Elf escapades!

Our Elf on the Shelf has been getting into some interesting shenanigans this week so I wanted to share in case others were looking for ideas on what to do with the little stinker. Our elf has been really fun to pose and set up each night so that Owen can find him in the morning and he is starting to really get into finding the elf in the morning and seeing what he is up to. I'm just happy that I have so far remembered to move him every night. Alas, our elf still does not have a name because Owen can only come up with nonsense words or potty humor (I have refused to let him name the elf Poot or Potty). He also turns down anything I come up with. 
      Here are photos from our first full week of Elf on the Shelf:

Day 1: Our elf arrived with a brand new Christmas shirt and a countdown letting us know there were 24 days until Christmas.   

Day 2: Our elf brought Owen a Frozen coloring book and some crayons. The elf was coloring one of the pages and as Owen said, "My elf doesn't color very well." 

Day 3: Our elf was a bit mischievous on Wednesday. He drew mustaches and other silliness on our family photo wall. Papa Elf may have gotten into this and helped.  

 Our elf turned baby Graham into Harry Potter. 

 And Owen was turned into a fisherman. 

 Our elf doesn't have the best balance, so he had to be taped to the wall. He actually fell down during the night and scared the daylights out of me.

Here, one-year-old Owen is turned into Batman and is one of our favorite presents ever. 

Day 4: Elf added two books to our extensive Christmas book collection: Little Blue Truck Christmas and Llama Llama Holiday Drama. 

Day 5: Our elf brought Owen a pile of coins to put in his piggy bank. According to the note he left, the elf has been collecting change he sees on the sidewalks every night when he flies back to the North Pole. Owen got a particularly big kick out of the note and asked me to read it to him a dozen times that day. The notes were downloaded from Who-Arted.com. 

Day 6: Our elf made a mess in the kitchen, making snow angels in a pile of flour. He also brought us a box of pancake mix so we could have a nice pancake breakfast together as a family on Saturday morning. 

 Day 7: Our elf was found perched in our Christmas tree after having decorated it while we were sleeping. 

Day 8: Elf made Owen some snowmen out of donuts for breakfast. This was a particularly fun elf treat to create (once again, Papa Elf got into this one) and Owen of course, was obsessed with the note from the elf and made me read it to him a million times. He honestly was so excited about it that he just sat at the kitchen table and talked about the snowmen and the note for almost an hour without even eating them. 

 We set everything up at his place at the table so it was ready when he got up in the morning. Tim added a Reese's wrapper hat and a tiny scarf to the snowmen. 

The bodies are made of two small powdered donuts and the heads are donut holes. The arms are pretzel sticks, the nose is a piece of carrot, and the eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons are black sprinkles. 

This is the face of one happy kid. He's the cutest. Christmas is so much fun now that he's old enough to get into the spirit. 

Menu Planning Monday

This is really late, but I figured better late than never for those that like seeing our menu for each week and checking out some new recipes. 

Monday: P90x Island pork tenderloin, sauteed brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries. This is a really yummy pork recipe and it's super easy. I shredded the brussels sprouts and sauteed them in olive oil with minced garlic and we also had sweet potato fries from Trader Joe's. 
Tuesday: Cheeseburger salad. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe that we all really like. It's super quick and easy, which is important on weeknights when Tim doesn't come home until after six and the kids start going nuts. 

Wednesday: We will be having taco night at our friends' house. 
Thursday: Chicken enchilada soup. Surprise surprise, a Skinny Taste recipe. This is one of our favorites though and it's a crock pot recipe so I can make it in the morning and then not have to worry about dinner in the evening. 

Friday: Pasta with butternut squash, spicy sausage, and spinach. Have you ever seen a recipe and thought, "That looks weird and interesting and unlike anything I would ever make?" and then decided to try it anyway? Well, that's how I came across this recipe. It's actually really good in a weird way and pretty healthy for a pasta dish. Give it a shot. 

Saturday: Chicken parmesan with roasted vegetables. This is from the Skinny Taste cookbook and is so simple that it's ridiculous that it tastes as good as it does. It's one of my favorite recipes from the entire cookbook. 

