2011 November | Plum Adorable

A New Tradition For Our Family

A couple months ago while waiting out in the freezing cold while our boys played soccer, my good friend Barbara asked me if we did “Elf on the Shelf” during Christmastime for our family. I had NO IDEA what she was talking about!

So she explained to me how they have this adorable little elf that travels around their house all month, he appears in the funnest (is that a word, funnest? or should it be most fun? I am a grammar person and this has always bugged me….I digress, I know!) and strangest of places and it is a great hunt each morning for the kids to wake up and find where the elf had moved to (he actually is watching the kids all day to make sure that they are behaving nicely and then returns to Santa each night for a report before returning to our home and finding a new place to hide) in the middle of the night. I thought this sounded like GREAT fun!!

And lo and behold on Thanksgiving morning, I got a text from my friend Barbara that said we might just want to look on our doorstep! And there waiting for us was our own Elf on A Shelf!! I was SO excited!! I think even more so than the kids because they had NO IDEA who this little elf guy was! (And can I just say that my friend Barbara is the coolest for surprising us with this!!)

I really wanted to start our Elf adventure that very night but we had a long Thanksgiving day (it was super great, we spent time at 3 different houses with family and delicious food! And I totally plan on sharing my mom’s candied yam recipe with you very soon! I even took pictures!) So Thanksgiving night at 10 pm was NOT the time to explain our new Elf friend to our kids! We waited until the next day which was also the day that we introduced our kids to the movie Elf for the first time! One of my all time favorite Christmas movies (it ties with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation- which my kids will NOT be watching for a long time). SO after watching Elf and bringing out our Elf on the Shelf and reading the adorable story that came along with our Elf, the kids had to name this little guy And guess what they named him?? BUDDY!!!! So we are now the proud owners of Buddy the Elf on the Shelf!

It has been great fun watching our kids get so excited to find Buddy each morning. We have kept him in pretty easy to find locations for now but as the days get closer to Christmas we plan on making him harder and harder to spot. After all, he is supposed to be checking out their behavior to make sure they are being nice and not naughty!

Then today, one of my favorite blogs, How Does She, posed this question on Facebook…”How many of you are doing Elf on the Shelf” and where is the most creative place he has shown up?” And there were over 60 responses and they were HILARIOUS!! And now I can’t wait to try all this out! And then, I found out there is a whole Pinterest following for Elf on the Shelf with even more ideas….. this is going to be SO FUN!!

Here are a few of my favorite ideas so far:

Our elf got into the flour, made a trail with it and left a snow angel behind… We kept flour on his cheek to make it look more believable!
So far he has showed up in the bathroom with toilet paper craisins in the toilet (it was so funny!!) went on a date with Barbie in the Barbie car, and socked our tree.
My husband is working on a zip line :) (for the elf!)
We put him in the shower with a makeshift towel and shower cap!
He was found upside down in a bag of chocolate chips that he tried to sneak into last night!
We found him in the fridge, on the milk carton or trying to get into the chocolate milk!

These are all a little mischievous but made me laugh!!

Ours has gotten into a bag of chocolate chips, colored a picture with our crayons, played dads guitar, and this morning he TP’d our powder room.
Ours painted kids noses last night. Hilarious! (this mom literally painted her kid’s noses and then put the paintbrush in the elf’s hands with the paint bowl next to it!)
Our elf painted mustaches on the all the family members in our family portrait (don’t worry folks, used dry erase markers on the glass, it totally came right off!)

If you are on Pinterest, seriously do a search for Elf on the Shelf and crack up at all the hilarious things you can find on there!!

So here are a few pictures of our Elf, Buddy!!

There is no telling where he’ll turn up next!! Are any of you doing Elf an a Shelf this year?

~JESS

120 Comments
Filed Under: Christmas, Kids

Officially time to decorate!

29 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

I think I have shared with you guys in the past that I can’t officially start decorating or celebrating one holiday until after the previous holiday is over, it’s a rule! Well, FINALLY I can start decorating for Christmas!!!

