Hello December?!

Thanksgiving came and went in no time at all and before I knew it, we were putting up the tree and welcoming in the month of DECEMBER?!?! I think I reflect on this every year, but I really do feel as though these years are just being swept away so quickly that I will be an empty nester before I know it! I am sorry that my blog goes days and sometimes week without action but life seems to take over. My kids are older now and we are always on the road. We are not so much as crafty now but more explorers. I try to get away from the camera and put it away in general so that I can be IN the moment with my kids. Soon they will be gone and off on their own lives and living with their families and then I will be able to say that I do not have one regret, that I gave them all my time and now it is time for them to do the same with their family. Then it will be time to get to know the newer, older, wiser version of my husband as we explore more of the world together in a different way. Life changes daily and I am trying to take my own advice and not miss one minute!

One tradition that started with our elf and will continue for as long as I have children under my roof, is the 25 books of Christmas. Charlie brings wrapped books that we can share together as a family by the tree with our evening tea and cocoa. Each unwrapped book elicits smiles and cheers as the kids clamor around to read aloud or listen quietly to what is to come. They are usually holiday books for the most part both religious and secular but some other books sometimes sneak their way in too! They are all picture books, because NO ONE can outgrow a picture book and they are just the right length for kids to snuggle up with a parent, no matter how big they get! I will try to post daily about the elf and his antics as well as what book we unwrapped that day as well, otherwise I will catch you up if I can, as I am doing tonight!

Our elf is still up to his crazy ways as he tries to sneak a ride in the car on our way to an Elf adoption event! When the kids got in the car, they noticed new jammies brought just for them from Charlie! He doesn't always bring gifts, but when he does they are always something the kids have been needing.

December 1st brought us The Little Snow Plow by Lora Koehler

This book is absolutely wonderful and even my oldest kids looked over each photo and listened intently.

Our elf was caught scaling our fridge to get into the top where we hide all the candy! At the bottom of his rope was his pet Hot Coffee holding the rope steady!

December 2nd brought us The Very First Christmas by Paul Maier. I was hoping to hold onto this one until it was a little closer to Christmas but it's size made it an easy one to grab. Next year we have to be sure to leave a note for the elf to number the books!! A beautifully illustrated book that helps remind the kids what this season is all about.

Oh Look at who we found here! Charlie the elf was found in the living room reading to all of his friends! It was a good thing that no one had to use the screen porch this day, because we would not have been able to get to the door!!

December 3rd brought us Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney! Oh boy do we love this llama, he has been a family favorite for many years now and we don't see ever letting him go! He is up to his typical antics in this book, but always with a heartwarming close!

Well now look who is in the bathroom!!! Charlie has taken off his sweater and made himself into a toilet paper snowman! His smile tells us that he knows wasting toilet paper is a bit naughty but he just had to do it to make sure the kids are brushing properly and washing their hands!

Enjoy every minute my friends!!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Charlie The Elf 2015

It's the time of the year again! Time for you to follow our Elf on the Shelf Charlie and see what he is up to! He arrives on Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas Season and my kids are beyond excited! Creating a suitcase is as easy as a jewelry box and pipe cleaner and these little details always have the children tickled! I will try and keep this post updated throughout the season, so you can always find all of his antics posted daily in one spot! Please be sure to read the most recent posts that will go into more detail about Charlie's surprises that day, this is just going to be a pictorial with some comments.

Michael's craft stores has a new batch of Christmas sweater ornaments and they fit the elf perfectly! Be sure to check them out, as they are much cheaper than the official elf merchandise and so much more unique! Not to mention they come with their own little hangers!! They have hats this year too and we will see if they fit him.

Use google for Elf on the Shelf stationary and you will find some good stuff! I am predicting that he will most likely show up with this one!

The kids are so excited to be able to read his book and watch the movie again! We save it for the season and it truly makes it more magical! They read the book over and over again and the movie becomes memorized by all in the family by the time Charlie departs on Christmas Eve!

He arrived with a bang and dove into a slice of Gabrie's home made cherry pie! He arrived with a banner of thanks to decorate and bring to Thanksgiving and even hacked into our craft closet to construct some stairs for his friends to join him on his high seat! He brought a movie and letter.

Our elf loves to climb and he usually uses ropes, stairs or ladders but he always finds a way.

He sometimes sneaks rides in the car and brings pajamas every year too!

Charlie's friends enjoy getting carried away with things too and always await his return from the North Pole!

Building things for his friends help the kids keep occupied and stay crafty while always getting along too!

He sent a chain of kisses down from the mistletoe as he hung high above all the heads!

Snow Man Charlie enjoys being a tiny bit messy but always has fun and cleans up after himself when he leaves! Here he is watching to be sure the kids wash their hands and brush their teeth!

Being held  captive by king nutcracker he was inside the popcorn machine and you can't see his gifts but he brought a family movie and a bag of microwave popcorn!

He loves to read as much as we do and here he is reading to all of his friends as they hear the story of Christmas!

 

He and his friends are all hiding around and in the tree as they let St. Nicholas take center stage on his day!

St. Nicholas brought a coloring book of his story and the kids colored many pages as we read, but they thought they left some empty pages....not so! Charlie took over where they left off!

