Jonthan the Elf week 3

Hello again... We are doing good.  I made it through one whole week with everything and full steam ahead still!!!  Let's just jump right into this weeks adventures!

Day 15: North Pole Village

I had seen a website that you can make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and I KNEW we had to do this.  We have for the last several years made them old school style but they were so difficult with letting them dry and settle and then hours later they fell apart.  So I figured this would be much simpler.  I added in another find: Christmas trees out of ice cream cones.  Jonathan had made the some examples for the kids and left a note asking them to finish the village for him.  (PS.  I know the note says day 12, somewhere along the way I lost track of my days and just made them up! oops!) 

You can see my tree and house behind Jonathan. 

All the fixins!  Oh yummy!  I bought ordinary vanilla frosting and mixed in green food coloring to make it blue.. the rest of the stuff general candy and Wilton's cookie decorations.  Cookie glitter tubes.. those were fun!  

OH MY GOODNESS...!!! I LOVE these little gingerbread cookie decorations from Wilton... how stinking cute are they? The baby, the cat and dog...!!!  

YAY, I LOVE how this turned out.. this is their North Pole Village! The kids did SUCH a good job!  

I LOVE the gingerbread family I found.

Day 16: Fishing

I was soo tired and had to change around my calendar.  I am surprised it actually took this long.  I added in this classic gem: Gold fish cracker fishing.  I discovered the fishing pole in the kids bathtub (who knew that was there, hmm?)  And thought voila!  Blue food coloring and DONE.. night night mommy!  

Day 17: Gotcha!  

I found my mojo tonight!  I even also discovered that my son will not indeed sleep through anything!  UH OH!  This was a fun one.  I found these headbands at Michaels and then snuck into the kids rooms and put the headbands on them.  Now for my son I discovered I was playing with fire because I took it that one step further... who me? Nah!!?? And HAD to put a fuzzy red thing on his nose... well between the tickles of the fuzz and the itch of the tape he moved about all of the 100 times I did this.. but I would NOT give up until I had the picture or I was caught... so scary!  With my daughter I decided to skip the fire playing and just place the glowing necklace on her neck rather than around it. Note: neither of them liked the headbands on their head but it worked.  Then I printed the pictures up and left them with Jonathan so that they could see it in the morning.  They cracked up!  :) 

The pictures!  

 Day 18: Sick day

UH OH, someone touched him!  I wasn't sure who or when but here is what they got in the morning.  A sick elf :( they both blamed each other but in the end the learned their lesson... I think! 

Everyone has asked about the IV he has.  It is a mini glitter tube from the Dollar rack at Michaels.  I emptied the glitter out and added food colored water to the tube and hot glued the end back in so it wouldn't leak.  Then I used some plastic string from a Kreative Kids kit I got (at Joanns) and hot glued that into the end of the tube.  Then I just band aided the insert to his arm. 

Day 19: Christmas cards

Phew, Jonathan is feeling much better!!!  So tonight he made each of the kids Christmas cards with Foamies stockings from Michaels he also used a book of stickers and Foamies letters kit to write their names.  After he decorated himself he left enough for the kids to make cards for other loved ones so we could finally send them out.  

Day 19 addition... YAY good reports from school so Cade got his door HALF wrapped.  His listening skills are still rough so as soon as we master putting our shoes on / away without being asked 12 times he gets the rest of the door wrapped.... hopefully BEFORE Christmas!!! 

Day 20:  Elf yourself. 

Jonathan had a QR code for the kids to scan on the Ipad and watch a funny video. 

I went to this website: Elf Yourself and made a video of all of us including Jonathan jamming to Christmas tunes as elves.  I then downloaded it (for $1, why not?) and uploaded it to YouTube.  I then used that link and went to QR Code Generator and printed it at home and left it in his lap.  Note you CAN change the color so I did mine to green it is on the right hand side of the screen in the top options. 

In the morning the kids were able to watch the video and cracked up.  There were 5 options of videos so I downloaded another one ($1 again.. so priceless) and emailed it from Jonathan. 

**If you are not familiar with QR codes there are free apps for them on your smartphones and it is a GREAT way to share things via scrapbooking or card making!  As you can see I can slip this into my scrapbook and VOILA.. memory of a lifetime!**

Here is the video from the QR code!  Hilarious! 

Day 21: Hanging around

Lost my steam again!  After a very eventful day of soccer and working all night long I was exhausted. So quick and simple was the game.  I also messed up on my calendar and duplicated something I had done, oops!  So I dug through my stash and found this garland (from Michaels) and got glued his hands to the bottom of it and hung it over the stairs so the kids would see it when they woke up in the morning and went down stairs to breakfast.  Easy and done.  

Jonathan the Elf Week 2

Well we are finally home in my space where Jonathan has free reign to go CRAZY... now the challenge begins with work and soccer and life... let's hope that I can keep up!   It was a GREAT and fun week.  Jonathan loves the house see what shenanigans he has gotten into!

