Christmas Advent Calendar

I have been wanting a cute advent calendar for a few years. We had the cheap felt one from Walmart for a few years, but it wasn't nearly as cute as it could have been....so I decided to make my own. I did a little research online, and I got a ton of inspiration from other blogs and from Etsy! I took a few of the ideas that I found and mixed them all up and came up with my own advent calendar.

I hit up Hobby Lobby for

a canvas

wedding favor tins

scrapbook paper

and

a painted star

I already had some stuff at home

fabric

rick rack

mod podge

and

hot glue

I started by cutting out a lot of circle...48 to be exact. 24 without numbers for the inside of the tins.

24 with numbers for the outside of the tins.
I applied a thin layer of mod podge to the inside of the tin and to the inside of the lid. Then I place the unnumbered circles inside the tins and mod podged them in place.
I put the numbered circles in the lids {with the paper and number showing through the plastic} and then mod podged them into place. I cut out a Chrismas tree from leftover fabric and used spray adhesive to attach it to the canvas. I finished off the edges by hot glueing on some white rick rack.

After everything was dry, I put the lids on the tins and hot glued them to the fabric Christmas tree.

Starting on December 1st the boys will get to remove the lid to one tin a day and get a special treat that is inside. I also placed small pieces of paper with special Christmas activites {bake cookies, sing Christmas songs, wrap presents, watch a Christmas cartoon, read the Christmas story} for us to do in some of the tins.

I also made the boys some SUPER cute shirts to wear this Christmas! I used all left over fabrics for their shirts this year...so the only thing I bought was the actual shirt that was $3.50 at Walmart!

It's Magic!

Magic Cookie Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

HEAT oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

COMBINE graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.

BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.

For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individual bars.


I think the MAGIC is how fast these bars will disappear once you make them! This was my first time making these, and they were so easy and SUPER tasty! I will be making these for a few holiday parties over the next few months for sure!

Mail Time

It is so strange to me how something as mundane as the mail can evoke such varied emotions. Depending on what is in your mailbox at the end of the day, you could be SUPER excited or maybe even a little depressed.

Junk mail is just annoying.

Bills are something you never want to see in the mailbox....unless it is a statement saying all your bills have been paid off!

Free stuff, coupons, and catalogs are almost always fun to get.

And packages are SUPER exciting!

In the past week, I have gotten some mail that has made me just a little sad.
This may sound strange, but receiving two American Girl catalogs in my mailbox in one week is just a little too much of a reminder that I don't have a little girl to buy one of those SUPER cute dolls for! I mean, really, how mean is it to send one of these {oh so cute} catalogs to house full of boys who only want to play with trucks and balls!
I remember these dolls from when I was little. They always seemed so fun and interesting, plus they all come with books. Not only are you getting a SUPER cute doll, but you are going to be smarter for reading about your doll and her special place in history! I also remember thinking that one day I would buy my daughter one of these dolls. But so far, that dream isn't coming true....because I'm pretty sure that my boys wouldn't want to play with Kirsten, Felicity, or Molly.

Getting stuff like this in the mail, seeing all the cute girls' clothes at Target, shopping at a craft show that is full of hair bows and headbands, listening to friends talk about dance classes....all these things just make my desire for a daughter even stronger.

Who knows if I will have a daughter one day?!? Maybe I was just meant to be a boys' mom. And if that is the case, then I will be SUPER happy being the mom to Henry, Grant, and Eli. But for now, every time I get a catalog {like American Girl} in the mail....I will hope and pray that one day it will make me happy instead of just a little sad!