And today that is EXACTLY what I did! Or at least what I started to do. I only have about half my decorations done but it still feels so good to see half of them up!

Mondays are my day to stay home, get the beds stripped and sheets washed, get everything dusted, washed, vacuumed and put back into place. And since I was doing all that anyway, it seemed the perfect time to take down the Fall décor and usher in the Christmas decorations. Kaylee was my little helper and got so excited each time we pulled something new out of the box!

We started in our family room and I’ll share with you all some of my FAVORITE decorations for this part of our house. I seriously haven’t changed some of these since we moved into our home, 5 years ago now. They just work so well for this space.

Here is a picture of our mantle in our family room.

I try not to make this space too crowded at Christmas because our tree literally sits RIGHT NEXT to this, in the corner on the left of this picture. If our tree was already up, you wouldn’t be able to see half the fireplace. But Tyler won’t be putting the tree up until next week (no matter how often I beg or how often I bribe the kids to beg!)

SO my favorite thing about this space is how perfectly I can hide the tops of those dangling ornaments. I started doing that with the ornaments the first year in our house (thanks to my friend Darcie who lived right up the road and had the same style wall unit who I totally copied, but she totally copied Martha Stewart so it all works out! ) I have a whole system worked out. I had to number the ornaments on the top (see my picture below) and then number the ceiling where each ornament is anchored in, it is pretty complicated but worth it since I love how they look. And such a cheap and easy way to add decoration to a space, all I needed were 2 boxes of ornaments, ribbon and tacks.

You can just barely see the number 8 on the top of the ornament above. There is a coordinating number 8 on my ceiling so I know where to space it each year!

The next favorite thing I have in this room is the garland in front of the fireplace. I actually made that in MOPS 3 year ago and I use it to hang our Christmas cards from. We get SO many photo cards that our fridge is literally COVERED in them but we do get actual cards from some of our friends too and this is the perfect place to display them. And it was so easy to make! Twine, clothes pins, paper, wood letters and some ribbon! (Thanks Jamie you are still the craft diva!)

The words spell out, Noel, Peace and Joy!

My kids FAVORITE thing in here is the advent houses we got from Costco a few years ago. These houses are really cute, they have doors and windows and such that open so you can stash some candy away for the kiddos as you do your Christmas countdown. This year I plan on filling some of those spaces with the FREE Printable Advent that Jenny did yesterday, you can find that here.

And new to the décor this year, is the beautiful printable I found on Pinterest this week. (Click on the photo for a link to the blog, Simple as That and I love the name of that blog!) There are lots of colors to chose from!

And I really LOVE our nativity snow globe! Especially next to those words! Through Jesus, I have found Joy, Hope and Peace. I believe in the reason for this season!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I look forward to finishing the decorating and sharing it with you! Is your house decorated yet? I wanna see!!!!

~JESS

34 Comments
Filed Under: Christmas, Christmas, Crafts

Pin’talicious Advent calendars & Free Printable

28 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

I love all of the ideas for advent calendars on Pinterest and share some of my favorites below, but did you know that the first day of Advent was actually yesterday?

Yep.

November, 27th NOT December 1st

I think when most people think of Advent they tend to think of the cardboard box calendars that start December 1st. They have little chocolate candies in them and go through December 25th. I’ll admit, I bought them for my kids too. It’s a tradition.

But the actual word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The purpose of the entire season should be about the celebration of the birth of Jesus and his First Advent (coming), and the anticipation of the return of Jesus in his Second Advent (coming).

So, before I go on to the cute crafty advent calendars, I wanted to share with you this free download Countdown to Christmas from Thriving Family.On the website there is a box that says, ‘Don’t miss out! Download our free advent calendar.’ Click on it to download.

The calendar offers daily scripture readings, parent-child activities and links to JellyTelly video clips, stories, crafts, Christmas carols, recipes, Adventures in Odyssey audio dramas and more! We actually subscribe to the magazine and they had the tear out calendar in book form. So if you get the magazine go tear it out!

