Monster In A Bag

Craft for Toddler Busy Bag Swap

One of the Mom's in our play group (Helen!) had a great idea for a toddler busy bag swap.

The idea was to get a few moms to make a kids craft project to swap with other moms.

The craft are all handmade, reusable and portable.

I chose to make the Monster In A Bag.

This was a little time consuming, but turns out it's a hit with MJ!

Here are a few of the supplies I picked up at Michael's:

A few different colors of felt

Pipe cleaners

Non stick back eyes (so they can reuse)

small pom-poms

The first thing I did was cut out the body of the
Monster using brown felt. I next cut out some teeth
and used the non-stick eyes.

Pipe cleaner works great for the arms and legs

Then you just start cutting our various shapes to
use on the face. Any color you wish and any shape
that suits you. A little shredded paper to make some hair and put extra eyes is fun too! There is no set method and very inexpensive.

I had some felt stars from another project and that worked

out great for a Star Monster.

Then the Big Guy decided he wanted to get into the act!

I did not know he was so crafty!

    This was the Big Guy's Star Monster

complete with a Coors bottle cap hat!

Lots of fun, inexpensive and very easy to do.

I spent a total of $8.50 for the supplies. I made only 12, but had enough to make a least 20.

Not a bad for a couple of hours work!



HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012 Is Finally Here!

May your new year bring you excitement, prosperity, health, happiness and most importantly;

may you become the same weight as listed on your drivers license!

So many new adventures awaiting us all in this new year.

I am very grateful to have gotten to know so many new and wonderful people in this past year.

I cannot wait to see what the new year brings us.

We there are a couple of family trips we are looking forward to with great anticipation such as:

Taking MJ to Disneyland~Big Guy has never been there either:(

Yosemite~Been a million years since I have been there.

CAMPING~Seriously, I'm going camping, AGAIN!

I have said goodbye to 2011, it was very good to us and can't wait to see what 2012 has instore!

Christmas Morning!

Merry Christmas from the Nickel's!

What a beautiful morning!

The big day has finally arrived. Last night we took another trip to see the Lights of Tanea. If you are from this area and did not make it there, you really missed something very cool. We kept telling MJ last night that he needs to be asleep or Santa won't stop by.  Fortunately for him, he managed to get to bed at a reasonable time.

Here is what went one this Christmas morning:

OUR TREE

  

Here's the before shot of our tree. Obviously, MJ is not up yet

Mark and I agreed to get MJ only 2 presents each.

Didn't quite work out that way, but we had fun.

The upside of being and only child.

 Here are a couple of the ornaments MJ and I made at our craft play dates. Thank you Helen and Melanie for great craft ideas!

FAMILY

A Few family shots before MJ tears into his presents

Very happy my big sis came to visit. She is the closest person I have to my Mom. We talked quite a bit about her these past few days. Our first Christmas w/o her and it's been difficult so having my sis here was to ease the pain of it all. Even the loss is painful, I am still very fortunate, because I don't have to go through it alone.



 A FAMILY OF MY OWN!

The Nickel's

MJ opening his presents. I love how excited children get unwrapping a present.

"It's Home Depot!"

A tractor from Grandpa!



A fishing pole from Tia!

It's an audio book. Another gift from his favorite Tia!

MJ singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with Tia

"I love you Tia Jitos"

PAPA'S TURN!

I think he loved his new combo kit!

And so does MJ

Why do I need bullets this size. I don't have a rifle of this caliber!

Well, not yet......

Yep, this was a winner.

He does so much to provide for his family and ask for nothing in return.

He deserves this and more.

 

More excited than MJ was to with his new Christmas present!

FOR THE MAMA OF THE HOUSE!

Who, for me?!?

A new Coach bag, how did Santa know?

Why is there a Ray ban case in my hand bag? Oh, cause there's a

new pair of Ray bans in my bag too!

Mama's stylin new pair of shades.

ps. The Big Guy just got me the china hutch behind me for Christmas too!

SCORE!

Say Cheese!

Got a new Cars tent and camera

Ok taking a quick break from making dinner to enjoy a glass of wine.  I think a glass of wine should be part of any dinner recipe.

Cakebread Cellars~Cab 2006.

Most definately one of my top 5 wines!

That's a great layered salad in the backgroud.

Went simple for this years Christmas dinner

Ham, potatoes au gratin, cranberry sauce, layered salad,

rolls and of course wine!

MJ pooped out before dinner. Long day for our little man

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Have a great Christmas Season

filled with laughter and wonderful memories.

And your New Year be filled with many

more special moments!

Dead Battery!

Apparently MJ runs on batteries.

I did not no this until today. Now this makes perfect sense. He runs around for hours then takes a brief nap (To recharge his battery) and runs around for hours on end all over again.

Today were playing outside and MJ being the cute little bugger he is asked me to pull his finger. I also did not realize his Dad must have been teaching him some new tricks. You know the pull the finger routine, don't you? Well I wanted to see where he was going with this, so I proceeded to pull his finger. Nothing. He said,  "Pull my finger" again. So I pulled his finger again. Then again, nothing. I can tell he was trying very hard to make this trick work. He was squinting his face and gave a little grunt, still nothing. He asked me a 3rd time to pull his finger and again, nothing.

He thought about the outcome for a moment then said, "Batteries dead!" and walked away.

It Was a Santa Kinda Day

Story time, Cookies, Coco and Crafts with Santa.

I am really loving that MJ is getting the whole Christmas thing. We are still working on what it means, but for now I'm okay with that. He is really picking up vibe of the season. At story time the reader asked what time of the year it was and MJ jumped up and yelled, "Christmas, It's Christmas!" He knows who Santa is. He's still a little gun shy about walking up to him and sitting on his lap, but that will change.

So this morning started off with a visit from Santa at our local library. I love the Wee Read Story time at the library. There is always singing, dancing and of course story time. MJ LOVES IT!

                                                       MJ sitting with his bud Cole.

                                                 I don't know why they were pluggin their ears.

I love watching MJ dance. He really gets into it

   This is Jordan, Cole little sis.

This is Molly and her Mama Candice.

MJ waiting patiently for the music to start

After story time in the morning we made our way to have some Cookies and Coco with the Big Guy

MJ wanted to show Santa the stocking he just made.

This Santa was perfect. He know how to make the

kids feel comfortable enough to approach him.

Santa said to MJ, My you have grown so much since last year.

To which MJ replied, I'm a BIG boy!

MJ giving Santa a hug.

 MJ writing his letter to Santa and

 making his stocking.

Of course, his bud Mitchel was there too.

Stinking cutie!

Here they are waiting to show Santa what they just made.

 COOKIES!

Face painting time.

Showing off their matching Snowmen!

Ya think meeting Santa was the best part? Nope, having cookies? No, Making a craft? Nope, it was.....

FAIRY WANDS!!!!

Yep, Fairy Wands!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!