Where's the Elf - Day 24

Well, today is the last day Christopher Pop-In-Kins will be with us. He has to return to the North Pole! Jimmy was very sad to hear that he had to go home until next year. The boys have had such a blast finding our little elf in all of his new hiding places each morning. I think we are going to be a little bored when he leaves us. We can't wait until he returns after next Thanksgiving! Goodbye for now Christopher Pop-In-Kins!

Thanks for sharing our elf adventures with us! Hopefully next year we will not get sick and all the posts will be posted on time! ;-) Merry Christmas!!

Where's the Elf - Day 23

Christopher Pop-In-Kins didn't go far after his shower yesterday...he got into a little tangle with the toilet paper! Made a nice little tower, climbed it and then later we heard a crash and he was found on the floor! No kidding! That is really how we found him lol! Jimmy was very excited that Christopher fell, he just kept chattering about his elf falling down and "how did he do that?" etc. Very cute!

Where's the Elf - Day 22

Oh Christopher Pop-In-Kins, you really are funny! He must have felt dirty after his ride yesterday ;-) Had to wash the horse smell off! Jimmy really got a kick out of this one, he was so surprised to see his little elf friend in the shower when he woke up. Next year I should take videos of the boys reactions!

Where's the Elf - Day 21

I felt much better today! Christopher must have felt better about moving because look what he got into last night. Silly little elf! Guess he wanted to be ready to run in case he heard anymore scary noises from me being sick ;-) Giddyup Ballyduff!

Where's the Elf - Day 20

I was sick all night with the stomach flu and poor Christopher Pop-In-Kins must have been too scared of the horrible noises coming from upstairs to move. So he stayed put for today, hanging next to the Christmas tree as he did yesterday. Hopefully I will feel better soon and he will get brave and move to a new place tonight ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 19

Today our little buddy was just "hanging out" by the Christmas tree all day. 

Where's the Elf - Day 18

I guess Christopher Pop-In-Kins was inspecting the stockings last night. Hope they meet Santa's requirements! =)

Where's the Elf - Day 17

Sorry we had a bit of a hiccup and didn't get the rest of the Christopher Pop-In-Kins posts posted due to our having the stomach bug. Here they are looking back. =)

Here is Christopher Pop-In-Kins checking out my Joy and Noel signs that I made years ago. Not really sure how he got himself up there...

Where's the Elf - Day 16

Christopher Pop-In-Kins is such a little dickens!! Look where he landed himself this time! Silly thing must not have learned his lesson from playing on the ceiling fan last time. He sure is quite the little acrobat! ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 15

Oh that silly elf! He got into the fruit basket last night. Looks like he had a craving for avocado!

Where's the Elf - Day 14

Looks like Christopher Pop-In-Kins took it easy last night. He didn't venture very far from the nativity and was just sitting up on the living room curtains. No mischief this time!

Where's the Elf - Day 13

Well, after Christopher's little tangle with the Three Wise Men yesterday, it looks like they all made nice. He was found admiring the baby Jesus this morning. What a sweet little elf! So glad he got to learn about the real meaning of Christmas, thanks for teaching him Wise Guys!! ;-)

Dry Erase Sudoku Book

Today I made a couple of dry erase Sudoku books for Christmas gifts. I recently bought a Bind-It-Allmachine and this was my first binding project. It went great! I was pretty nervous I was going to screw up my project, but after practicing a little and getting the hang of it, it went pretty quickly and was easy. Binding was easy compared to getting my printers to print the way I needed them to! But I won't get into that ;-)

I created a cover in Photoshop, laid out some printable Sudoku puzzles I found online (just do a search, there are tons!) and I made an answer key on the last couple pages. I printed everything on regular paper and laminated the pages so they would be dry-eraseable. Then I cut the pages in half since I laid out 2 pages per sheet of paper. I trimmed the extra lamination off with my awesome paper trimmerand stacked the pages in order. Then I used my handy dandy new Bind-It-Allto punch holes in the tops of the pages and then put the binding wirein. And there you have it!