My kids and I started it last night and it looks like it will be the perfect addition to all of our other advent calendars. The difference is that this one teaches them the TRUE reason we celebrate!

On to my favorite advent calendars.

I’ve decided to make these cute ‘Christmas Trees’ by Pink Suede Shoe. My daughter Abby is really excited to help me this year. You could either put candy or cute little notes inside them (using my free printables below). Pink Suede Shoe has a tutorial on how to make these cute ‘trees’. I love tutorials.

I can’t find the website for the calendar I made last year, but this is a similar idea by All Things Simple. Print little cards and have each one list something you can do together each day.

She doesn’t have a printable version, but lucky for you that is what my free printable is! Scroll to the bottom to view and download.

I will be using most of the cards I created to put inside my cute trees above!

This is also cute from Twig and Thistle.

Magnetic Advent Calendar.

Twig and Thistle does have a free printable you can download.

And this is just darn cute from Sunday In Bed.

If you would like to download my advent calendar ideas click on the pictures below. They are sized for 8.5 x 11 inch paper. There are four pages to download. The last page I have left mostly blank spaces for you to add your own ideas.

*Side note: Last year we had to talk to our kids about how things can change depending on the day. So, while I try to put things like ‘looking at Christmas lights’ on a day where I know we would be able to do that, we also told our kids that because there is so much going on in the month of December they will need to be flexible. We tried to make them understand that if something comes up there may be a chance that we would have to wait a day or two to make it up!

I LOVE THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!

~Jenny

Linking up with… Dittle Dattle Nothing But Country Todays Creative Blog Tip Junkie Chef In Training Not Just A Housewife

105 Comments
Filed Under: 'Pin'talicious, Christmas, Christmas, Free Printables, Kids

Check us out at One Artsy Mama and Enter for a Free Giveaway!

22 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

We are excited that Amy from One Artsy Mama invited us over to her adorable blog. She definitely lives up to her name! Not only is she a ballroom dancer, but her blog is full of fun crafts, holiday ideas and creative recipes. She also has a cute Etsy shop that you should check out here.

She sells jewelry like these cute Peas in a Pod earrings and this Breast Cancer Awareness Necklace. Amy donates $10 from the purchase of the necklace to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure! We love that!

Of course we also really love that SHE LOVES to feature other bloggers. Especially new bloggers like ourselves!

Head over and visit One Artsy Mama to check out what we are giving away! She is also showing off the cards that Jenny sells from Pixy Print Lane. If you are looking for a unique design like the one below without paying the price for it (only $15 for the jpeg) then check out Pixy Print Lane for more details.

~Jenny & Jess

164 Comments
Filed Under: Christmas, Misc., Winter

Pin’talicious Thanksgiving!

21 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

Happy Thanksgiving week!!

SO excited for Thanksgiving this Thursday! I am excited to be with family and spend a few days with my hubby and kids doing nothing but relaxing and EATING! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely excited about the eating part. My mom makes these sweet potatoes that are so GOOD but I only eat them at Thanksgiving because I am pretty sure that the recipe calls for 1 lb. of butter! And I eat them on my turkey. Not with my turkey but seriously on top of it! So good! It is the perfect sweet and salty mix. (Jenny- make sure Robert reads that!!!) (He does NOT get the sweet and salty mix!) YUMMMMM……

And you can’t forget the pies!! I can totally pass on the stuffing (so gross) and cranberry sauce (so gross!) but I get really excited for the rest!

When I was first going to do my pin’talicous post today, I was excited to show you all the Christmas stuff I have been making (especially for the fair we are doing in a couple of weeks) but then I realized that we CAN NOT start showing you Christmas stuff until AFTER Thanksgiving. At least I can’t. I know Jenny already showed you her beautiful pillows! But I have this problem… I can’t celebrate another holiday until AFTER the other one is finished. SO next week, there will be Christmas stuff coming your way like crazy but for now I will share with you the things that are making me happy on Pinterest, all in the spirit of Thanksgiving!!

So TRUE!!