Menu Planning Monday

We are back from Thanksgiving vacation with family and are ready to get back into our normal routine and eat a little more healthfully (don't mind the pasta this week...) We are trying one new recipe and the rest are old favorites. I will include links and pictures when I can. 

Monday: Fig Balsamic Roasted Pork Tenderloin with mashed potatoes and sauteed brussels sprouts. This is a new Skinny Taste recipe from her blog and one that I'm really excited about as a simple, yet filling and flavorful weeknight meal. While I was in town visiting my parents, I stopped by Trader Joe's so I could get the fig butter used in this recipe. 

Tuesday: Rustic Italian Gnocchi Soup. This is a recipe from the Skinny Taste cookbook. We made it a couple weeks ago and really liked it so we are taking it to a friend's house on Tuesday for small group.

Wednesday: Creamy Basil Chicken Pasta. Basically, I am making this recipe, except I use jarred pesto to save time and I add chicken for protein. We'll have it with Skinny Taste's house salad. 

Thursday: Taco meatloaf with turmeric-roasted cauliflower and black beans. This is a Paula Deen recipe that I have made since Tim and I first got married and it is one of his favorite meals. The cauliflower recipe is from the Skinny Taste cookbook. It's really yummy. 

Friday: Aztec chicken soup. Another Skinny Taste recipe from the cookbook. 

Saturday: Chicken broccoli casserole. This is a really good Skinny Taste recipe from the blog. I make mine with mozzarella instead of cheddar cheese and really like it that way. 

     I haven't made plans for Sunday yet. We tend to go grocery shopping after church on Sundays so we might wait and do it this weekend so we have fresher ingredients for dinner that night. What do you think about the menu this week? What are you eating?

New Christmas traditions

I cannot believe that Christmas is next month. We are just days away. I am not one of those people who wants to just skip Thanksgiving and I do get annoyed at Christmas stuff in the stores in September, but the holiday takes a lot of planning to give my kids the Christmas I want them to have as children and I don't want it to sneak up on us so I began planning in early November.
     This year is going to be special now that Graham is a little older and also because Owen is old enough to understand more and do more. Christmas is always a little crazy for us because we always travel and never have Christmas at home so I like to have lots of Christmas traditions that we do throughout the month of December just as our family of four.
     I am adding two traditions to some of our normal ones this year. I think we may still do the Christmas book advent because I really enjoyed that the past two years. I may swap out some of the books for a couple new ones, if so. If not, I will just have the books out and available for reading throughout the month. 

     The new traditions for this year are Elf on the Shelf and a Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Advent.
     I never thought I would do Elf on the Shelf. I'm not big on trying to con my children into behaving during Christmastime, but I have seen all the cute things people have done with their elves throughout the season and I think it will be fun to surprise the kids every morning with their elf's antics. Owen in particular should get a kick out of it now that he is older. I plan to print out a calender of the month and write down my ideas for what the elf will be doing each day to make it easier on me.

      Our second new tradition will be a Random Act of Kindness Advent. I found this idea at Emily Ley's blog and bought the set of 25 printable cards with RAK challenges on them, plus 25 "You've Been RAKed" cards. All proceeds from the sales of the RAK Advent go toward the Cystinosis Research Foundation. Last year, Emily raised $10,000 for the foundation. I am so excited about letting Owen help me to bless others with thoughtful surprises. I think we're going to have a blast. He may not understand it completely, but if it helps me get into the spirit and he learns by modeling my behavior, I can't ask for more. You can purchase your own set HERE.

     What are some of your family traditions during the holidays? 

That time Owen painted his brother...

Life with two boys is certainly an adventure. And yesterday was probably the biggest, most hilarious (afterwards) craziness they have ever gotten into.            It began when I walked into Owen's room to find he had dumped out all four of his red storage bins from his bookcase. I told him to please put the toys back in them and not to come out of his room until he was finished. I then went into the kitchen to do the dishes and fold some laundry as I was trying to get out house picked up and clothes clean so we could get ready for traveling for Thanksgiving. 

I heard lots of noise coming from Owen's room, but thought nothing of it because cleaning up for Owen means a lot of throwing stuff where it belongs. It wasn't until Graham came toddling out of the bedroom looking like Mel Gibson in Braveheart that I knew something much more sinister was going on. 