Its easy to correct mistakes as you play and you can complete the puzzles again and again if you'd like. I hope their recipients like them! =)

Where's the Elf - Day 12

Well this is interesting. Looks like Christopher got into a little tangle with the Three Wise Men last night....hmm...I wonder if something like THIS was going down... ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 11

Oooo Christopher Pop-In-Kins! You got into a little mischief last night I see....silly elf! He was hanging out all day long.

Jimmy wanted to know how he got up there. I think he was trying to cross the curtain rod and fell, grabbing onto what he could, my horse sun catcher! Thank goodness he didn't break it! ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 10

I think Christopher Pop-In-Kins was kind of tired last night, he was found just sitting on top of our stovepipe cover (yet another eyesore that needs taken care of in our old house, *sigh*). ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 9

Oh Christopher Pop-In-Kins....where are you??? THERE you are!

Silly elf, hiding in the curtain! I think he is starting to get a little more mischievous the last couple days! ;-)

Monogram Wreath

Some friends and I have been getting together at our church once a month for a craft night. This month we made these twine wrapped initial/monogram wreaths. Here is how mine turned out:

Pretty fun! I really love how it turned out. If you want to make one too, click here for the tutorial that inspired this activity. To learn how to make felt rosettes, click here.

Where's the Elf - Day 8

Christopher Pop-In-Kins seems to have had a little bit of fun last night! We found him hanging onto a ceiling fan blade in the living room (please pay no attention to the horribly outdated ceiling fan, ugh)! I imagine he must have been spinning around all night having a great time ;-)

Where's the Elf - Day 7

Sorry, late again! =)
Here is Christopher Pop-In-Kins 7th hiding place. He decided to venture to the upstairs bathroom this time!
He is sitting on top of the mirror.

Jimmy was excited and talked to him again today. He told him thank you for remembering to bring his water lol! And Matthew kept crawling to the bathroom door and peeking at Christopher. I don't think he quite knows what to think of him yet.

Where's the Elf - Day 6

Here is where Christopher Pop-In-Kins was hiding today. Waaay up on top of the refrigerator!

Today Jimmy started something new when he found our elf. He has started talking to him! Last night Jimmy wanted a drink of water and I told him maybe Christopher Pop-In-Kins would bring him some later. I have been trying to avoid giving him anything to drink before bed so he doesn't wet it since he sleeps so soundly and didn't want a fight last night so I was trying to get him to be satisfied so he would fall asleep. And it worked ;-) But then I forgot to get his water and when Jimmy woke up he told me the elf never brought his water! Ack! I felt so bad!  He told me that he had to "go ask that elf something" and he went downstairs. He came back up and said he "asked that elf" why he forgot his water last night. I asked him what the elf said and in a little tiny voice he replied, "He said he forgot and he would remember to get it for me tonight." It was so cute! LOVE my babies! This elf tradition is so much fun!

Where's the Elf - Day 5

Goodness, I keep forgetting to post! So sorry! Here is day 5's hiding place. Jimmy was VERY excited to find Christopher in the Christmas tree, he wanted to know how in the world he got there! =)

Jimmy and Matthew are so funny when they find Christopher. Jimmy usually wakes up first and he hasn't remembered to look for him on his own yet so I ask him if he has seen Christopher yet. Then he looks at the place he was the day before and gets this surprised/sly look on his face. So cute! He looks around a bit and finally finds him and yells out "I found the elf!!" in a silly little high pitched voice. I always help Matthew find him when he wakes up. We go to the place he was the day before, Matthew looks and gets a confused look on his face. Then we go to the new hiding place and I wait to see if he spots him, and when he finally sees him, he gets a huge grin on his face and points and sounds like he says "Pop" or "Poppins" SO adorable! This is such a fun tradition to do with the kids.

Where's the Elf - Day 4

Our little elf friend hid in the laundry room today, high on a coat hook. Jimmy took a little longer to find him since the seriously-in-need-of-a-makeover laundry room is through a door that we keep closed most of the time. I just love watching him look for Christopher P!

