December Activities

Here are some more things we did in December, that I never got around to posting.
We made our first gingerbread house. This was an experience! I did not expect it to be that challenging or messy did I mention sticky. LOL. it was really fun but I just want not prepared for the mess and I assumed it would just come out amazing. It was a lot of work. We really enjoyed making it and H did more licking her fingers than anything but all in all I think I found a new family tradition.

I am prepared for next year and am so excited to see the difference as the years go by and we learn more about this each year.
Christmas tree pancakes! This was a lot of fun, I made pancake batter and added green food coloring and peppermint extract and put it in a squeeze bottle I got at Walmart for 97cents by the kitchen gadgets. I learned how to do this here! This blog has some of the most amazing pancakes.


Then I used it to make an outline on the pan that was like a Christmas tree. Make sure you pan is on low heat or you will not see the green.
Then filled in the outline with the pancake mix.

Here is how it turned out. I added blackberries to make it look like ornaments on the tree.

Reindeer breakfast: This was made with two pancakes one smaller than the other, two chocolate chips, ham cut like antlers and a red candy for nose.

SNOWFLAKE ORNAMENTS
So this is one of the coolest projects I think I have ever done. I love it and it was so simple. All it is is Borax laundry soap found in the laundry detergent isle. Hot water and pipe cleaner. First you make a shape with pipe cleaners I made a snowflake. Then add a string to hold it and attach to a pencil to hang. Heat water to almost a boil mix in 1/3 cup of Borax and stir in a glass jar till mostly dissolved and hang ornament in water high enough to cover completely. (like this)

Then just wait we did it at night and then checked it in the morning. and this is how it turned out.
completely amazing!!

And we made a Christmas tree from a sugar ice cream cone, left over icing from cupcakes and left over candies from gingerbread house. H painted and decorated the ice cream cone all by herself. Again she did a lot of licking of her fingers lol.

Gingerbread man

OK this was my first experience with making gingerbread men or ginger snips in general. it didn't go so well lol. she did excellent helping mix pour and even roll out the dough. how ever when it came to cutting it out. she did the cookie cutters great and then I tried to move them to the pan then turned to a ginger bread blobs. lol I ended up cooking them most of the way in a big giant cookie and then cutting them out and finishing the cooking process. lol it worked. I have talked to several people and I have learned cut them out on parchment so all I have to do is move the parchment to the pan and not the dough. I love how we can learn from every experience and we can grown. I can see how moms of older kids seem to have it all together cause they have done it over and over again and learn something new each time. I think that is so important for all moms to understand and know. No one is perfect but we can all grow and learn.

Coffee filter snowflakes

SO this is a classic winter activity that I can remember doing as a kid. It is so simple you just take a round coffee filter and fold it in half then in half again and again. then you cut the sides not going all the way through the filter. when you open it looks like a snowflake. We made several and up them up on the siding glass door. She was not very enthusiastic at first then when she opened it and it looked like a snowflake she was so excited and couldn't wait to do more. I think this may be a new tradition.

Snowman pancakes

I love making special things for H. this morning she requested snowman pancakes. I thought I would share what we made. just made 3 small circles in the pan one on top of the other. then after cooking added M&M's so simple but so special for her this morning. I just love the little things.

Northpole breakfast from UP

Up (our Elf) made H a surprise breakfast special from the North pole. She had chocolate, powder sugar donuts decorated like a snowman with black gel icing and part a sour worm for the nose. She also had a note from Up saying that she had a special message from Santa. IF you have not see this site check it out it is awesome messages you customize from Santa. Here http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

Elf on the Shelf

We had an arrival from Santa in the mail about a week ago. He was sent to watch over H and report to Santa about her behavior. It is awesome!!!!! She is so good and her room is staying so clean. He hides in different places everyday after reporting to Santa that night. The package came in the mail in Santa wrapping paper with a note from Santa.