How pretty and simple would this be to make? LOVE it!! (Click on the picture for other ideas too! )

I printed one of these for my mantle, you can see it here! But she has a great selection of others you can print too! I had the HARDEST time choosing which one!

I can NOT wait to try this Pumpkin Crumb Cake recipe! My FAVORITE muffins EVER are sold at Costco for about a month in the fall and they are Pumpkin Crumb!

And Jessica over at How Sweet It Is has 101 Thanksgiving Recipes linked up on her blog!! This picture below is one of them!!

And just because it is Thanksgiving week and I LOVE to laugh, (it is so good for the soul), I found this clip of one of my all time favorite shows and one of their all time funniest clips (at least in my humble opinion!) Enjoy!! And Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!!

Friends Thanksgiving

168 Comments
Filed Under: 'Pin'talicious, Fall, Free Printables, Misc., Recipes

Burlap Stenciled Christmas Pillows

18 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

Do you know how to sew? I really wish I did. My sister Laura and I did not get that gift from our mom. It’s sad when your kids say, ‘Mom, we need to take this to grandma’s house so she can sew it!’ Luckily my other sister Emily got the gift.

If you do know how to sew these pillows will be fun to add to your Christmas décor.

What you will need:

-burlap type fabric (I also used ‘osnaburg’ left over from this craft)

-colored fabric

-stencil or contact paper/freezer paper to cut out stencil

-colored acrylic paint

-textile medium

-Déco Art Glamour Dust

*(when textile medium is mixed with acrylic paint it creates a fabric washable paint. Follow the directions on your bottle for the correct ratio. When I run out of my textile medium I will be buying this So So Fabric Acrylic by Déco Art.

Below are some of the paints that I used.

Step One: Sew some pillows in any size you’d like. Or if you have a cute sister that sews have her come over and sew them for you. Sew your colored fabric on the front as well. Iron it out to make it look nice. At this point you can either sew up the pillow and leave a big enough opening to be able put freezer paper inside the pillow so that you don’t get paint on the other side. Or you can put the stencil on first and then sew it up. In either case, make sure you leave an opening to stuff it.

I’d like to be able to tell you how much fabric to cut out etc., but my brain is still hurting from trying to figure out how much we needed at the fabric store. The good news is that if you do sew then it’s probably pointless for me to explain it anyway. Basically just sew

a. any size into a perfect square

b. any size into a perfect rectangle

Isn’t she cute?

Step 2: I actually did the stencil both ways (see step:1) but the pictures below show how I did it before we she sewed it. I decided to get a roll of contact paper this time because it sticks on the fabric a bit better. I did still put a sheet over it and iron it a little bit so that it really stuck on there good. I cut my image out on my Cricut. My friend. Still wondering if the Silhouette Cameo would be a better friend. Hmmm…maybe I will win won one of these days.

Step 3: Paint over your stencil with your desired color. I just use a foam brush. It’s also a good idea to put paper towels or some sort of barrier around the edges of the opened fabric. It is easy to spill paint. And that will just make you mad. Trust me.

Step 4: Take your glamour dust and lightly sprinkle it over the wet paint. Pretend I have paper towels on the edges ok? I really should have done that. Although the glamour dust does come off easily. But, still. Wait about 5-10 minutes and peel off your stencil.

Step 5: At this point you (or your sister) will either sew the pillow together. Or if they were already sewn then take out the freezer paper you placed inside to keep the paint from bleeding through. Stuff your pillow with pillow stuffer. Isn’t that what you call it? Actually we stuffed it with 100% polyester fiberfill. Finally hand stitch it up to close it and you are finished.

I have plans to put other images sayings on the pillows as well!

Jess, my friend Amy, sis Emily and I will be at the Dickens Fair on December 3rd. We will be selling these pillows along with a lot of of other fun crafts we are working on. If you are in the area stop by and say hi!

~Jenny

fyi…Just to be clear. I CAN sew on a mean button.

I just can’t promise it will be pretty on the back side.