Day 8:

I took a garland with bells (bad idea it was noisy!) from Michaels and hung it with some gift ribbon and a Santa basket (also from Michaels) Hung them between the kids rooms with a good morning note. 

Day 9: Lincoln Logs

My daughter had this buried in her closet.  I tried the Lego house I have seen on Pinterest but I was too impatient digging through tubs and tubs of Legos to find the pieces... this was simple and cute and super quick!  

Day 10: Christmas tree with stocking gifts

I found this mini tree at the dollar store.  So clearly I HAD TO HAVE IT ;) (and the string of lights) the skirt and ornaments are from Michaels.  Jonathan got himself tangled up decorating and left the kids stockings with little gifts in them. 

Day 11: Cheerio Donuts

Classic!  I even convinced my husband to bring donuts home and left them with the Jonathan donuts!  I even used some felt I had and made him a little apron.  My husband laughed and said he looked like a girl.  Nah ;)

Day 12: Grow me a friend! 

Jonathan misses his friends so he asked the kids to grow him some.  I put the Elf one in the water to get it started.  I found these at Michaels and they get 6x's the size of the original.  They can choose to grow the other ones whenever they wanted to. 

Day 13: Mirror elf

Well it was a tough couple of days.  My son got 'in trouble' in school.  He is in Kindergarten and apparently has been having issues focusing.. dancing around and singing.  We were sad to hear that, so was Jonathan and Santa apparently.  Tonight Jonathan redecorated the bathroom with window clings (From Michaels and Target) and wrote a reminder note "Be good, Santa is watching" He even wrote Cayden's name on the Naughty list and Taryns' on the Nice list.  We have had some home troubles getting him to listen too, ugh!  So hopefully this will whip him back into shape! 

Day 14: Wrapping it up

Tonight Jonathan wrapped my daughters door in paper and not my sons. This was hard to not put into action but since it was the weekend we hadn't had a "good boy" school report and we really wanted him to learn a lesson. Plus we are really trying to get him to listen better.  His behavior is over all very good for a 5 year old boy, but the constant nagging of saying things 2-5 times is wearing us thin.  Jonathan left notes on both of the doors. 

Jonthan's morning pose. 

The view of both doors. 

Jonathan the Elf in Phoenix, Az

Back for more?  GREAT...  The good news is at my in-laws they are like my husband supportive but not enthusiastic about all the high profile fun.  So I kept it simple still for the next few days, well if you count making a video in the woods simple! ;)

Here are the few days in Phoenix:

The kids were surprised to see Jonathan waiting in their room at Nana's house when we got there...!  

Day 4:

 My kids love making those Perler bead things so I got them busy work to keep them occupied while we cooked for Thanksgiving.

Day 5:  Animal Sleep over

New movie "Elf Story" left behind with new game "Christmas Trivia" with their best friends: Tommy and Mickey Mouse.

Day 6: Cookies Monster  Elf

We made cookies tonight and Jonathan ate so manny he had to use this mini sleigh to get to the North Pole and tell Santa what good children they had been! 

Day 7: Traveling again

Since we were leaving again in the morning this time I kept it simple.  I packaged Jonathan inside of an empty Foamies project container from Michaels with a tissue paper blanket and his very own stuffed animal (a tiny reindeer bought in the Hobby Lobby miniature dolls aisle) and left a note saying " Please, put me some place safe in the car so I can nap while we drive home" I wrote their names on some of the foamies from kit and "I love you" on a heart.  They loved peeking under the seat and seeing him during the drive. 

Meet Jonathan The Elf (his Big Bear, Ca Adventures)

I have to introduce you to our new family friend "Jonathan."  He is a our Elf on the Shelf.  I had seen many Pinterest pins about this fun little guy and I had to jump on the train.  It was a little tough for me at first because of our crazy life with traveling for soccer and my current weird work schedule the commitment of daily elf activities seemed a little bit much to commit to.  However I made myself this promise... DO IT!   I sat down with a list of all of my ideas and my iPad calendar and narrowed them down and filled in the days.  I then set myself out shopping to get the needed items... which turned into a shopping spree... and voila- no turning back.   

We started our elf in November because we were taking a special family pre-Thanksgiving trip and I wanted to have the fun of Jonathan on that trip.  I am uber late in my blog post so you are going to get many pictures all at once... sorry!  ;) 

We will start with the introduction and our Big Bear, Ca adventures!

While the kids got all ready for bed I surprised them with the book and elf by the fireplace: 

     A quick little photo shoot! ;) 

 We deliberated shortly on a name...but it came quickly. How could you not immediately love this guy?

Day 1: Snow Play

We were going sledding the next day so here is Jonathan breaking the news to the kids. 

 I am sort of giving gifts / craft things to do often during this but I started out with these buttons I found at JoAnns for the kids. My daughter is 9 and my husband sadly says that she is starting to figure things out.  (Sad face mommy!) So I decided a little immediate dedication to Santa was necessary! 

