Chrismassy Decor

I LOVE Christmas... that's no secret... but I especially love whipping out the Christmas decorations... I guess that's no secret either! Anyways, I got a special early present this year from Husband... A NEW tree! I've been not so subtly hinting that I wanted one for the last 2 years! Yup, it takes him that long to get it and give in! We have very high ceilings in our living room begging for a super tall tree! We ended up getting a gorgeous 12 foot monstrosity! It cost a small fortune, weighs more than me, was a total pain to put up and will probably stay up all year because I dread taking it down... but I am so in love with it!

The Kalbster is my scale model so you have a reference as to how beasty this tree is! Pictures really don't do it justice, it's such a beautiful tree!

 

You may also notice that we finally got blinds and no longer flash the neighbours! Boo no more free shows! Haha! That means that my giant DIY wreath that I used to hang on the dining room window needed a new home! It got a new giant ribbon and has a new home above the fireplace! I quite like it there and question why I never put it there in the first place!

Here's a couple more pics of the living room, so you can see how the wreath looks up there and all the little Chrismassy touches!

 

 

 

As you can see I have vessels of ornaments everywhere! They are my go-to for super quick and easy but still fabulous Christmas decorating!

 

Not too many changes for the foyer this year, except for a new boxwood wreath that I am also in love with!

It's so deliciously simply it totally has potential to stay up all year!

 

I also attempted to make festive planters outside this year! We have some planters outside that aren't moving anywhere because they weigh a tonne, so I tried to utilize them the best I could! All I really did was stick a bunch of stuff in the planters, but it turned out not too shabby for my first attempt! I think that next year I would use less decorative picks, use more branches and more varieties of greens!

 

Okay, that's about all for Christmas décor for us! How did you decorate for the holidays this year?







Merry Christmas!!!!

These 2 monsters want to wish you and your family a super fabulous Christmas! Kalbs and Yules hope your holidays are overflowing with love, joy, happiness and lots of overindulgences!!

Mad Face

Yules has really been into creating faces lately! If I draw a giant circle, she will draw 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth. If she's feeling fancy, she will add ears and hair. And if she's feeling like making her portrait extra special, you will get earrings and a witch hat! They look a little scary but kinda cute at the same time! She will also tell you how each person is feeling too... 99% of the time if she draws her Papa, he is MAD!! It must be because I am constantly threating her that "If you don't (pick up your toys, brush your teeth, drink your milk etc etc.), then Papa will be mad!" Haha! Here are a couple of her latest portraits:

 

Christmas Activities!

Here's a few Christmas activities that has been keeping the monster busy!

1. Making Christmas cards! We made reindeers and Christmas trees with handprints. Afterwards Yules helped glue and place stickers. We made these a few weeks ago and I thought that I was super on top of things... a week till Christmas and I have still not mailed these out! Yikes!

2. Last year Yules would have nothing to do with the creepy old guy in a red suit, but this year she is obsessed with Santa! So it was no surprise that she picked a Santa advent calendar from the dollar store. You pretty much just glue a pom pom on each day. But I did want to point out my favourite craft glue which is surprisingly from the dollar store. Glue is one of those things that I tell people to splurge and not buy from the dollar store, especially glue sticks! But I love love love the white craft glue from the Dollarama. It has a little stick that goes into the hole which prevents it from clogging up! Genius I tell you! Crayola also has a similar version but harder to find and more expensive!

3. Peppermint Playdough! I like this recipe because it makes a small batch, requires no cooking and no cream of tartar. Who the heck has cream of tartar on hand? That stuff is expensive yoz and impossible to find too!
1 cup flour + 1/2 cup of salt + 1 cup boiling water + 3tbs oil and food coloring/additives of your choice. We used green food color and peppermint extract!

4. Yulli has also been obsessed with Christmas trees like her mama! So we made one that she could decorate any which way her heart desired! We painted a giant piece of cardboard that I hoarded and then I let her go to town with stickers and post-its and whatever she wanted! We also attached all the random crafts that she has created at all the Christmas parties she has attended this year.

 

5. Remember those tissue paper fold out bells that people used as wedding décor back in the day? We found a Christmas tree like that at the dollarstore and it was too tacky and too awesome that I had to have it! We've been slowly decorating it with small stickers and foam dots!

 

6. Chistmas book advent countdown. I have a giant collection of children's books and tonnes of Christmas books. I picked 25 of them off the shelf and wrapped them up. Haha she has no idea, but might be smarter and on to me next year! Anyways, each day she puts a sticker on a calendar I printed off the internet and gets to unwrap a book, then we read it together! Pretty easy and nothing fancy but the monster loves it!

