Handprint Nativity Animals

Finally...the second of two promised posts. I must start off by saying this was utterly and completely knocked off of someone else. I did NOT come up with this...it's been a couple years since we started doing these and I don't know the original source...but I'd love to give credit to who it's due, so if you know, leave me a comment.

Without further ado, meet our nativity handprint animals:

The first year we did these, they were our nametags for our Christmas presents.  They really spruced up the plain gift-wrapping...but after the gifts were open, I found my mom digging through all the dispersed wrapping paper to retrieve each of the animals, so she could save them. 

 So...last year, I framed it for her in a 12x12 inch frame.  It's now part of her Holiday decor.

These would also make good Christmas cards...whether you handmade each one or did one set and scanned, then printed them out.

What you'll need to make these:

-Construction paper or cardstock

-Paint: brown, white, black, grey, yellow, nude and pink.

-Black Sharpie

-Paint Brushes

-Lots of wipes and paper towels :)

These are pretty simple. Just paint your child's hand and have at it!  (We usually had to do a few practice stamps to teach them how to spread their fingers out correctly.)  Let them dry completely before trying to paint and draw the details.

For Baby Jesus: paint your child's thumb white for the body and stamp it down.  Then, paint your child's index finger nude, for his head and stamp it down on top of the his body. Then, paint the straw and the manger.

I am the camel...who followed the star...with three wise kings...from a land afar.

I am the cow...who offered my hay...so the Savior would have...a warm place to lay.

I am the lamb...who heard angels sing...about where to find...the newborn King!

I am the donkey...meek and mild...who carried Mary...great with child.

If you're counting down with advent activities, do one animal a week.  (Or do them all in one night and only clean up ONE mess!)

If you do this, let me know how it goes!!

Cousins, Cousins...(Part 1 of 2)

oh, how we love them!  We got to spend some time with both sets of cousins the last couple weeks before Oliver was born...sweet, much needed, quality time.

First, the kids and I traveled down to Austin for a quick 32 hour trip.  The mission?  Sew some t-shirt hoodies for Asher before this baby's arrival while spending some craft time with my sis.  You see, I bought this pattern from Lil Blue Boo over a year ago, and I knew that if I didn't get to these soon, it wouldn't be until next year that I finally got around to making Asher some hoodies made out of our old t-shirts.  I knew my sis would make me get them done.  She is pretty much a professional seamstress and works very quickly!  She made me cut out all my pattern pieces before I came down.  I got 3 hoodies done that first day during naptime and bedtime combined.  It also helped that she has a serger. (And, I actually used it this time...which was a total victory for me!  In the past, I've been too intimidated by the contraption, that I'd just pass off the pieces that needed to be serged to her and sew anything else on my machine.)


Here is my little model in his new hoodies:

He is so proud of this one revealing his new age...I think it's the frontrunner.

And, originally, I thought this was going to be his favorite b/c he was excited about the hawk's face on the front.

But, now I think the double swords on the front might have sealed the deal for his second pick.

We sewed during naptime and bedtime...but all between we soaked up our family.  Some of the highlights?   We played tons of outdoor games and even some board/card games: Reid and I taught Asher how to play kickball. And all the kids (but Nash) played Duck, Duck Goose and Crack the Egg on the trampoline, Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says.  This brought back many sweet memories of playing these with my sisters in our yard at the Green Acres Woods house.


With the current TMNT craze going around the cousins, Kyle knew she had to stop when she saw this on the side of an ice cream truck in her neighborhood:

Unfortunately, this was the only ice cream they were out of, but she came back with a bunch of other goodies and the kids were more than satisfied.

Don't you just love "Mario"?

The next day we toured the beautiful, new fire station that is directly across the street from their house.

We also whipped out a hoodie dress for McKlayne that I have yet to put a front pocket on.  I was going to appliqué some hearts on a single pocket on it for Valentine's Day...but then I had a baby.

We used the above hoodie pattern for the top and my sister hand drew a pattern for the skirt portion of the dress. See...I told you, professional!  My brain does not work that way.

