Handmade Christmas: Yo Gabba Gabba Ornaments

I forgot to post yesterday for handmade Christmas....I haven't been focusing so much on posting things or being online much these past couple of weeks. But today I remembered...

Every year since Mike and I have been together we pick out a special ornament for that year.

2007- First Christmas Together
2008- Expecting baby ornament
2009- Baby's 1st Christmas
2010-1st Saint Nicholas Day ornaments
2011-Smores ornament for 1st time camping, and ballet slipper for Lizzy's 1st dance class



This year I wanted to have Lizzy pick out her first ornament but there's not a whole lot out there for her to choose from and I know she loved Yo Gabba Gabba so to go along with our Handmade Christmas I made some Yo Gabba Gabba ornaments. I can't take credit for these because I remember seeing something similar on Esty.com last year. Anyway I made these out of felt and hot glue. Lizzy has already gotten them when we decorated last week. She was thrilled to see all her favorite characters and add them to her little Christmas tree.

First Sunday of Advent

“The first light of Advent, it is the light of stone.
Stones we find in seashells, crystals, and even our bones.”
~ Rudolf Steiner (adapted)






"We celebrate advent as a four week festival - the four weeks leading up to Christmas. And during this time, we deepen our relationship to the world around us by recognizing and celebrating the strength and beauty of all four of the kingdoms of the natural world. during this first week, we pay tribute to the mineral world. during the second week, we focus on the plant kingdom. in the third week, we celebrate the kingdom of animals. and the fourth week speaks to the human being. and as we pass through these weeks, this time moves us toward a deeper understanding of our place in the universe, of all that supports us, and all that we aspire to. as well as all that needs our care and protection."- Waldorf mama




This first week of advent, we celebrate the mineral world - the physical foundation for life. for without the mineral world, we would have no ground to stand on.Earlier in the day we collected some rocks and Lizzy and I painted them. One is a candy cane, the other has a snowflake on it, and the last one is red and green. Later we had dinner and lit our first candle for advent. Because we are celebrating the mineral world I decided to light our salt crystal candle and we placed our rocks around the candle. Happy 1st week of advent!

Decorating for Christmas

Lizzy woke up the day after Thanksgiving to find her "elf on the shelf", book, and a small gift waiting for her. Lizzy names her elf the happy elf.

In the small gift box were some new ornaments. A ballet slipper ornament (for her first dance class this year), a snowman smores ornament (we play to go camping for the first time next week), and some handmade by mama yo gabba gabba ornaments (tutorial to come).

Lizzy helped decorate for Christmas. We even decorated her playstand!

Lizzy Visits Santa

We took Lizzy to visit Santa! Lizzy had been preparing for this moment for a while and rehearsing what she would say to Santa. Lizzy had been saying she would ask Santa for a pig and a football this year. When she got to Santa she took a picture with him and when he asked her what she wanted this year she said a candy cane. Ha! How easy is that. I hope she's that easy every year. I was very impressed by Lizzy this year. She was not scared at all and loved meeting Santa. We waited in line for about an hour....she was eager to meet Santa and bolted through the line a few times. She could see Santa sitting there but didn't understand why we had to wait. When we got to Santa Lizzy was thrilled. Let this Christmas Season Begin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lizzy helped me make jalapeno corn casserole and pumpkin cheese cake for Thanksgiving. Lizzy enjoys helping me very much. Later we had Thanksgiving dinner with Tita, Tito, and Tio, mommy, daddy, and Bella. Lizzy had a full plate what she ate from that plate was corn, a bite of turkey, fruit salad, and two rolls...she was not fond of the stuffing which is crazy! Lizzy got to play and have fun with family, and later we visited Tio's new apartment. We are Thankful for family. Wishing you all a Thanksgiving full of love!

Homemade Christmas: Christmas Cookies Playdoh Set

Another ridiculously easy Christmas gift idea. Some play doh, and a set of different kinds of cookie cutters and cookie stamps. Box it up and the toddler in your life will love it!

DePelchin Children's Center Holiday Project

The holidays are fast approaching! We invite you to make a dream come true for a child this year by participating in the annual DePelchin Children's Center Holiday Project.

This annual effort provides gifts and basic needs to the children and families utilizing DePelchin Children's Center services. During this time, local businesses, organizations and individuals sponsor children by fulfilling wish lists or volunteering to sort and pack gifts. Last year, we were able to brighten the holidays for approximately 1,300 children.