 What Christmassy activities are you doing with your monsters this year?




Boo on Me!

YES!!! The answer is totally and completely YES! Yes, I have totally and completely abandoned this blog! Boo on me is right! The truth is I feel like I have nothing interesting to write about and zero time to write about nothing! The freaking monster keeps me sooooo busy that I barely have time to play CandyCrush! Lol! But many of you have been bugging and borderline harassing me to continue blogging... and I do love me some peer pressure.... so here you go! I will attempt to blog here and there about our regular antics and shenanigans for your entertainment pleasure!

These 2 monsters do miss the attention and spotlight!!

Crayola Color Wonder Finger Paints

Crayola Color Wonder products... Hate or Love?
YES these are the super cool things that moms talk about!! Haha! Some moms love them and some not so much! I don't care so much for the markers but I am in love with the Crayola Color Wonder Finger Paint!! Yules was lucky to get them from a friend and I love them!

What happens when you give a kid a bunch of different paint colors to explore with? You usually end up with a mess and different shades of brown!! That's probably the main reason I love these paints so much. I can give Yules a brush (she's not too into using her fingers) and she is able to use it in all the colors and they don't get too mucked up! You also only need a little bit. I actually just put a little bit of paint on each lid and give that to her. 
A couple things that I don't like is that it takes about a second for the color to appear on the paper. And one second may not seem long, but it is totally long enough for a toddler not to make that connection or to get uninterested! Also the paints are all clear, so again difficult for them to make those color connections! Oh and you also need to buy the special paper. But I think the vibrant colors and minimal mess still make this product a winner in my eyes! Great beginner paint for the little ones!

Happy Father's Day!

YAY for Papas!! Happy Father's day to all the Papas out there!

In keeping with tradition... Husband gets to have uninterrupted, quality, bonding-time with the children ALL day long for Father's Day!! What more can a Dad ask for? Haha I wish! I also tried to take pics of Kalbs and Yules for their Papa. Kalbs sat nice and obediently (after making me chase him all over the house of course) and he got a treat and I got a nice pic!

The other monster however kept making faces and smudging the chalkboard! It took many many attempts to get a decent pic of her! AIYAH human children can be so difficult!! Haha

 

 

Ride-On!

I know I often talk about fine motor skills and all the things we do to work those tiny muscles... but I also care about gross motor activities just as much! It's just not as exciting to write about walking or running or going up and down stairs or throwing a ball. But today I thought I would share with you a new ride-on toy I bought for Yulli to focus on gross motor.
We've had quite a "ride" with ride-ons and it's been really hard to find the right one for her! We've been very fortunate to have great friends and family who have bought us or lent us all sorts of toys. Some ride-ons were too small, too big, difficult to move, too tall, too colorful, ran over her toes, too heavy etc. etc. It's seriously like a case of Goldilocks and the ride-on toys!! Haha!

Then one day I came across the Whirlee! BEST toy ever!! Okay maybe not best toy ever but it's a pretty darn good ride-on toy. This thing is perfectly simple in design... no bells and whistles! It's really small and super light. It is nice and low, so the monster can easily get on and off herself. It's also stackable in case you have more than one. All the wheels rotate 360 degrees, so it makes it uber simple for the little monsters to maneuver and whirl around!! And the best part is that it's not that expensive... about 20 bucks I think! We've had it for about a month and Yules still goes on it every day, so it has lasted the test of time!! Haha! My only complaint is that it doesn't come in the color gray! Haha! So if you are considering a ride-on toy for a 1-2year old, I would definitely recommend the Whirlee!

Real Water Beads

Out of sheer luck and too much time spent on FB, I was able to snag myself a whole stash of water beads! Haha perfect timing since I was just talking about it!

Yules and I had a great time watching them grow today! Simply dump them in water and watch them plump up. I think it takes a few hours for them to fully grow... Yules and I didn't stick around long enough to watch the entire process! Haha! By the time we came back a few hours later they were full grown!

Like I said before, these things last forever!! Once you're done playing with them, give them a quick rinse in a strainer to get rid of some of the gross kiddie germs! You can store them in a big ziplock or Tupperware container. If they dry out, just simply add water to rehydrate them.

They come in a tiny little pouch the size of a tea bag!

 

This is what they looked like right after we dumped them in the water:



After 30mins:

 

 
Full Grown (about a couple hours):

So crazy how they grew from that teeny tiny bag! And so much fun for the monster to watch them grow and of course play with afterwards!

What does the duck say?? Apparently "NO"!

New favourite look: DUCK face
New favourite word: NO
This new combo drives me NUTS... but gets her whatever she wants from Husband!!