The thing I love about this  dress?  I left it sleeveless so she can wear it all year round, with longsleeves and leggings when the weather is cold or alone in the summer.  I think it'd make a great cover-up for the pool.  My sis had the brilliant idea of suggesting that we make some of these out of terrycloth for true cover-ups.  Maybe we'll get to that some day?

Then we had to take some pictures with "Lucy" (Bitty Baby is 20 years old...she used to be my doll.) McKlayne received her for Christmas this year and named her Lucy.  She is now her favorite doll, which, of course, makes my heart swell with pride.

Aren't those such squishy, kissable cheeks?

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The next week Ave and her three girls made the trip up to visit us.  Asher had asked the week before if we could take his cousins to one of his favorite local venues, Blue Baker, all painted up, of course.  

Depending on how blue you are, you can earn quite the spread of free food.  (We may or may not be guilty of painting our kids up about once a month-during the warmer months-and allowing them to earn us a free dinner.)  Charlie and all the kids got painted up and Ave, Ash (speaking of cousins...Char's sis made a quick trip to Texas...with a new baby girl cousin in utero...a first cousin for the Apel side!) and I painted our cheeks for free cookies.  Four adults and four children ate just under $50 in food, drink (and cookies) for $9.  See why we love this place?

The kids had a blast getting painted up to go eat at their favorite place...even in 24 degree weather.  Charlie won the Best Parent award that night as he raced around the fountain with four littles as they ran out their crazies for about 20 minutes.  Or does that make us the worst parents that we allowed our children to run around in that kind of weather?  Either way, they enjoyed it and so did we as they burned off some excitement.  (Kids, your Daddy really is the best.)

(McKlayne was cracking us up about how seriously she was taking her blue headress...no one else even wanted it, but she was super pleased with it and wore it ALL NIGHT LONG.)

The next evening we had a little Valentine's Making Party.  We made mini heart-shaped pizza's and the kids were thrilled to get to top their own:

Homemade Pizza Crust

2 pkg. rapid rise yeast (5 tsp.)
2/3 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour (I use half white and half whole wheat.)
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. olive oil
2/3 c. warm water

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-In a small bowl, mix first 3 ingredients. Let stand for 5 minutes until foamy.

-In a large bowl, combine salt, flour (no need to use the full quantity - use enough flour to make a stiff dough), sugar oil, and the second 2/3 cup of warm water.

-Mix together yeast and flour mixture and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.

-Place dough into an oiled bowl and turn once to coat with oil. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes to 1 hour).

-Press dough out with your fingertips (or have your husband, who worked at Papa John's in college roll out) into a circle.

Spread with your favorite toppings.  

Bake at 350°F-400°F for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden and lightly browned in spots and cheese is melted and bubbly.  (Makes 2 large pizzas.)

Uncle Jordan came over, too, and was eager to help make some heart shaped pretzels for the party.  (He's a hands-on kinda guy, ladies.) We used the Pioneer Woman recommended recipe, but, honestly, I wasn't too impressed with how they tasted for all the work that they were.  Maybe we did something wrong?  I will try another recipe if I attempt these again.  

I gave Jordan the job of twisting them up, which, surprisingly, he was really good at! Did you know that was a gift?  

He is, indeed, a self-proclaimed pretzel expert, since this has been his snack of choice for the last 24 1/2 years.

The kids (with parental assistance) made these Valentine's for the Grandparents.  I bought all the supplies (other than the cupcake  liners and paper) in the Target $1 Hot Spot.  They enjoyed gluing and having creative reign over the placement of stickers.   

Here's the finished product:

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Cousins, Cousins (Part 2 of 2) to be continued...tons of pics/video from our second annual snowday!!

Our version of the Warhol Dress

Last year after Halloween I bought 4 women's t-shirts that we're clearanced 80% off at Target.  I knew that my sister and I could make some cute Halloween dresses for our girls out of them.  (Poor boys, just aren't as fun to sew for!)  When I was in Boerne last week, my sis came down and brought her serger with her so we could get busy.  We used Dana's FREE Warhol Pattern to make the girl's dresses.  