 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

Check out our other ideas:

2014

2013 (we bought a new house and did not keep a document of Charlie's antics)

2012 Ideas HERE

2011 Ideas HERE

 

2015 from arrival to departure:

He's Baaaccckkk! Charlie & Hot Coffee have arrive with a cardboard staircase built to reach a chair so that he can eat a slice of pie and drop off his letter. He also brought the movie Inside Out!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Give Thanks for Fall!

I can hardly believe that it is the Thanksgiving season and yet Christmas is hitting me everywhere I go! It is almost time for our friend CHARLIE the elf to come back! Barnes & Noble has this awesome set up of elves to adopt, pets to take home and clothing for your elves closet all set up in the kids area! Head on out if you need to pick up some elf goodies or one of you own. I will be documenting Charlie's antics for 2015 and hope to make it a live linky, so that everyone can link up their elf stories!

We are spending the winter in Mexico and I was finally able to pick up a travel journal for the kids, I wanted something that we could add and take out pages and had prompts and other things like that. This one from Michael's is perfect! I plan on adding in some pages of our own and customizing it as much as possible, but it's great that I don't have to do it all on my own.

Since we won't have our Autumn décor on us this year for Thanksgiving, I printed up a few of these sheets for the kids to decorate and we could hang up in our hotel room! Each kid is doing several of them and then after Thanksgiving, we will mail them to whoever they are thankful for! Get your own copy HERE!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Learning While Away...Part 2

Yesterday, I shared our learning while away lesson on how we can always be learning, even when on the road. A lot goes into planning a vacation, why not get some learning squeezed in there too. This has helped so much in this time of emergency, when I didn't have time to come up with a real lesson plan. You can read part 1 HERE!

Today's lesson is a very important one when traveling, it involves a lot of math and all of it is mental math. It is important to know how to do your math in your head when travelling, because you will purchase most items at outdoor stalls and booths, in open air markets and from people that may not be as educated as you wish they would be when dealing with money. Everyone makes mistakes, it is important to not have them made to you.

Today's lesson was on changing money. It is important to only change the amount of money you will need for the day, unless you think it is a very good exchange rate. The rates fluctuate daily and even multiple times during the day. Also keep in mind that not all places pay out the same amount, so keep checking with more than your hotel front desk and houses of change, banks tend to pay out higher amounts but also have longer lines.

1. The first step was to find the days exchange rate, this can be found by a quick Google search.
2. I gave the children the amount of money that would be exchanged and they had to calculate what I would get back if the exchange rate we came across was the exact same as what we found online.
3. We headed out and went to buy PESOS, we went to 3 different places and they had to write down the exchange rate at each place and calculate how much we would get back. Out of the 3 places, they then told me where we would get the most for our USD and we headed back there to exchange money.

Because we were spending most of our time in hospitals, much of our trip was spent eating out at food stalls, stands and some restaurants and our souvenir shopping (if any) was done in open air markets, this was where it was time to prepare the mind mentally as you don't have the time to pull out a calculator, and you should always be prepared!
1. If the kids wanted to buy something, I sent them to several stalls to compare prices, once the best price was found, they had to exchange it to USD at the price we paid and find out if in fact it was a good deal or worth the price.

2. When paying, the children had to show me which bills and or coins to pay with and then they had to tell me how much change they would get in advance of paying, so that they were ready when the change came.

3. At the end of each day, they would look at the amount we started out with and the amount left and then they would calculate how much money was spent and if we were on budget if a budget was given ahead of time. As this was an emergency trip, we were not going on a budget.

I hope you enjoyed this part of our lesson, stay tuned for more on part 3 next week!
Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Summer Bucket List 2015 - 105 fun things to do this Summer!

It's that time of year again! Time to get Summer Bucket lists together! We sit around the dinner table and think of all the things that are MUST-Do's this Summer and then we put them all in a list, along with a few things that we repeat, because we want to do them that many times!

Head on over HERE for the printable check-list version of this list! Share a few things that are on your list or even link me to it in the comments!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Feeln Good

  Miss Connie
Last week was Teacher's Appreciation Week and I must say that it had me Feeln Good! I was approached to review Feeln, a movie subscription service that is perfect for the whole family. I am sorry to have been gone for so long! We were out of town for a robotics competition and then after a quick return home, we took off for a Mother's Day getaway, I plan on sharing posts about that soon, but for now let me share something awesome with you!

Take a hop on over to their website and check out all the movies they have to offer, I love the vast selection and truly love that my kids can watch so many of them. Please note that they do have some movies with language issues or content, depending on what you allow your children to watch (PG-13), but they break them down pretty well. Once the kids are in bed, my husband and I can always find something to watch too! I love that this is a site that both adults and kids can enjoy together or alone! My personal favorite are all the Hallmark Movies! As many of you know, we do not have a television,but there are plenty of compatible devices through Feeln and you will not regret trying this out! I really love the fact that I can catch up on Hallmark movies, without have to buy each one individually.

After a full day of school and lessons, activities and practices, there is nothing we like better than to sit together as a family and put on a movie. It's so much fun to browse all that they have to offer on Feeln and then vote on what to watch. We all have such different tastes but can always agree on movies!

So are you ready to try it out? Feeln is offering readers of my blog a 50% discount off their annual subscription, how cool is that?! Head on over to their site and use promo code: 0515BlogConnie. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has!

Family time is the best time! Enjoy every minute my friends!

*I have been offered a subscription to Feeln in exchange for my review, but the opinions are mine and I only write the truth in what I find and enjoy*

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!