Linking up with… The 36th Avenue One Artsy Momma Tip Junkie

I heart Naptime Katie’s Nesting Spot Lolly Jane Boutique Skip To My Lou

Dittle Dattle Chef In Training Todays Creative Blog

Tip Junkie Blue Cricket Design Nothing But Country

88 Comments
Filed Under: Christmas, Crafts, Fabric, Winter

Fieldtrip!!

16 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

Jenny and I decided it was time for a Plum Adorable field trip, especially since we kept hearing all these RAVE reviews about the new Hobby Lobby that opened up about 30 minutes away from us! Jenny went to Hobby Lobby for the first time 4 years ago with her cousin Molly in Missouri. She has been emailing the franchise for FOUR YEARS since then begging them to open one up in Washington State. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because of her emails, but they finally opened one up in Lynnwood!

The good thing about the Hobby Lobby in Lynnwood is that it’s also in the same shopping complex as TRADER JOES! Hobby Lobby and Trader Joes in one day! It was like it was my birthday!

We started our day visiting Amy (my newish friend and Jenny’s long time best friend) at the coffee shop that she works at (Jenny also recently designed a lot of their signs and they were REALLY cute!).

Amy made me the BEST hot chocolate I have ever had, SERIOUSLY. (Remember, I am the weirdo that doesn’t like coffee!) It was a White Hot Chocolate and it was SO GOOD! And our kiddos, (I brought Kaylee along and Jenny brought Carson or Cawson as Kaylee says!) got to have kid sized hot chocolates with whipped cream and SPRINKLES!! The sprinkles were a HUGE deal to the kids! Carson talked about the sprinkles on the way there and then got so excited when he saw them in his cocoa! We were in a hurry so we got our drinks to go and got spoons for the kids so that when the drinks were gone they could open them up and dig out the whip cream and sprinkles at the bottom! Seriously, the sprinkles made the kids DAY!

But, sadly as we got on the road and the kids got to the bottom of their cups, we opened the lids to discover that almost ALL the sprinkles had completely dissolved. Caron was HEARTBROKEN! He cried for 8 minutes straight (Jenny is interrupting Jess’ post-Jess is so nice- he cried for more like TWENTY MINUTES!)

He just kept saying SPRINKLES over and over. We felt so BAD! (SSSSPPPRRRRRIIIINNNNNKKKKLEEEESSSSS!!) We were both trying so hard not to laugh as Carson just kept saying ‘sprinkles’ over and over and then he had these huge tears coming down, it was so sad and so funny at the same time! (We are the worst moms!) We were able to find a few sprinkles in the bottom of his cup and Jenny promised to make him some special sprinkle hot cocoa at home later on. (Jenny is interrupting again-yes, I did make all three of my kids hot chocolate, whip cream and SPRINKLES on top!)

The sprinkle disaster was soon forgotten as we made our way to crafter’s heaven, I mean, Hobby Lobby! This place is HUGE and very cool! And as a bonus we found out that ALL the fall and Halloween items were 80% off!! AND that all the Christmas stuff was half off!!!!! I brought a coupon along for 40% off a regular priced item but I couldn’t even use it since EVERYTHING I bought was already on sale for 1/2 off! WOO HOO!

If you have never been in a Hobby Lobby before, it was very much like a Michael’s, Jo-Ann’s and Pier 1 all rolled into one store! We spent a few hours there and still didn’t get to look at everything. We did get to run into our friend Alyson (she is super crafty too and we plan on featuring her on our blog soon and she is an AMAZING cook too!) and her mom. The kids were on full on melt down mode before we were able to drag ourselves out of there! We both got some screaming deals and left very happy campers with plans to return VERY soon without 2 kids under 5!

There are a few pictures below! I brought my camera to document our fun field trip and then got WAY too distracted by all the cool stuff to take many pictures (story of my life right there!).