These were the simplest dresses I've ever made.  Of course the first one took us about 1 1/2-2 hours to make, but the next morning we completed 3 more in that same amount of time, once we actually knew what we were doing.  (Ave, who has dubbed herself the non-crafty sewer, even helped in the dress making process!  It is our mission to teach her one day, folks!)


You don't HAVE to have a serger...you can just use a regular ol' sewing machine.  The serger just makes it sturdier.

McKlayne (our once horrid picture taker) has become quite the little camera ham in the last couple weeks.  Let's hope this sticks...

After I'd taken her picture, she said, "Take one with me, Momma...."  How could I resist that bossy little thing?

I will add pics of my niece's dresses once my sisters send theirs to me.  We didn't get a cousin pic of them all together!

(Let me know if you make one for little girl in your life!!)

Want to see what we've been up to?

Sorry...no time for belly shots/pregnancy updates.  We've been busy little bees around here.

A couple nights ago, I saw this on a blog.  Have you ever heard of 'Booing"?  I hadn't.  We decided it would be a fun tradition to implement.  If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know how much we just LOVE Halloween!

And, I'm always up for something creative or crafty to do with my kids.  Especially something that serves to bless others.  I want my kids to know how much it is always more of a blessing to give than to receive.  My hope is that one day this will translate to Gospel-ministry in their lives.

So, I fell in love with this idea...and totally replicated it!  (You can replicate it, too, that's why I'm passing it along!)  It was really simple and cheap to do since I already had most of the supplies.  To make 4 different buckets to give to friends, it cost me $12.  You don't have to make multiple, just start with one if you'd like! I just thought it would be fun to get this tradition hopping between our friends/neighbors.  Cindy also has just used a cone, before, too.

I grabbed my girl and we went to get a few supplies (the buckets, M&M's, and taco coupons) while I put the boys to work tracing and cutting the mask template.  (I got the jack-o-lantern buckets from Target for $1 each.)

Cindy was so generous to share all of her ideas and hard work. The black cat mask template is here.  I also found the idea for these cookies on her site, under the Halloween archives, as well.

Then we got to work decorating the masks for our little goodies.

Fortunately, Asher and McKlayne also adore all things artsy-craftsy.

Even Big Daddy was in on it.  While the glitter glue was drying the kids took a bath.

Then we filled the jars.

  

McKlayne pretty much just struck the glass with a spoon and sang jingle bells the whole time.  She is quite the little singer these days.

Asher was happy (and very quick) to help rescue any stray M&M's.

All the printables and instructions to create these M&M cookies are here.  (Thanks, Amy, for sharing! You are so talented.)

I love that the recipients of these jars are supposed to mix up them up with their hands.  How fun for kids!

You need a quart size (32 oz) jar for these.  I would recommend the wide-mouth lids if you have the option...especially if kids are helping fill them.  It gets messy.  (I had two of each.)  The lid toppers are McKlayne's favorite part.  Any time she sees these she says, "Oh, I love that little birdie!  He's so cute!"

And this is my favorite part.  Maybe because I'm a mom and this means FREE lunch (or dinner) for the recipients.  Did you know that Taco Cabana has been offering these Tac-o-Treat coupon books the last several years for Halloween?  For $1, you receive 5 free coupons for bean and cheese tacos!  So, it's a great alternative to candy...or, if you're like me, you go buy $10 worth and have a ton of lunches/snacks when we're out and about/dinners "made" for the month of November.  You can redeem these the whole month of November.

Cindy posted the poem she wrote on her blog.  I changed just the last couple lines:

Am I jack or a cat that has come to say “BOO”?

All dressed up with treats for you!

Please fill me up with treats galore

And take me to your friends front door!

Sit me down, then push the bell!

Run real quick so no one can tell.

I need to move from friend to friend,

Before Halloween comes to an end!

So, let’s get busy and let the “booing” begin!

If you want to download this, since I had to make it on the computer, it's already in a 4/page pdf file here. (Hit refresh if you don't see it the first time.)

