they are his.  After Christmas my Dad, Becky, Austin, my sister Ericka and her husband Tyler all came down and we enjoyed a day of eating and spending some time together and opening gifts!! Kalen and Lucas got a massive slide! Which I am sure will send us to the ER sometime in the new year.  Kalen is getting super creative in the ways he goes up and down the slide.  It is also a launching point for most of his toys.

 We had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did as well. 

Lucas Adding his ornament

Kalen waiting not so patiently for his Coupe, from his Mimi and Bobo, to get put together

Making Christmas Cookies

Leaving the Cookies and Milk out for Santa, Kalen tested the star for Poison

Throwing our Reindeer Food in the Yard

Our Magic Key

Lucas reading The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Morning going through his stocking

Lucas crawling to his Penguin

Reggie with his Christmas present



Lucas Playing with his remote control car



Playing Cars

Opening his Slide from Grandpa Buddy and Becky

More Christmas Fun

We were quite busy this past weekend with some fun Christmas activities!! Friday night we headed to St. Augustine to have dinner and take the Holly Jolly Trolley Tour!! We had a great time at dinner eating at A1A Ale works which is a brewery in downtown St. Augustine overlooking the Bridge of Lions.  After our yummy dinner we headed out on the Trolley to enjoy the lights of St. Augustine and to see Santa.  We got special 3-d glasses to view the lights with (they make the lights all starry).  Well on these glasses there were coupons for B1G1 slice of fudge!! Who can pass up free fudge?!?  We hopped on and off at the various stops and even saw Santa.  This was Lucas' first year seeing Santa.  He thought the Jolly Old Man was pretty great! Kalen on the other hand is not a fan of being held and contained so he was mostly trying to escape Santa!


Gpa Erik and Kalen at Dinner




Lucas at Dinner



Our view from dinner

Another view



Riding the Trolley




Lucas with Santa




Both boys with Santa








Saturday we headed to my moms work where they had Snow in the Citi for all the families that worked there.  We started out eating breakfast while watching the Grinch.  Then we moved around doing various crafts, decorating Gingerbread Men, making gift bags, and writing letters to Santa.  We also had a round two of Santa, in which I only managed to take a picture of Santa's forehead when Kalen was sitting on his lap, Mommy Fail!! Afterwards we headed outside for S'mores and SNOW!!!

Making my Gingerbread Man

Impatient

Hubs making His

Adding more candies

Nom Nom Nom

Kalen's letter to Santa- all he wants is red scribbles

Mailing his letter

Mommy Fail!!!

Lucas Checking out Santa

SNOW!!!

Going down the Slide

WEeeeeee

He got up and then tried to skip the line to go again

Somewhere in all this fun, we all managed to get sick!! Yuck, it should be gona by Christmas day, thankfully!!

Christmas Cards!!

I never was one to send out many cards. But, since having my son in Feburary that has changed. I had the great intention of putting my crafting skills to work and make my own Birth annoucements. But time flew by and then Kalen was home. So I went and found Shutterfly and they made it quick and painless to create an annoucement. I have been sending out various cards every couple of months and no one has made it easier than Shutterfly. Once you are on their website you choose a card and fill in the boxes with your own information and then move around you pictures. Shutterfly does the rest! So when it came time to pick out a Christmas card to send to all our family and friends I made my was straight over to Shutterfly! With so many styles and price points there is a card out there for everyone. I began to design mine and I have made two so far that I absolutly love and I'll be trying to decide between the two. I needed a card that allowed for multiple pictures so I started by clicking the cards that allowed for at least 3 pictures. The first template I used was the Snowflake Bliss card and Splendid Christmas tree! Snowflake Bliss is a simple Christmas card it is the perfect combanation of green and red with a Merry Christmas at the bottom. I also Love the Christmas Tree on the Splendid card it looks like someone stamped on the tree with a rubber stamp!


Here are a few links to help you find your Christmas card
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Here is a link to make a Calendar!! Great Gifts- Everyone uses a Calendar might as well make it of your own pictures!!
http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Hope you enjoy making your own Christmas Card!!