Since the kids were melting down, we headed to their favorite store of the day, “Trader Jones” as Carson calls it, or Trader Joes to the rest of us. Why do the kids love this store so much? Well, because they have kid sized shopping carts and a stuffed crab that makes it’s way around the store, hiding in a different location each day and if you find said crab, you get candy!! What kid wouldn’t love this store? What grown up doesn’t love this store?? We unfortunately were pushing our timing too far past lunchtime and almost too far past a little one’s nap, so we kind of booked it through Trader Jones!

We ended up our adventure with a trip through McDonalds since the kids were “STARVING” and this meant we could eat in the car on the road!

I like field trips!! Don’t you!?

I kind of had to laugh at this picture, the sun is shining down so brightly on it! It makes me think of my happy place!

Only a 1/4 of the store!

The kids were REALLY good! Especially since we were there for HOURS!

Another 1/4!

This was my new find at Trader Joes! (Thanks to Jenny’s recommendation!) I’ll be trying it soon and I’ll let you know if the Garlic and Herb crust tasted as good as it smelled!!!

Ready to plan a field trip anywhere special??

~JESS

115 Comments
Filed Under: Crafts, Kids, Misc.

Homemade Doughnuts- Plum Delicious!

15 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

A few weeks ago, while Jenny and I were away on our church’s annual Women’s Retreat, our hubby’s were home holding down the fort so us wives and mommies could escape for a weekend of worship, fellowship and fun! And while I was away, my hubby, Tyler, (I really wanted to call him Mr. Plum Adorable or Mr. Adorable but somehow that got vetoed rather quickly) decided to try out a new and fun recipe with the kids since he had heard it on the radio. (He likes talk radio, bleh!)

First off, I should mention that Mr. Adorable, I mean Tyler, is actually a REALLY good cook and if I could get away with it, I would have him cook every night! But since he has this thing called a JOB and I don’t (well, you stay at home mom’s know what I mean by that!) , I think it is only fair that I take on the daily dinner duties! But seriously, he can cook! So when he told me he wanted to make homemade doughnuts for fun, I thought 1. he should totally go for it and 2. better him than me!! The only memory I have of homemade doughnuts is my mom getting up at O’dark Thirty when we were really young and spending what seemed like HOURS frying up doughnuts! And that only happened once a year!

I came home to a few (seriously I was lucky there were ANY) of these experimental doughnuts sitting on my countertop and I had to admit they were totally DELICIOUS! I was so impressed with Mr. Adorable Tyler’s doughnut making skills! He even brought over a few of them to some of the other dad’s who were on daddy duty that weekend! (I LOVE this man! He can cook and is generous too!)

Jenny’s hubby Robert (Mr. Adorable 2) also had some of the doughnuts brought to his house so Jenny got to sample one. And of course the first thing that comes out of either one of our mouths when we find something we like or that is a success, “We gotta put it on the blog!”

So my hubby very kindly made the doughnuts for me again this weekend so I could document (follow him around with my camera) his whole doughnut operation! And I am sharing them with you! The recipe is below, along with a few helpful hints!

They really were quite messy but actually pretty easy! I hope you’ll try them at home and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

2 eggs
2-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
10 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2-1/2 cups buttermilk
Oil for deep-fat frying
Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

In a large bowl, beat eggs; add the sugar, sour cream, butter and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; add to sour cream mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. doughnut cutter.
In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 375°. Fry doughnuts, a few at a time, until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Yield: about 6 dozen.

The original recipe is from Taste of Home. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cake-Doughnuts

*Make sure you are alternating the buttermilk and flour mixture, if you dump it all in at once, you won’t even be able to stir it!

*Tyler was listening to the dude from Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle and he suggested cooking doughnuts in a solid fat (we used Crisco) so that is what we did and it looked really gross but man those doughnuts were good!!!

* We glazed some with our own glaze concoction, we put some in powdered sugar as the recipe suggested, but the BEST (in my opinion) is to dip the still warm doughnuts in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon as pictured below!

Our Pre-Frying set up and our ADORABLE helpers!!!

Crisco- before it melted down into oil for frying!

MY ADORABLE Chef and his ADORABLE helpers!

In the Fryer!

My favorite! Sugar and Cinnamon!

YUMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!