Where's the Elf - Day 3

I am a bit late posting this, sorry! Here is where Christopher Pop-In-Kins was hiding today.

Jimmy was so excited to find him hiding on the light in the bathroom. Every time he went in there he said "He's still there!" He is so cute!

Where's the Elf - Day 2

Today Christopher Pop-In-Kins was hiding up in one of my ferns, that silly little elf! ;-)

Jimmy really giggled at this hiding place. Make sure you stop by for tomorrow's hiding place! =)

Where's the Elf - Day 1

Meet our new friend!

(image from elffun.com)

My mother in law gave us this cute little guy and we now have a new Christmas tradition. He is kind of like Elf on the Shelf, but he has bendy arms and legs and must hide up high, lest he be touched and lose his magic, therefore causing him to have to return to the North Pole. This little guy has been around since 1984. To learn more about him visit his website here. He first showed up 2 days after Thanksgiving and the boys have been having a blast looking for him in his new hiding place each morning! Here is his hiding place for today:

I am planning on posting his hiding place every day until he returns to the North Pole (he must be back before Christmas Eve), so be sure to check back tomorrow to see where he hides!

Blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends!

I am so thankful for the time spent with family today. I am thankful for the wonderful meal my mother in law prepared for us. I am thankful for our country. I am so thankful for our home and farm, animals and equipment. I am extremely thankful for my wonderful, hard working husband who does everything it takes to make sure we are taken care of and provided for. I am so very thankful for our two awesome little boys, my days are never dull and they provide so much laughter and happiness!

Most of all, I am thankful for my Lord and Savior. Thankful that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sins. I am so unworthy but so thankful for his mercy and grace to save a sinner like me. Thank you Lord for everything! We are truly blessed!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful for the sun! It is starting to get colder here in Ohio, but today is at least nice and sunny. So the curtains are open and the sun is streaming in the windows. Sure helps boost my mood!

I am thankful for our small farm and the hard working hubby who makes it possible for us to live and raise our family here.

So thankful for my lovely friend Joy Marie! She came over earlier this week and we raked and played in the leaves with Jimmy and Matthew. It was so much fun!

What are YOU thankful for?

Initial Wreath

Well, it certainly has been a while! I have missed blogging and my blogging buddies, I hope some of you are still out there!

I decorated a grapevine wreath (that's been hanging on our door plain for a long time!) recently and wanted to share it with you all. All I did was stick some greenery from a couple of our evergreens into the wreath.  For the initial, I cut a letter out of cardboard and out of burlap using a template I made on the computer. Then I glued the burlap letter to the cardboard one to make it sturdy (I painted craft glue onto the cardboard with a paint brush to even it out so it wouldn't gush through the burlap). Once dry, I hot glued a piece of jute to the top of the letter and then tied the letter to the wreath. I made a simple bow out of strips of burlap looped and hot glued together. I added a wire to the back of the bow and tied it to the wreath. Hung the wreath on the front door and all done! Here is the finished product:

I hope everyone is well and you are getting excited for the holidays!

Facebook!

Just a quick post to say come and "Like" me on facebook! I added a fb badge to my sidebar, so come and say hi! =)

Check out this Beautiful Necklace Giveaway!

Head over to Janimies World to enter to win this GORGEOUS handmade necklace!

 Click here to go directly to the giveaway post. Good luck!

PS - If you want to check out more awesome necklaces like this one, go to her Etsy store, Janimie

HSV Garden Challenge - May Update

Well, I am a week late posting this, but this is a more interesting post than it started out. It started out a lot like last month since May was very rainy like April was. It was getting REALLY old. The rain just kept coming. We had days full of thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Luckily we were fortunate and didn't suffer any damage. I pray for all those who did, especially those in Joplin.

Since I am a week late posting, I actually got my garden all planted! Its hasn't rained and we have had great weather! Our fields still aren't planted, but the farmers have been working like crazy around here!