Owen had somehow broken the doorknob protector off the door to his closet where I store things I don't want him getting into (for good reason, obviously) and had gotten into all his art supplies, taking every cap off every marker he owns, opening paints and painting his brother's face and his own, dumping out crayons and beads and puffy paint and glue and the entire inside of the closet was a mess. 

I dumped both boys in the bath and was able to clean up relatively quickly (somehow they managed to keep the majority of the paint on themselves and not the walls and furniture, thankfully) and all was well, but it was definitely an early bedtime and mommy needs to relax type of night last night. 

So the moral of the story is this: check on your sons every 2.5 minutes (if not more often) or they could be painting one another. 

Menu Planning Monday

Last week was a super tasty week. I think one of my favorite meals was the Rustic Italian Gnocchi Soup from the Skinny Taste cookbook, which was the only new recipe I tried. It's not listed the website, so you'd have to buy the cookbook to get the recipe. Or pay me to share it with you. Whichever.
     Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday: Lomo saltado. This Skinny Taste recipe is a Peruvian beef stir fry. It's unlike any other recipe I've made, but really tasty. It includes a weird variety of ingredients - potato, yellow bell pepper, jalapeno, tomato, and red onion - that all magically come together into something delicious. And the recipe is on her blog if you're interested.

Tuesday: Take out. 

Wednesday: We have church small group tonight. We're supposed to bring homemade pizza. I will be making mine using Pioneer Woman's pizza crust recipe, but I haven't decided on toppings yet. We do have a container of Trader's Joe's refrigerated pizza sauce, which is amazing, so we'll probably use that. The crust recipe is super simple and easy though. It can make several at once and you can freeze crusts to use later as well.

Thursday: Trader Joe's pesto chicken sausage with roasted vegetables and house salad. The chicken sausage is something yummy we picked up this past weekend when we went to Trader Joe's. The side dishes are both from the new Skinny Taste cookbook. The roasted vegetables recipe is my favorite way to cook vegetables right now. 

Friday: Italian meatball soup. Yes, we are having this again because we still have meatballs in the freezer and because Owen requested it. And it is hard enough getting him to eat lately so whatever he wants that also happens to be relatively healthy, he gets! 

Saturday: Leftovers of the soup with crusty French bread. Yum!

Sunday: Slow cooker Moroccan Chickpea and Turkey Stew. This is a new recipe for us this week from Skinny Taste (the blog, not the cookbook.) It's unlike pretty much anything I make and I have only cooked with chickpeas a few times, but Gina from Skinny Taste has never really steered me wrong, so I decided to give it a shot. Either way, it should be an easy meal I can throw in the crock pot before church in the morning and we can have dinner ready and the kitchen cleaned up for the most part in no time on Sunday night. 

Well that's it for this week! Anything look good to you? What are you making this week! Comment below and include links if the recipe is online! 

Cinnamon Vanilla Sugar Scrub

One of my newest oils is cinnamon bark, so I decided to make a little something with it: cinnamon vanilla sugar scrub. It contains simple ingredients that I had around the house and smells amazing! I used it in the shower last night and really loved it. I felt so soft and moisturized afterwards.

Most of the ingredients are ones you probably already have around your house. And it's super simple to whip up. It took me less than five minutes. 

Cinnamon bark is an awesome essential oil. It has anti-inflammatory properties and is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and a circulatory stimulant. 

The recipe calls for: 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 3 drops of cinnamon bark essential oil. I combined the sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon bark oil first and then added coconut oil until it reached the consistency I wanted. I recommend using liquid fractionated coconut oil because normal coconut oil will harden again even if you melt it. You know that summer is officially over when your coconut oil goes back to a solid state all the time. 

     The best thing about it is that you know all the ingredients inside. No preservatives or synthetic ingredients. You could even eat it if you wanted. I'm not going to lie... I tasted it. And it was yummy. 

This scrub has a delicious warm wintery scent and would make a great homemade Christmas gift. Put it in a pretty jar and tie a ribbon around it and you're good to go! 

Fall fun!