Day 2: Roasting Marshmallows since we had made this a nightly routine Jonathan HAD to jump on the track.  He also left a package of "Magic Seeds" and instructions for the kids.  

Day three: Planting the magic seeds: Pouring the sugar.

My son sprinkling his wishes. 

 This is how the garden was left at bedtime. 

Voila: the garden grew!  

Now for the CRAZY part!  For 3 days my husband laughed at me and all of my needs to be "extravagant" but I did my thing and that is why he loves me.  Then on day three we ran into a problem. I was unaware of the "no touch rule" when we started this venture.  But now we were leaving in the morning... what were we going to do?  Well I was going to put him in the pocket of my backpack and just leave a note and carry the backpack....but no my husband wanted to throw me a curveball,  "make a video and leave it for the kids and have Jonathan gone."  WHAT?  I have never made a video, nor could I do it in the mountains with just my Ipad and phone.  REALLY?  Now that I had a challenge I had to do it..... so ladies and gentlemen 3.5 hours of work and here is the video that Jonathan the Elf e-mailed to the kids... yes I had to then create an email for the little dude.  Thank you husband!  However the kids LOVED it and I met my challenge, check and mate!  :) 

Well that is all of the fun we had in our few days at Big Bear.  The kids LOVED the video in the morning and it was a huge hit!  Come back for more adventures in Phoenix, Az!

Organization for those of us behind.. and Week 31

Well... weeks later and my goal of catching up only appears to leave me further behind.  NO worries though I have a huge goal of catching up by Christmas so 2013 is a fresh start and a stay on track.  Through trials and tribulations I have learned a lot.  Mostly about time management and organization.  I will show you what I am doing to keep things organized so that when I do have the time to play catch up and scrap it up I am not digging for things and searching for items to be added into the that week of P365.   In the front of the box I have a calendar that I write things down in just some quick reminders about what happened that day / week.  This is good for weeks where you may not have a lot of pictures or it was slow but you had some good conversations or quite time.  These notes help keep me in order of what I really wanted to share.  Especially during travel or busy days it only takes a second or two before bed to jot down a few notes.

So I have bought a file box and added in 12 folders. (Thank goodness I do not need all 12 as I have a few months complete!)

Then inside each of the months I have individual files with the week title at the top.  I LOVE these folders because I can write the dates on the front with any special notes.  (Example Week 19, May 7-13: Mother's day, trip to las vegas, Disneyland)  So immediately before I open the folder I know what benchmark events took place for planning.

Lastly inside the folders I have an envelope with the coordinating date and small things / trinkets like tickets, business cards, any pre written journal cards, change (from traveling or my famous and favorite smashed pennies... etc)  this way when I finally get into the week to start working on it all of the memorabilia and information is there and ready to put together.  I noticed even in tonights scrapbooking that this is a HUGE help to me.  Now I am not struggling to search for items.

Finally what I originally intended to come here and show you:  Week 31!  Completed in one evening and less than 3 hours.  There is hope!  Thanks for looking and enjoy!  :)

     This is the 12x12 LO from this week.  I do not love it all however I had a rough time getting this week together with the lack of photos, events, or anything really to share.  It was a struggle!!

Thanks for checking it out, have a good day!

Project Life Week 29

It is a slowly but surely ordeal lately!  With school starting, soccer at full speed, and the new work schedule I am bidding for a few minutes here and there but I am trying!  Here is a peek at Week 29:

The 12x12 page highlighting the big event of the week:

This one is all digi (as usual most of the time) of our hiking trip on Sunday.

Here is the overview of the 12x12 page protector and all of the events this week.

A close up shot of a few of the inserts both 4x6 some hybrid scrapbooking.  Photo and stamp are digi the left side is scrapbooking traditional.  I like the mixed look of 2 different 3x4 themes on one insert.

 This is a close up of another 4x6 insert divided into two 3x4 parts.  Then of course MY highlight of the week.  Before our hike I saw this road sign for "Memory Lane" of course who could resist?  Well we drove right passed it and on to our hike *sad face*  After the hike my amazing husband was so sweet to stop and pull over.... The heart of a happy scrapbooker and the find of a lifetime!  ;) 

Project Life 2012

Ok ok, so it's been a while... sorry!  Life is so busy sometimes it is hard to squeeze the time in that is needed, probably the reason I am weeks behind!  I am NOT giving up, I think the outcome of this project is just too valuable to wave the white flag.  So instead of working so hard on getting caught up I have decided to start with the present and when I have time catch up (there will be a blog post about how I am organizing my items for catching up soon).   Here is week 28 of Project Life 2012: July 9-15th.

12x12 page on the right

  

 Instagram page insert (cut off the other 3 vertical row for my needs)  left is front and right is backside

6x12 insert left is front side telling the story of backside (right) 

 This is the 12x12 Becky Higgins style page protector with Dodger tickets and other weekly pics. 

Here is what all the inserts look like together. 

There you have it week 28!  More to come so stay tuned!