~JESS

118 Comments
Filed Under: Misc., Recipes, Sweets

Pin’ talicious Thanksgiving Games & Pin the wattle (you know, the red thing that hangs down) on the turkey printable

14 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

We always have a big Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I think it is a favorite Holiday for most of my family members. My husband and daughters started a tradition years ago where they make a special dessert together (it’s important for you to know it’s probably the only dessert he makes all year, which makes it even more special!)

Since Thanksgiving is usually at our house I like to come up with fun games for us to play after we eat dinner and can barely move. Usually they are quizzes or some sort of ‘not moving’ type of game. I found some fun ideas on Pinterest that I think I may do this year. (Family members skip to the bottom so you don’t ruin my fun ;)

I took the turkey from the printable we posted the other day and made it into a ‘Pin the wattle on the Turkey’ game. I thought the kids (and adults) would have fun playing it while they are waiting for the feast to be finished!

I’ve attached the printable at the bottom of this post for you to print out and use as well!

Thanksgiving Games On Pinterest

This Roll a Turkey game from A Lemon Squeezy Home looks fun!

(and you know what’s funny? My turkey looks almost like this one! I drew my turkey last year and have never even seen this one until now…ha!)

My kids always love these coloring sheets. From Reading With Kids.

Here is the quiz we did last year from One Charming Party.

And my pin the wattle on the turkey.

I’ve sized them in two sizes, 8×10 and 11×14. I put both sizes of the wattle on the same sheet. If you want to get fancy, you could laminate them first! Click on the images below to download them.

8 x 10 Turkey

11 x 14 Turkey

Wattles for both turkeys.

I have yet to print out my turkey to show you what it looks like, but you all know where the wattle goes right?

If not click here to see our other printable ‘with’ the wattle on the turkey!

~Jenny

Linking up with…

Nothing But Country

166 Comments
Filed Under: 'Pin'talicious, Fall, Free Printables, Kids, Kids

Thank a veteran in your life & why I love t-shirt vinyl

11 Nov posted by Plum Adorable

We have been talking to our kids about why we celebrate Veterans Day.

Veterans Day is a day for Americans to celebrate the bravery and sacrifice of all U.S. veterans.

God bless them all!

We would like to thank all of the brave men and women who were willing to fight on our behalf. We also pray for our troops in battle today and we are thankful to the veterans who fought in previous battles. Please read to the end to see all the people in our families that have served!

Why I love T-Shirt Vinyl

(I promise it goes along with Veterans Day)

Every year my daughters’ Elementary School has an assembly to honor veterans. And because their school is located next to the military housing, they have a lot of kids that have parents in the Navy.

My oldest daughter is part of the drama club at her school and they were a big part of the assembly this year. The night before the assembly (at about 8pm) she tells me she HAS to wear red, white and blue. You would think that would not be a problem right?

Wrong!

We could not find anything. The one t-shirt she had from the 4th of July was trashed because she had been wearing it to sleep in. I was frustrated and finally said to her…

‘Well, I’m sorry, you are just going to have to figure something else out!’

To which she says back to me…

‘But, you are MY MOM! You can figure something out!’

That was it. That was all it took…It wasn’t even said in a rude way. It was said in more of a ‘You can whip something up, that’s what you do!’ sort of way.

Of course my first thought was, ‘Oh, no… you did not just say that!’

My second thought was ‘Well, there has to be something around here that I could I make for her?’

That’s when I remembered that I had bought a white t-shirt for her ahwile back. I had other plans for it, but oh well! Then I looked through my t-shirt vinyl and thankfully I had some red vinyl that I hadn’t used yet. I searched for free svg images online that had something to do with Veterans day. That’s when I found this God Bless America image. I cut the vinyl out with my Cricut machine and ironed it right on to her shirt!

Below is a quick pic before I ironed it on!

And here is the finished product! She was very happy. She did such a good job in her performance. I am one proud Mama!

Don’t you love how easy it is to make something so quickly? Check out Expressions Vinyl. They have the best prices for all things vinyl!

