I Couldn't Resist I Guess...

Earlier today I posted this to Facebook: If you haven't received a Christmas card from the Bishop's this year it's not because we don't love you. It's because we didn't send any this year. So just look at one of our millions of Facebook pics, attach a "Merry Christmas" to it and we'll call it good ok? :)




I was serious too. With the rough past couple of months of pregnancy symptoms paired with trying to keep up with an active two and a half year old, I had a certain list of priorities for the Christmas season and sending out 50 cards was NOT part of the top 10 priorities. Things like teaching my son the story of Jesus's birth and Christmas songs, buying and making homemade gifts, baking, having Aiden create holiday crafts, and showing up at holiday parties with my hair actually washed were. Period.
But then I remembered a $20 Shutterfly promo card sitting in my desk I got a while back while shopping at Destination Maternity. And Aiden decided to nap today. So we purchased only 20 of these just for our families. Maybe we're not so bah-humbug after all. But I'm still not setting foot in a mall until after the holidays are over. :)

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Last Minute Christmas Wreaths

Need a last minute way to impress the family with some yummy treats on Christmas? A project for the kids to do while you wrap presents? Or, a way to schmooze your way into some extra vacation time from your boss? Or how about a ring? Trying to get that slower than molasses boy to put a rock on your finger? Then try these, they are super duper yummy and you can create a whole batch in no time at all. My sister and I used to make these with my Grandma when we were kids. You know they're gonna be good when they come from a Grandma! :)

You'll need:

1 bag of large marshmallows
1 stick of butter
Green food coloring
3 cups of cornflakes
Red Hot cinnamon candies- found at Dollar Store
Wax paper
Cooking spray


Melt the butter and marshmallows together on the stovetop, medium heat until a thick gooey syrup forms. Add in 15 drops of green food coloring. When it looks like this,

then remove from heat and mix in the 3 cups of cornflakes until they are completely covered in this Grinch-colored oooozy goodness. 

Now lay out some wax paper which has been sprayed with cooking oil spray, butter up your fingers and drop spoonfuls of the mixture on the wax paper to cool for a bit. After they have cooled, (about 4 minutes) then form into wreath shapes with your buttered baking hands. Let your munchkin try too. He'll eat most of it. 

After the gooey mess slightly resembles wreath shapes, place your red hot candies on by pressing them gently into the wreaths. I've heard some people use corn syrup to get these little suckers to stick, but I never have. 

Yum! Now try not to eat them all before you get to your family's house for Christmas! 

Montessori At Home: Marble Transferring Activity

In the past few months I have been taking ideas from various Montessori homeschooling books and websites and implementing them in our daily home activities. One of this week's activities is this simple marble transferring activity which helps develop hand eye coordination, concentration, fine motor control, and the ability to be persistent when presented with a difficult task.

I thought Aiden would have a much harder time with this at first but he caught on right away. The only frustrating part for him in the beginning was scooping the marbles up with the spoon. He used his hands a few times and then I showed him how to tilt the spoon to pick up the marbles and he got it. He was pretty proud of himself when he had finally got all the marbles into the bottle.

And for the record: I am totally anti-plastic water bottles, especially paying $1.49 for this fancy FIJI water but I didn't have any containers at home suitable for this project because we use Camelbak's in our house but I found this at Walgreen's and it was the perfect size. And by the way, that FIJI water didn't taste any different than my tap water and it didn't give me any super powers...well yet. :)