This past Sunday, Tim finally had a day off work. Of course, he needed to spend part of it doing some things around the house and in the yard, but we managed to have some fun in the midst of doing chores. He took the boys outside with him while blowing and raking leaves and they had a great time. 

Graham is my wild child. Knee deep and sometimes face first into the leaves. 

 Daddy using the leaf blower on Graham's Buddha belly was pretty hilarious too. 

 Owen is more likely to stay back a safe distance and form an escape route. 

Run! Daddy is coming with the leaf blower!

I'm not afraid. I will crawl right through these leaves. 

Even Lightning McQueen joined in on the fun. 

Menu Planning Monday

The weather has been getting cooler (and then warmer and then cooler and then warmer...thanks, Kentucky weirdo fall), but mainly cooler so I am loving making more soups and warm comfort food. 
    I have been cooking through a lot of the recipes from my new Skinny Taste cookbook. Most of those recipes are not online so I won't be able to link to them. I highly recommend the cookbook though. Everything we have tried from it so far has been delicious. You can go to the Skinny Taste blog to learn more about it and find out where to buy. 

Monday: Tonight we are eating leftovers of Pioneer Woman's Italian Meatball soup, which I made last night. I can easily feed us two times so it's a great meal to have twice in a row. It's also awesome because it has lots of vegetables in it and both boys will eat it happily. Once again, I bought pre-made meatballs at the grocery store to make preparing this a bit quicker. I served it with crunchy French bread to soak up the broth. Yum!

Tuesday: Pasta with pesto cream sauce. I made this recipe for the first time recently and really liked it. I used store-bought pesto to make things easier and also added in chicken for some protein. It was a super easy and quick dinner. I used bowtie-shaped pasta instead of whatever curly noodles are pictured. Owen called them "butterflies" and scarfed it up. And whatever Owen meal will eat quickly is a win in my book. With a simple side salad (which Owen calls "leaves" and also eats really well, surprisingly), you've got a complete meal. 

Wednesday: Aztec chicken, quinoa, and avocado soup. This soup is from the Skinny Taste cookbook. The recipe is not on her website, so I can't link you to it. There is a similar recipe though called Chicken and Avocado soup if you want to try it. It's a little bit different though and doesn't look as yummy. This soup is also surprisingly one that both my boys like to eat. I think it is warm and delicious and I am obsessed with avocado. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would love avocado this much, I would have thought you were crazy. I guess that's what happens when you become an adult. Anyway, the moral of the story is get the cookbook and make this soup. Here is a photo of the "not as good" soup.

Thursday: French bread pizza supreme. This is another Skinny Taste cookbook recipe, so no link or photos. Sorry folks. This recipe looks super easy and yummy which is imperative for the end of the week when I am just about worn out from the boys and Tim still has another day (or two, sometimes) of work. I already have some homemade marinara sauce in the freezer so I just need to thaw that out and we'll top the bread with whatever ingredients look good and have a salad for a side. 

Friday: Chicken pot pie. I have been in the mood for a nice warm chicken pot pie so that's what we'll be having to kick off the weekend. Pioneer Woman makes my favorite version. It's also great with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. And we will most likely have leftovers for lunches over the weekend. 

Saturday: Chicken rollatini with roasted vegetables and Skinny Taste house salad. This is one of the few recipes from the Skinny Taste cookbook that is on the blog as well. I really love that there is a reason to buy the cookbook because the recipes aren't on the blog. I have a Pioneer Woman cookbook and found it strange that pretty much every recipe is on the blog. Why waste the money buying the book, then? Anyhow, this recipe is really good. I will use any leftover marinara sauce we have on top and serve it with two great side dishes from the Skinny Taste cookbook (not on the blog, fyi). 

Sunday: Rustic Italian gnocchi soup. This is another recipe from the Skinny Taste cookbook (surprise!). It is not on the blog so I can't link you to the recipe. The soup includes chicken sausage, onion, celery, carrots, roasted red peppers, spinach, and basil. This will be our first time trying this recipe and I can't wait! It sounds so stinking good. 

Anyway, that's it for this week! I am searching for some new crock pot meals to make life easier, especially with Tim working so late every night. So hopefully I will have some of those next time. What are you eating this week?