So far during the Garden Challenge, I have learned that I have to be flexible. I am such a scheduler, everything has to go according to plan. Wellll, that hasn't exactly worked out for my garden! I ended up buying some window boxes so I could plant my strawberry plants and I also planted some in my flower bed so they could get going. I had tomato, zucchini and cucumber plants sitting on my porch waiting to be planted up until a couple days ago. I also learned that I should not grow my seedlings in our lovely, wet, old farmhouse basement where I hate going....because then I forget to water them! I ended up replanting some seeds but I had to go buy some tomato and pepper plants, which is fine - my pepper plants didn't end up coming up anyway and I don't mind supporting our local greenhouse. Next year I think I will use the dining room table for seedlings (as much as I hate that idea!). Or maybe hubby will get the basement fixed up a bit. ;-)

I am not sure what meal I want to make first from our garden, but I know I want to make Eggplant Parmesan and I found this yummy looking recipe for Zucchini Boats the other day so I will definitely be making those. Already have big blooms on my Zucchini plant! And we can't forget Zucchini Bread, yum!

As for Jimmy, we have read a few gardening books:

And we have done more activities such as this game from the Homeschool Creations Garden pack.

Jimmy has really been getting into gardening! He loves to help. He planted seeds and loved putting the seedlings in the holes and burying the roots in the dirt. He was so helpful with watering too! His little wading pool is close to the garden so he would take the watering can over and fill it up with water from his pool (no chemicals and I was watching the whole time!). Then he watered each plant. So cute!

Here is our garden's progression:

After sitting for 2 years

 Tilled once

Tilled again and partially planted

All planted! Shew, thought it would never happen! =)

Those little trees in the garden will be moved in the fall, they are some Arbor Day trees we received a couple years ago that I didn't get to move earlier in the spring because of all the rain! So they get to stay in the garden for a little longer. Hopefully I can move the bigger ones with no problems! We have some sweet corn planted in the dirt behind the trees, then everything else is planted in the foreground and to the right side.

Maybe someday my garden will look more like this *sigh*:

Source: lovemyearth.blogspot.com via Ali on Pinterest

I almost forgot, here are some of our strawberry plants in a window box on our porch, this will be interesting to see how they hold up!

As for the blueberry bushes, they are still growing happily in their containers. I think I have decided where to plant them, so they will be in their new homes soon.

I hope everyone has a great month of growing!

HSV Garden Challenge - April Update

April has been a very rainy month here on the farm. We've been dealing with a whole lotta this:

 All I have gotten done around here is roll the yard and the pasture! I haven't even had a chance to mow yet! Our yard is a complete jungle. My husband popped a ligament in his hand in March and had to have surgery so he is not able to do a lot around our place right now. He works a lot and also coaches throwing for our high school track team, so he is not home very often. Add in my 3 yo and 10 mo little boys and our life is a little hectic right now. I am really hoping to get some mowing done tonight when hubby gets home from practice, and then tomorrow as it is supposed to be a beautiful day. Hoping I can get some work done in the garden tomorrow too! If not, I may have to figure out alternative plans for planting.....

Our little seedlings are doing pretty well. We lost a couple, but I can plant more seeds in the garden & they will just be a little later than I was hoping. My jalapenos FINALLY started growing! I didn't know they took so long! ;-)

I purchased a couple blueberry bushes and some strawberry starts last week. We are really looking forward to having our own fresh berries soon! Jimmy will be in heaven!

We also started doing a few of the activities from the Homeschool Creations Garden pack, these are so much fun! Thanks to Jolanthe for being so awesome and sharing such great resources!

Jimmy and I were able to get out and do a little weeding in one of the flower beds and we have been taking walks around the yard. He just loves picking flowers that we find - dandelions, violets, some of my Korean Spice Viburnum flowers, they smell wonderful! And he loved watching the daffodils and tulips come up. They are so pretty!

Last night Jimmy even got to see his first ever rainbow, it was the most gorgeous one I have ever seen! Lets hope its a signal of the end of all this crazy weather we've been having!

And another shot, I took a bunch =D

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets a lot of gardening done! Happy growing!