Please consider adopting a child's wishlist this year. Click on this link to view wishlists available to adopt. DePelchin's Holiday Project

Apple Muffins

Lizzy helped make apple muffins. She loves to mix all the ingredients together, and she helped sprinkle oatmeal on the tops of the muffins before they went into the oven. This girl loves to help in the kitchen!(We didn't forget Lizzy's pants, she's still learning to use the potty)

Package from Indiana

Lizzy got a Thanksgiving package from her grandparents in Indiana. Here she is opening her gifts. Thank you!

Semi Homemade Elf on the Shelf

For those not familiar with the tale the Elf on The Shelf- he is sent by Santa (with a story book) to watch over little girls and boys during the days leading up to Christmas. Each night he flies home to the north pole to report back on how good (or bad) their child has been. In the morning, the Elf hides himself in various places around the home for the children to find him in the morning.



There is a widely popular Elf on the Shelf that comes with a book you see at most stores. I didn't like this set mostly because the elf looked creepy and not very good quality. So I started thinking if I could make my own Elf on the Shelf for Lizzy. I created a personalized Elf on the Shelf story book for Lizzy on Shutterfly's custom path. Then, I was going to make an elf when I found this cute Waldorf baby doll. It's a baby doll but it looks like an elf as well. I liked that it was open ended and Lizzy could use her imagination. Not to mention much better quality made of all natural materials. I also thought if you wanted to make our own elf on the shelf you could simply write a letter to the child from Santa on some stationary and save yourself the time of making a book. Many possibilities and it's personal, unique, and made with love. Can't wait to give this to Lizzy the day after Thanksgiving.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Bike Riding

Lizzy almost has riding a tricycle down! She can reach the pedals and pedal forward....although she likes to pedal backwards because the bike makes a clicking sound if you pedal backwards. Soon we can take the adult handle bars off. Mike and I both got bikes and added child carriers to them. Can't wait to ride as a family sometime soon.

Handmade Christmas: Yo Gabba Gabba Magnets

Lizzy still loves Yo Gabba Gabba. I never really see any Yo Gabba Gabba toys in stores which I guess is a good thing because Lizzy would want to own every Yo Gabba Gabba toy out there if she saw them. Nick Jr has free printables for almost every show played on their station at this site Free Printables.

One of the gifts I made Lizzy are Yo Gabba Gabba magnets. I printed some puzzles and Yo Gabba Gabba characters onto card stock paper and stuck them onto adhesive magnetic sheets and cut them out. Lizzy can use these magnets on the fridge or her magnetic art easel. I made 2 puzzles, the Yo Gabba Gabba characters and a matching game. The magnets also stick to the Christmas tin I put them in.

Armand Bayou Nature Center

Cruiser Bike

Early Christmas Gift from Mike

Happy Martinmas!

Warm apple cider, almond windmill cookies, and a felt lantern with Lizzy.

Holiday Gifts : A Handmade Christmas

This year I am making an effort to make the majority of Christmas gifts we give. I will be posting tutorial on gifts I've made Sundays each week up until Christmas. Most of what I will post are gifts for Lizzy otherwise most people in my life would know what they are getting and that would be no fun.

With so much commercial and material overload out there right now I am trying to really examine what I want, why I want it and do I need it first. Secondly, in a world where 80 % of toys are made in China under unfair and unsafe conditions I am making an effort to buy any gifts that I buy this year made in the USA and if possible by individuals selling their work on etsy.com or by word of mouth.

The point is to use your imagination instead of buying all the mass produced and marketed stuff at the mall which every store is going to make us believe we need to make our Christmas perfect.

Please join me in taking a stance against the mass consumerism of Christmas. Take a pledge to give gifts that are unique, meaningful and full of love.

Shell Matching Game for Lizzy. The easiest gift I have made so far. I just used some shells I already had. With a sharpie marker I added symbols to the inside of the shells in pairs. Turn them over and you have a matching game to play.

Apple Pie

Lizzy got a November gift to play with this month in preparation for Thanksgiving. It's an apple pie set. Lizzy had lots of fun playing with it so far. She likes to cut the pieces of pie with her knife, put the pie together, and put it in the oven to bake. Lots of fun and it's wooden! We will be starting our Give Thanks advent calendar soon for this month.

We're Back! Leaf Rubbings

We took a little break after Halloween to recuperate from all the Halloween celebrations. Now onto the month of Thanks! Lizzy making leaf rubbings using leaves we picked up on our fall walk.