I also made her some earrings by taking blue resin flower cabochons that I bought this summer. I glued them on to earring backs and she was set!

~Jenny

Some of the Veterans in Jenny’s family that she would like to thank are…

My Grandpa Bob served in the Navy-1st Lieutenant & commanded an LCT in WWII in the Pacific.

My Grandpa Fred served in World War 2

My Dad Randy served in the Air National Guard during Vietnam.

My Step-dad, Brian served in the Army National Guard during Vietnam.

My Uncle Ron served as an Army Captin in Vietnam

Bill Green served in the Korean War.

My Cousin Molly served in the Army and was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom (as a nurse).

My Cousin Megan served in the marines and was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Mike (my cousin Molly’s Husband) served in the Army and deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

My husband’s Uncle Morris Hastings was a WW2 decorated hero.

My husband’s Uncle David Hobson served in the 82nd Airborne.

Joe Shauf served in Desert Storm.

Grandpa Bob & Grandma Mary Jean

Mike who is married to my cousin Molly below.

Cousins Molly and Megan who are also sisters.

I love these picture because if you saw them now they are the girliest of girls!

Joe Shauf

And Jess would like to THANK the following members of her family:

Both my Dads! Bob served in the US NAVY for 30 years, retiring last year as a Warrant Office.

Mike served as a Sargeant for 5 years in the Air Force before joining the Kentucky State Police.

My Grandpas! Gramps served as a Sargeant in the Air Force.

Grandaddy served in the marines for 2 years and then served 20 years as a Master Sargeant in the Army Reserves.

My husband’s grandparents- Grandpa P served in the Air Force during WW 2 and Grandpa G served in the Army also during WW2.

My siblings! My sister Stephanie served in the US NAVY for 4 years.

My brother, Stephen is still serving in the US AIR FORCE, currently stationed in Florida, deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

My Uncles! Flip served in the Marines. David served as a captain in the Army, and Deverle served in Vietnam in the Army

Home of the brave!

174 Comments
Filed Under: Fabric, Kids, Misc.

A New Tradition For Our Family

Officially time to decorate!

Pin’talicious Advent calendars & Free Printable

Check us out at One Artsy Mama and Enter for a Free Giveaway!

We are excited that Amy from One Artsy Mama invited us over to her adorable blog. She definitely lives up to her name! Not only is she a ballroom dancer, but her blog is full of fun crafts, holiday ideas and creative recipes. She also has a cute Etsy shop that you should check out here.

She sells jewelry like these cute Peas in a Pod earrings and this Breast Cancer Awareness Necklace. Amy donates $10 from the purchase of the necklace to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure! We love that!

Pin’talicious Thanksgiving!

Burlap Stenciled Christmas Pillows

Fieldtrip!!

Homemade Doughnuts- Plum Delicious!

Ingredients

Directions

Pin’ talicious Thanksgiving Games & Pin the wattle (you know, the red thing that hangs down) on the turkey printable

Thank a veteran in your life & why I love t-shirt vinyl

Subscribe

Facebook Connect

Featured Posts

To Our Creative, Talented and Compassionate Readers, Would You Be willing to Donate Your Handmade or Business Items To This Family’s Silent Auction?

Tooth Fairy Pillows

Valentines Décor (Free Printable sign And Banner)

Create your own inspiration Boards

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

Etsy

Latest Posts

Looking For More Ideas?

We’ve Been Featured!

We are excited that Amy from One Artsy Mama invited us over to her adorable blog. She definitely lives up to her name! Not only is she a ballroom dancer, but her blog is full of fun crafts, holiday ideas and creative recipes. She also has a cute Etsy shop that you should check out here.

She sells jewelry like these cute Peas in a Pod earrings and this Breast Cancer Awareness Necklace. Amy donates $10 from the purchase of the necklace to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure! We love that!

Ingredients

Directions

CONNECT

Subscribe

Facebook Connect

Featured Posts

Etsy

Latest Posts

Looking For More Ideas?

We’ve Been Featured!