So...don't you want to make some?  It can be simple.  It can just be candy.  There is still plenty of time!  We just started ours last night.  And we're delivering them this evening.  (I am pretty sure that the families that we're taking them to don't read our blog..or at least regularly, anyway.)

If you decide to start the "booing" in your neighborhood/amongst your friends, then let me know! Or, if you get "boo-ed" let me know that, too!

Summer of Celebrations (Part IV): Ashley's Wedding Shower

My sweet sister-in-law, Ashley, got married this summer. So, at the end of June, we threw a wedding shower for her at Chelsea's house. (Ash, do you have the pics of all us from your shower? If so, bring them next week!) Chelsea and I only took pics before the guests arrived, after that, we were too busy visiting with people...so, all I have for now are these of the details:

Her wedding colors were black and white and she'd have damask on most of her wedding decor, so we continued on with that theme for the "black and white" dessert bar and damask details.

I made this wreath using this tutorial with her soon-to-be new last initial! (I could not find the plates anywhere, but then found out they were from a craft store in Utah.) I used this damask one instead from Hobby Lobby. And, instead of using vinyl, I just printed out the "H" on white paper and modge-podged it to the plate.

I wish we had a closer shot of the fabric flowers because they turned out super cute. This tutorial was our inspiration. The smaller flowers were from the "twisted flowers". We used this tutorial for the large flower.

On to the food.

I appointed Chelsea to make the Oreo balls and Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I said that frosting anything was a gift,remember? And I don't have that gift.

Oreo balls

1 pkg. of Oreo cookies, crushed

8 oz. cream cheese

1 pkg. white chocolate/chocolate

Mix crushed oreos and cream cheese. Roll into balls. Chill for 1 hour. Melt chocolate, dip ball in chocolate. Let cool on wax paper. (It takes about 15 minutes for chocolate to harden.) I put some chocolate (opposite of what I dipped them in) in a plastic bag and cut off the corner to drizzle over the top when they were all done. (optional)

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Dirt Cake

8oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup margarine, softened

2 small pkg. of vanilla pudding

3 1/2 cups of milk

12 oz. Cool Whip, thawed

20 oz. package of Oreo cookies

Mix cream cheese, margarine, and powdered sugar. Set aside. In another bowl mix pudding and milk, set aside 5 minutes, add cool whip and cream cheese mixture.

Put Oreo cookies in the food processor and mix until crumbs are fine. (save a few sprinkles for the top)

Layer in bowl: oreo, pudding, oreo, pudding (I usually just look and see how much instead of measuring). If you want you can save some cool whip for the top. Either way sprinkle some Oreo crumbs on top.

Cool before serving.

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White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (here)

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 cups flour

3/4 cup baking Cocoa

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 sticks of softened butter

2/3 cup of brown sugar

2/3 cups of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chunks. Drop onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until centers are set but still soft at 350°.

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Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 small pkg. vanilla pudding

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding

1 1/4 c. water

1/2 c. oil

(plus the next 3 ingredients.)

Mix together the above ingredients. Add 4 eggs, then 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips, and 8 oz. sour cream.

Heat oven to 350°. Pour all into a greased bunt pan. Cook 50-60 minutes.

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(Not pictured but so yummy. SO. YUMMY. that I made two and debated about whether to eat one whole pie by myself before the shower. I seriously thought of excuses about how I could have showed up with just one pie. I was totally ready to blame it on the pregnancy "cravings" since they were real this time, then I remembered that I didn't want to gain 50 lbs like I did with Asher, so I resisted and brought the second pie...uneaten.)

Aunt Susan's Famous French Silk Chocolate Pie

Ingredients for a 10-inch pan:

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 sticks butter

2 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

9-inch pan:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

PLUS

1 (9- or 10-inch) pie crust, baked and cooled

whipped cream

Cream butters and sugar until light and fluffy. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla. Mix well. Add eggs one at a time. Beat 5 minutes after each egg. Put in any crust you like. Chill well. Store in refrigerator.